This movie concerns a writer of mystery stories who bases his villain on a criminal, played by Malcolm McDowell, who is incarcerated in prison. Escaping prison after his apparent death in a ... Read allThis movie concerns a writer of mystery stories who bases his villain on a criminal, played by Malcolm McDowell, who is incarcerated in prison. Escaping prison after his apparent death in a fire, the criminal plans to revenge himself on the writer (Sir Roger Moore) for "stealing ... Read allThis movie concerns a writer of mystery stories who bases his villain on a criminal, played by Malcolm McDowell, who is incarcerated in prison. Escaping prison after his apparent death in a fire, the criminal plans to revenge himself on the writer (Sir Roger Moore) for "stealing his personality", and proceeds to carry out a set of murders based around the novels. Moor... Read all
- Henry Graham
- (as Don Mackay)
- '40s Secretary
- (as Jessica Van Der Veen)
- McKinnon
- (as Roger R. Cross)
- Director
- Writers
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Featured reviews
Moore and Allen had some great on-screen chemistry and made a great detective duo. The acting is spot on and the plot has much momentum; just the criminal Drake escaping from prison and wanting to revenge himself on Thomas Grace for 'stealing his personality' created a unique plot device and is sure to grab the audience's attention. The duo roles played by Moore and McDowell are a clever touch.
Moore is my favorite Bond actor, and it is a treat seeing him in an out-of-character role but retaining his investigative and detective skills in catching bad guys. It's a classic-style murder mystery movie that will give you nostalgia and great excitement and fun!
Grade B+
One of my all time favorite Stars is Roger Moore so when I saw this title on a VCD at $2 new whilst working here in Dubai I snapped it up.
As the film progresses the labored script becomes increasingly painful for the cast to deliver, sometimes you feel they are almost screaming to get to the end of the next scene and they would start each scene petrified especially if it were long, I noted to myself how they began to look happier towards the end of the film, ....as I did.
Macolm McDowell tries very admirably to deliver his lines seriously but he questions you with pain in his eyes as to what type of Film this is, but you will have the same look as he does and as the director must have had.
The plot concerns a mystery writer turned journalist, Thomas Grace (Moore) who is approached by psychic Jessie Gallardo (Nancy Allen from Robocop) who claims that a master criminal, Bernard Drake (MacDowall) is going around murdering people in a style based on Grace's books. After initial scepticism, Moore pits his wits against MacDowall's criminal genius.
There are some interesting fantasy sequences where Moore imagines himself as the heroes of his own mystery books. Shame about his attempt at a northern accent though! My one criticism would be the low budget, shaky tv-movie production values and some rather offbeat comic-book style scenes. It's exciting stuff, but probably won't appeal to those who aren't fans of Moore or MacDowall.
In this somewhat Hitchcockian film for TV (whivh proves once again that low budget TV movies can nowadays be much better than many made for the large screen), he creates a good atmosphere together with Malcolm McDowell who is as always, a truly exceptional villain. A thriller almost (as Moore) of other times, based on plot, twists and turns, and not on special f/x. A very welcome change. Thanks Roger!
Did you know
- TriviaThird of three movies starring Sir Roger Moore which have included the phrase "The Man..." in the title. They are The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), and this movie. Moore also appeared in episodes of The Saint (1962), such as The Man Who Gambled with Life (1969). In fact, there was a "The Man Who..." episode in almost every season of The Saint.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Sven Uslings Bio: The Man Who Wouldn't Die (2024)
Details
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1