Forgotten Film Friday (on a Sunday): The Escape Artist

  A retrospective by Brooks Rich

One of my favorite sub-genres in fiction is magic. I love a good story about a magician - they tend to follow similar story beats to the con man genre. Cop shows usually have an episode where a magician is the killer and the hero has to match wits with him. Magicians can either be the heroes or the villains. Even when they are the heroes, there is always a slight edge to them. They aren't squeaky clean.

Not every film I cover as a forgotten film is a lost masterpiece. This film is not a cinematic marvel. In fact, it is fairly routine - not awful but more TV movie quality. It is the debut of director Caleb Deschanel, who is a cinematographer of some significance. He is perfectly serviceable, but he wastes his cast with a workman-like style. It is forgotten because it is not that interesting looking. It’s seriously lacking in style.

I won't reveal too much of the plot - it is fun to see it unfold. Basically, young Danny Masters tries to follow in the footsteps of his father, the second best escape artist behind Houdini. He runs afoul of a corrupt mayor and his son, played by Desi Arnaz and Raul Julia. Julia is reason enough to see this movie. He is awesome as a shit heel here. I say he gives the strongest performance in the film. Of course he does. He's Raul Julia. Arnaz is also a ton of fun. If you ever wanted to see Ricky Ricardo as a corrupt bastard of a politician, here you go. This was his last on-screen performance. It also was the last performance of former   child actor Jackie Coogan, who plays a magic shop owner. 

The star obviously is Danny, played by Griffin O'Neal, son of troubled actor Ryan and Farrah Fawcett. The O'Neals are such a sad story, due in large part to Ryan's drug habits and how it fucked up his familial relationships. But enough of that - not really our focus here. This was Griffin's big leading role and he pulls it off. He gives a solid performance and has good chemistry with his older co-stars, especially Julia. They go back and forth from antagonistic to cooperative almost seamlessly. Honestly, Julia's performance is so strong that he elevates O'Neal. He is the young performer's best screen partner. But I don't want to take anything away from O'Neal. He is more than capable of carrying the film as the main character. 

I like this movie. I don't love it and some might think I am nuts for recommending this. But I like covering films like this. There are interesting elements, but maybe it all doesn't come together. I do think someone is going to really like this. If just one person is thrilled they discovered this, then that will make me happy.