Sorry, this movie sucks

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Frank Sinatra is never the guy I think of when visualizing a private dick (when my brain isn't corrupted with Humphrey Bogart spatting out saucy lines it leans more toward pulp fiction heroes that dopplegäng John Payne), so I suppose we just have to go along with his Philip Marlowe mimicry in "Tony Rome", even if he isn't so quick to sneak in a one-liner and isn't the usual young guy looking for justice aged quicker due to pessimism and gin. Sinatra is never anything less than likable — he was one of the few singers who could act his ass off and convince us that no job could ever be too difficult to master — and "Tony Rome" thrives off of our inability to do anything but want him to win the battle that pits him against a bunch of glamorous two-faces. It's better than his other late-'60s Sam Spade imitation, "The Detective" (fearless but tiresome), and it's a lot more tolerable than his later career moments that attempted to disguise him as a young buck, when he, in fact, was a wizened old buck. It's breezy and shimmering, a neo-noir without all the hardcore grit of the other cop pieces of the era.In "Tony Rome", Sinatra's titular portrayal is put to good use as he investigates the bizarre behavior of a millionaire's daughter (Sue Lyon). Middle-aged, tired, and living on a houseboat, Rome has lived the life of a detective for decades, only succumbing to the tirelessness of it all in recent years. He's an ace at what he does — just don't expect him to get very involved with his clients. Because here, he has three: the daughter, who wants his help in solving her many predicaments, her father (Simon Oakland), and his chic wife (Gena Rowlands), who happens to be her distanced stepmother. Also involved in the story is Ann Archer (Jill St. John), a sultry divorcée with little purpose besides love interest fodder.Set in Miami Beach, "Tony Rome" has a feeling of boundless sexy heat, Rome's job always seeming romantically dangerous, as the thugs are always shady characters instead of people and the women are decorations made to disappear as soon as a potential sequel is announced. The film is nothing more than studio fluff meant to modernize the private detective noir era, with a bona fide star leading the way no less — but it's enjoyable. Sinatra suits the role, St. John providing him with a presence at once seductive and self- aware."Tony Rome" is much less imaginative than the darkened crime thrillers it so desperately tries to emulate, but it's agreeable and well acted — a cut above many films of the late-'60s, which was, no doubt, a shaky era. So I'm not just glad Nancy Sinatra sings the title tune like the star isn't her father; I'm also glad Frankie gets to put his blue-eyed appeal to good use.

