La dama en cemento

A few days ago, I watched Frank Sinatra's film "Tony Rome". Now just watched "Lady in Cement"--a sequel in which our incredibly relaxed and quite glib private detective hero investigates a VERY strange murder. When the film begins, Tony is scuba diving and discovers a body! But it's no ordinary body--it's a nude blonde whose feet were planted in cement! Obviously, the woman had been murdered--and disposed of in a very elaborate fashion. The trail leads to a gorgeous lady (Raquel Welch), a giant of a man (Dan Blocker) and an ex-mobster. Can Tony sort it all out and avoid getting himself killed?

I liked "Tony Rome" a lot and "Lady in Cement"--just not quite as much. It's a good film but occasionally the plot seems a bit convoluted and far less interesting than the characters themselves (particularly Sinatra). The music was also a bit too much after a while. It is also a LOT more sexually charged than the first film--earning an R-rating for nudity and strong language. But it also had a really nice underwater sequence, plenty of action and LOTS of smug comments from Tony. Worth seeing.

While diving for sunken treasure a Miami private detective named "Tony Rome" (Frank Sinatra) discovers the nude body of a blonde woman with her feet encased in cement at the bottom of the ocean. After calling the Coast Guard he returns home only to find a large man by the name of "Waldo Gronski" (Dan Blocker) waiting for him. As it turns out, Waldo is looking for a certain woman and wants Tony to find a her for him. However, after taking the assignment Tony discovers that there is much more to this case than he was initially led to believe. Now rather than reveal any more let me just say that, although this was a decent crime-drama, it didn't quite rise up to the same level as its predecessor "Tony Rome" produced a year earlier. Even so it featured several good actors with Raquel Welch (as "Kit Forrest") and the aforementioned Frank Sinatra and Dan Blocker putting in nice performances throughout. Likewise, having Racquel Welch certainly certaintly didn't hurt the scenery in any way either. Be that as it may, this was a fairly enjoyable film and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Sinatra reprises his role of Tony Rome in this light weight murder mystery. Rome is hired by Dan Blocker to find out what happened to a young woman found dead in cement shoes. The movie is where the search takes him. Its more romp than real mystery with a light smart mouthed attitude hanging over everything. Its an enjoyable 93 minutes, certainly the laughs and the fun nature keep you watching, unfortunately you really do wish that there was some weight to the proceedings. The mystery has no real urgency and no real need to be solved other than it puts Rome in motion. Many of the actors, Sinatra included, seem to be walking through the film (and Raquel Welch seems unable to even do that). Of course then there is Dan Blocker as Gronsky, the man who hires Sinatra and who is much more trouble than he's worth. Blocker is a real joy to behold and if there is any real reason to see this film its him and his performance, its a blast. Mostly unremarkable, this film is still worth seeing for the mindless entertainment of it all. Recommended for those times when you want absolutely nothing to tax you brain.

As far as a vintage detective thriller, "Lady in Cement" has enough wit and charm to make it memorable. It takes itself just seriously enough to get the job done. Sinatra's second turn as Rome doesn't quite have the bite of the first film but it's clear he's enjoying himself. The weary cynicism of Rome suits him well. The late Dan Blocker's delightful as Gronsky. The recent DVD reissue looks sharp and has plenty of trailers but is a bit light on extras.

Director Gordon Douglas ("In Like Flint") keeps the action moving and Raquel Welch looks terrific. Her first appearance is emerging from a swimming pool. I was a bit surprised to see nudity in a mainstream Hollywood feature in 1968 but, well, this was the late 60's after all.

This too stars Frank Sinatra as a Miami detective trying to solve a twisting, turning murder case that begins when he discovers a nude corpse of a woman with cement shoes while scuba diving one day, and ends up encompassing several more murders, including one that is falsely pinned on him.

Sinatra seems slightly distracted in scenes in this film, as sometimes he seems invested in his world-weary role and sometimes he doesn't. Raquel Welsh is pretty good as one of the suspects, Lainie Kazan does well in a one scene part early on, while Bonanza's Dan Blocker, playing a heavy, cannot escape his claim to fame as the famous TV theme song plays in one scene in which he appears.

There is some good, hard-boiled noir style dialogue toward the end, but at other times, the film isn't very involving, and frankly given how shady many of the characters are, black and white would have fit this film better than bright color. But, then again, this was in changing times (several scenes and images in this film would not have passed muster even two years earlier), so probably they would not have tried it in black and white.