User reviews

Roger Moore is in uncharacteristic surroundings here, in a very adult thriller. He plays a Chicago psychiatrist who tops the polic's suspect list when a number of people start getting bumped off in the city. You see, all those that are dead are patients at his clinic. As suspicion mounts, Moore does the only thing he can and takes the investigation into his own hands, hoping to clear his name by catching the real killer(s) himself.

Also involved in the film are Rod Steiger and Elliot Gould, both giving enjoyable performances as cops investigating the crimes. The story takes its inspiration from a Sidney Sheldon bestseller, and unfolds fairly intriguingly with various red herrings and killings tossed into the mix at regular intervals. However, the film isn't perfect by a long stretch of the imagination. For a start, the peculiar assassination at the end is supposed to be a twist of some sort, but it makes little sense. Also, the solution to the murders isn't that great (in fact, it's been six years since I saw the film and I can't remember exactly how it all gets resolved). Nonetheless, the film is probably worth a look, especially if you've never seen Moore in one of his more unstereotypical roles.

Bryan Forbes ("The Stepford Wives" '75) directed this adaptation of a Sidney Sheldon novel in addition to writing it for the screen. Sir Roger Moore tackles a change of pace role, playing Dr. Judd Stevens, a Chicago psychiatrist. One of his patients is murdered for no apparent reason, and his secretary is horribly tortured before being killed. Lt. McGreary (Rod Steiger) is a volatile police detective, bearing a grudge against Stevens, who's very quick to consider the doctor a prime suspect. The story then unfolds as one would expect it to, as Dr. Stevens must evade attempts on his life while trying to prove his innocence and keep McGreary out of his hair.

"The Naked Face" really isn't deserving of some of the talent here. Made on the cheap by the Cannon Group (basically because some of their other product during this time had under performed at the box office), it adequately entertains without being remarkable in any way. Viewers may feel underwhelmed by the twists that the story provides, and the climactic reveal and confrontation fail to be that satisfying. Editing, photography, and pacing are all reasonably well done, although that music score by Michael J. Lewis is awfully melodramatic. The last second shock ending is quite annoying.

Moore is okay, no more, as our somewhat reserved main character, while Steiger is given yet another opportunity to rip the scenery to shreds. Elliott Gould is actually good as McGreary's partner Angeli. Lovely Anne Archer is appealing as always in her small role as one of the patients. David Hedison lends solid support as Stevens's good friend (and brother-in-law) Dr. Peter Hadley. The main attraction, however, is Art Carney in a likable turn as a sly private detective. The film gets just a little bit better when he turns up.

Fans of these actors and this genre may enjoy this one. At least it delivers one memorable sequence involving one of the attempts to kill off Stevens.

Six out of 10.

Moore plays a psychiatrist caught in a web of intrigue and murder, as his patients become victims of a sinister plot. Steiger and Gould play a pair of detectives assigned to the case, but their disdain for Moore affects little progress in solving the case, and he turns to wily amateur sleuth Carney, to solve the mystery before he becomes the next victim. Generally well constructed thriller, with occasional brutal, graphic and somewhat gratuitous violence that might offend. The scene in which Moore's office is ransacked is especially cold and callous in its excess.

Some neat twists are employed by actor-turned-director Forbes, with solid performances from Moore, Steiger and Gould in particular. Moore's normally nonchalant persona is replaced here with suitable concern, as he's pursued by sadistic villains with little inclination for mercy. The executions are particularly nasty and the tone is never far from dark and threatening. In some ways, "The Naked Face" is similar in vein to both "Still of the Night" and "Colour of Night" in terms of its content, and has a render reminiscent of a Brian De Palma thriller (though it lacks De Palma's signature styling).

Despite the sophisticated elements, the dialogue is only functional and at one hour and forty-five minutes, the film does overstay its welcome. Worth a look, but nothing spectacular.

