I totally remember this one. I've been steadily re-watching these for a few weeks, now, and there are only two others I've remembered, so it's like seeing them all over again for the first time. In this one, J&J give Max and his date their tickets to a magic show, resulting in his being on the wrong end of a magic trick. I remembered this one right off the bat; I mean, who doesn't love a good magic show? This episode really delivers. Missing Max, flying daggers, tigers, trap doors, lines like, "if you're the daddy, who's the mummy?" And some suspensfully scary stuff at the Acme magic factory! If you don't like clowns (lots of folks like me aren't fans), the bad guy will deliver on the creep factor. On the other hand, some pretty cheesy effects, here, including rampantly bad editing, EGREGIOUS jump cuts, terrible sound editing, and awful acting (specifically Harry Blackstone, Jr. as the magician). I know this one was probably pretty complicated due to the magic that had to be pulled off, but the kind of jump cuts they got away with here just seem ridiculous. For that, I knocked off a point. Why not more? Because,m still, even though I saw where this one was going pretty quickly and even with the bad work in post, this was an awesome episode, especially with that payoff kiss!
3 Reviews
Two Harts and One Blackstone
sambase-387737 October 2022
"I'm gonna reach out and grab ya!" That's a line from a song by Steve Miller called "Abracadabra". And that's what a magician does to the Harts' helpful man about the house, Max. He reaches out and grabs Max during a magic trick at one of his dinner shows. The magician is played by real life magician Harry Blackstone Jr.
Naturally, the Harts want to get Max back. So they go looking for him. After asking around they find out that Max disappeared while acting as a volunteer during a magic trick. That leads them to the home of Marcus the Magnificent. All kinds of crazy and spooky things happen there and it's where most of the fun takes place.
Overall, I enjoyed this episode. It was fun seeing Blackstone Jr. Play an evil magician. He doesn't really try to "act" in this episode, he just delivers his lines as if he's doing his magic act. Some people might see that as a shortcoming, but for a lighthearted show like Hart To Hart I thought it was just fine.
Naturally, the Harts want to get Max back. So they go looking for him. After asking around they find out that Max disappeared while acting as a volunteer during a magic trick. That leads them to the home of Marcus the Magnificent. All kinds of crazy and spooky things happen there and it's where most of the fun takes place.
Overall, I enjoyed this episode. It was fun seeing Blackstone Jr. Play an evil magician. He doesn't really try to "act" in this episode, he just delivers his lines as if he's doing his magic act. Some people might see that as a shortcoming, but for a lighthearted show like Hart To Hart I thought it was just fine.
Harry Blackstone, Jr., Peforms!
amorehl8 August 2023
I'm not much of a fan of magic, but I quite enjoyed this episode. I thought Harry Blackstone, Jr., did a marvelous job. Of course, he was well-known as an accomplished magician, but I thought what some considered his, say, "exaggerated" reading of his lines worked well and fit his character - especially since this is Hart to Hart, which is pretty much high camp all the time.
Unnecessary Disclaimer: I seriously don't like clowns; really, does anyone? But it cracked me up when the clown was slinging knives at Jonathan and kept hitting the balloons to his right (because of course, that's where all the balloons were set up on the board to be hit). I kept yelling at the screen: You're throwing right, aim more to the left!
And I thought Ms. Horan did a nice job in the lesser part of Vickie, the sweet, kind-hearted magician's assistant. Too bad she had to die - at least I think she did - I blinked and missed it.
Last, it was funny to hear Blackstone's resonant, theatrical voice coming out of Robert Wagner's mouth!
A surprisingly entertaining episode.
Unnecessary Disclaimer: I seriously don't like clowns; really, does anyone? But it cracked me up when the clown was slinging knives at Jonathan and kept hitting the balloons to his right (because of course, that's where all the balloons were set up on the board to be hit). I kept yelling at the screen: You're throwing right, aim more to the left!
And I thought Ms. Horan did a nice job in the lesser part of Vickie, the sweet, kind-hearted magician's assistant. Too bad she had to die - at least I think she did - I blinked and missed it.
Last, it was funny to hear Blackstone's resonant, theatrical voice coming out of Robert Wagner's mouth!
A surprisingly entertaining episode.
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