The Naked Face

Moore plays a psychiatrist caught in a web of intrigue and murder, as his patients become victims of a sinister plot. Steiger and Gould play a pair of detectives assigned to the case, but their disdain for Moore affects little progress in solving the case, and he turns to wily amateur sleuth Carney, to solve the mystery before he becomes the next victim. Generally well constructed thriller, with occasional brutal, graphic and somewhat gratuitous violence that might offend. The scene in which Moore's office is ransacked is especially cold and callous in its excess.

Some neat twists are employed by actor-turned-director Forbes, with solid performances from Moore, Steiger and Gould in particular. Moore's normally nonchalant persona is replaced here with suitable concern, as he's pursued by sadistic villains with little inclination for mercy. The executions are particularly nasty and the tone is never far from dark and threatening. In some ways, "The Naked Face" is similar in vein to both "Still of the Night" and "Colour of Night" in terms of its content, and has a render reminiscent of a Brian De Palma thriller (though it lacks De Palma's signature styling).

Despite the sophisticated elements, the dialogue is only functional and at one hour and forty-five minutes, the film does overstay its welcome. Worth a look, but nothing spectacular.

Was this a great movie, certainly not. However, it was a good movie and a whole lot better than the Roger Moore Bond pictures had become by that time. Moore plays a therapist whose life is about to be snuffed out--the problem is, he has NO idea WHO wants him dead. Exactly who really is behind the attempts and why it is occurring I will not reveal (it would spoil the film) but it keeps you guessing and the performances are good. This is a good attempt by Moore to do something different and I applaud his efforts.

If you like seeing Moore as someone other than 007, I also suggest you see Ffolkes This is an odd little adventure movie about a group of mercenaries who take over an oil platform. Moore's performance in this one is about as different from Bond as you could possibly find!

Contrary to some reviewers' comments, I thought that Roger Moore acted well enough here, portraying emotion such as when talking about his dead wife.

Rod Steiger and Elliot Gould were both good, though I assume that the former's hairpiece reflected what a police lieutenant, rather than a Hollywood star, could afford.

When the reason for the murders, murder attempts and general mayhem became apparent, it was something of an anticlimax as they didn't seem that necessary. The attempt to run down Dr Stevens in the passageway was particular hamfisted.

I'm tempted to see if I can buy a copy of the book on which the film is based, in the hope that it might fill in the several plot holes.

It was strange how the private detective, Morgens,chose to meet Stevens in a particularly isolated and forbidding area

As others have said, the ending was unsatisfactory and suggested there might be more trouble ahead.

Like other reviewers, I was half-hoping that Moore would switch into his Bond persona when he was being beaten up, but I guess that would have prompted me to complain that his Stevens character was not macho enough to do that.

I'm tempted to see if I can buy a copy of the book on which the film is based, in the hope that it might fill in the several plot holes.

EDIT: I bought a copy of the book, which the film generally followed, though the former did include two meetings at their homes that Dr Judd had with the sex-mad ex-actress and the lover of a gay patient at their homes. But the book did end on a clear and positive note, unlike the film - why did they have to tack on that final scene? One or two plot holes were explained, but not convincingly.

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 ("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.