The Naked Face

The Naked Face is from the Golam and Globus Israeli production company that for a time was producing films for the US market. As I recall, Shelley Winters stole an emerald ring off of a film set when she wasn't paid for her work.

They were able to attract good casts, and The Naked Face, bad as it was, had one: Roger Moore, Rod Steiger, Art Carney Elliott Gould, and Anne Archer.

The story concerns a psychiatrist (Moore) who is being possibly set up for murder of his secretary and a patient - or, as he suspects, someone is trying to kill him.

Steiger plays a detective holding a grudge due to Moore's testimony in a case where a defendant killed his partner and won an insanity plea.

Absolutely gratuitous scenes of violence and torture, very unpleasant. Also Anne Archer walked in and out of Moore's office for no apparent reason as she never disclosed her problem

The film isn't particularly well photographed. And it's not particularly good.

Bryan Forbes ("The Stepford Wives" '75) directed this adaptation of a Sidney Sheldon novel in addition to writing it for the screen. Sir Roger Moore tackles a change of pace role, playing Dr. Judd Stevens, a Chicago psychiatrist. One of his patients is murdered for no apparent reason, and his secretary is horribly tortured before being killed. Lt. McGreary (Rod Steiger) is a volatile police detective, bearing a grudge against Stevens, who's very quick to consider the doctor a prime suspect. The story then unfolds as one would expect it to, as Dr. Stevens must evade attempts on his life while trying to prove his innocence and keep McGreary out of his hair.

"The Naked Face" really isn't deserving of some of the talent here. Made on the cheap by the Cannon Group (basically because some of their other product during this time had under performed at the box office), it adequately entertains without being remarkable in any way. Viewers may feel underwhelmed by the twists that the story provides, and the climactic reveal and confrontation fail to be that satisfying. Editing, photography, and pacing are all reasonably well done, although that music score by Michael J. Lewis is awfully melodramatic. The last second shock ending is quite annoying.

Moore is okay, no more, as our somewhat reserved main character, while Steiger is given yet another opportunity to rip the scenery to shreds. Elliott Gould is actually good as McGreary's partner Angeli. Lovely Anne Archer is appealing as always in her small role as one of the patients. David Hedison lends solid support as Stevens's good friend (and brother-in-law) Dr. Peter Hadley. The main attraction, however, is Art Carney in a likable turn as a sly private detective. The film gets just a little bit better when he turns up.

Fans of these actors and this genre may enjoy this one. At least it delivers one memorable sequence involving one of the attempts to kill off Stevens.

Six out of 10.

I think the entire film is a good film but the ending is a little bit too strange and seems not to be necessary. In my opinion we could cut out the last scene. The characters were played well, all in all a good film.

Roger Moore is in uncharacteristic surroundings here, in a very adult thriller. He plays a Chicago psychiatrist who tops the polic's suspect list when a number of people start getting bumped off in the city. You see, all those that are dead are patients at his clinic. As suspicion mounts, Moore does the only thing he can and takes the investigation into his own hands, hoping to clear his name by catching the real killer(s) himself.

Also involved in the film are Rod Steiger and Elliot Gould, both giving enjoyable performances as cops investigating the crimes. The story takes its inspiration from a Sidney Sheldon bestseller, and unfolds fairly intriguingly with various red herrings and killings tossed into the mix at regular intervals. However, the film isn't perfect by a long stretch of the imagination. For a start, the peculiar assassination at the end is supposed to be a twist of some sort, but it makes little sense. Also, the solution to the murders isn't that great (in fact, it's been six years since I saw the film and I can't remember exactly how it all gets resolved). Nonetheless, the film is probably worth a look, especially if you've never seen Moore in one of his more unstereotypical roles.

Roger Moore ("Dr. Stevens") is quite effective in this murder-mystery as an eminent psychiatrist who finds himself at the centre of a police investigation into the killing of his assistant and of one of his patients. Desperate to prove his innocence to police lieutenant "McGreavy" (Rod Steiger) and his sidekick "Angeli" (Elliott Gould), he must work out what exactly is going on. Is he the real target? Why? Who? Despite the efforts of a good cast, the writing is a bit lacklustre and it's fairly easy to spot who's pulling the strings - or, at least, who is helping the puppet master fairly early on, thereby robbing the plot of much jeopardy. As to the "why" element of the story, that proves to be really quite contrived, and in best Agatha Christie traditions there are too many new elements introduced near the end for us to have much of a go at playing detective ourselves on that front. It is entertaining to see these old pros on screen together, and that raises the standard somewhat - but basically, it's just a rather light-weight gangster film that you'll forget very quickly.