This is a truly ugly little movie - from start to finish, it lacks warmth, familiarity. Indeed, it begins and ends in a cemetery. Its look gives it a low budget feel- though the high powered cast must have made it more expensive than it looks.

the movie is saved by its choice of actors. This must be one of the most unusual casts assembled: Art Carney, Roger Moore, Anne Archer, Elliott Gould, Rod Steiger, David Hedison (known particularly to Americans for the TV series, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea but I think he also served as Felix Leitner in one of the Bond movies). What a group.

The sight of Roger Moore as a pathetic, terrified, weak, indignant psychiatrist is also truly disorienting. As he runs and pushes chairs against doorknobs to stop one man chasing him, trembling in fear, it's VERY hard to not cry out "007, WAKE UP! One karate chop will do it!

I think the best of a generation of American actors were Rod Steiger, Jason Robards, Marlon Brando, and George C. Scott. Steiger's role isn't a wonderful one - but he is as usual, fascinating to watch to see the accents, looks, manners, that he will choose to portray the character.

I am very fond of Elliott Gould - though he underplays his role here. Anne Archer is lovely - as she is as the wife of Harrison Ford in all the Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan movies, and of course as the wife of Michael Douglas in Fatal Attraction.

Art Carney is absolutely extraordinary - very amusing - it's as if his dialogue was written by someone other than the sleepy TV movie of the week folks who wrote the other dialogue.

This is worth watching - if you don't expect too much. E.g., if you want to see Roger Moore play another role - and I like Moore very much -it's fine. He's also charming and funny in the comedy, That Lucky Touch with Susannah York.

The Naked Face is from the Golam and Globus Israeli production company that for a time was producing films for the US market. As I recall, Shelley Winters stole an emerald ring off of a film set when she wasn't paid for her work.

They were able to attract good casts, and The Naked Face, bad as it was, had one: Roger Moore, Rod Steiger, Art Carney Elliott Gould, and Anne Archer.

The story concerns a psychiatrist (Moore) who is being possibly set up for murder of his secretary and a patient - or, as he suspects, someone is trying to kill him.

Steiger plays a detective holding a grudge due to Moore's testimony in a case where a defendant killed his partner and won an insanity plea.

Absolutely gratuitous scenes of violence and torture, very unpleasant. Also Anne Archer walked in and out of Moore's office for no apparent reason as she never disclosed her problem

The film isn't particularly well photographed. And it's not particularly good.

Was this a great movie, certainly not. However, it was a good movie and a whole lot better than the Roger Moore Bond pictures had become by that time. Moore plays a therapist whose life is about to be snuffed out--the problem is, he has NO idea WHO wants him dead. Exactly who really is behind the attempts and why it is occurring I will not reveal (it would spoil the film) but it keeps you guessing and the performances are good. This is a good attempt by Moore to do something different and I applaud his efforts.

If you like seeing Moore as someone other than 007, I also suggest you see Ffolkes This is an odd little adventure movie about a group of mercenaries who take over an oil platform. Moore's performance in this one is about as different from Bond as you could possibly find!

An American suspense thriller; A story about a Chicago psychiatrist accused of murdering one of his patients by a police detective who has a personal axe to grind which he uses to find out the truth. It's moderately engaging but the story gets stuck in a rut and is too formulaic to be effective. Moore is convincing as a compassionate man under suspicion of murder. Tension is taut but Steiger's scenery-chewing acting wears thin. Elliott Gould brings his usual jauntiness and there's a nice turn from Art Carney as a wacky private eye. It twists and turns but the mystery ends early and the third act is a bolt-on, a disappointment. As an aside, the film is not untypical of a number of violent adult crime thrillers made in the early 1980s e.g. Cruising, Dressed to Kill, Death Wish II, Tightrope.

In this 1985 step away of the bond era Moore finally gets to make a great movie. This is probably his best movie, maybe not in acting, but the script is hard to beat. The naked face origins from a novel by Sidney Sheldon. The story is good and it differs from many other in the genre. It is not easy to predict the ending. That alone makes this film worth seeing. There are also other facts that makes this well worth seeing. Rod Steiger plays more than well, making his character disgusting from time to time. Moore acts well and so does all roles. To this one ads good music and you cannot get anything but a great film. I say not it is excellent, but it comes close enough to be more than recommended.

