The Magic Christian

EPISODE · Mar 6, 2026 · 2H 33M

The Magic Christian

from Supercontext: an autopsy of media

This 1969 anarchic film comedy was based on a Terry Southern novel and championed by Peter Sellers, but it seemed to mark the start of a decline for both their fortunes. We take on Chris's favorite movie, and try to get to the bottom of why he likes it, Charlie doesn't, and everybody agrees with both of us. Sources: https://www.thespinningimage.co.uk/cultfilms/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=145 https://web.archive.org/web/20080115004058/http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/ddb5490109a79f598625623d0015f1e4/0c63a2560495532008256cbb00826ca3?OpenDocument http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0081.html https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/06/17/specials/southern-magicfilm.html https://lecinemadreams.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-magic-christian-1969.html https://www.genxculture.com/the-magic-christian-the-most-60s-film-ever-made/20/04/2020/ Flanagan, K. The Road to Excess Leads to THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN: Comedy, Excess, and the Limits of the Body. Dassanowsky-Harris, R. (1992). The Southern Journey: "Candy" and "The Magic" Christian as Cinematic Picaresques. Studies in Popular Culture, 15(1), 95–111.  

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The Magic Christian

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