good back-story, and good acting

As Good As It Gets

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I was devastated to see the Breaking News about the death of the James Bond 007 star and national treasure Sir Roger Moore, at the age of 89, after a short battle with cancer, even more so because I had met him at a book signing, and seen him onstage, so the day of his death I paid tribute and watched this film. Basically Harold Pelham (Sir Roger Moore) is an uptight city worker, one day whilst driving his Rover P5B he suddenly becomes possessed, driving at high speed until he crashes. Pelham is taken immediately to hospital whilst on the operating table he briefly suffers clinical death, after he is brought back to life there appear to be two heartbeats on the monitor, then this disappears. When Pelham awakes, he finds his life has been turned upside down, including changes in his job as director of a marine technology company, where he learns he is supporting a merger that he once opposed, and he is apparently having an affair. As time goes by, Pelham's friends, colleagues and acquaintances claim to have seen him in places where he has never been, and certainly has no memory of doing so. Pelham finds he is also being followed by a mysterious silver Lamborghini Islero, slowly he suspects someone is pretending to be him, but then he calls home, and is shocked to hear a voice identical to his. Pelham returns home, looking in bad shape, and he is shocked to find himself, a doppelganger, his family assume that the Pelham just entered is a stranger pretending to be him. In the end, both Pelhams get into a high speed car chase, until finally the ruined Pelham crashes and goes off the bridge into the river, the refined Pelham looks down at the wreckage, and appears to have a moment where the second personality leaves his body, then he walks away. Also starring Hildegard Neil as Eve Pelham, Alastair Mackenzie as Michael Pelham, Hugh Mackenzie as James Pelham, Kevork Malikyan as Luigi, Thorley Walters as Frank Bellamy, Anton Rodgers as Tony Alexander, Olga Georges-Picot as Julie Anderson, Freddie Jones as Dr. Harris - Psychiatrist, John Welsh as Sir Charles Freeman, Edward Chapman as Barton, Laurence Hardy as Mason, Charles Lloyd Pack (Roger's father) as Jameson and Gerald Sim as Morrison. Moore gives one of his most serious performances, as the respectable businessman, with a moustache, slowly descending into madness from either mistaken identity, split personality or a second incarnation, the eerie atmosphere just about sticks throughout the film, you question what is real and what is not sometimes, there are the slow moments, but overall it is an interesting enough psychological thriller. Worth watching!

Roger Moore has always taken his acting lightly. However you do not build a successful career in both UK and USA television and become a successful international film star without a modicum of talent.In The Man Who Haunted Himself, Moore plays a wealthy business executive Harold Pelham whose company is considering getting involved in a merger. We initially see Pelham dressed conservatively and driving home carefully. Somewhere along the road he seems to have become possessed, he speeds up his car and gets involved in a terrible car accident.As he recovers from his injuries, an alter ego is unleashed, more cavalier, risk taking, dashing and begins to live Pelham's life. This Pelham uses cunning to make his company's share sale to be even more profitable. He has a casual affair and even has a perked up sex life with his wife.The real Pelham slowly realises that a doppelganger is on the loose and tries to get his life back on track.Not a raised eyebrow in sight in this film. This is regarded as Moore's favourite film and he really shows his acting chops, Moore even gets to make a reference to James Bond, a role he would next play.The film is really an updated version of Jekyll & Hyde but there is a sense of eeriness as the film concentrates on the real, more dull Pelham when he hears reports of the other double's activities such as thrashing someone in snooker, dabbling in some industrial espionage or being in some swanky club leaving him confused.Director Basil Dearden might have shown a dated view of London for even the early 1970s but he gets a uniformly excellent performance from his cast and you genuinely wonder how the film will end as to which Pelham will win out.

Some twenty or so years have passed since I originally saw this film, which, at the time I found to be very though-provoking, so it was with a mixture of interest and skepticism that I ordered it from Lovefilm. Happily, I was not disappointed. This is, without doubt, Moore's finest acting role and he delights with his use of facial expression; to me it shows that there is a lot more to his acting skills than the rather one-dimensional parts he spent most of his career playing e.g. The Saint, Brett Sinclair and Bond. Of course, this is dated, as it was filmed in 1970, however most people - myself included - have a fond affection for this period. Good support from some stalwart actors, including Anton Rogers and Hildegard Neil make this a satisfying experience. In my opinion, this story would merit a re-make by a director such as Christopher Nolan.NB One of the spookiest things about this film is that the director - Basil Dearden - was tragically killed in a car accident shortly after it was completed, in the exact stretch of road used in the film. This only serves to add to the mystery of this film but may put any superstitious directors off attempting a re-make. My recommendation is to watch this late at night with the lights off... Enjoy!

Roger Moore rates his performance in The Man Who Haunted Himself as the best of his career. It makes for a rather interesting insight when actors or directors or composers reveal what they consider their finest work. While the film itself in this case may not be the best that the actor has ever appeared in, Moore is probably right about his performance in it. He gets to register hitherto unseen emotions and nuances as the title character, and the script demands more "genuine" acting than he ever had to produce in the days of The Saint, The Persuaders, James Bond, or indeed any of his other movies.A dull and conservative business man named Harold Pelham (Roger Moore) is driving home from work one day when he does something extremely uncharacteristic. Almost as if possessed, he removes his seatbelt and drives terrifyingly fast, ultimately crashing his car. Later, while the unconscious Pelham is on an operating table his heart temporarily stops and it is only thanks to the speedy reactions of the doctors that he is revived. For a moment after his revival, something very strange happens – TWO heartbeats are briefly detected on the heart monitor. The operating doctors simply assume that their equipment is faulty. A while later, the fully healed Pelham returns to his usual routines – family life, work, social life, etc. But soon weird events start to plague him – people claim to have spoken to him the week before even though he has been on holiday; people turn up for lunch at his house when he swears he hasn't invited them; one man even pays up for losing a snooker match against him at the club, when in actual fact Pelham has no memory of playing the game. At work, a business opportunity involving a new electronic device is beset with problems as an alleged "mole" leaks details of the product to a rival company. Pelham begins to suspect that an impostor is trying to sabotage his life. Gradually, the awful truth becomes clear. When he died on the operating table and had to be resuscitated, a doppelganger (or "alter ego") was released…. and now the real Pelham and his sinister double are locked in a life-and-death struggle against each other.The Man Who Haunted Himself is an intriguing "thinking-man's" bloodcurdler. The story (by Anthony Armstrong) had already seen light as a 30-minute short on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. This extended version fleshes things out a bit more, and spends more time philosophising about the definition of identity, with Moore giving a riveting turn both as the bewildered hero and his evil double. In some ways the extra details inadvertently weaken the story, distracting audience attention from the teasing plot by dragging in too many characters and subplots. But it is worth persevering with the film through its periodic lulls, especially so that one can enjoy the absolutely terrific final scene – a thrilling car chase in which the real Pelham and the doppelganger pursue each until one of them plunges to his death over the side of a bridge. The ending is wonderfully unsettling and thought-provoking. On the whole, The Man Who Haunted Himself is a worthwhile audience teaser, a little drawn-out and heavy-handed in parts, but generally an enjoyable excursion into the supernatural for those who like such things.