Robert T. Westbrook adapted his own acclaimed, semi-autobiographical novel about a Columbia University student in his third year who drops out (a fashionable way of expressing yourself in 1970). The protagonist, Stanley Sweetheart (hailed by literary critics at the time as a successor to Holden Caulfield), is played in the film by a young, high-voiced Don Johnson, whose performance failed to impress Village Voice critic Molly Haskell (she remarked, "The only thing that stands out about Don Johnson is the black roots of his blond hair."). Self-assured, sex-obsessed Stanley lives off-campus in his own apartment: he makes 16mm films; he hates the noise of construction-ridden New York City; he swats at bugs on the carpet; he disgustedly wads up a letter from his woebegone mother, who wonders if he'll ever have a productive life. So far, so good (except for the Michel Legrand/Alan and Marilyn Bergman-composed opening song--some woozy thing that asks if a tree falls in a forest...). There's a lot of talk about pot smoking, decadent materialism, "being free to really be free", masturbation, getting laid, also an attempted homosexual pickup (which freaks our hero out). Westbrook and director Robert Horn want their movie to connect with the kids but not in a direct way (that might be too square). Instead, Horn and his editor give us a somewhat fragmented look at a young man's life in 1970; however, Stanley's day-to-day non-routine doesn't really require this kind of jagged treatment (for instance: when Stanley deflowers the pretty girl in his linguistics class, the moment is extra tender, followed by a bubblegum-music montage of boy-girl coupling with 'cute' nudity). It isn't much of a picture--and one that MGM apparently had no invested interest in--but Johnson is a definite presence (especially in his scenes with Holly Near as his girlfriend's roommate and Michael Greer as a former student at Juilliard). The milieu, now dated, is interesting as a time capsule (including a cameo by Candy Darling at a drug orgy); but "Magic Garden" isn't a magical character study--it's stunted by its overall narrow view of life. When kids try to act like grown-ups but realize they're really just dumb kids, the audience is apt to respond, "What else is new?"
** from ****
