Magic (1978)

Magic is a 1978 film starring Anthony Hopkins Ann-Margret and Burgess Meredith. It was written by William Goldman, who also wrote the novel on which it was based and directed by Richard Attenborough.

Charles "Corky" Withers has just failed in his first attempt at professional magic. His mentor says that he needs to have a better show business gimmick. A year later, Corky comes back as a combination magician and ventriloquist with a foul-mouthed dummy named Fats and is a huge success.

His powerful agent Ben Greene is on the verge of signing Corky for his own television show, but Corky bails out for the Catskills, claiming to be afraid of success. In truth, he doesn't want to take the required psychological testing because doctors might find out that he suffers from multiple personality disorder, and that even off-stage he hears Fats talking to him.

In the Catskills, he meets with his high-school crush, Peggy Ann Snow, who is stuck in a passionless marriage. Corky performs a feat of magic with a deck of cards that charms Peg into thinking they are soul mates. They make love, which sparks the jealousy not only of Peggy's tough-guy husband, Duke, but the dummy Fats.

Greene has tracked Corky down. After a tense confrontation where Greene discovers the truth about Corky's mental state, the agent demands that Corky get help.

Fats, however, convinces Corky to kill Greene. Corky does this by using Fats' hard, wooden head. He then removes all of Greene's identification and drags the corpse to the lake.

The next morning Fats becomes even more possessive and jealous when Corky says that he plans to leave Fats behind so that he and Peggy can go away together.

Duke returns from his trip earlier than expected. He suspects she cheated on him with Corky. After a heated argument, Peggy storms off and Duke decides to have a talk with Corky on the lake. Rather than confront him, Duke awkwardly confides to Corky that he loves Peggy and is worried about losing her. Duke suddenly spots Greene's dead body on the edge of the lake.

They row toward the body. Duke, believing it could still be alive, sends Corky to get help. Duke finds that the man is indeed dead. Curious, he decides to search Corky's cabin.

Fats kills him with "help" from Corky. (The dummy stabs Duke while Corky is covered by a curtain behind him.)

An increasingly deranged Corky manages to pull himself together and persuade Peg to run away with him. But she insists on waiting to tell Duke face to face. She thinks everything is fine until Fats "comes alive" and reveals that Corky's card trick is only a ruse he uses to seduce women, and that Peg is only the latest of his conquests. Repulsed, she rejects Corky and locks herself in her bedroom.

Fats says that, from this point on, he will make the decisions in Corky's life. He immediately asserts this new authority by ordering Corky to kill Peg.

Corky, turning on the charm and using Fats' voice, apologizes to Peggy from in front of her locked door. A short while later, Corky returns with a bloodstained knife, Fats seems pleased — until it is revealed that the blood on the knife is Corky's, having committed suicide so that he won't kill anyone else. As a result Fats also feels "faint." They wonder which of them will die first.

Moments later, Peggy returns to their cabin, happily calling out that she has changed her mind and has decided to run away with Corky after all.

The trailer for this film was pulled from TV due to calls from parents who claimed that it gave their children nightmares.

Goldman received a 1979 Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.

Hopkins received each a Golden Globe and BAFTA nomination for his role as the tragically disturbed Corky.