Thursday, February 9, 2012

Orson Welles performs Russian Roulette

June 17, 2010 by  
Filed under card tables

Clip from the unaired pilot of “The Orson Welles Show”

Duration : 0:6:57


[youtube sG6a8HPYbfI]

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23 Responses to “Orson Welles performs Russian Roulette”
  1. scpeer says:

    I’ll take the …
    I’ll take the bullet over that lame laugh-track

  2. SgtTravisBickle says:

    Even still, his …
    Even still, his drama is amazing and I would have loved it if he played it straight the whole way… he gave the trick so much more depth.

  3. BullshiterBader says:

    Is this real? I …
    Is this real? I mean could he have actually died?

  4. dancingdiplodocus says:

    @SgtTravisBickle it …
    @SgtTravisBickle it is tongue in cheek

  5. lordrampage says:

    WOW BRILLIANT!!! …
    WOW BRILLIANT!!!WOMDERFULL!!!

  6. TRaddcliff says:

    weird…his hands …
    weird…his hands were tied. then they were not.

    also strange how the bullet shattered the lightbulb but didnt go through the backing HA HA HA.

    so dumb

  7. billytrack says:

    brilliant – ok he …
    brilliant – ok he wasnt doing another kane, but that was riveting in a new way. still fresh today

  8. aliceboy says:

    That poor schmuck. …
    That poor schmuck. I know that sort of cabaret was always in his blood, but it’s sad to see that self-obsessed wonder reduced to vaudeville for an uncaring audience. And was Angie Dickinson really a sharpshooter, or was her sole qualification that she was on ‘Police Woman’?

  9. MiraTempleton says:

    Holy cow!!! I’ve …
    Holy cow!!! I’ve seen Orson perform some pretty corny magic tricks in the past, and I thought this was just going to be another one, but he really got me with this one. Bravo!!!

  10. gimickuk1 says:

    Not sure Travis, I …
    Not sure Travis, I think it was on a section from the secret cabaret, you might want to search for that…

  11. SgtTravisBickle says:

    I can’t stand all …
    I can’t stand all the canned laughter in this…it’s in all the wrong places.

  12. SgtTravisBickle says:

    Hey, is there video …
    Hey, is there video of what you’re talking about? Sounds interesting.

  13. KommissarMakita says:

    Its almost like he …
    Its almost like he knows he is the ONLY person in the room that knows when the real bullet will come and that it is not staged and therefore has to scream to the poor, ungifted people in the room that it IS the death bullet in now don’t fire it at him!

  14. gimickuk1 says:

    WOnderful! Thanks …
    WOnderful! Thanks for sharing…

    On a similar note i remember when Ricky Jay performed in character as a gamber / con artist and really lost his temper…

    A magic chat board was inundated with (so called) magicians slating him for getting angry, saying that he had a personality disorder…

    I guess they are used to seeing flat, fake presentations that nobody cares about….

  15. lavverlylad says:

    Derren Brown …
    Derren Brown reimagined this.

  16. rgould09 says:

    My God, the …
    My God, the showmanship!

    So good it nearly brought tears to my eyes.

  17. SgtTravisBickle says:

    This started out …
    This started out cheesy with the audience laughing in weird places, but the drama builds and when he screams “TARGET, TARGET!!”, that’s the payoff! Most magicians have cheesy over-dramatic acting skills but Orson sells the effect with superior acting. This was a great clip!

  18. limeybadtooth says:

    orson welles must …
    orson welles must be the most charismatic man ive ever seen,im so glad this is on here,cheers ottervomit ;)

  19. KentAllard says:

    initially it was to …
    initially it was to be the pilot for a tv series, his 3rd attempt I might add with the previous two being chat shows, a network expressed interest but thought it might do better as a special, that ended somehow and from what I’ve read he was crafting it into another film essay like F for Fake but more straight forward

  20. KentAllard says:

    when they …
    when they introduced F for Fake on Turner Classic Movies, Penn & Teller said that Orson was a hack, but that is very odd because Jim Steinmeyer (he worked with Welles on The Magic Show and on his talk show performances) has said Welles was a total pro who could have easily gone professional if he wanted

  21. KentAllard says:

    he loved magic and …
    he loved magic and he loved doing magic

  22. spatrick says:

    This has got to be …
    This has got to be one of the most dramatic mentalism effects ever done and with Orsen Welles genius it is elevated even farther. Orson is certainly no hack, even when he is doing magic.

  23. burke2314 says:

    Poor Orson, the …
    Poor Orson, the world’s greatest movie maker at twenty seven. Forced to be a hack in his old age.

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