Gordon Douglas' "Tony Rome" ranks as an average whodunit that benefits immensely from Joseph Biroc's fantastic widescreen lensing in actual, authentic Miami locations. First off, "Tony Rome" is no "Maltese Falcon" or "Big Sleep" and Frank Sinatra–for all of his cool moves–is no Humphrey Bogart. Nevertheless, this detectives' story is complicated enough, humorous enough, and relies on enough gumshoe conventions to make it entertaining. What surprised me about everything that I've read here and at other Internet websites is that nobody observed that "Tony Rome" was the only movie that ole Blue Eyes made that had a sequel. Sinatra never played the same named character more than once except here and in "Lady In Cement." Another interesting fact is that old Blue Eyes must have gotten along well with veteran helmer Gordon Douglas because Douglas directed him in "Tony Rome" and then "The Detective" and then "Lady in Cement." Earlier, Douglas called shots on Sinatra's Rat Pack clan gangster movie "Robin and the 7 Hoods" and even earlier "Young at Heart." As sensitive as Sinatra was about his friends and co-workers and as ready as he was to punish them for their slights, the fact that he worked with Douglas so many times must say something. Perhaps Douglas was simply compliant. Compliant or otherwise, Gordon Douglas was one of those extremely efficient but rarely celebrated Hollywood helmers. Reportedly, Sinatra hated to shoot a scene more than once and some directors–even Oscar winning Lewis Milestone–were content to follow his wishes. Oscar winning scenarist Richard L. Breen, who penned the Barbara Stanwyck version of "Titanic" as well as "PT-109," knew a thing or two about writing hard-boiled detective dialogue. He wrote enough "Dragnet" episodes to ensure this quality. Breen's screenplay contains some hilarious moments that do rank up there with "The Big Sleep" and the horse racing dialogue scene between Bogart and Lauren Bacall. In this instance, a client shows up at Rome's roomy office and tries to hire him to investigate their kitty cat because "pussy doesn't smile" any more. I suspect that even in 1967 everybody knew that this was racy joke. Later, there is a scene between a gorgeous stripper and her fat, worrisome roommate. The fat roommate slaps around the curvaceous stripper and then both cry and hold each other. Tony Rome observes them with all the cynicism in the world and switches off the lights for them and leaves their trailer. Surely, this must have raised some eyebrows back in 1967, especially since the Production Code Administration was on its last legs.As for the plot, "Tony Rome" is mild compared to the classics. Miami private investigator Tony Rome does a favor for his ex-partner Ralph Turpin (Robert J. Wilke of "The Magnificent Seven" at his slimy best) who saved his life once. The unsavory Turpin is a house detective at a seedy hotel, and he has a young drunken dame on his hands that he needs to get rid of before the Miami Police give him flak. It turns out that he rolled her for fifty bucks and he winds up paying Rome $200 to take her off his hands. The dame is pretty Diana Pines (Sue Lyon of "Lolita") the daughter of wealthy construction magnate Rudy Kosterman (Simon Oakland of "Bullitt") and Rome takes her home without getting Turpin in trouble. Kosterman pays off Rome to make sure that his family doesn't get in the headlines. The next day Diana shows up at Rome's houseboat. She appears to have lost a diamond stick pin valued at $5-thousand and she wants it back without her father knowing about it. No sooner does she tell Rome about the pin than a couple of thugs show up and give Rome the option of a pistol butt over the head or chloroform. One nice trait of Sinatra's Tony Rome is that the guy is no hero. He chooses chloroform and the thugs trash his boat, only to find zilch. Interestingly, Lloyd Gough, who portrayed the idiotic Sentinel news reporter on the TV series "The Green Hornet," plays a strong-arm guy who roughs up Rome. Rome is a gambler, too, who often loses. Moreover, his back story is that his father was a Miami cop who tangled with the wrong politician and committed suicide. Tony quit the force and earns peanuts as a private eye. Eventually, Rome finds himself up to his neck in trouble with his own cop buddy, Lieutenant Santini (Richard Conte of "The Violent Professionals") because he finds Turpin shot dead in his office. Meanwhile, Rome discovers that the precious pin that Pines wants recovered is made out of glass. He also suspects that Kosterman's lovely wife Rita (the ever lovely Gena Rowlands) has something to hide. The high point of the plot occurs when an imported gunman tries to kill Kosterman at his construction site. Shecky Greene of TV's "Combat" shows up briefly as a hit-man who has been arrested so many times that he knows the law better than his lawyers. The fabulously beautiful Jill St. John of "Diamonds Are Forever" slums through several scenes with Sinatra as a three-time married vodka guzzling babe. For a while, it looks like Tony Rome is going to get the girl, but no such luck. She goes back to hubby number three because he has bought her a new nightgown and a new honeymoon in Nassau. "Tony Rome" has more plot than action and it lacks noisy gunfights, car chases and nudity, but it is a good Sinatra flick.

Frank Sinatra does his best to bring the tough talking, hard drinking, womanizing detectives of the 1940s into the 1960s. Sinatra plays detective Tony Rome much like I would image Bogart would have had he been alive. Sinatra doesn't do much of anything that Bogart wasn't doing when he played either Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade. In fact, beyond the characters, there are other similarities. Much as Bogart had his falcon, Rome has his diamond stickpin. And just as Bogart was forever carrying Carmen Sternwood home after one too many, Rome seems to be always at hand to make sure the Kosterman daughter gets home safely. In a way, it's this familiarity that makes me enjoy Tony Rome more than I probably should. Realistically, I've probably overrated the movie. You're not going to find anything award worthy here and Sinatra is doing little more than playing Sinatra. But it is fun and I always have a good time watching it. The mystery surrounding the stickpin keeps my attention even after having seen the movie three times. And what more can you really ask of a movie. Other highlights for me beyond the plot include some really cool scenes of Miami in the 60s and Jill St. John in a bikini.

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.