The Man with Bogart's Face (1980)

Too much of everything

As Good As It Gets

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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.

This movie is a very enjoyable homage to the Bogart and other detective films of old. Robert Sacchi nails it as Bogie and Michelle Phillips is a truly timeless beauty as Gena Anastas. However, the most noteworthy portion of this film involves the longest belly dancing scene ever produced in a Hollywood film. One well-known professional instructor commented that nothing else in cinema comes close for dance excitement. The scene, which ends up being an important part of the plot, occurs in a lushly beautiful Middle Eastern nightclub and is by all accounts mesmerizing. The pulsating music, the swirling veils and ringing finger cymbals, free-flowing undulations and beautiful costumes - and a surprise twist involving the seductive Sybil Danning - build tension and excitement until the very end. The three talented and beautiful professional nightclub dancers are led by exotic brunette beauty Kamala Almanzar, one of the US' leading belly dancers since the mid-1970s. She was hand-picked by famed Armenian musician Guy Chookoorian to travel with his orchestra on the road. Guy's ensemble is the live band that the dancers perform to in the scene. If you watch the trailer on this site, you will see a glimpse of Kamala (playing the finger cymbals behind Sybil Danning). If you're not yet a fan of belly dancing, you will be after watching this movie, and if you're an aficionado, it holds up very well after repeated viewing.

I originally looked this movie up to check out the performance of Olivia Hussey. She was inspiring in her "Romeo and Juliet" and I wanted to see more of her. Unfortunately, she is only given a bit part, and then killed off? She does have some funny moments though when talking about her missing father. Her name was Elsie Borsche, and her father's name is Horsche borsche. Which she delivers with a straight face in a bantering dialogue with the Bogart guy...hysterical! Being a huge "Alexander the Great" fan I was intrigued by the imagery and allusians throughout the film on the genre. A boat in the background is named "Euridice", the film is centered around two large (palm sized) deep blue sapphires which were inset into the eye sockets of a marble head of Alexander himself. One of the main characters was named Alexander. According to the movie script, legend stated that it was the last thing that Alexander laid eyes on before he died. Rest assured this is fictional. The film ends with the camera focused on the gems lying on a bed as the credits rolled by. It's been a few years since I viewed the film, but if you like all things Alexander, this film is worth checking out just to find all the little background features related to his genre. With several films coming out on the great conqueror soon, (2004-05), it might be also worth your time just for the fun of it. If you're interested in seeing a regurgitated Humphrey Bogart you'll likely be disappointed. I am too young to really know what Bogart was like, but clearly the similar face and dead pan vocal style of this actor is as close to the real Bogart as this film gets. I also got the feeling that they started out with a concept of making a Bogart spoof film, and ended up with a historical/comedic/mystery. As an afternote, their is a scene with a shark at the end of the film which attacks a character and supposedly bytes off the prosthetic arm which was holding a pouch containing the gems. In this film era,(thanks to Jaws) every time a character entered the water, a shark attacked him...it was expected. This scene alone dates the film to the late seventies/early eighties, without even knowing outright that it was released in 1980. Overall, the film is not much more than a B movie destined to live out its days molding in some closet of a Hollywood producer and then likely just disappear. The relative rarity of Alexander films makes it worth owning for the hardcore Alexander fan, but unless you want to do a filmography on Olivia Hussey or one of the other up and coming stars of the era, avoid at all costs...which shouldn't be hard to do given the fact that you'll probably have to special order it anyway. It's been fun commenting on this film, and I welcome any questions about Alexander the Great.

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.