Remembering Kreskin
I see that the mentalist who went by the stage name of The Great Kreskin passed away yesterday just short of his 90th birthday. He was a regular guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and I used to love his appearances. In part, that's because as a mentalist (he wasn't a magician), he made clear that what he was doing wasn't because of any mystical power he had, but this impressive talent.
I mention this, too, because back in 2008, there was a movie I liked very much, “The Great Buck Howard” with John Malkovich which clearly was inspired by the Great Kreskin. It had a very good supporting cast of Colin Hanks and Emily Blunt, along with real-life magician Ricky Jay -- and in a small role playing the father of Colin Hanks is...Tom Hanks.
It turns out that my sense at the time that this was inspired by The Great Kreskin wasn't off the mark. That's because it was written and directed by a guy -- Sean McGinley -- who was Kreskin's road manager for a short while. This is something I didn’t know until just now when I checked the date it was released.
UPDATE: It's available online with several free streaming services (which all have ads, but generally limited interruptions). For starters, it's on Tubi, and you can watch it here. It's also free on Pluto TV here -- they also offer a paid level without ads. And on Plex, as well, where you can watch it here (It's also free on YouTube with ads, but audio and video are woefully out of sync.) Also, it's available on Amazon, though not included in the membership, but for $3.99 rental. However, that's without ads.
But here’s the trailer. It actually does a pretty good job giving a sense of the movie -- and how good John Malkovich is in it.
Comments