An Honest Liar

An Honest Liar – documentary on the life adnd work of The Amazing Randi, magician, escape artist, and debunker of alleged psychics

Review

I’ve been a long-time fan of The Amazing Randi, since I first saw one of his appearances on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. He’s a great escape artist, magician, and like Houdini spends much of his time debunking psychics. Having said that, I’ve got a split opinion on this documentary.

Positives

• There’s a lot of time devoted to Randi himself, either performing, appearing on various television shows, debunking numerous psychics, etc.
• There’s.a lot of time spent with direct interviews with Randi, which I appreciate.
• The various people who talk about Randi is a mixed bag. I enjoyed very much Penn & Teller’s insights. They’re both very talented professional magician, and long-time friends with Randi. The other interviewees, not so much.

Negatives

• There’s very little time spent on his early life. Randi makes one statement, about not having a close relationship with his father — that’s it.
• They spend a lot of time on how Randi is a homosexual, living with another man for 25 years, and acting as though this is a shocking revelation. Frankly, I know very little about Randi’s personal life. But, I wasn’t surprised. In his many public appearances, he never talks about a wife, girlfriend, etc. So I wasn’t shocked. Mildly surprised at the most.
• They finally make the “shocking” revelation that Randi’s homosexual partner is an illegal alien, that Randi didn’t know. He apparently stole someone else’s identity. Again, surprising, but not shocking. It’s fairly common behavior for an illegal alien.

Favorite books by The Amazing Randi

• Flim-Flam!
• The Magic World of the Amazing Randi – a compilation of magic tricks that beginners can do. It also serves to introduce a wide variety of professional magicians, each of whom contribute one trick. Including the Amazing Randi.

From the manufacturer

An Honest Liar 

Short Synopsis 

The incredible true story of the renowned magician turned skeptic and exposer of frauds and hoaxes, James “The Amazing” Randi. 

Following Legendary Magician James Randi 

James “The Amazing” Randi, a world-renowned stage magician, escape artist, and master of deception who has entertained and educated the world for over 50 years. His dazzling acts of mind reading and mentalism convinced people he had psychic powers, giving him the opportunity to use these skills to take advantage of people. 

Randi saw many others doing just that – he discovered faith healers, fortune-tellers, and psychics using his beloved mentalism and magic tricks – not to entertain, but to steal money and destroy lives. Today he works tirelessly to demystify paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. 

Featuring Key Figures From Randi’s Life 

Penn & Teller For over 40 years Penn Jillette & Teller have defied labels—and at times physics and good taste– by redefining the genre of magic and inventing their own very distinct niche in comedy. With sold out runs on Broadway, world tours, Emmy-winning TV specials, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and hundreds of outrageous appearances on everything from Fallon to Friends, The Simpsons to Colbert, Modern Family to Big Bang Theory, comedy’s most enduring team show no signs of slowing down.	Mythbusters Adam Savage American special effects designer and fabricator, actor, educator, and television personality and producer, known as the former co-host of the Discovery Channel television series MythBusters and Unchained Reaction.	Bill Nye “The Science Guy” Science communicator, television presenter, and mechanical engineer. Bill Nye is known as the host for the popular television shows “Bill Nye The Science Guy” and Netflix’s “Bill Nye Saves The World”.	Alice Cooper With a career spanning over 50 years, Alice Cooper is a legendary hard rock singer of the rock band Alice Cooper, a songwriter, and an actor.

Product Description 

AN HONEST LIAR is a story of cons and deceptions enacted for both good and evil. The film follows the life of James The Amazing Randi, a world-renowned magician, escape artist, and master of deception who has entertained and educated the world for over 50 years. His dazzling acts of mind reading and mentalism convinced people he had psychic powers, giving him the opportunity to use these skills to take advantage of people. Randi saw many others doing just that he discovered faith healers, fortune-tellers, and psychics using his beloved mentalism and magic tricks not to entertain, but to steal money and destroy lives.

Enraged by this, Randi decided to devote his life to protecting the public from these thieves. As a self-described liar, cheat, and charlatan, he would use his skills of deception for the public good. Over the years, he orchestrated elaborate hoaxes and famous investigations that would expose these charlatans and fakers for what they really were.

Interviews and revelations

AN HONEST LIAR relives these twisted tales through interviews with many of the original participants, a wealth of rare, behind-the-scenes, and never-before-seen footage and archival materials. People appearing in the film include Penn & Teller, Adam Savage, Bill Nye, Alice Cooper as well as other figures from Randi s life. Yet the truth can be hard to find when dealing with a master deceiver. Only a few years ago at the age of 81, Randi came out of the closet as a gay man. He had been living with his partner, the artist Jose Alvarez (who played Carlos), for over 25 years. Then, early one morning in September of 2011, the FBI surrounded Randi’s home and took Jose away in handcuffs. He was charged identity fraud, a shocking discovery to all of Randi and Jose s friends.

It turned out that Jose, aka Carlos and Randi s partner for 25 years, was not who he claimed to be. And Randi – who spent his life exposing deception may have perpetrated another hoax or become the victim of a very personal one. Through Randi s life, the film looks at how deception can be used to many ends some nefarious but others constructive. And when used by an honest liar like James Randi deception can be used not only to conceal secrets, but also to reveal truths.