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Show Peter Sellers, Ringo Starr 'The Magic Christian BY JANE COTTRELL Entertainment Writer "If you want it, here it is. I can give it; come and get it." Those are the words of Paul What happens aboard The Magic Christian is ultimate disaster, disas-ter, to ship and socialites alike. What happens after that is too good to tell. In the final analysis the question ques-tion posed by McCartney's song is "Will you walk away from a fool and his money?" Apparently most of won't; but, that question aside, this is a film no troubleshooting trouble-shooting college student should walk away without seeing. McCartney, as sung in the theme from "The Magic Christian," now playing at the Centre Theater. The film is a Commonwealth United production starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr. The "it" referred to in McCartney's theme song is money, money, MONEY! The money belongs to Sir Guy Grand (Sellers) whose "work," as he calls it, is using the money to-make to-make other people look like fools. As he says, "Most of us have our price." And most of us do. At least most of the people in the film do, as Sir Guy is able to show his recently adopted son, Youngman Grand (Rir.go). Continuous parody Along with this poke at human nature, the film is a continuous parody about every aspect of the Establishment. The scene takes place at the theatre. In a performance perfor-mance of "Hamlet," the principal, actor emerges on the empty stage and launches into the famous soliloquy. so-liloquy. "To be or not to be. . ." he intones rhythmically to the beat of a rock band. As he continues through the speech, the drum beat becomes more pronounced and he begins to remove his clothes. At last the drum is pounding, the audience is absolutely spastic with incredulity, and Hamlet is down to his knickers. ". . -When he himself might his quietus make with a bare bodkin!" You can guess what comes off then. 'ZAP!' As Hamlet is carried offstage, a huge banner unfurls from the wings, bearing the motto "ZAP!" Ringo's comment: "I've seen it' before." "Grand is the name; money s the game." And so it goes throughout the film, with Ringo and his new-found father buying off everybody in sight, for every conceivable reason. In the course of these adventures, the special effects ef-fects are commendable, and the script itself is sharp as a tack throughout-leave it to the British Brit-ish The title adventure comes upon the occasion of the maiden voyage of H.M.S.,The Magic Christian. Chris-tian. To be a passanger on this trip is the dream of every socialite in London, and of course Sir Guy and Youngman buy their way aboard just for the fun of watching. |