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The King of Marvin Gardens

1972 · 103 min

A wintry, talk-heavy character study that feels like a slow, melancholic descent into delusion and despair.

Directed by
Bob Rafelson
Genres
Drama
Overview
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.

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Rent or buy in the UK
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video
  • Sky Store
More options Data from JustWatch
Directed by
Bob Rafelson
Genres
Drama
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • melancholicstrength 3 of 3
  • bleakstrength 2 of 3
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • tensestrength 1 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • isolation
  • family
  • betrayal
  • obsession
  • grief
Places
  • big city
  • home
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence mild
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror1
Humour2
Realism8
Romance2
Tension5
Darkness7
Complexity7
Emotional weight8

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Cast

Where to watch in the UK

Rent or buy
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video
  • Sky Store

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
drama
Directed by
Bob Rafelson
Written by
Bob Rafelson, Jacob Brackman
Starring
Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn, Julia Anne Robinson, Scatman Crothers, Charles LaVine, John P. Ryan, Sully Boyar
Cinematography
László Kovács
Runtime
103 min
Country
United States of America
Languages
English

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