The Great Buck Howard
John Malkovich is incomparable when it comes to taming one’s temper; he can hardly control it. John plays the character of Buck Howard and he topped the guest list of Johnny Carson and was eventually deleted from the list. But that does not stop him from executing his magic skills. He performs at small towns on a smaller stage with the same spirit and grandeur.
Film: The Great Buck Howard
Cast: John Malkovich, Colin Hanks, Emily Blunt, Griffin Dunne, Steve Zahn, Ricky Jay
Writer: Sean McGinly
Director: Sean McGinly
Running time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Rating: 3.5/5
He enthrals the audience at Akron with his splendid magical performance. And he never forgets to announce that he loves the place and the people, which moved him to popularity. Not only that, his performance fee is give to one among the audience and he employs his magical skills to find out the person and he seldom fails. No one is able to discover the mystery behind his powers.
Carson bestowed upon Buck Howard with “The Great” and Buck uses the title with great pomp and dignity. He sports the title even in front of his newly appointed road manager Troy (Colin Hanks). Buck is totally self-involved and indicates that he truly loves the people of that town and it is not necessarily an attempt to put up a show.
The movie “The Great Buck Howard” is actually Troy’s perspective of Buck Howard. Troy’s father (Tom Hanks) wants him to study law but Troy has a different aspiration. He wants to enter the show biz and acquire fame. He got the scent of this field with his new job as Buck’s manager. Though he never tries to discover Buck’s deceptive looks nor does the audience get a glimpse of it. And Troy is a new learner and gets to know little details of the field from Valerie (Emily Blunt) PR appointed by Buck in Cincinnati.
Troy conceives Buck as an enigmatic personality. Buck is never erased from people’s memory. He performs at small rooms with great comfort and same zeal. Buck attends shows organised by Regis Philbin, Kelly Repa, John Stewart and Martha Stewart. Buck’s manager Gil played by Ricky Jay organises a show at Las Vegas.
The story takes off from here as to what happens on the show and it also gives an insight into the show biz. People in the show wonder how he succeeds in finding out the right person with the money; they look into several probabilities. When Buck learns about this curiosity of the audience he invites two doctors to inspect and you will have to watch the movie to find out what happens next!
Troy is never able to know the inside or the true nature of Buck nor does the audience figure out what he is. The movie is cleverly written and well directed by Sean McGinly. Colin Hanks has portrayed the role of an ever-fascinated guy by Buck and Malkovich is superb. It is well-crafted movie that is fun to watch and it also gives a perspective of the show biz through the characters of Troy and Howard Buck.
“The Great Howard Buck” is a worth a watch. The film is rated as one to watch under parental guidance for the language that include some suggestive and a reference to drug.
