Tony Rome

This is one breezy film. Sinatra one lines himself solidly throughout. In films like this, there aren't many moments of reflection. This saves us the trouble of examining the plot and the character motivation too intently. The benefit to the viewer is that the whole experience remains visceral and on the surface. On occasion I like films that don't challenge me, that simply vibrate with a peculiar sort of corrupt, smarmy, highly heated decaying fun. Sinatra dashes all over Miami in search of his maguffin. He pops in to the lives of many marginalized denizens of the underworld. He gets a taste of the lives of the newly rich and partially famous. His alter-ego, Richard Conte, provides a mundane, safe balanced universe for him to rest up in from time to time but the bulk of his characters time is spent in high risk action and lots of smart-assed talk. And for this viewer, that was just fine.

Promising blend of hard-boiled crime flick and campy detective yarn that doesn't quite go the distance. Pulpy plot features a gaggle of cartoony characters and Frank Sinatra at his wiseass best playing Florida private dick wrapped up in convoluted mystery centering on millionaire's daughter (Sue Lyon). Terrific supporting cast includes Gena Rowlands (looking lovely), Jill St. John (at her slinky, sexy best), Simon Oakland and Richard Conte, but the plot runs out of gas somewhere in the second act. A bit stronger than its immediate sequel, "Lady in Cement", and Sinatra's panache is definitely worth checking out. After getting out of a rickety elevator, he tells the female operator, "Nice riiide." **1/2 from ****

Long before Miami Vice which had hip cop Don Johnson living on a boat with an alligator in Miami Beach, you had Frank Sinatra as private eye Tony Rome doing the same.

He's an ex-cop now a private eye who still has an inside with the police in the person of Richard Conte who's his former partner. Turns out he needs him when he takes the case of Sue Lyon who misplaced a diamond stickpin.

Before the film ends Sinatra has himself all involved with every member of Lyon's family including wives and ex-wives, husbands and ex-husbands in a lovely blackmail scheme. Quite a number of people wind up dead including Sinatra's private eye partner Robert J. Wilkie. In the tradition of Sam Spade, though he might not have thought Wilkie the salt of the earth, it's an obligation to find out who shortened Wilkie's life span.

Tony Rome is a Sinatra project through and through. Basically he just plays himself or at least shows the public persona that we know him for. Frank got parts in this for restaurant owner pallies, Mike Romanoff and Jilly Rizzo and one even for Rocky Graziano as a punch drunk old pug. There's even a part for Jill St. John as an amorous divorcée who you're never quite sure how she fits in the story. Jill and Frank were once a hot item, but this one was for old time sake.

The problem with Tony Rome is you really do have to be a Sinatra fan to watch it. And I don't mean just of his singing, you have to be really into the whole rat pack scene.

Otherwise Tony Rome and it's sequel Lady in Cement just ain't for you.

Sinatra's PI, Tony Rome, shrewdly uses verbal parry and thrust instead of muscle to clear things up. It's a showcase for the actor, without a tuneful song in sight. Plot-wise he's got to figure out where an expensive diamond pin went and where the heck bad guy Nimmo is. Along the way, there's a lot of scenic Miami Beach and bikini clad skin, mainly Jill St. John's. But what grabbed me was the innuendo, intentional or not. Catch the brief scene with Mrs. Schuyler and her repetition of a lost pussy. That exchange with Rome is simply dropped in, and has nothing to do with the plot. Perhaps it was included on a dare. Tellingly, there're other, albeit passing, innuendos, as well. After all, this was a period when the counter-culture was taking hold and the repressive Production Code was all but dead.

It's also a good chance to catch a number of Hollywood vets in supporting roles, especially noir icon Richard Conte as a cop. All in all, it's a smoothly done (Gordon Douglas) eye- catcher. Moreover, the high-key Technicolor is about as far from classic gumshoe noir as possible. Happily for Sinatra the actor, it's a restrained showcase. Just bring your note pad to keep up with the tricky plot.

The best reason for watching this film is to use it to transport yourself back to the 1960's, and experience that period from the perspective of a 50's Rat Pack star.

This is not a great movie by today's standards, but as a child of the 60's and 70's myself, I can say that this movie does take you back to a time when America had a completely different environment, and mindset. The character portrayed by Sinatra, and the dialogue in general, presents a good example of what the typical American Male thought of as "cool" in the early 60's.

True, it's not what we find entertaining today, but that's not why I like to watch old movies. I watch old films because they have an extraordinary ability to take you to a time when the world, and people in general, had a very different view of things and also what was fashionable at that time.