Christopher Lee as “Ship's vampire”
I'd heard about this film for ages... (Ringo even does a brief plug for it on The Beatles’ 1969 Fan Club Christmas Record.)
So finally, after viewing all eight hours of Get Back for the second or possibly third time, I decided to watch the movie whose production deadline had put The Beatles on such a tight schedule during that month of January 1969, the feature-length motion picture that Apple Films was financing and Ringo was going to star in: The Magic Christian.
Its theme song alone — “Come And Get It” — is a classic. (Even Paul's demo version is virtually Beatle-quality — hence why it was included on Anthology 3 no doubt.) It stars Ringo Starr alongside Peter Sellers — two legends! Could it get any better?! It must be good right?! At least decent??
To put it plainly: it was 92 minutes of my life that I'll never get back.
Awkward as the movie is, it wasn't entirely without its moments. Yul Brynner as “Transvestite cabaret singer”, Raquel Welch as “Priestess of the Whip”, John & Yoko impersonators, cameos by Pythons and Goons and even John Snagge...
And this one moment about an hour and twenty minutes in, right around the scene where Yul Brynner serenades Roman Polanski in the bar. I'm paying real close attention watching this, cuz I'm invested now, having watched for well over an hour at this point, thinking that the movie's almost over and there must be some point or payoff to this nonsense...
Not quite, but still... worth it.
Painting testimonial pictures...
Cut to a powder room on the ship, where an older English lady is primping in the mirror. In walks the steward—
Wait a minute. That man's face. I know that face.
—carrying a tray with her order. After setting it down, he hovers awkwardly behind her until she dismisses him with arrogant impatience: “That'll be all!“
The steward hesitates, then slowly leans in, bares a pair of fangs, and all the while utters three words:
That voice, too. I know that voice, so sinister. The voice and the face...
A minute later, cut to a long shot of the ship's corridor, and the aforementioned steward — now dressed to the nines in full-tilt vampire gear, cape and all — strutting towards the camera Reservoir Dogs style.
That slender physique. And that walk, so confident and menacing. I know that physique and that walk.
Suddenly it clicked. “That's not Count Dracula! That's Count Dooku!!”
(I'm pretty sure I blurted this out loud to my cat.)
The end credits confirmed what I already knew to be true:
Christopher Lee as “Ship's vampire”.
That, dear reader, is one of the neatest overlaps of The Beatles and the cast of Star Wars that you'll find. (Along with Ringo and Carrie briefly dating, and Mark Hamill's haircut.)
