The Great Houdini was a highly fictionalized made-for-TV movie biography of Harry Houdini featuring TV stars Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky and Hutch) and Sally Struthers (All in the Family) was written and directed by Melville Shavelson (who also wrote the novelization). This film first aired on ABC on Friday, October 8, 1976 under the title The Great Houdinis. The "s" was dropped for the first repeat in 1977.
The movie focused not on Houdini’s co...
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The Great Houdini was a highly fictionalized made-for-TV movie biography of Harry Houdini featuring TV stars Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky and Hutch) and Sally Struthers (All in the Family) was written and directed by Melville Shavelson (who also wrote the novelization). This film first aired on ABC on Friday, October 8, 1976 under the title The Great Houdinis. The "s" was dropped for the first repeat in 1977.
The movie focused not on Houdini’s conflicted personality or his spectacular magic and escapes, but on his family life, depicting him as the harried referee between his wife and mother, who were shown frequently squabbling with one another. In reality, Houdini’s wife and mother got along well, considering that Houdini’s mother spoke little English.
In an attempt to differentiate itself from the 1953 movie starring Tony Curtis, The Great Houdini ended not with the magician’s death, but with the medium Aurthur Ford's successful attempt to contact Houdini from beyond the grave. In...
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