- During a backyard party where Tony Blake performs, the magician witnesses a Greek man he rescued earlier shoot another man. Blake suspects he was impaired and arranges an elaborate illusion in a hospital to catch the real killer.
- While rehearsing for an extended charity gig at the Los Angeles Fair, Tony is approached by Albie Allikolos to perform that evening at a private party - a birthday celebration for his artist girlfriend, Susanna - complete with home cooked Greek food by Albie himself. Tony later learns that Albie is a food importer, but whose passion was his race horse, Retsina, who needed to be put down a week ago due to a mysteriously broken front hoof, that incident which was just before a race. Two incidents occur with Albie. First, he is attacked at the fairground by two thugs, from which he is saved by Tony. And second, while Tony is performing his act at the party, Albie, in plain sight off in the distance, argues with a man who he shoots dead. The man is Casey Tolliver, a bookie. Behind bars, Albie claims that although he owed Tolliver money, it was as a friend, and not as a bookie or loan shark. And Albie, despite this incident being in front of several witnesses including Tony, claims that he had a blackout - the second within three days - and has no recollection of the shooting, with Tolliver being a good friend he would never want to hurt. Tony believes him, and believes that Retsina's broken hoof was no accident. Tony searches for why someone would want to hurt Albie, including framing him for murder by drugging or hypnotizing him into these blackouts.—Huggo
- Tony is preparing for a performance an outdoor theater for the LA County Fair. Albie Allikos comes in and watches as Tony rehearses, When Tony finishes, Albie applauds, introduces himself, and asks Tony to perform at a birthday party for his girl at his house that night. He offers Tony $25 and plenty of Greek food and dancing, and Tony says that he'll think about it.
Albie goes to the stables of his race horse, Retsina, and affectionately strokes the sign with the horse's name on it. Two men watch Albie from their car as the owner enters the stable, and then go in after him. Meanwhile, Tony drives up and sees the two men shove Albie out of the stable and onto the ground. He runs and Tony drives over. He offers Albie a ride, and Albie gets in.
Tony drives off and suggests that they call the police, but Albie abruptly refuses. He explains that he doesn't want to involve the police in a minor disagreement, and dismisses the two men as sneak thieves. Albie explains that he's an owner and the chairman of the board of his one "business", which is one rental stall and one horse. Eight day ago Retsina broke a foreleg and Albie had the horse put down. Tony sympathizes and Albie says that he dreamed of being a cowboy but became an importer who owned a horse. Tony agrees to perform at the party.
That night at Albie's house, Albie is dancing with his girl, Susanna. Frank Letterman glares at the couple from the sidelines and drinks. Once the dance ends, Albie invites Tony over and tells everyone to drink and eat. The importer introduces Tony to Frank, explaining that Frank is on his security payroll. They share a toast to life and tells Susanna that there's more for her party. He then introduces Tony to the guests, presenting him as a magician. Tony produces a giant-sized deck of cards from Albie's jacket, has Susanna choose three cards, and has them put back into the deck. Meanwhile, Susanna notices Albie looking ill, but he says that he's just a little dizzy, tells her to enjoy, and walks off.
Tony puts the deck into a houlette and makes the three chosen cards rise out of the deck by themselves. As he does, he sees Albie off to the side, telling a man to stop pushing him for the money. Tony then has the rest of the deck shoot out of the houlette, Meanwhile, Albie draws a gun, shoots the man that he's arguing with, and runs off. Everyone in the vicinity hears the gunshot, and Tony and Frank go after Albie. They find him sitting in the forest, and Frank draws his gun when Albie points his gun at him. Tony shoves Frank out of the way and goes over to Albie, who acts dazed and asks what happened. He looks at the gun in hand, surprised, and obligingly puts it down when Tony tells him to do so
The next day at the police station, Albie is in jail and meets with Tony. Albie says that he's terrible and doesn't know why he's there. He insists that the man he seemingly shot--Casey Tolliver--was his friend. Tony notes that the police say Tolliver was a bookie and Albie owed him money, and Albie says that Tolliver loaned him $3,800 for expenses on his horse. When the magician relates that he heard Albie arguing about the money and saw him shoot Tolliver, Albie insists that he wouldn't have done it over $3,800. He insists that Tolliver was his friend and did him a lot of favors, and came to the party to talk to Albie about his horse and why it was killed. Albie says that no one saw the horse break its leg, and it was just broken the day of the race. He concedes that someone might have crippled Retsina, and Tolliver said he knew something and was coming to the party to tell Albie. Albie doesn't remember seeing Tolliver at the party, and Albie explains that he got dizzy after drinking wine and then woke up in the forest with a gun in his hand. The importer confirms that he has only blacked out once a few days ago when he was in Susanna's sculpting studio. He had a drink when he was watching her work and got dizzy the same way. Albie wonders if he's guilty, and Tony tells him to keep the faith and leaves.
