The Man with Bogart's Face

Almost missed it. While visiting friends in Philadelphia sometime in the early 1980`s, I was channel surfing after everyone else went to bed. It wasn`t just Bogart he was obsessed with; but rather the entire era of those old flicks those of my age know so well. Add to that a plot liken to The Maltese Falcon - where so many different characters were interacting with Sacchi - and you have a piece of art as far as I`m concerned. About ten years later it appeared on TV and I taped it. >

Welcome to a memory trip down nostalgic lane, as "The Man with Bogart's Face" is a neat, affable little homage to a Hollywood legend. It's a typical throwback to those hardboiled crime dramas Bogart appeared in, but set in modern times and the notable gimmick (Robert Sacchi's private eye getting plastic surgery to look like Bogart) is well implemented. It's a one-idea concept (the usual free-flowing narration), but it's old fashion story-telling, dry, razor sharp humour, tightly drummed mystery / suspense and voluptuous dames (Michelle Phillips, Misty Rowe and Sybil Danning) go on to make an appealing package. While in a way you can call it a spoof, it doesn't over do it and does everything in a rather low-key and witty manner. Robert Sacchi simply fit's the part and truly embodies the spirit --- as he spends most of the time decked out in that hat and trench coat, putting on the voice and he always has something to say. Also popping up is Olivia Hussey, Frank Nero (whose character has strange fascination for the colour blue), Victor Buono, Herbert Lom and Yvonne De Carlo. The thoroughly plotted story has a whole bunch of random investigations that eventually come together (the search for the Eyes of Alexandria - two sapphires), as once a struggling private-eye Sam Barlow finds himself being showered in clients, money and danger. He's constantly in someone's sights - for good (the ladies) or bad (hooded hoodlums). Also the script manages to throw around plenty of movie references and that's part of its self-knowing charm. It's well-crafted by director Robert Day and the funky opening theme is quite a catchy title.

If you like Bogart, you will enjoy this film thoroughly. I only wish it was on video so I could buy it! Very nostalgic. Very Bogart...as he was in his Ace Private-Dick days as Sam Spade/Philip Marlowe.

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+)

We meet Sam Marlow (professional Bogart impersonator Robert Sacchi), a freshly-minted private eye, just as he's having the bandages removed from the plastic surgery he's undergone to make himself resemble his idol Bogie. No sooner has Marlow (yes, that's how he spells it, without the "-e") opened his p.i. office in Hollywood than he's up to his fedora in a search for rare sapphires with heiress and Gene Tierney manque Gena Anastas (Michelle Phillips in an engaging performance and a makeup job worthy of Kevyn Aucoin) and other classic movie star lookalikes. Andrew Fenady wrote the script based on his own delightful tongue-in-cheek mystery novel, but the movie's never more than a cute little time-passer (not that a cute little time-passer isn't welcome now and then, mind you!). They could've had fun with it and tried to capture the look and style of Bogart's classic movies, but this modestly-budgeted affair is for the most part shot and staged like a 1970s TV movie, complete with a cheesy soft-rock title song! Sacchi, though amiable enough, is a better impersonator than actor. True, he's got Bogart's mannerisms and appearance down, and he sports a wry streak at times, but he becomes disappointingly wooden in love scenes and other parts of the story that require him to show emotion. (No, being wooden in a love scene is not the same as having a woody in a love scene! :-) Having said all that, BOGART'S FACE is still pleasant light entertainment if you just want some good-natured mind candy to while away a rainy afternoon at home. The interestingly eclectic cast also includes Franco Nero as a Zachary Scott wannabe, Herbert Lom as a Joel Cairo type, Victor Buono as Phillips's Sydney Greenstreet-esque father, Misty Rowe as Marlow's ditsy blonde secretary ("...she looked like Marilyn Monroe and made as much sense as Gracie Allen..."), and Olivia Hussey and Sybil Danning as damsels in various forms of distress. And don't blink during the opening credits, or you'll miss venerable character actor Philip Baker Hall as Marlow's plastic surgeon!