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General Magic

A tale of how the great vision and epic failure of General Magic, the "greatest dead company in Silicon Valley", changed the lives of billions.

Director

Sarah Kerruish, Matt Maude

Year

Genre

Box Office

$20,046

Production

N/A

Awards

2 wins & 3 nominations

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In Silicon Valley
there's a lot of origin stories - General Magic

In Silicon Valley there's a lot of origin stories

There are
a handful of stories
that define Silicon Valley. - General Magic

There are a handful of stories that define Silicon Valley.

You know, there are legends,
and General Magic was one
of the legends. - General Magic

You know, there are legends, and General Magic was one of th...

You have to believe,
you have to be proud,
you have to be - General Magic

You have to believe, you have to be proud, you have to be

If you're always playing it
safe and you're not failing - General Magic

If you're always playing it safe and you're not fa...

No matter how big
we dreamed, the fact
that you could touch - General Magic

No matter how big we dreamed, the fact that you could touch

The reason
you should care about
the story of General Magic - General Magic

The reason you should care about the story of General Magic

The reason this story
so haunts the people
that were involved, - General Magic

The reason this story so haunts the people that were involve...

Did it fail?
I mean, the company itself
failed, the ideas didn't fail. - General Magic

Did it fail? I mean, the company itself failed, the ideas di...

The people who worked
there didn't fail.
So, was it a failure? - General Magic

The people who worked there didn't fail. So, was it a f...

I didn't really wanna
go to class. Every waking
moment that I wasn't in school - General Magic

I didn't really wanna go to class. Every waking moment ...

Talking to friends about it,
I was the geek, you know,
The Revenge of the Nerds. - General Magic

Talking to friends about it, I was the geek, you know, The R...

For me every weekend was fixing
things, or building things,
from the age of three or four. - General Magic

For me every weekend was fixing things, or building things, ...

Soapbox derby racer,
or we could repair
lawnmowers or what have you. - General Magic

Soapbox derby racer, or we could repair lawnmowers or what h...

But with this I could create
new things. I could sit there
and I could program a game, - General Magic

But with this I could create new things. I could sit there a...

And then it was the Mac
and it was all about the Mac. - General Magic

And then it was the Mac and it was all about the Mac.

There were names of people like
Andy Hertzfeld, Joanna Hoffman,
Bill Atkinson, - General Magic

There were names of people like Andy Hertzfeld, Joanna Hoffm...

My name is Andy Hertzfeld,
I bought and fell in love
with an Apple II in 1978. - General Magic

My name is Andy Hertzfeld, I bought and fell in love with an...

And went to work for Apple
in 1979 and was lucky enough
to help design the Macintosh. - General Magic

And went to work for Apple in 1979 and was lucky enough to h...

You have to go
and find out more about them, - General Magic

You have to go and find out more about them,

Hello,
I am Macintosh. It sure is
great to get out of that bag. - General Magic

Hello, I am Macintosh. It sure is great to get out of that b...

January 24th 1984, - General Magic

January 24th 1984,

You know what
I remember? We were sitting here - General Magic

You know what I remember? We were sitting here

It was a culmination of years of
work, of years of expectation. - General Magic

It was a culmination of years of work, of years of expectati...

What we are trying to do
with Macintosh is take away - General Magic

What we are trying to do with Macintosh is take away

One of the neatest things
about Macintosh was
we had a chance - General Magic

One of the neatest things about Macintosh was we had a chanc...

We called it the computer
for the rest of us, - General Magic

We called it the computer for the rest of us,

We thought we had a chance to
make a difference. Steve Jobs
just drummed it into us. - General Magic

We thought we had a chance to make a difference. Steve Jobs ...

The greatest people are
self-managing. They don't
need to be managed. - General Magic

The greatest people are self-managing. They don't need ...

Once they know what to do,
they'll go figure out
how to do it. - General Magic

Once they know what to do, they'll go figure out how to...

We truly believed
with every fiber of our being - General Magic

We truly believed with every fiber of our being

But behind the scenes, - General Magic

But behind the scenes,

I was just too tunnel-visioned
to be able to appreciate that. - General Magic

I was just too tunnel-visioned to be able to appreciate that...

I got a phone call, like
around 10:00 a.m. in the morning - General Magic

I got a phone call, like around 10:00 a.m. in the morning

The core team was stunned.
That said, things were a mess
in many ways. - General Magic

The core team was stunned. That said, things were a mess in ...

But Steve and John Sculley
didn't agree about
what to do with it. - General Magic

But Steve and John Sculley didn't agree about what to d...

Fights escalated to the point
where the board told Sculley - General Magic

Fights escalated to the point where the board told Sculley

Um, wrenching decision
for everyone, - General Magic

Um, wrenching decision for everyone,

Since the Mac, - General Magic

Any other project
that kept coming up,
kinda fizzled very quickly - General Magic

Any other project that kept coming up, kinda fizzled very qu...

Good evening, I'm Marc Porat. - General Magic

Good evening, I'm Marc Porat.

Today many people believe
that information tools - General Magic

Today many people believe that information tools

Changing our relationship
to nature, to each other, - General Magic

Changing our relationship to nature, to each other,

The Aspen Institute attracted
some of the most amazing people. - General Magic

The Aspen Institute attracted some of the most amazing peopl...

It had a place where they could
speak freely to each other
in private. - General Magic

It had a place where they could speak freely to each other i...

Cyrus Vance or Henry Kissinger
or the Shahbanou of Iran or-- - General Magic

Cyrus Vance or Henry Kissinger or the Shahbanou of Iran or--

Those were the people, that was,
that was the teaching there,
you could, - General Magic

Those were the people, that was, that was the teaching there...

Because the future your parents
handed you, that was broken. - General Magic

Because the future your parents handed you, that was broken.