Later, Tony has Max obtain the police reports. Max admits that it doesn't make sense and Albie's doctor was unable to confirm that Albie had any mental issues other than irregular brain activity just after he was arrested. Tony notes that the two men who assault Albie at the racetrack were probably professionals, and Albie didn't have a motive to kill Tolliver. Max notes that Albie is flat broke so the $3,800 would mean a lot, and Tony witnessed the murder. Tony doesn't trust how obvious it is.
As Tony drives away, he spots someone following him. He pulls into the driveway of Susanna's house on a dead-end street, gets out, and waits. Tony's pursuer doesn't come down the street, and Tony goes inside. She makes Tony coffee and notices him examining her sculptures, and Tony asks her about Albie passing out there. She dismisses it as stress brought on by the accident to Retsina. When Tony notes that Albie doesn't think it was an accident, Susanna says that there's no reason to believe it was anything but. Tony keeps looking around, and Susanna asks him to stop, saying that she gets nervous when people look at her sculptures while she's done. When Tony notes that Albie insists that he's innocent, Susanna points out that they all saw him. As Tony goes, he says that Albie sends his love. Susanna looks nervous.
Tony drives out onto the street, and his follower is nearby and pulls into Susanna's driveway. The driver--Frank--goes inside.
At the airport, Tony boards his jet and Jerry tells him that the Bonds Hotel in Miami has arranged for Tony to get out of the fair and perform at the hotel early. Tony calls the hotel manager, George, who says that they had a booking snafu and they'll make it worth Tony's while to come there early despite the fair. He offers to double Tony's fee and Tony asks if he's willing to triple it. George reluctantly agrees, and Tony asks him to quadruple. When George hesitates, Tony says that it's not a matter of money. George says that he has carte blanche from the directors, and Tony refuses.
Once Tony hangs up, he and Jerry both agreed that someone is pressuring the directors to get Tony out of LA... and away from Albie. Tony goes to call Max and have him see who is on the Bonds board of directors.
That night at Susanna's studio, Tony breaks in and looks at the covered sculpture that Susanna stopped him from looking at earlier. The phone rings and Susanna pulls up outside and comes in. Tony hides in a closet and listens as Susanna answers the phone and tells Orin that she got rid of it. He tells her to get rid of the drug as well, and Susanna says that she'll go and get it, and pour it down the drain.
Once Susanna hangs up, she gets a bottle of a drug out of a drawer and disposes of it down the drain. Tony watches her, and once Susanna leaves he comes out and gets the drug bottle that she threw in the garbage. Susanna comes back in to get her purse and Tony hides. She turns off the light and leaves, and Tony goes out to his Corvette where Jerry is waiting. He shows Jerry the drug bottle with the residue of the drug and says that they have to get it analyzed.
Later, Tony meets with Max, who shows him film of a horse race with Coca's Dream winning. Max explains that according to his contacts, the odds on Coca's Dream were too high. Someone bet and won a lot of money because Retsina was scratched. Max figures that the winner made $3 million on the betting, and Tolliver was one of the bookies involved. The columnist has also learned that Orin Connover is on the board of directors of the Bonds Hotel and is also a major stockholder in the Fairgrounds Racetrack who hired Frank, who tried to kill Albie.
