Movie Magnum Thrust (1981) is not real?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082698/ has no evidence of it's existence outside this site. I checked newspapers for listings and reviews and found no mention.

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bderoes

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2 years ago

https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7f6cfcdc

https://www.historyforsale.com/film/1981-magnum-thrust/199905

I googled "magnum thrust stuart whitman".

Several other results are likely just echoes of IMDb. Hopefully BFI does their own authentication; they have exactly the same data as IMDb.

The Wayback Machine does not have the IMDb page archived, but it does have the BFI page in 2019, indicative of nothing.

https://web.archive.org/web/20190516222921/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7f6cfcdc

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jtordoff

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120 Points

@bderoes I've contacted the BFI...

2 years ago

J

jtordoff

6 Messages

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120 Points

The BFI have confirmed the movie was never released! Confirmed bad data, raise the alarm. Magnum Thrust (1981) is not a real movie.

2 years ago

bderoes

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@jtordoff

Did BFI indicate when they will remove the film from their site?

2 years ago

J

jtordoff

6 Messages

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120 Points

@bderoes They annotated their data to label it as an "Unrealized Project", but the fact it was actually a con and likely not a real movie may change that.

2 years ago

M

mbmb

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LOL I noticed BFI added more notes to their records and cited my post here

@jtordoff Are you responsible for this? :)

2 years ago

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jtordoff

6 Messages

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120 Points

@mbmb I emailed them, and they said they would update their records. Awesome, great research everyone!

2 years ago

M

mbmb

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2 years ago

You didn't need ask the BFI actually as they always had this note for their entry already:

And they just changed it today to this more detailed note after your email to them:

I will post some more findings here. It's mentioned in some books and memoirs which are pretty interesting, it includes cons, fraud, death, murder, suicide, bodies found in deserts etc..

Here is a mention from this book named "James Dean in Death: A Popular Encyclopedia of a Celebrity Phenomenon"

(note the "in development" part):

And this is from May 1995 issue of Premiere magazine, in a year sometime after his death and it calls the project as "proposed":

(edited)

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M

mbmb

1.7K Messages

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22.9K Points

And this is the best one. There is this book named "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: Moviemaking, Con Games, and Murder in Glitter City"

It tells the events and all details of the cons of this guy. In this chapter, this film is mentioned a lot:

Not gonna post all pages here but some relevant parts:

(note that "never heard another word about Magnum Thrust" part)

(this is 1982, indicates still there was nothing)

So in conclusion, I'm pretty sure it was never made.

(edited)

2 years ago

Bethanny

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2 years ago

Hi @jtordoff , @bderoes & @mbmb -

Sorry for the late response, we are working through our backlog. Just to be clear, the movie was actually never released correct? If that is the case I will delete it.

Cheers!

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J

@Bethanny Based on my review of the literature, there was no actual preproduction associated with this project, it was always conceived as a scam. The only reason it appears in these archives is because an ad was taken out in an industry magazine in order to fool investors into thinking the movie was actually in production. Thanks for responding this has been a fun mystery to unravel!

2 years ago

Bethanny

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@jtordoff Thank you all for your research. The title is now deleted.

Cheers!

2 years ago

jtordoff

Movie Magnum Thrust (1981) is not real?

bderoes

jtordoff

jtordoff

bderoes

jtordoff

mbmb

jtordoff

mbmb

mbmb

Bethanny

jtordoff

Bethanny

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