OK, I can tolerate red herrings and plot twists that at least make a little bit of sense. "The Naked Face" plies them higher than a corned beef special, leaving the viewer with a terminal case of indigestion and confusion. I'm sure you might be attracted to this by the cast, which does their best with a seriously disjointed script. Rod Steiger, Art Carney, and Elliott Gould manage to create interest in their characters. Roger Moore sleep walks throughout the entire film, and his performance is a real yawn. The music is one plus, but the bright spots are overwhelmed by gaping holes in the script, especially regarding motivation for all the mayhem. Unless you are a serious admirer of Steiger, Carney, or Gould, do yourself a favor and skip this one. Bottom line, "The Naked Face" has a whole lot of holes in the script. - MERK

Roger Moore ("Dr. Stevens") is quite effective in this murder-mystery as an eminent psychiatrist who finds himself at the centre of a police investigation into the killing of his assistant and of one of his patients. Desperate to prove his innocence to police lieutenant "McGreavy" (Rod Steiger) and his sidekick "Angeli" (Elliott Gould), he must work out what exactly is going on. Is he the real target? Why? Who? Despite the efforts of a good cast, the writing is a bit lacklustre and it's fairly easy to spot who's pulling the strings - or, at least, who is helping the puppet master fairly early on, thereby robbing the plot of much jeopardy. As to the "why" element of the story, that proves to be really quite contrived, and in best Agatha Christie traditions there are too many new elements introduced near the end for us to have much of a go at playing detective ourselves on that front. It is entertaining to see these old pros on screen together, and that raises the standard somewhat - but basically, it's just a rather light-weight gangster film that you'll forget very quickly.

I found this movie on Amazon for $15. I saw all the negative reviews, which most ppl slam A view to a kill, and it's my favorite Bond film. So I gave it a try, it's quite a good film shot on a tighter budget. Moore plays the role of the psychiatrist well, and there is more range in emotions from him in this. Steiger plays the over the hill cop with a grudge, Gould playing the side kick. Art Carney playing an eccentric p.i, and a couple of scenes with the best Felix Leiter David Hedison in tow. The end seems a bit quick, but reminiscent of the 70's era Italian crime films. Give it a try it's worth a look.

Contrary to some reviewers' comments, I thought that Roger Moore acted well enough here, portraying emotion such as when talking about his dead wife.

Rod Steiger and Elliot Gould were both good, though I assume that the former's hairpiece reflected what a police lieutenant, rather than a Hollywood star, could afford.

When the reason for the murders, murder attempts and general mayhem became apparent, it was something of an anticlimax as they didn't seem that necessary. The attempt to run down Dr Stevens in the passageway was particular hamfisted.

I'm tempted to see if I can buy a copy of the book on which the film is based, in the hope that it might fill in the several plot holes.

It was strange how the private detective, Morgens,chose to meet Stevens in a particularly isolated and forbidding area

As others have said, the ending was unsatisfactory and suggested there might be more trouble ahead.

Like other reviewers, I was half-hoping that Moore would switch into his Bond persona when he was being beaten up, but I guess that would have prompted me to complain that his Stevens character was not macho enough to do that.

I'm tempted to see if I can buy a copy of the book on which the film is based, in the hope that it might fill in the several plot holes.

EDIT: I bought a copy of the book, which the film generally followed, though the former did include two meetings at their homes that Dr Judd had with the sex-mad ex-actress and the lover of a gay patient at their homes. But the book did end on a clear and positive note, unlike the film - why did they have to tack on that final scene? One or two plot holes were explained, but not convincingly.

