The Magic Christian (1969)

One of the world's wealthiest men (Peter Sellers) legally adopts a young homeless vagrant (Ringo Starr). He then proceeds to show the boy that every man has his price and if the money is large enough, they will do anything for money. Based on the novel by Terry Southern, who co-wrote the screenplay with the director Joseph McGrath, the film has no real plot to speak of but it's a series of comedy sketches. The humor is very hit and miss (more of the latter than the former) and if one isn't especially attuned to English humor, perhaps even less than that. McGrath was one of the directors of the 1967 CASINO ROYALE which, like MAGIC CHRISTIAN, was a bit of a mess but at least it was more consistent in its tone. After awhile, watching people humiliating themselves for the almighty dollar (or pound in this case) isn't funny anymore. Even if one shares the film's cynicism regarding humankind, the film has made its point and then it's just repetition. The large cast includes Laurence Harvey, Raquel Welch, Yul Brynner, Richard Attenborough, John Cleese, Christopher Lee, Roman Polanski, Dennis Price, Wilfrid Hyde White, Isabel Jeans and Hattie Jacques.