Kris Gray
I've never been a big fan of Mr Moore, he's played himself in just about everything bar this great slice of 70's cinema. I actually saw this in a cinema back in the day and loved it so much so that whenever it crops up on TV I still watch it. He actually acts in this other than being the Saint in everything else.The melt down of his original character as the doppelganger appears to take over his life shows that Mr Moore could act if he wanted to. It was also interesting to see how empty the elevated section of the M4 looked, if it were filmed now there would probably be a traffic jam.Ignore the negative reviews, of course it would have better production values today but the story is solid and grips the audience. An interesting concept which has been redone many times since but this is one of the originals, I recommend it.
omendata
This is one of the films from the 1970's that personifies the era and remains in my mind and always has as a most memorable film that transports me back to what i view were better days where going to the cinema was a real treat and movies didn't rely on special effects, foul language , sex and extreme violence to make a story that the viewer could sink into and leave reality behind and come out of the cinema feeling that you had been taken away from ordinary life to another place and time.It also goes to prove that Roger Moore CAN act as his performance is solid and believable.It brings back so many memories its quite a travel back in time to better times where violence, sex , nudity and cgi were not prevalent to such a degree as they are now and the story and plot were more important.One of the best movies from the 1970's and in my top movies of all time!
Prismark10
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.
mf976
Despite I was a child when I watched it, I didn't manage to be scared. And I tried.The opening sequence says all. There's this proper gentleman driving his dignified car along the highway, the sun shines in the sky and everything is jolly good when all of a sudden for no apparent reason he pulls out a kind of "evil" face, pushes the throttle down and starts driving like a madman.Then he has an accident, obviously. A bit strange accident, truth be told. We see him squeezing his tyres from side to side for something like five minutes without hitting any other car and finally pulling down some cones and a wooden fence. This must be a serious accident in England though, because next thing he's struggling for his life in the emergency room.Which is notable since his body shows no injuries and there isn't the smallest trace of blood round there. But this is only the beginning. During the surgery (don't ask me what kind of surgery, there were doctors doing stuff and yelling to each other) his heartbeat literally splits in two and becomes "double". I'm not kidding you. There are two different lines doing beep beep now on the monitor of the machinery whereas there was only one moments before. And nobody there seem to notice that.Now, you would expect these unusual events being explained along the movie. I don't know, the devil, reincarnation, something.No way.You are only allowed to know that now there's a second Mr. Pelham in town, dating girls and driving sports cars dressed like a buffoon (Where does he sleep? Where does he get his money? Does he have a driving license to show to the police in case they stop him?).We can understand this movie only if we consider it not a horror but a goofy social satire on middle-class dullness. An "American beauty" ante litteram. And even so...I loved the very English background and the seventies atmosphere.Not actually a movie, rather a good laugh.
AD
