I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

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.

We meet Sam Marlow (professional Bogart impersonator Robert Sacchi), a freshly-minted private eye, just as he's having the bandages removed from the plastic surgery he's undergone to make himself resemble his idol Bogie. No sooner has Marlow (yes, that's how he spells it, without the "-e") opened his p.i. office in Hollywood than he's up to his fedora in a search for rare sapphires with heiress and Gene Tierney manque Gena Anastas (Michelle Phillips in an engaging performance and a makeup job worthy of Kevyn Aucoin) and other classic movie star lookalikes. Andrew Fenady wrote the script based on his own delightful tongue-in-cheek mystery novel, but the movie's never more than a cute little time-passer (not that a cute little time-passer isn't welcome now and then, mind you!). They could've had fun with it and tried to capture the look and style of Bogart's classic movies, but this modestly-budgeted affair is for the most part shot and staged like a 1970s TV movie, complete with a cheesy soft-rock title song! Sacchi, though amiable enough, is a better impersonator than actor. True, he's got Bogart's mannerisms and appearance down, and he sports a wry streak at times, but he becomes disappointingly wooden in love scenes and other parts of the story that require him to show emotion. (No, being wooden in a love scene is not the same as having a woody in a love scene! :-) Having said all that, BOGART'S FACE is still pleasant light entertainment if you just want some good-natured mind candy to while away a rainy afternoon at home. The interestingly eclectic cast also includes Franco Nero as a Zachary Scott wannabe, Herbert Lom as a Joel Cairo type, Victor Buono as Phillips's Sydney Greenstreet-esque father, Misty Rowe as Marlow's ditsy blonde secretary ("...she looked like Marilyn Monroe and made as much sense as Gracie Allen..."), and Olivia Hussey and Sybil Danning as damsels in various forms of distress. And don't blink during the opening credits, or you'll miss venerable character actor Philip Baker Hall as Marlow's plastic surgeon!

Almost missed it. While visiting friends in Philadelphia sometime in the early 1980`s, I was channel surfing after everyone else went to bed. It wasn`t just Bogart he was obsessed with; but rather the entire era of those old flicks those of my age know so well. Add to that a plot liken to The Maltese Falcon - where so many different characters were interacting with Sacchi - and you have a piece of art as far as I`m concerned. About ten years later it appeared on TV and I taped it. >

Sacchi is the best Bogart impersonator ever... dry and droll as Sam Marlowe. The music from award winning composer George Duning [From Here To Eternity, Picnic, The World of Suzie Wong], the cinematography of perfect locations [including the famous Ambassador Hotel] are all right on target as famous tv director Robert Day [Kojak, Streets of San Francisco, The Avengers] guides the most endearing group of well-known character actors through a spoof of every dark detective film every made. See this if you loved all the old serious flicks and have a sense of humor... this one is a hoot.