The King of Marvin Gardens Movie Poster

The King of Marvin Gardens

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In Theaters: October 12, 1972

R | Drama | 1h 43m

The King of Marvin Gardens

"An irresistible movie, not least for its haunting vision of Atlantic City as Xanadu, a stately pleasure dome of genteelly decaying palaces, run-down funfairs, and empty boardwalks presided over by white elephants abandoned to their brooding fate. It's like some unimaginable country of the mind, and so in a sense it is as two brothers embark on a sort of game (Atlantic City provided the original place names for the Monopoly board) in which they exchange their lives, their loves and their dreams. One has retreated from the pain outside into the island of his mind; the other pursues an endless mirage of get-rich-quick schemes which will let him escape to an island paradise. Their fusion is a stunningly complex evocation of childish complicity and Pinterish obsessions, inevitably leading to tragedy as the obsessions founder on reality. One of the most underrated films of the decade." -- Tom Milne, Time Out.
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn, Julia Robinson, Benjamin "Scatman" Crothers, Charles Lavine, William Pabst, Garry Goodrow, Imogene Bliss
Director: Bob Rafelson
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Producer(s): Bob Rafelson
Writer(s): Jacob Brackman