Connover goes to Susanna's studio and gets a call that Tony refused George' offer. Susanna figures that Tony believes Albie, who is still telling the world that he was framed. Frank is there as well and notes that Albie is in the prison medical ward because he's having side effects to the drug, and Connover says that they need to get rid of Tony.
Tony sneaks in to the prison posing as a ward orderly, and with Jerry posing as another orderly, pickpockets a guard's badge. Jerry brings a cart with him, and Tony hides in the bottom and takes him into the ward. Another guard checks the card and finds nothing in the bottom, and Tony gets out of the cart afterward and goes into Albie's room. Tony tells him that he was drugged twice, and both times Susanna was responsible. The magician tells Albie that they're going to make it appear that he escaped, to lure the people who framed him out into the open.
Albie goes out in the hallway and Jerry leads him to a nearby supply closet and hides him inside. Meanwhile, Tony uses a portable acetylene torch that he brought with him to cut through the bars of the room's window
A guard comes into the supply closet and asks Jerry about the game. Jerry tries to talk about metaphysics and the guard, bored, quickly leaves. Meanwhile, Tony makes an escape rope out of the bedsheets and lowers it out the window, making it look like Albi escaped that way. When Jerry comes back, Tony goes with him and his pilot smuggles him out.
In the cafeteria, the first guard notices that his badge is gone. He goes to the elevator where Tony and Jerry are escaping, and Tony drops the badge on the floor and then "finds" it. The guard assumes he dropped it and sighs in relief.
The next day, Tony, Max, and Jerry read a newspaper story about Albie's supposed escape. Tony notes that the police have no case until he finds the man who framed Albie. He figures that he can force Connover to produce the man who really killed Tolliver. He then goes to the racetrack and introduces himself to Connover at the latter's stable. Tony gives Connover a bill from Albie for $3,800, for feeding and stable fees for Retsina. Connover tears up the bill and Tony says that Retsina was hurt deliberately and the race was fixed. When Connover hands him the pieces of the bill back, Tony "magically" makes it whole and gives the bill back to Connover.
Connover goes to Susanna's studio and summon Frank, and Frank says that he'll make the hit at a park. Susanna wonders if he has to kill Tony, and Connover says that he's doing it to protect all of them. Tony calls Susanna and asks if Albie has contacted her yet, and she says that he has and wants to meet Tony at the park where Frank plans to make the hit. Connover listens in as Tony tells Susanna to have Albie meet him at a phone booth. She tries to talk Tony out of it at Connover's insistence, but Tony refuses and says that Susann is a good friend before hanging up.
Frank tells them that he thought Tony would try to pull something, and goes outside to get his preparation. He calls a man in who is waiting at Frank's car.
In the prison, Max tells Captain Ivan Gottschalk that they faked Albie's "escape". Albie points out that he didn't really escape, he just decided to hole up in a closet. He says that they were just trying to help Tony's plan, and Gottschalk notes that Tony's plan is risky.
That night, Tony watches from a theatrical supply shop as Frank's man--who is wearing a mask to make him look like Albie--approaches the phone booth. The man enters the phone booth, and Tony calls the booth. He tells "Albie to go to the shop and take the elevator down to the basement. The imposter crosses the street, and Tony goes to the basement where Jerry is preparing a gun. Tony gives the pilot a switch box and hides, and the imposter comes down on the elevator.
The imposter steps into the basement and draws his gun. Jerry films the entire thing, and the imposter looks for Tony. Tony "steps out", and the imposter removes his mask and shoots Tony. He hits Tony's prepared mirror instead that the magician is using to make it appear that he's there, and the lights come up dispelling the reflection. The killer runs forward and confirms that he was shooting glass, and runs out only to find Gottschalk and his officers waiting to arrest him. Max and Gottschalk go back in to check on Tony.
Tony picks up the Albie mask, and Frank steps out with a gun. Jerry turns off the lights and jumps Frank, and knocks the man out. Tony turns the lights back on and thanks Jerry for rescuing him, as Gottschcalk, Max, and the officers run in.
The next day at the jet, Max hears from the DA that Susanna has turned state's evidence. Albie arrives and says that he's in love, and shows them photos of his new love: a horse that he bought.
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