Word: goldman
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Screenplay by William Goldman...
...line of work. Bridge was a long and costly war movie that never clearly indicated who was winning its pivotal battle. Magic is a thriller that gives away its one and only surprise in the opening scenes. Maybe next year Producer Joe Levine, Director Richard Attenborough and Writer William Goldman will create a musical without songs. Or a western set in Paris. With these guys, the possibilities are endless...
Then there is Goldman's script, which refuses to make up in wit what it lacks in thrills Goldman chooses instead to litter his dialogue with allegedly with-it references (from Steve Martin to the Four Seasons restaurant), as if sheer name drop ping might pass for sophistication...
...tired devices. When Corky and Peggy gaze into each other's eyes, kiss, then exchange a long look, a bedroom scene is obviously going to follow -- and indeed, the camera cuts to a pair of naked bodies (or naked backs, anyway) rolling around in soft focus. The structure of Goldman's script is equally transparent; he shows the agent telling the story of Corky's life to a T.V. exec, a clumsy means of providing the audience with background material. In addition to these cliches, the movie sabotages many potentially chilling moments. While Corky drags the dead agent...
Attenborough and Goldman miss a good bet by failing to suggest that Fats is really alive somehow. We never doubt that it is Corky expressing his subconscious desires through the dummy when Fats speaks. Stripped of its suspense in this way, Magic becomes a superficial portrait of a schizophrenic...