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The Man with Bogart's Face |
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The Man with Bogart's Face
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by 20th Century Fox
Sales Rank: 11391
Price: $9.98
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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 <I>Tales from the Crypt</I>). 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 <I>The Maltese Falcon</I>, 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. <I>--Jim Gay</I>
Viewer Reviews
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.
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