Filmmaker Bryan Forbes, who once displayed a light, sardonic touch with beguiling material such as "Whistle Down the Wind" and the original "Stepford Wives", completely bottoms out here. Not only is his direction inept, he also sloppily adapted Sidney Sheldon's early novel; the results are atrocious. Roger Moore plays a psychiatrist framed for the murder of one of his patients; Rod Steiger, chewing the scenery, is a hot-under-the-collar cop (it's easily his most embarrassing performance). The only actor here to exhibit some life is Elliott Gould, who knows a thing or two about enlivening a bum script. Bland, choppy, and produced on the cheap. NO STARS from ****

This was awful on so many counts that I don't know where to begin. Roger Moore is James Bond's wimpy brother; Rod Steiger is a shrill one-dimensional nut case; Elliot Gould is a wimpy, shallow robot; Anne Archer is beautiful but, oh, you get the idea. We've seen too many CSIs, perhaps, but from the way the evidence was unceremoniously dumped in Moore's office after the first murder, to the horrible police dialog when the secretary was murdered, we watched as an exercise in observation in how movies have improved. However, the language was much cleaner than if it were made today. Gotta watch a Bond movie now to see the Roger Moore we loved.

I think the entire film is a good film but the ending is a little bit too strange and seems not to be necessary. In my opinion we could cut out the last scene. The characters were played well, all in all a good film.

I was getting ready to start some work, but saw this movie coming on cable. Saw the cast and thought that I really needed to watch this. Some of my favorite actors! I love Rod Steiger. But not in this film as his over-the-top persona was way too much to take. The final scene with Art Carney was a joke. It had the feel of a very cheap movie that bends reality to give a "shock scene".

It's a bad movie. Bad writing, totally uninspired cinematography. But, it was bad enough to keep me watching it, AND, keeping me from going to work.

Great cast put to great waste.

Found this on one of those retro channels.

The good: It's nice to see Moore play something other than super smarmy, cartoon like Bond. Here he is a subdued psychoanalyst who discovers someone wants him dead. It had potential and an interesting cast. Carney gets the best lines, along with some clunkers, and a dumb ending for him.

The bad: The script is awful. Moore's character is way too trusting for a psychologist. For a cast like this, the acting should have been way better. Steiger is just embarrassing. He should have said no to this one. The ending is awful in its execution and line reading (looking at you Moore).

Moore knew he was living on borrowed time so far as Bond was concerned. Way too old, too slow moving and paunchy to be carrying a Walther PPK for much longer. His Bond contract allowed him to make two other films during this period - post OCTOPUSSY and pre A VIEW TO A KILL (that was to be his last JB outing)

Wisely perhaps, he chose this role as mild-mannered but wholly professional Chicago psychiatrist Dr Judd Stevens, whose life hits a major rut after one of his patients is stabbed to death - wearing HIS coat. Having no idea what is going on for pretty much the entire movie Moore conveys Judd's plight rather well I thought. As unlike anything Moore has ever done, he must deal with finding himself simply in the wrong place for seemingly no reason.

Several things to like about this flick - IF you care to look. Art Carney's turn as burnt-out but still cluey PI Morgens is a real gem of a performance. When Moore admits he doesn't believe in guns, Carney counters, "Yeah, well I don't believe in Santa Claus, but each Christmas he still comes round." The brief scenes in his ramshackle office are really worth looking at closely.

Cop Steiger is a tad over the top as is his wont - give him any opportunity to rave - he's in actor's heaven. Ron Paradi as mob boss Cortini puts across one of the nastiest and inherently evil men you would ever wish to not meet and Anne Archer is well....Anne Archer.

Totally unexpected last 20 seconds really lifts the film I thought.

Some pretty big names in the cast, including a huge james bond star ! When two people close to doctor stevens (moore) get knocked off, officers angeli and mcgreavy (steiger, gould) are pretty sure he's the killer. And he spends the rest of the film trying to prove that he's being framed. One of the coppers already has it in for stevens, since they had been involved in a past court case, where his partner had been killed. Steiger spends the whole film yelling at stevens at the top of his lungs. Which wouldn't be a big deal, but he just goes way over the top. Chews up the wallpaper, in film-speak. We get a couple red herrings; things said by stevens' patients, which might be a clue to who the murderer really is. It's pretty good, until the ending, which was certainly possible, and quite dramatic. But was also a little over the top. But you can judge for yourself. And it's a little odd that the guy who plays james bond is just an ordinary guy in this one. Directed by brian forbes. Was nominated for angry silence. He also did guns of navarone.