Anthony Hopkins is a ventriloquist psychologically tormented
by his dummy in the Richard Attenborough thriller Magic
(whose story may seem familiar to those who have seen
the Michael Redgrave segment of Dead of Night, or the
Cliff Robertson episode "The Dummy" from The Twilight
Zone television series). William Goldman based his screenplay
upon his best-selling novel. Hopkins plays Corky, a seedy
magician who is hooted off the stage in the low-rent clubs that
will stoop to hire him. But when he comes across a dummy named
Fats, his career is energized. Corky sees in Fats everything he
lacks himself — confidence, creativity, and verbal agility. With the
help of his agent Ben Greene (Burgess Meredith), Corky rises to the
top of the nightclub circuit. But with Corky's success comes an
increased paranoia, and he kills Ben. Corky thinks that the murderer
is Fats and he goes on the lam to a Catskills resort, run by
Peggy Ann Snow (Ann-Margret), an old girlfriend. In the run-down
hotel, Corky's schizophrenic personality manifests itself and more
murders occur.