The Detective
Director: Gordon Douglas
Year: 1968
Rating: 6.5
This police film hits a lot of notes that have become almost too standard
- a tough principled cynical world-weary cop who takes no guff from his superiors
and would rather lose his job than his moral bearings - but in the hands
of an older sparsely haired facially lined Frank Sinatra it all feels authentic
and believable. Sinatra is terrific and a world away from his portrayal of
super-cool Tony Rome made at about the same time. His every step feels like
an effort as he wades through the corrupt morass around him - in his own
department, the politicians and the business community - wanting to do the
right thing but unable to as a small cog in the machine.
The film meanders through a few years of his life focusing on two cases that
initially seem unrelated but are connected eventually. Meanders might be
kind as it moves very slowly and contains a few lengthy flashbacks that really
sidetrack the narrative. The film surprisingly for 1968 enters into the underground
homosexual world but in such a way that 50 years later feels really awkward
and insulting but I expect that wasn't the intention of the writer Abby Mann
or director Gordon Douglass. On one hand they seem to be critical of the
manner in which the police deal with gays - at one point rounding them up
in trucks to question and hit them - the Stonewall Riots were a year away
- and yet presents their lives in a really unseemly creepy immoral way. That
was probably just how gays were viewed back then by many.
Joe Leland (Sinatra) is called in when the son of wealthy business man is
murdered and his penis is hacked off. He was gay and Sinatra looks for his
roommate who turns out to be a freak. Leland solves the case, is promoted
and later a beautiful damsel in distress asks him to look into the suicide
of her husband. This opens an ugly can of corruption with the potential of
huge blowback on Leland. The film is consistently downbeat - Leland's relationship
with his wife, the police work, the results - all seem to lead nowhere as
the city runs on corruption and any arrests just slow it down for a second.
There is a great cast here and everyone of them is good - Lee Remick plays
his wife, in his band of detectives are Ralph Meeker, Jack Klugman and Robert
Duvall - the damsel is Jacqueline Bisset (and no one but Sinatra could believably
walk out on her) and Lloyd Bochner and William Windom as well. Look closely
at the reporters and you will spot Joe Santos of Rockford fame.
The First
Deadly Sin
Director:
Gordon Douglas
Year: 1980
Rating: 7.5
Eleven years after Sinatra portrayed a jaded New York City cop in The Detective,
he returns as a very similar character in The First Deadly Sin. The eleven
years have added some pounds to his frame, gray to his hair and tired cynicism
to his attitude. Other than a TV movie this was Sinatra's first theatrical
film in ten years and he brings a very mature heftiness to his role. Nothing
fancy - no flash - no trademark Sinatra charm - no sexual magnetism - just
an older cop nearing retirement wanting to go out with his dignity and sense
of justice intact.
As Sgt. Delaney he is called onto a murder case. A man was struck down on
the street from behind and his skull crushed. A nobody and with Delaney only
weeks from handing in his badge he is advised to just throw it on a pile
as a mugging and ride out the rest of his days. But he doesn't work that
way and when he hears about a similar murder taking place in another precinct
he begins to wonder if a serial killer (David Dukes) isn't at large. His
boss (Anthony Zerbe) orders him to drop it - not our business - so Delaney
keeps looking on the sly - breaking the rules whenever it suits him.
At the same time he is worried about his wife (a sort of thankless role for
Faye Dunaway as we never see her out of bed) who is ill with a kidney disease
and he visits her constantly in the hospital. In the wrong hands this might
have really slowed the film down and filled it with a side drama that doesn't
seem necessary - but the intimate affection they show one another portrays
a long loving marriage that fills the film out and gives it purpose. Otherwise
it would just be another serial killer movie.
Other than a few TV appearances, Sinatra wasn't to make another film which
was a shame. He is so good here. The film is based on a book from Lawrence
Sanders - though I don't really get the title - the first deadly sin is lust
not murder which isn't even one of them. Sanders was to write five novels
with Delaney as his protagonist - the first being The Anderson Tapes (made
into a terrific film) and then the Second, Third and Fourth Deadly Sin books.
