Der Mann mit Bogarts Gesicht

Ex-cop turns private eye after he has plastic surgery to look like his movie hero. Send-up of 40's Bogart films will probably offend fans. Skewers familiar film noir scenes and characters, sometimes with subtlety. Similar to "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" (1982) and "The Cheap Detective" (1978). (Rating: B+)

Sacchi is the best Bogart impersonator ever... dry and droll as Sam Marlowe. The music from award winning composer George Duning [From Here To Eternity, Picnic, The World of Suzie Wong], the cinematography of perfect locations [including the famous Ambassador Hotel] are all right on target as famous tv director Robert Day [Kojak, Streets of San Francisco, The Avengers] guides the most endearing group of well-known character actors through a spoof of every dark detective film every made. See this if you loved all the old serious flicks and have a sense of humor... this one is a hoot.

This amusing, sometimes poignant look at the Hollywood detective genre of the 1940's and 1950's stars Robert Sacci as an unnamed former cop who retires, uses his life savings to pay for plastic surgery to transform his image into that of his idol, Humphrey Bogart, then sets up shop as a private eye under the name "Sam Marlowe". Robert Sacchi, incidentally, is one of the rare few Bogart impersonators who got the lisp exactly right; more to the point, the body and facial language are there. For awhile, "Sam"'s only client is his landlady, who wants him to find her undersized boyfriend, and his only conversational foil is his secretary, simply called "Dutchess" (Misty Rowe), who in his own words, "looked like Marilyn Monroe and made about as much sense as Gracie Allen", and has a passion for banana splits. Then he encounters Elsa (Olivia Hussey), the plain, sweet, virginal daughter of a retired props-master who has been murdered for no discernible reason. In the process of investigating the murder, Sam shortly runs across: the Gene Tierney lookalike daughter (Michelle Phillips) of Anastas, an avaricious, obscenely wealthy Greek shipping tycoon (Victor Buono, turning in a creditable Sidney Greenstreet), his hapless, long-suffering second wife (Yvonne deCarlo, who manages to play a variety of put-upon emotions without saying a word), his two smarmy henchmen (Herbert Lom, channelling Peter Lorre, and Jay Robinson, doing a reasonably accurate Lionel Atwill), and Anastas' vicious, amoral Middle-Eastern potentate (Franco Nero) who comes complete with a glamorus and bafflingly loyal mistress (Sybil Danning), all of whom would give anything to acquire the "Eyes of Alexander", two huge, perfectly matched star sapphires. When Elsa is murdered, Marlowe's interest in solving the case becomes personal, and he sets out through a labyrinth of Los Angeles landmarks, including the Hollywood Bowl, the scatological and esoteric attractions of Hollywood Boulevard, and Santa Catalina Island in pursuit of the rocks, determined to get at them before either of the two wealthy competitors. Throw in cameos by Mike Mazurki and assorted others, the traditional dumb-but-sympathetic ally on the police force, and a plethora of nicely drawn character turns that provide dimension to practically all players, and despite an unfortunate title song, you have, to my mind, a thoroughly enjoyable movie experience.

Wow... Ok, Bogie fans, here's a unique treat for you -- a perfectly excellent noir detective story led by Robert Sacchi doing a holistic Humphrey Bogart impression so near-flawless that it's, paradoxically but truly and lovingly, a Bogie movie without Bogie. And a pretty darn good one at that.

Sacchi nails Bogart's look, voice, phrasing, facial expressions, posture, mannerisms, and cool suave. In fact, the only reason I said "near" flawless is that in some of the mannerisms he's too good. Meaning, he could have backed off a bit on the pointing, hand-to-lips, and face-twitch. He duplicates those Bogie quirks flawlessly, he just did them perhaps too often. Still, the performance is miraculous and only about .01% away from Flawless.

The wardrobe department nails the clothing (except for the paisley bathrobe... that one was a misfire). And the script captures not just the genuine hard-boiled spirit of Bogie's private dicks but also the emotional and ethical subtleties that Bogart displayed in most of his characters (with one exception -- a single line, an attempt at humor that was too lecherous for the character). Another smart feature of the script is its clever, un-forced nods to Hollywood history. But the dialog doesn't just re-use lines from actual Bogie films, it creates new quotables that are totally worthy of Humphrey Bogart's film legacy.

Other than the bathrobe, the theme song is the only truly bad thing about this movie (and it is genuinely atrocious!). But excusing those items and the photography in a few scenes looking like grade B 70s television production (modest budget), this is truly a great movie.

Making this short and to the point. This movie was great! I loved it! I actually picked this up at a Hollywood Video for 3 bucks on VHS and watched it about 5 times in the last couple weeks. I'm a big Bogart fan and I just latched onto this movie. I thought the song was funny and now have it as a ring tone on my phone. Robert Sacchi is great and pulls off a good Bogart. His nose is a little big, his voice is a Bogart-Columbo mix, and he does a few things that are awkward but otherwise, he was fantastic and this film was wonderful. No one can be a perfect Bogart but he was great. Remember, Sam Marlow is a fan of Bogart and isn't going to do everything he did. He mentions a lot of other movies and does some things that were never part of the real Bogart's character's. But, it's so funny and hilarious and has a great cast, including some beautiful women. Watch it and have fun!