The King of Marvin Gardens

Character study of two brothers who reunite at a resort., Philadelphia radio personality David has a tendency to mix fact and fiction in his talks, including a story about his “dead” grandfather. Summoned to Atlantic City, David finds his older brother, Jason, in jail on robbery charge. David is told to see Jason’s boss, racket chief Lewis, who totally ignores him. Released, Jason introduces David to his companions – ageing Sally and her stepdaughter, Jessica. He talks of building a gambling casino on Waikki Beach. Sure that this is just another of Jason’s fantastic schemes. David nevertheless stays on to see what develops., Dreams die hard in wintry Atlantic City in Bob Rafelson’s downbeat character drama. Depressive deejay David Staebler (Jack Nicholson) tends to his grandfather as he philosophizes on late-night Philadelphia talk radio. When his huckster older brother Jason (Bruce Dern) calls out of the blue one day, David travels to Atlantic City to see what his latest easy money scheme is. Along with his former beauty queen companion Sally (Ellen Burstyn) and her pretty stepdaughter Jessica (Julia Anne Robinson), Jason plans to open a resort on a small Hawaiian island, insisting to an initially skeptical David that the deal is as good as done. David plays along but, as he learns the reality of the situation, tries to talk some sense into Jason. Jason and his women will have none of it, leading to a tragic lesson about the cost of superficial values like beauty and wealth, and the limits of brotherly love. Rafelson’s follow-up to his 1970 hit Five Easy Pieces once again questions American myths of success, with one brother unwilling to come to earth to realize his dreams and the other unable to do much beyond talk about his inertia to an unseen radio audience. With Five Easy Pieces star Nicholson as the introverted lead, and impressive cinematography by Laszlo Kovacs, The King of Marvin Gardens had the makings of another Hollywood New Wave hit. The response, however, was not what stumbling BBS Productions hoped, as Columbia barely supported the film and 1972 audiences were not as responsive to Rafelson’s second exploration of contemporary alienation. The King of Marvin Gardens’ artful depiction of disillusionment roots it firmly in the 1970s Hollywood art cinema, and its failure became one more sign of that cycle’s popular limits., Philadelphia radio host David is lured into a series of shady dealings by his jailbird brother Jason. But Jason’s schemes always end badly for the people around him., Jack Nicholson and Bruce Dern star in Bob Rafelson’s story of two brothers living in Atlantic City. One of them is withdrawn into himself, the other in pursuit of the riches that will allow him escape but slowly, their roles begin to change in a film that is only now being recognised as one of the key films of the ’70s., Jason Staebler is a dreamer who asks his brother David, a radio personality, to help him build a paradise on a Pacific Island. But luck is against them both and the game ends badly.