He knows someone is trying to murder him. What he doesn't know can get him killed!
Somebody wants him dead for a secret he doesn't have!

Suspect or victim?

Suspected by the police, pursued by the syndicate, and stalked by a murderer... for a crime he didn't commit.

In this fast-paced, often complex murder mystery, a psychiatrist's patient and later his secretary are killed, yet the police seem unable to come up with any answers so the doc takes matters into his own hands. Roger Moore is Dr. Judd Stevens, a rather meek Chicago psychiatrist whose patient is killed while wearing a jacket borrowed from Stevens. After Stevens' secretary is brutally slain, Lieutenant McGreavy (Rod Steiger) is certain that Stevens is guilty and is ready to prove it, but when his vendetta gets too obvious, he is taken off the case. That leaves his partner Angeli (Elliott Gould), a much more sympathetic cop, to continue on with the investigation. Even then, the killings continue, so Stevens gives up on the police and goes for help to a wacky P.I. (Art Carney) who lives surrounded by clocks and at first seems like a hopeless nitwit. As Stevens continues in his pursuit of the killers, life is complicated by a Mafia bride who seeks his professional help and clues that lead increasingly to the Mafia and cops on the take. The acting may be a bit uneven, and Moore might have fared better if allowed a little Bond action, but the movie is engaging enough to maintain interest throughout.

The Naked Face is a 1984 film written and directed by Bryan Forbes, based on the book by Sidney Sheldon. It stars Roger Moore, Rod Steiger and Elliott Gould.

It was nominated for "Best Film" at Mystfest, a film festival.[1]

A patient of Chicago psychoanalyst Dr. Judd Stevens (Moore) is murdered after a session, stabbed while wearing a raincoat belonging to the doctor. Police detectives McGreavy (Steiger) and Angeli (Gould) investigate. McGreavy bitterly resents the doctor from a previous case in which Stevens' testimony led to a cop killer being institutionalized rather than sent to prison.

The patient's personal problems are in question until Stevens' secretary is also found brutally murdered. Stevens realizes he is the murderer's target, while the detectives treat him as their prime suspect.

A widower, Stevens expresses concern to his physician brother-in-law about the cops' behavior. McGreavy in particular is so aggressive in his interrogations, Angeli reports him to a superior and gets McGreavy thrown off the case.

Posing as doormen, two armed gunmen break into Stevens' apartment. He holds them off until the brother-in-law and two paramedics arrive. Not trusting the cops, Stevens instead made an emergency call to the hospital for help.

Choosing a name out of the Yellow Pages at random, Stevens hires an old, quirky private investigator named Morgens (Art Carney) who lives in a rundown apartment filled with clocks and cats. Morgens saves his life by finding a bomb planted in Stevens' car. After he reports this latest attempt on his life, Angeli promises to lend Stevens a more sympathetic ear than his partner had. McGreavy, however, has secretly cut a deal with their captain to keep an eye on the case from a distance.

Morgens claims to know the killer's true identity, but refuses to reveal it over the phone because nobody can be trusted, not even the police. He tells Stevens to meet him after midnight at Navy Pier and mentions the name "Don Cicini." But when Stevens and Angeli arrive, they find the murdered body of Morgens, holding a cuckoo clock.

After doing some research, Stevens believes that Don Cicini is an Italian code name for the head of an organized crime syndicate. Offering to hide Stevens in a safe house, Angeli instead drives him to a countryside mansion where the phony doormen appear. Angeli draws a gun but points it at Stevens, telling him he trusted the wrong cop.

Stevens is taken to a crime boss, discovering that the mobster's wife is Ann Blake (Anne Archer), a quiet woman who has been seeing Stevens as a patient. Don Cicini feels he simply can't have anyone knowing his private business, despite the fact that Ann told the psychiatrist practically nothing during their sessions.

Stevens is taken to a warehouse to be done away with permanently. Angeli, expecting a payoff, is killed instead. Stevens tries to escape but is re-captured, then beaten savagely by the crime boss until McGreavy and a team of cops arrive just in time, having been called by Ann. Her husband is killed and the rest of his men are arrested.

At a cemetery where Stevens goes to visit his late wife's grave once a week, Ann Blake turns up to apologize for causing Stevens all this trouble at the cost of so many lives. He has quit his private practice, so she asks if that means he can see a former patient socially. It does and they begin to leave the cemetery together, but the doctor is in for one last shock: Ann is shot and killed by a mob sniper, leaving a grieving Stevens wailing over her dead body.

Release Date: January 25, 1985


Distrib: Cannon Films