And so that started me in the
track of saying, "What can I do
to create the future?" - General Magic

And so that started me in the track of saying, "What ca...

That's what happened to me,
and I went into the future, - General Magic

That's what happened to me, and I went into the future,

And I stood
in that moment, inside it,
and I looked around my-- me, - General Magic

And I stood in that moment, inside it, and I looked around m...

It was gonna be so revolutionary
that it would take over
the world. - General Magic

It was gonna be so revolutionary that it would take over the...

So this book I wrote in 1989
and this was a compilation
of, of the ideas. - General Magic

So this book I wrote in 1989 and this was a compilation of, ...

And this is
what we came up with in 1989. - General Magic

And this is what we came up with in 1989.

And there it is,
we really had it. - General Magic

And there it is, we really had it.

And they-- and the ones who tell
the most compelling stories
are the ones who, - General Magic

And they-- and the ones who tell the most compelling stories...

After Steve Jobs left in 1985,
a lot of people were pretty
depressed, - General Magic

After Steve Jobs left in 1985, a lot of people were pretty d...

You know, could Apple still
go on without Steve Jobs there? - General Magic

You know, could Apple still go on without Steve Jobs there?

Marc was one of the first people
to see that computing in
the future was gonna be, - General Magic

Marc was one of the first people to see that computing in th...

And it was a telephone,
it was essentially going
to be a smartphone - General Magic

And it was a telephone, it was essentially going to be a sma...

Imagine a personal computer,
with applications organized - General Magic

Imagine a personal computer, with applications organized

An object through which you
communicated with yourself
about everything - General Magic

An object through which you communicated with yourself about...

Marc always came with his giant
red book, uh, and he would thumb
through the pages - General Magic

Marc always came with his giant red book, uh, and he would t...

Please leave
a message and we will return - General Magic

Please leave a message and we will return

I saw a message on my answering
machine from Bill Atkinson - General Magic

I saw a message on my answering machine from Bill Atkinson

You got to come back to
Apple to work with me on it." - General Magic

You got to come back to Apple to work with me on it."

Wouldn't it be nice,
if all these notes,
which are very useful, - General Magic

Wouldn't it be nice, if all these notes, which are very...

I was a little skeptical
at first, because Marc
is such a slick salesperson, - General Magic

I was a little skeptical at first, because Marc is such a sl...

And when I saw this,
the concept and
I talked to Marc, - General Magic

And when I saw this, the concept and I talked to Marc,

The same feeling that I had
when I first encountered
the Macintosh. - General Magic

The same feeling that I had when I first encountered the Mac...

This book was not just ideas, - General Magic

This book was not just ideas,

Marc said, "We are gonna
create what comes after
the personal computer." - General Magic

Marc said, "We are gonna create what comes after the pe...

I think it's got to be
a separate company." - General Magic

I think it's got to be a separate company."

This was the beginning
of what became, I think,
the most important company - General Magic

This was the beginning of what became, I think, the most imp...

You know it had Apple's
fairy dust sprinkled on it. - General Magic

You know it had Apple's fairy dust sprinkled on it.

So we had no idea what it was, - General Magic

So we had no idea what it was,

There's this company,
it has Andy and Bill and, - General Magic

There's this company, it has Andy and Bill and,

And I was like, "I don't know
what they are doing yet,
but I know I need to be there." - General Magic

And I was like, "I don't know what they are doing ...

I knocked on the door,
no one answered,
so I opened the door - General Magic

I knocked on the door, no one answered, so I opened the door

Everybody in
the valley knew that Magic was--
was doing something really cool, - General Magic

Everybody in the valley knew that Magic was-- was doing some...

Everybody wanted to be there
and people literally would
sleep on the doorstep - General Magic

Everybody wanted to be there and people literally would slee...

No, no it's
not everywhere in the valley! - General Magic

No, no it's not everywhere in the valley!

The best, the brightest
the coolest, the smartest. - General Magic

The best, the brightest the coolest, the smartest.

Oh, smile!
You are on "Candid Camera." - General Magic

Oh, smile! You are on "Candid Camera."

I come from a long line
of engineers. And so the idea
of going to Silicon Valley - General Magic

I come from a long line of engineers. And so the idea of goi...

Andy Hertzfeld had gotten
my name as a Mac developer,
and so he called me. - General Magic

Andy Hertzfeld had gotten my name as a Mac developer, and so...

I'm sorry to offend you
with this Non Disclosure
Agreement... - General Magic

I'm sorry to offend you with this Non Disclosure Agreem...

But he couldn't tell me what it
was, and I was just thinking, - General Magic

But he couldn't tell me what it was, and I was just thi...

So I called Dee. "What's
going on?" "We have a process,
we are going through it. - General Magic

So I called Dee. "What's going on?" "We ...

We are gonna have a meeting
we will talk about you,
we will let you know." - General Magic

We are gonna have a meeting we will talk about you, we will ...

General Magic poster

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

A tale of how the great vision and epic failure of General Magic, the "greatest dead company in Silicon Valley", changed the lives of billions.

User Rating: 0.0 (0 ratings)

Director: Sarah Kerruish, Matt Maude

Writer: Sarah Kerruish, Jonathan Key, Matt Maude

Production: N/A

Genre: Documentary

Year: 2019

MetaScore: 69/100

ImdbRating: 7.4

BoxOffice: $20,046

Released: 12 Jul 2019

Awards: 2 wins & 3 nominations

Homepage:

Also watch: Eddie Murphy: Delirious, All the President's Men, Ad Astra, The Gentlemen, Taken, Interstellar, Joker, Tenet, Snowpiercer, Parasite, Me Before You, Kill Bill: Vol 1, Get Out, The Thing, Forrest Gump, The Fly, 500 Days of Summer, Old Boy, Inside Out