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The King of Marvin Gardens

The King of Marvin Gardens

Drama · 1972

Jason Staebler lives on the Boardwalk and fronts for the local mob in Atlantic City. He is a dreamer who asks his brother David, a radio personality from Philadelphia, to help him build a paradise on a Pacific Island, which might be just another of his pie-in-the-sky schemes. Inevitably, complications begin to pile up.

Movie details

The King of Marvin Gardens

1972 Drama 1h 43m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

5.9 / 10

Community rating

Jason Staebler lives on the Boardwalk and fronts for the local mob in Atlantic City. He is a dreamer who asks his brother David, a radio personality from Philadelphia, to help him build a paradise on a Pacific Island, which might be just another of his pie-in-the-sky schemes. Inevitably, complications begin to pile up.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The King of Marvin Gardens?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Shame

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Brandon, a thirty-something man living in New York, eludes intimacy with women but feeds his deepest desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his younger sister temporarily moves into his apartment, stirring up bitter memories of their shared painful past, Brandon's life, like his fragile mind, gets out of control.

True Confessions

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A cop clashes with his priest brother while investigating the brutal murder of a young prostitute.

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The Krays

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Crime · 1991

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Bob Rafelson

Written by

Bob Rafelson · Jacob Brackman

Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson

David Staebler

Bruce Dern

Bruce Dern

Jason Staebler

Ellen Burstyn

Ellen Burstyn

Sally

J

Julia Anne Robinson

Jessica

Scatman Crothers

Scatman Crothers

Lewis

C

Charles LaVine

Grandfather

John P. Ryan

John P. Ryan

Surtees

Court is in session

Put The King of Marvin Gardens on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.