Welcome to my new short series called Hippie Hotties where I plan to talk about a hippie-era movie that stretched the limits of free love and sex by showing off some sexy nudes on the big screen. This era of experimentation led to some pretty far-out films, so let's take a look!
If you've been following along with the Hippie Hotties then you know that we have weirdly seen one actor appear again and again in these films that that actor is, of course, Peter Sellers. Well, here he is again in today's film The Magic Christian that also stars Ringo Starr and features an original soundtrack. The current stock controversy inspired me to take a look at this British comedy that satirized money and greed in the 1960s when an eccentric billionaire adopts a homeless hippie and the two start pulling pranks on people. That really is the plot! The movie was originally written for John Lennon, but Starr wound up, well, starring in the movie and he turns out a quietly charming performance that serves to help Sellers stand out even more. I love it when casting accidents wind up making the movie even better! Check out this trailer to get a taste:
1969's The Magic Christian has an all-star cast beyond the main leads that includes cameos from Roman Polanski, Richard Attenborough, and even the impossibly sexy Raquel Welch. The opening credits song is by Paul McCartney, Badfinger does the rest of the soundtrack, and John Cleese and Graham Chapman helped with comedic scenes before they became better known for Monty Python. How 60s can it get? Do you really need me to say anything else??? Are you watching the movie already? I thought so. Let's explore some more:
Let me go ahead and put my personal opinion in here: The Magic Christian is a delight. It is a very funny movie with the right amount of weirdness that helps it still hold up. It has the same kind of destructive free-spirited attitude that hippie movies like 1966's Daisies and Richard Lester's Julie Christie-as-a-hippie masterpiece Petulia had, both counter-culture movies that satirized the times that were a-changin' while delivering us some great eye candy. This is extremely my cup of tea! Here's where the comedy comes in in The Magic Christian: Sellers plays a wealthy man named Sir Guy Grand (in a wonderfully understated performance) who adopts oddball Starr, a homeless man he finds on a park bench. They instantly take to each other and start playing elaborate pranks on all kinds of people. They bribe a Shakespearean actor to strip during the most famous speech in Hamlet within the first ten minutes. It's hysterical. Later on in the movie, you add Raquel Welch and it becomes a skinstant classic.
Former pinup model Raquel Welch comes into the picture when a bunch of people board a cruise ship called The Magic Christian. Famous people come aboard like Jackie Kennedy and Yoko Ono (all played by doubles), but then it is revealed that the ship is being steered by Raquel's character the Priestess of the Whip who has topless drummers with her as well as her army of slave girls who are all only wearing loincloths. She whips her girls and shouts, "In...out!" and the girls moan as they follow her instructions. It's pretty hot. Raquel is the lady with a whip whipping her topless sex slaves into shape. Who saw this scene coming? I certainly didn't! It turns out this SM inspired scene is exactly what the movie needed.
This movie was not well received by critics at its time, but like most cult classics it has only developed a fonder following ever since. In fact, that's part of my inspiration for writing about these movies to begin with. Most of these movies were considered "trash" at the time, but have since been looked at as weirdly prescient commentaries and time capsules. Or they just make you think, 'damn, the drugs back then must have been killer.' Either way, they are so unique that they beg to be revisited and The Magic Christian might be one of the most watchable movies to revisit.
When they finally let people off of the ship, it is revealed that it was never a ship at all. The entire thing took place in a warehouse and they never left London. When they leave, there is a sign that says "SMASH CAPITALISM". There's that biting satire for you!
This movie doesn't have the same swingin' psychedelia as some of the other hippie movies (there are sadly no nude painted ladies tripping on acid), but its incorporation of a shaggy-haired Beatle and its irreverent humor certainly reflect the counterculture philosophies of its day - as does the marijuana scene. Interestingly, Peter Sellers was a fan of the book which was more of a thriller. He decided to make it a straight-forward comedy which would up being for the best. If anything, that's exactly why the movie still holds up so well. So have yourself a delightful time and check out The Magic Christian! You might walk away thinking that Ringo Starr was actually the most charming Beatle...and that Raquel and her topless sex slaves deserve to live on in skinfamy.
Check out previous Hippie Hottie articles:
