I imagined a great gag for the Silence of the Lambs set: Clarice is walking down the corridor to Lecter's cell and when she gets there......it's Fats in the cell, he looks at her and says "Hiya, toots!"
It's kind of a cheat though. In what I believe was the primary inspiration for the book by Goldman, a Twilight Zone episode titled "The Dummy" that's exactly like "Magic" save for one thing, in the TZ episode it IS supernatural rather than psychological. Now in "Magic" they go to great pains to explain to the audience that this is just a schizophrenic ventriloquist so it should follow the rules of that unless they're trying to suggest that maybe there was indeed something supernatural going on. But in my opinion you can't just say that it's all in Corky's head and then show Fats moving on his own. It breaks the rules of that story.
I've thought of that shot as being symbolic......of the film viewer seeing the eyes move.....but does it really happen?...or is the watcher being sucked into the same psychosis as Corky? I think it's brilliant film making. Yes, it's got flaws, but it's also got moments that raise the hairs on one's neck.
I talked about this scene with a friend, who simply offered this explanation: when Corky lays Fats down, some of his mechanisms inside may have spontaneously moved for a moment.
Richard Attenborough.... Wasn't he in Jurassic Park? That poem?!?!?! And the original trailer scares me TO THIS DAY! If you live next door to me, you just heard a shriek! I saw the commercial.
And in Chicago it got pulled in NEW YORK not anywhere else, the thing that got me is one minute they would show a Scooby Doo slip and slide commercial then the next this fucker would show up!! What the fucking hell man! I even remember they showed it one Saturday morning during cartoons on NBC, I hope they got sued for all the therapy bills
If i had enough money i`d try and buy fats ! imagine how cool it would be to have the little guy sitting next to you when you next watch the movie ! Brilliant film !
Wish I could find the film on YT, would love to see it again after so many years. Scared the hell out of me the first time round and I've been creeped out by ventroloquist dummies ever since.
@RoboticG omg lol same here I lived in bmore and if it was 1978 I was about 1and half or 2yrs old .I had nightmares and fliped out everytime I seen the comercial .I even remember one of my nightmares it was that bad lol .I recently watched this movie its actaully pretty good .have you watched it yet? I still have a dummy phobia til this day
I never thought Fats moved or lived on his own; he was only alive in Corky's mind. When the eyes moved, I just attributed it to Corky's delusion and it wasn't happening in reality. Audiences did freak out at that moment.
What a lovely historical tribute to the working tradition of ventriloquism, the “doll”s & Phats; of course, we can not forget the main man hand-ing the show. 🪄🪆🪭
A pity the guy didn't make Fats' upper lip go up. That was the creepiest thing about him. But if you notice, the Alwood's own dummy, "Dudley," doesn't move that way, so he's probably not used to it anymore.
6:29 I don't think that is accurate. I was a kid in New York in 1978 and I remember seeing it aired many times on TV. I'll speculate that it was possibly pulled from prime time. But NY kids in grammar school knew the poem from the commercial and recited it often to scare other kids.
I love this movie...but...isn't it Tony himself who does the voice and the moves for Fats?! It sounds on Alwood that he did everything? Did I miss something?
That story about Anthony Hopkins calling him at 3 am saying "come get this fucking dummy out of here, it's creeping me out!" is hilarious.
I imagined a great gag for the Silence of the Lambs set: Clarice is walking down the corridor to Lecter's cell and when she gets there......it's Fats in the cell, he looks at her and says "Hiya, toots!"
Well considering that both those puppets have a very drag queen look about them it would owrk
I'm so glad Attenborough kept the moment where Fats moves on his own. That remains one of the single scariest moments from any film I have ever seen.
It's kind of a cheat though.
In what I believe was the primary inspiration for the book by Goldman, a Twilight Zone episode titled "The Dummy" that's exactly like "Magic" save for one thing, in the TZ episode it IS supernatural rather than psychological.
Now in "Magic" they go to great pains to explain to the audience that this is just a schizophrenic ventriloquist so it should follow the rules of that unless they're trying to suggest that maybe there was indeed something supernatural going on. But in my opinion you can't just say that it's all in Corky's head and then show Fats moving on his own. It breaks the rules of that story.
@@AtlasIsShruggingNow Or maybe Corky IMAGINED he moved and we were seeing what was in Corky's head. Something to think about that
I've thought of that shot as being symbolic......of the film viewer seeing the eyes move.....but does it really happen?...or is the watcher being sucked into the same psychosis as Corky? I think it's brilliant film making. Yes, it's got flaws, but it's also got moments that raise the hairs on one's neck.
I talked about this scene with a friend, who simply offered this explanation: when Corky lays Fats down, some of his mechanisms inside may have spontaneously moved for a moment.
I love when Fats rolls his eyes at 3:20...
2:22 We couldn’t forget you, Fats 🫣😂
I LOVE you, Fats!!
That was tremendously fun to watch. Thanks again for posting this...
It's so nice of Fats to apologize for scaring the living hell out of me when I was a kid
Richard Attenborough.... Wasn't he in Jurassic Park? That poem?!?!?! And the original trailer scares me TO THIS DAY! If you live next door to me, you just heard a shriek! I saw the commercial.
Cannot believe he blows the lines in the poem. Also, that commercial ran for weeks in Los Angeles.
And in Chicago it got pulled in NEW YORK not anywhere else, the thing that got me is one minute they would show a Scooby Doo slip and slide commercial then the next this fucker would show up!! What the fucking hell man! I even remember they showed it one Saturday morning during cartoons on NBC, I hope they got sued for all the therapy bills
My brother would turn the commercial up really loud when it came on to scare the shit out of me! 😂
Have you seen the full movie? I just watched it last week, it was pretty dam good.
After all these years there's still something very creepy about Fats.Probably why the movie is still a great one to watch
3:26 dang.... even i can appreciate that
If i had enough money i`d try and buy fats ! imagine how cool it would be to have the little guy sitting next to you when you next watch the movie ! Brilliant film !
This is so fun to watch. Wow! LOL
It's not the eyes moved but noticed the eyes actaully blinked on their own too. That's the freaky part.
Wish I could find the film on YT, would love to see it again after so many years. Scared the hell out of me the first time round and I've been creeped out by ventroloquist dummies ever since.
I saw it on here it's got to be here somewhere
@RoboticG omg lol same here I lived in bmore and if it was 1978 I was about 1and half or 2yrs old .I had nightmares and fliped out everytime I seen the comercial .I even remember one of my nightmares it was that bad lol .I recently watched this movie its actaully pretty good .have you watched it yet? I still have a dummy phobia til this day
It scared a LOT of kids apparently between Fats and the clown in Poltergeist I imagine a lot of Gen X kids needed serious therapy.
I never thought Fats moved or lived on his own; he was only alive in Corky's mind. When the eyes moved, I just attributed it to Corky's delusion and it wasn't happening in reality. Audiences did freak out at that moment.
It's kind of fun to see this as a ventriloquist. This stuff doesn't bother me.
What a lovely historical tribute to the working tradition of ventriloquism, the “doll”s & Phats; of course, we can not forget the main man hand-ing the show. 🪄🪆🪭
A pity the guy didn't make Fats' upper lip go up. That was the creepiest thing about him. But if you notice, the Alwood's own dummy, "Dudley," doesn't move that way, so he's probably not used to it anymore.
6:29 I don't think that is accurate. I was a kid in New York in 1978 and I remember seeing it aired many times on TV. I'll speculate that it was possibly pulled from prime time. But NY kids in grammar school knew the poem from the commercial and recited it often to scare other kids.
Huh. Cool history
Do you have a fats dummy that I need please?
I love to have one of those
Yeah cause you're catshit crazy
2:14 oh, this was after 1993? After Sir Tony became a 'Sir'.
I have the dvd but always watching fats and friends not the movie love it though
@RoboticG I think he meant it ran once before all the phones lit up with complaints.
That was in New York where it got pulled
I love this movie...but...isn't it Tony himself who does the voice and the moves for Fats?! It sounds on Alwood that he did everything? Did I miss something?
Hopkins did the voice in the movie, but the voice is so recognizable that any ventriloquist can imitate it.
Yeah, this guy's voice is a little different from Tony's Fats voice actually.
I wouldn't be a ventriloquists I believe spirits do take over
2:36
you can buy a Fats replica - it's about 3500 bucks - google and you will find it
HELL NO!!!
Fats from the movie makes this doll look so primitive the upper lip gives it away I think
I hate puppets
Its obvious that Hopkins did not do the voice of Fats. I believe Dennis Alwood when he says it was him.
It's really obvious he DID, actually. His fake American accent slips.
Also Alwood is not claiming it was him. This isn't a controversy.
Wrong. Hopkins did the voice. He is clearly credited with doing it. Do some research before making baseless assertions.
It is likely Alwood did the voice on set and Hopkins did the ADR after.
Hopkins did the voice, just not the controls. You can hear Hopkins accent come across sometimes in the film when Fat's is talking.