Le Détective

I thought I was in for another Tony Rome when I rented The Detective: a silly, 1960s screwball detective comedy that made incessant sex jokes to celebrate the end of the Hays Code. Boy, was I wrong! The Detective is a very heavy drama, and while it absolutely takes advantage of the drop of the Hollywood censors, it does so very tastefully. There's nothing funny about this movie, and unlike many 60s movies, it's not dated.

Frank Sinatra plays the title character, and the plot alternates between his work life and his home life, showing his strain as he juggles being a detective with being a man. He falls into a whirlwind romance with beautiful Lee Remick, and the love scenes are steamy without being obscene, a combination that helps keep the movie classy.

The film discusses touchy issues like murder, the death penalty, homosexuality, nymphomania, and police confession tactics. Frank Sinatra gives a wonderfully conflicted performance; on one hand, he objects to using inhumane tactics on murder suspects, and on the other, he treats his wife disrespectfully when he comes home. "I came here to ball—ain't that what you do best?" he shouts during an argument. On the third hand, does she perhaps deserve this treatment? Watch The Detective to find out! It's entertaining and the acting is very good. I recommend it! DLM Warning: There's one scene where someone jumps from the top of a building and the camera spins out of control during the fall. It's about halfway through the movie, so keep on the lookout.

An old fashioned, sometimes silly, but altogether decent and moral little film. The isolated accusation of homophobia present elsewhere in the list of reviews is not accurate. This assumption might be made from watching only the first few minutes of the film, when certain suspicions arise, but as the film develops those suspicions turn out to be quite ungrounded and in fact the Sinatra character openly defends gay characters from a homophobic cop, and so on.

Throughout this movie the hero has actual moral integrity and refuses to abandon it, most of the time, and if he does it is not glorified. This in itself makes it worth watching just the once, given the general state of other films in the genre.

This film is based on allegedly real deeds and adapted on novel by Roderick Thorpe and written credits by prestigious Abby Mann. It concerns about a N.Y. detective called Leland(Frank Sinatra) , he investigates the mutilation killing of a homosexual man. Leland encounters police and political corruption. Meanwhile, he has problems with his nymphomaniac spouse(Lee Remick).

This is a fine noir film blending drama, suspense, thrills and excellent performances. This film displays strong scenes with gritty description of homosexuality and police brutality included. Casting is frankly awesome, as main cast, Sinatra and Remick, as secondary support, Ralph Meeker, Jack Klugman, William Windom, Al Freeman, Robert Duvall, Jacqueline Bisset and special mention for Tony Musante as tortured homosexual. Splendid and atmospheric musical score by the master Jerry Goldsmith. Colorful and appropriate cinematography by Joseph Biroc. The motion picture is superbly constructed by Gordon Douglas. This is the best work of his long career as filmmaker. He was a Hollywood veteran director, directing early movies(Little rascals, Spanky), Western expert(Chuka,Rio Conchos, Yellowstone Kelly, Only the valiant), and worked for Frank Sinatra in various films(Lady in Cement, Tony Rome, Robin and the 7 Hoods). Rating : Better than average, this is a high-class adult entertainment and to be liked Frank Sinatra fans.

Made at a time when the cinema was exploring new freedoms in language, violence and sex, this is a somewhat tough character study which is tame now, but had to be pretty gritty then. Sinatra is the title cop, a man who bucks the system at times, but has an innate core of fairness. When a wealthy homosexual is found slain and mutilated, Sinatra and his partner Freeman set out to find the culprit. Meanwhile, Sinatra reflects on his troubled marriage to sophisticated, but oversexed Remick. He arrests thuggish Musante for the crime and wins a promotion for his trouble, but, soon after, a young woman (Bisset) comes forth with a case that may be tied into the original one. Sinatra gives an assured and believable performance, though it is jarring at first to hear him bandying about terms like "penis" and "queer", etc... Remick is attractive and effortlessly sophisticated as his wife who can't seem to keep her knickers on. The supporting cast is made up of great pros who offer a lot. Meeker is a jaded, slimy fellow detective. Klugman does well as a family man cop who helps Sinatra crack cases. Duvall is menacing as a hard-nosed and prejudicial policeman. Musante is so over-the-top it is unbelievable! His interrogation scene is a lesson in extremes (and helped sideline his US career for a while.) Bisset is lovely, as usual, but was shoehorned in (costumes and all!) at the eleventh hour for Sinatra's estranged wife Mia Farrow and the part doesn't fit her as well. She's meant to be a slightly boyish type and that's a tad easier to do on Farrow than it was on Bisset. Bochner is a little too cartoon-campy as a vaguely sinister psychiatrist. Though today's audience will likely find many things to pick apart with the story, it is nonetheless a fascinating glimpse into what Hollywood's depiction of gays was at the time. One unintentionally funny scene involves a dockside parking lot in which scores of gay men crowd into the back of cargo trucks and snuggle - fully clothed! There's also a groovy trip into a velvety gay bar. The film's chief flaws are its overuse of LENGTHY flashbacks and a hugely distracting habit of having Sinatra and Remick deliver lines directly into the camera, a big no-no except in comedies or quirky dramas. The flashbacks are necessary in order to flush out the romantic story, but they tend to be disjointed and overlong. The issue of speaking to the camera could have been easily solved by just having the actors act opposite each other. This was an experiment that just doesn't work. But the film has a fair share of interesting dialogue, situations and visual appeal. One amusing line has a forensic specialist telling Sinatra that the victim was a homosexual. Sinatra looks around the overdone apartment and says, "Looks like he was a leader!" Moss Mabry got quite a workout coming up with outfits for Remick, less so for Bisset.

This is a surprisingly effective movie. I had never been a great fan of Frank Sinatra, but he is very good in the role of the ambitious, hard-bitten, but troubled Detective. The movie tackles some pretty unusual issues for those days, homosexuality and sexual dysfunction.

There is no question that the interrogation scene between Frank Sinatra's Detective, and Tony Musante's homosexual character was cringe-inducing ridiculous, and terribly stereotyped. I suppose, in those days, this was the best Hollywood could do. I give them credit for at least making the attempt.

Frank Sinatra plays a Detective who is given a sought-after promotion due to his coercion of a confession from a terribly guilt-ridden homosexual. Later, Frank fully realizes what he has done, and tries to set things right by re-investigating the case, and putting the right man behind bars. Frank shows some surprising range in portraying the moral ambiguities that run through this man. All this, while trying to hold the fragile sexual nature of his relationship with Lee Remick together.

This movie dealt with some pretty ugly homophobia, and adult sexual issues in ways not seen too often in 1968.

Robert Duvall had an early role as one of the squad Detectives.