The Detective

1968

1h 54m

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

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Crime

Mystery

Drama

Police detective Joe Leland investigates the murder of a gay man.

Directors

Gordon Douglas

Writers

Abby Mann(screenplay by)

Roderick Thorp(writer by)

Roderick Thorp(novel by)

Stars

Frank Sinatra

Lee Remick

Ralph Meeker

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Trailer
Watch The Detective (1968) - Theatrical Trailer

Top cast

Det. Sgt. Joe Leland

Karen Wagner Leland

Curran

Dave Schoenstein

Capt. Tom Farrell

Dr. Wendell Roberts

Colin MacIver

Felix Tesla

Robbie Loughlin

Nestor

Mercidis

Police Officer Mike Tanner

Carol Linjack

Kelly

Rachael Schoenstein

Teddy Leikman

Harmon

Norma MacIver

Directors

Gordon Douglas

Writers

Abby Mann(screenplay by)

Roderick Thorp(writer by)

Roderick Thorp(novel by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

As I neared the big 5,000 in terms of movies watched (at least according to my admittedly-crapola memory and IMDb), for some odd reason, I thought of Frank Sinatra, whose films I had seen quite a few of recently, and I decided to check out the private-eye films he made in the 60's, when his superstar status, both in terms of acting and performing, began to wane, as tastes changed in that tumultuous decade. Apart from 'Them!', 'In Like Flint' and a truckload of Our Gang comedic shorts from way back when, I hadn't seen any of director Douglas' works, though he's fine with the material and does quite a good, if craftmanlike, job here. Sinatra must have been comfortable with him--they worked together earlier in films as diverse as Doris Day's 'So This Is Love' and the Rat Pack's 'Robin and the 7 Hoods'. I loved how he was obviously fascinated with Lee Remick's eyes and really took advantage of Panavision's 2.35:1 aspect ratio to show how captivated she was with Sinatra's Joe Leland and therefore couldn't dismiss him entirely from her life. It struck me, after recently seeing films from just a few years before, like 'The Manchurian Candidate' and 'Some Came Running', how Sinatra's party days were starting here to catch up with him, but his work here was solid, and I would heartily recommend it, both for fans of his work and of detective tales from the period in general. I now look forward to others he did in the era (also for Douglas): 'Tony Rome' and its sequel, 'Lady in Cement'. Odd that he wanted his wife-at-the-time, Mia Farrow, to play the part that eventually went to Jacqueline Bisset, that she refused (the film she was working on was behind schedule), so he went to the set of 'Rosemary's Baby' and served her divorce papers! Ouch!

talisencrw04 Aug, 2016