The King of Marvin Gardens
| The King of Marvin Gardens | |
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| Directed by | Bob Rafelson |
| Produced by |
Steve Blauner, Bob Rafelson, Harold Schneider |
| Written by |
Jacob Brackman Bob Rafelson |
| Starring |
Jack Nicholson Bruce Dern Ellen Burstyn |
| Cinematography | László Kovács |
| Edited by | John F. Link |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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103 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The King of Marvin Gardens is a 1972 American drama film. It stars Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn and Scatman Crothers. It is one of several collaborations between Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson. The majority of the film is set in a wintry Atlantic City, New Jersey, with cinematography by László Kovács.
The title alludes to the Marven Gardens in Margate, New Jersey as well as to one of the properties in the original Monopoly game.
David and Jason are estranged brothers, the former a depressive living with his grandfather in Philadelphia where he runs a late-night radio talk show and the latter an extrovert con man working for gang boss Lewis in Atlantic City, where he lives with the manic-depressive Sally, former beauty queen and prostitute, and her stepdaughter Jessica. Begging David to come to Atlantic City and bail him out of jail, Jason once freed persuades him to stay on in his hotel suite with the two women.
Tensions grow between the four as Jason pursues a ludicrous dream of conning a Japanese syndicate into buying a Hawaiian island where he will build and run a casino. The sceptical David has no faith in Jason's scam, while Jason chides David for wallowing in his dark, lonely depressed life. Sally, increasingly neurotic over losing her looks, cuts off her hair and throws away her cosmetics. When Jason starts packing to leave for Hawaii, in rage and despair she shoots him dead. David escorts his brother's corpse home to Philadelphia by train.
The film has several surreal scenes including conversation on horseback between David and Jason, and a simulated Miss America Pageant. The latter scene was filmed in the empty Atlantic City Convention Hall (now called Boardwalk Hall), which was at the time of its 1929 construction the largest clear-span covered space in the world. During the scene, Ellen Burstyn is shown playing the hall's historic pipe organ, which is the world's largest organ and reputedly the largest and loudest musical instrument ever built.
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