An Honest Liar
| An Honest Liar | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Justin Weinstein Tyler Measom |
| Produced by | Tyler Measom Justin Weinstein |
| Written by | Justin Weinstein Tyler Measom Greg O'Toole |
| Starring |
James Randi Alice Cooper Bill Nye Adam Savage Penn & Teller Michael Shermer |
| Music by | Joel Goodman |
| Cinematography | Tyler Measom Justin Weinstein |
| Edited by | Greg O'Toole |
|
Production
company |
Left Turn Films
Pure Mutt Productions Part2 Filmworks |
| Distributed by | Abramorama |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | Undisclosed |
An Honest Liar is a 2014 biographical feature film documentary, directed and produced by Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom, written by Weinstein, Greg O'Toole and Measom, produced through Left Turn Films, Pure Mutt Productions and Part2 Filmworks, and distributed by Abramorama. The film documents the life of former magician, escape artist, and skeptical educator James Randi, in particular the investigations through which Randi publicly exposed psychics, faith healers, and con-artists. The film also focuses on Randi's relationship with his partner of 25 years, José Alvarez, who at the time of filming, had been discovered to be living under a false identity, calling into question "whether Randi was the deceiver or the deceived."
The film was screened at a number of 2014 film festivals, including the Tribeca Film Festival, Hot Docs, and AFI Docs Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature. It was released in February 2015.
An Honest Liar documents James Randi's early life as a carnival-bound refugee from Toronto who, early on, dedicated himself to learning every trick performed by Harry Houdini, and even improving on some of them. In one of his feats as an escape artist, Randi frees himself from a straitjacket while being hung upside down by his ankles over Niagara Falls.
Age and concerns over the danger of his profession and his health lead him to retire from that occupation and seek out not only a new career, but a crusading obsession that makes him a pop cultural fixture by the 1970s: As a scientific skeptic investigator and challenger to pseudoscientific and paranormal claims, which leads him to expose the deceit behind religious faith healers, psychics, and other con artists who exploit the public. Randi becomes a recurring guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and makes appearances on TV shows such as Happy Days and in rock music artist Alice Cooper's 1973 Billion Dollar Babies tour, where Randi decapitates Cooper at the end of each performance.
...
Wikipedia