De plein fouet

While I love gritty NYC detective films, This one is rather disappointing. The atmosphere is destroyed in the first few minutes intercutting Sinatra's wife kidney operation with the murder of a New York accountant. Unnecessary and repulsive., it takes you out of the suspense. The movie is a shell of the novel on which it was based in which we really get into the mind of the killer and his motives, and how he is swayed into murder for fun by a psychotic girlfriend. This is completely left out of the film, as well as the NYC politics within the police department. We really don't know anything about the killer in the film, and his identification as the killer is ridiculously fast, as well as the conclusion. The film reminds me a lot of Cruising, also released in 1980, which also had a rushed look to it, and felt incomplete. But that is understandable in Cruising because of the gay community protest of the film during location shooting. The First Deadly Sin had no such problems, unless Frank Sinatra who was notorious for being impatient during shoots, refused to elaborate on the location shooting. However, even a mediocre film from the 80's is a hundred times better than the Marvel garbage on the screen today. Their are some great supporting performances by Sinatra's amateur helpers and a sleazy doorman. Overall worthwhile seeing, but not anywhere as good as it should have been

The First Deadly Sin (1980)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Weeks from retirement, Detective Edward Delaney (Frank Sinatra) is trying to take care of his bed-ridden wife while at the same time trying to figure out who murdered a man with what appears to be an ice ax. Pretty soon it becomes clear that there's a serial killer at work and the detective must try and find out who it is even though he has no one behind him.

THE FIRST DEADLY SIN turned out to be Sinatra's final theatrical starring role and it came ten years after his previous turn in DIRTY DINGUS MAGEE. The film was originally released to rather mixed reviews and it ended up not doing too well at the box office and in all reality the thing has pretty much been forgotten in time. It's really too bad the film turned out so mediocre because with a few fine touches it really could have been something special.

As it is the film is only worth watching thanks to the excellent performance from Sinatra. The actor had played a detective in some of his late 60's films so it's clear that Sinatra was comfortable playing this type of role. It's also clear that the age of Sinatra here had him showing off a certain calm and patience that we didn't always see to him. You can really see the actor slowly working and carefully planning out the characters moves and I think it really makes for an excellent performance. The actor has such a presence on the screen that it's impossible to take your eyes off of him.

The supporting cast includes nice work from James Whitmore, Joe Spinell and Brenda Vaccaro. Faye Dunaway plays the role of the wife and in all honesty she has very little to do outside of acting sick and laying in a bed. This here is the biggest issue with the movie because whenever we flash to her hospital scenes it pretty much kills everything and the film comes to a crashing halt. What's so bad about these scenes is that there's nothing that really happens. Sinatra gives her a flow several times. They talk about the same thing (a house) and there's just nothing here that adds anything to the plot.

It also doesn't help that the direction by Brian G Hutton is so deadly dull. There's no visual style going on. There's never any tension. The movie has a very cheap feel as if it belongs on television. What's worse is that it's pretty out-of-date with the times as it seems like it should have been made a decade earlier. They just don't do anything with the material and even the killer is rather boring.

THE FIRST DEADLY SIN is worth watching because of the excellent performance by Sinatra but sadly there's not much else here.

Above-average police procedural based on the excellent novel by Lawrence Sanders. The Chairman of the Board delivers a powerful performance as Sgt. Detective Edward X. Delany, and David Dukes's Daniel Blank is suitably psychotic (if a bit tamer than in the novel). Plays somewhat fast and loose with the adaption, but still does the book justice. Like the book, this is somewhat slow paced and character-driven, but Sinatra does such a good job at making Delany human and making the audience emote for him that the shortcomings seem minimal. If you are a fan of Sanders, police procedurals, or Frank Sinatra, then this film is certainly worth checking out.

"The First Deadly Sin" will be remembered as the last starring role for Frank Sinatra. It's a good performance in a decent (but should have been better) film.

Frank plays a New York homicide detective investigating a series of murders. This main story is a good one. It is involving and creepy. David Dukes turns in a terrific performance as the killer. The problem comes in the sub-plot with Faye Dunaway as Frank's dying wife. Every 10 or 15 minutes the film comes to a screeching halt so Frank can visit Faye in the hospital. Faye must have been desperate to work with Frank since she literally spends the entire film in a hospital bed. It's a needless distraction to the main plot.

Still the film is worth watching. Frank is at his gritty best as his whole world falls apart in front of his eyes. The film also does one other good thing. It erased the possibility that the awful "Dirty Dingus Magee" would be his last starring role.

A sombre character drama crossed with an old-fashion police detective story is broken up in two parts, as a retiring NYPD Edward X. Delaney is on his last case tracking down a psychotic serial killer while also dealing with his bed-ridden wife (a warm-hearted Faye Dunaway) that's dying in the hospital from an unclear disease. How these two threads are connected isn't really garnished, other than to give the lead character more emotional weight and progressive depth. Instead it just comes across as depressing and somewhat pointless. It manages to hold you there, but not much really happens in this slow-grinding thriller as Frank Sinatra's wearily brooding performance is determined, but filled with melancholy heartache. Ambitious, but unfulfilled and too long toothed is how you can describe it. The narrative just feels incomplete, like it was aiming for something more profound (like the symbolic use of the cross) and mysterious (the killer's motive) but it came away rather puzzling and affected in its intentions. The grungy New York setting is painted with darkness, dreary atmospherics as there's a killer randomly leaving his victims with a hole in the back of their heads. A lot of the running time (and at times it does drag) has Delaney working the case, starting with very little. Putting in the hours, strenuously gathering info, seeking help outside the police force and thoroughly digging in as his personal life begins to crumble. The focus on his sick wife does very little for the story, but it takes up a fair amount of screen time. When Sinatra isn't mugging the screen, there's some able support in the cast; Martin Gabel, James Whitmore and Joe Spinell added some much needed life. David Dukes makes for an effective loony, but his icy character was just felt too one-note. An interesting, but sleepily underdone dramatic thriller.