Magic

Release date:1978

Directed by:Richard Attenborough

Rated:

Runtime:107 minutes

Magic is a 1978 psychological horror 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. 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 does not want to take the required psychological testing because doctors might find out that he suffers from severe issues, and that even off-stage he cannot control Fats . In the Catskills, he reunites with his high-school crush, Peggy Ann Snow, who is stuck in a passionless marriage with Corky's best friend during high school, Duke. A magic trick with a deck of cards charms Peg into thinking they are soulmates.
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A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and... in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century. Further definition of the genre is historically difficult. The construction of the narrative, the plot, the way reality is created in the works of fiction, the fascination of the character study, and the use of language are usually discussed to show a novel's artistic merits. Most of these requirements were introduced in the 16th and 17th centuries, in order to give fiction a justification outside the field of factual history. The individualism of the presentation makes the personal memoir and the autobiography the two closest relatives among the genres of modern histories. The fictional narrative, the novel's distinct "literary" prose, specific media requirements , a characteristic subject matter that creates both intimacy and a typical epic depth can be seen as features that developed with the Western market of fiction.
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