The Great Buck Howard

Released in 2008, I still fondly recall seeing The Great Buck Howard at a special screening in Dallas. The film stars John Malkovich and Collin Hanks and is loosely based on director Sean McGinly's experiences as a road manager for The Amazing Kreskin.

In 2013 the stars aligned and a fellow collector called me to let me know that several props from The Great Buck Howard were available for sale at a prop shop. I called and soon had several screen used items from the film headed to Dallas.

After they arrived, I called my friend Brett Wolf who had also been a road manager for Kreskin. One night he came over to my house to see the new additions to my collection. We watched The Great Buck Howard on DVD, and I was privileged to hear several stories of his time with Kreskin.

Unfortunately, 2013 wasn't all roses, and Brett passed away a couple of months later. You are still missed my friend.

Fast forward to 2017. I've been fortunate that several items that I had originally passed on in 2013 have now found their way home.

 
Shown are two concept art posters for the film. The one on the left is signed by the director, Sean McGinly.

The Final Result

 
These two standees were seen in the Cincinnati theater.

  
(screen captures from the film – click to enlarge)

A Collector's Worst Nightmare

Sometimes, no matter how much you try, things just go wrong. I was concerned about the shipping of the two standees. Being made of foam core and over 6 feet tall, I knew that they were very fragile. I called and talked to the prop shop and agreed that the two standees would be sandwiched between 3 sheets of foam core and securely taped together. This would then be boxed securely with bubble wrap to keep it from moving. This is how they showed up:

As you can see, the standees were not sandwiched between layers of foam core.

  

This resulted in one of the standees being damaged. They were shipped insured, but it took over 6 months for me to receive any money. The prop shop said they were sorry, but let's face it, it's actions, not words, that matter. They dropped the ball, were unprofessional, and never even offered to refund any of the overcharge on shipping. If they were still in business, I'd name them.

  

Shown above are several key props from the movie:

• The coin Buck used for his counting trick
• Buck's Intro tape
• The cursed pin
• The magazine whose article caused Buck's "heart attack"
• The signed Buck Howard photo that Tom Arnold had when he met Buck after The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
• The bottle of brandy Troy brought Buck when he visited at the end of the movie
• The flashlights used to look in Buck's ears as he "proved" to Troy that he doesn't use electronics to perform his signature effect of finding his payment

Some of the items in action (click to enlarge):

  

  

Shown are costumes worn by John Malkovich as the Great Buck Howard.

   

    

 Shown are costumes worn by Collin Hanks as Troy Gable.

The Great Buck Howard is one of my favorite movies and I am always looking for additional production and screen used items. Please contact me at contact@nulljensencollector.com if you have anything you think I might be interested in.

Thanks,

Mark