chrinic27 Review of The Man with Bogart's Face

The Man with Bogart's Face (1980)

Should have been called "The Eyes of Alexander the Great"

[9 August 2003]

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.