The Man with Bogart's Face (1980)

Nostalgic send-up of Bogart detective films of the '40s boasts a spot-on impression of the famous star by Robert Sacchi, who made a career doing mostly the same. (That's him in the Robert Zemeckis-helmed "You, Murderer" episode from Tales from the Crypt). The premise is that Sacchi plays a retired cop who gets plastic surgery to make himself look like Bogart, and then sets up shop as a private dick named Sam Marlow. But the plot is really just an excuse to pay tribute to Bogart's detective films. Sacchi's channeling of Bogie is so uncanny you'll be positively mesmerized for about 30 minutes. And that's the problem. While this amiable pastiche might help while away the evening in nostalgic reverie, it does a major disservice to the films it appears to idolize. That's the problem with nostalgia: it usually jettisons all the depth and complexity of the original, leaving an indistinct fifth-generation clone, a fuzzy Xerox of a Xerox of a Xerox. So when the novelty of the flick begins to wane, there's only the plot to fall back on for interest. And the plot is only there to have something upon which to hang references to Bogart flicks. The story largely mirrors The Maltese Falcon, with the great whatsit, the things dreams are made of, being a pair of sapphires known as the "eyes of Alexander." The cast is composed of simulacra of past film greats: Gene Tierney (Michelle Phillips), Sidney Greenstreet (Victor Buono), and Peter Lorre (Herbert Lom)--not so successful, that last one. --Jim Gay Amazon.com

Sam Marlow in "The Eyes of Alexander"

All Bogie fans, in fact ALL lovers of classics should see THE MAN WITH BOGART'S FACE. It stars Robert Sacchi, who is an uncanny double for Mr. B. in size, face, hair, mannerisms and voice. Watching him in this movie is like seeing Bogie alive again.

The story opens at a plastic surgeon's office. The gauze wrappings are removed from our hero's face; he sits in front of a TV that's showing the last scene of THE MALTESE FALCON. As the surgically-created Bogart examines his visage in the mirror with a characteristic twitch, we hear Bogie's famous "you're going over/because you're partners" soliloquy coming from the nearby television.

"Bogart's Face" is packed with references to classic cinema, both spoken and visually. The climactic house of mirrors shootout in Orson Welles' THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI is reenacted at Hollywood's famous Wax Museum. Sacchi's character, hard-boiled detective Sam Marlow, talks incessantly about old films. He'll do something, like throw a sword into the ceiling, and then remark: "Tyrone Power did that in THE MARK OF ZORRO.

Michelle Phillips is the woman private eye Marlow is obsessed with. He thinks of her as Gene Tierney in LAURA, in fact, he even calls her Laura one time by mistake. Marlow drives an early 40s sedan and lives in a trench coat (naturally).

Actors in the film represent those from Bogart classics, such as Victor Buono playing Sidney Greenstreet and Herbert Lom as Peter Lorre. Additionally there are old-time stars sprinkled throughout in cameos: George Raft, Yvonne DeCarlo, Mike Mazurki and Henry Wilcoxon.

In one scene, Sacchi is a stunning Bogie in his sparkling white dinner jacket. Experiencing this film is like seeing the Bogart movie that never was. I highly recommend it!

For another modern take on Humphrey Bogart, check out Woody Allen's PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM-- the 1972 adaptation of Allen's Broadway show. In this one, the Bogart impressionist is Jerry Lacy. June 15, 2008

Michelle Phillips PLUS Sybil Danning!!!

I first saw this movie in an almost empty cinema back in 1980 when I was 20. My how Time flies!!! The cinema next door was packed with yuppies of dubious and questionable sexuality who were watching The Village People in "Can't Stop The Music". Robert Sacchi does a very good impersonation of Humphey Bogart and Michelle Phillips is equally impressive as Gene Tierney. As per usual Sybil Danning takes off her clothes(Thank God).Now it is 25 years later and I STILL am not embarrassed to tell anybody which movie I saw that day unlike the guys who were in the cinema next to me!!! July 4, 2005

They found Bogie's double, why couldn't they find a script?

Bogart is cloned, but so what? It could have been great. In addition to finding Bogart's exact double, they managed some pretty impressive cameos such as Mike Mazurky who just five years before, played a Moose Malloy that would have made Chandler proud. But the script abuses EVERY CLICHE and not ONE joke hits its mark. Worse, the script is bloated with endless movie references. Some that appear to be put there without even the slightest bit of cause given that they aren't even films noir.
I haven't liked any of the recent parodies of noir on film. Especially since they all seem to rely on the similiar plot devices. "The Singing Detective" and "Girl a Car and a Blonde" rely on the identical device that escaping into a noir world helps the protagonist escape a painful medical condition.

Thankfully, "Man with Bogart's Face" does not fall into this trap, but that doesn't improve it much. For better or worse, we must be given Sam Marlow's motivation for assuming his role as a Bogie clone, and we are not.
This movie has more in common with "Umney's Last Case," Stephen King's miserable failure at creating noir in his collection "Nightmare's and Dreamscapes" in that both King and Andrew J.Fenady (the screenwriter) think that if you can cram in enough references to the classics you will be given instant crediblity. This is not the case. My suggestion for alternative to renting this film is that you rent the real thing. Particularly "Maltese Falcon" and for an even better version of the cool funhouse scene in "Man with Bogart's Face," rent "The Lady from Shanghai.
Alas, as I'm a sucker for everything noir I will probably continue to seek out these types of films. Next on my list is "The Black Bird" which I hope is an abler spoof of The Maltese Falcon". That and "Radioactive Dreams" January 4, 2005

OK Evening's Entertainment

Fun to see Mike Mazurky, Henry Wilcoxon, and George Raft in bit parts. Fun to see Robert Saachi do a spot-on impersonation of Bogart. The best unplanned fun is viewing the cheesy 70s TV-movie values that add to the nostalgia of the film. May 5, 2003

This is bogart BUT the plot is silly and at times perverted

5 stars to the actor playing bogie,he has the voice,look, manors and style PERFECT. however the golden age of movies did not have curse words & naked women and i really doubt the real bogie would have lowered himself to this stupid script. If you are the ultimate bogart fan,like me, you can apprechiate just how good this actor plays him and at times there are a few funny sceenes like a car crash resulting from seeing bogie back from the dead.nice hearing the this actor relate everything to the "old days" as he visits certain streets and area's in this film where previous old movies were shot naming the stars who were in them, you can kind of picture it in B&W in your head if you saw the films. it is also kind of neat seeing a cameo by george raft an actor who played with bogie way back when in some of the classics but this is NOT a child safe movie. You can take most of the golden age movies and watch them with a family but not this trashy comedy too many uneeded sex implied scenario's that just dont fit with the real humphrey bogart films. February 15, 2003

More reviews at Amazon.com ...