Movies of the 80s: 'The Man with Bogart's Face' Was Popular on Airplanes and Nowhere Else

The Man with Bogart’s Face

Directed by Robert Day

Written by Stanley Weiser

Starring Robert Sacchi, Franco Nero, Michelle Phillips

Release Date October 3rd, 1980

Private eye Sam Marlow (Robert Sacchi) looks like Humphrey Bogart on a case that looks like "The Maltese Falcon."

Behind the Scenes

“I like hearing that I look like Bogart, but I want to hear that I’m not a bad actor either.” Robert Sacchi

Sacchi leaned into looking like Humphrey Bogart well before the movie. In 1967, Sacchi appeared in a commercial for trench coats, a signature of Bogart characters. Then, in the 70s Sacchi toured colleges with his one man show “Bogey’s Back.”

Andrew J. Fenady wrote the book The Man with Bogart’s Face in 1977.

Shopping mall magnate Mel Simon spent $50 million dollars to get into the movie business. He gave $4 million dollars to Andrew J. Fenady to make The Man with Bogart’s Face.

Andrew J. Fenady was a Bogart super-fan who wrote the novel, The Man with Bogart’s Face unaware of the actor who would go onto play his cinematic Bogey. Fenady was so high on the film adaptation that he began to write a sequel and there was even talk of a Bogart themed television series starring Sacchi and penned by Fenady.

March 4th, 1980, it was announced that 20th Century Fox was canceling the release of The Man with Bogart’s Face. The release was scheduled for late March. They did not, at that time, have a plan for the release of the film.

The film was set to be released under the title Sam Marlowe Private Eye as of October 1980 but then was released in December of 1980 under the original title.

Asked about The Man with Bogart’s Face around the time it was intended to be released in 1980, Humphrey Bogart’s wife, Lauren Bacall claimed to not have heard about the film and related that she wished people would stop exploiting her late husband.

In response to Bacall, Robert Sacchi told reporters that he didn’t feel the movie was exploiting Bogart but rather, “I think it furthers the legend.”

Columnist James Bacon stated in an article in 1981 that the plan for the film was a 600 screen national release. The plan was changed due to management changes at 20th Century Fox. Bacon had a cameo role in the film as a reporter.

Later in 1981, The Hollywood Reporter put out a story claiming that The Man with Bogart’s Face had found new popularity being shown on airplanes.

What did critics in 1980 say about The Man with Bogart’s Face?

Not much. Critics really didn’t get a chance to see the film after 20th Century Fox scuttled the release. The film played in many markets late in 1980 but with little fanfare. Mostly, there were features about actor Robert Sacchi and his resemblance to Bogart. Beyond that, very little was said about The Man with Bogart’s Face.

One critic, who unfortunately did not have a byline on their article, wrote in December 1980 that they were not writing a Top 10 movies of 1980 list but they did cite The Man With Bogart's Face as a 'small pleasure' in a year filled with bloated, overblown failures. The article appeared in The Daily Breeze on December 31st, 1980. Other than that, I was not able to source a review from the time of the film's modest theatrical run.

What do critics say today?

Also not much. The Man with Bogart’s Face has no Rotten Tomatoes score. The film does have a decent 6.2 out of 10 rating from users on IMDB.

The Man with Bogart’s Face isn’t on any official streaming site but the film is available in a fan upload on YouTube. Linked here. Speaking of YouTube, be sure to check out our YouTube channel, Movies of the 80s featuring shortform informational videos on the most beloved and the most forgotten movies of the greatest decade ever, the 1980s. Like and subscribe to our YouTube channel, linked here.