Director: Gordon Douglas
Writers: Abby Mann adapting Roderick Thorp’s 1966 novel
Producer: Aaron Rosenberg
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Lee Remick, Ralph Meeker, William Windom, Jacqueline Bisset, Jack Klugman, Tony Musante, Robert Duvall, Al Freeman, Jr., Lloyd Bochner, Tom Atkins, Horace McMahon, Pat Henry, Patrick McVey, Dixie Marquis, Renée Taylor, James Inman, Sugar Ray Robinson, George Plimpton, Bette Midler (uncredited), Joe Santos (uncredited)
New York City police detective Sgt. Joe Leland (Frank Sinatra) is investigating the murder and mutilation of Teddy Leikman (James Inman). Since the victim was the son of a politically influential local businessman, the case attracts a lot of attention. Leland is prodded by his captain (Horace McMahon) and the media to solve the case quickly. Leland’s life becomes endangered as his investigation threatens to expose more than just the murderer.
The Flashback Fanatic movie review
The Detective is the first flick this film junkie had seen starring Frank Sinatra. His performance really made me appreciate that he was more than just that famous singer for an older generation. Sinatra’s assured acting style really earned my respect. As a result, Ol’ Blue Eyes was finally on my radar, and I began to take notice of some of those standards of his that are the perfect musical complement to my martinis. One vice leads to another and another…
The Detective was a far cry from the Rat Pack-attitude-flaunting flicks that Frank Sinatra often starred in during the 1960s. This crime drama may be buoyed by the Sinatra presence but is anchored in plenty of heavy themes: individual and civic integrity; homosexuality; law enforcement prejudice, corruption and fascism; class division; and psychological issues causing relationship dysfunction.
In contrast to his free-and-easy mystery romps as Florida-based private eye Tony Rome (1967’s Tony Rome and 1968’s Lady in Cement), Frank Sinatra investigates Big Apple crime in this rather downbeat police procedural. The role of the tough, principled detective Joe Leland suits Sinatra’s chutzpah perfectly. Leland’s ethics and idealism are constantly offended by his coworkers and society. He even chastises himself at one point when he feels that he sought an easy solution to a case that enabled his promotion.
Lee Remick stars opposite Sinatra as his love interest, Karen Wagner. It is almost immediately established that Joe Leland and Karen Wagner are two people with very different backgrounds and temperaments. Despite their commitment to each other, their relationship is complicated by Karen’s ongoing psychological issues. Sinatra’s frequent director in the ’60s, Gordon Douglas, often shoots closeups of Sinatra and Remick looking directly into the camera as their characters are having intimate conversations with each other. One would think that this indicates a bond of direct honesty between this couple apart from the sordid world that Detective Leland deals with. However, these closeups often create a sense of confrontational uneasiness as we are not sure these two characters are truly compatible.
There are many other familiar faces cast as Sinatra’s fellow detectives. Jack Klugman plays Leland’s friend Dave Schoenstein. Ralph Meeker and Robert Duvall are absolutely thuggish as Curran and Nestor. Alan Freeman, Jr., as Leland’s new, young partner, Robbie Loughlin, provides a surprise that makes Leland confront his own ambition.
Tony Musante has a featured role as murder suspect Felix Tesla. He is one pathetic knot of psychotic misery.
In his very first film role, Tom Atkins plays the trigger-happy, young cop being grilled by Leland. Atkins would become a horror film favorite in the 1980s for his work in such films as The Fog (1980), Creepshow (1982), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), and Night of the Creeps (1986).
Jacqueline Bisset plays one of three important roles that don’t matter until over halfway through the film. Her Norma MacIver approaches Leland to investigate the apparent suicide of her husband. She also provides another potential love interest for Joe Leland.
Lloyd Bochner was a frequent guest-star on many ’60s and ’70s television series and appeared with Sinatra in the previous year’s Tony Rome film. Bochner provides his typically smooth and shifty presence as psychiatrist Dr. Roberts.
The character of Colin MacIver, Norma’s late husband, is played by William Windom, who appears only in a lengthy flashback. The ubiquitous Windom began performing on television in 1949 and never stopped. He also acted in an enormous number of movie and theater productions. Windom may be best known for his television roles as the unfortunate Commodore Matt Decker in the original Star Trek series (1966–69) episode “The Doomsday Machine” and for his recurring role as Dr. Seth Hazlitt on Murder, She Wrote (1984–96).
The Detective could have been an enormously significant movie in action film history. While it is more of a crime drama than an action thriller, it was probably Sinatra’s portrayal of a tough, idealistic police detective that resulted in him being offered the title role of that 1971 classic Dirty Harry. Of course, Sinatra passed on it, and Clint Eastwood became cinema’s most famous cop. Since The Detective film was based on Roderick Thorp’s novel, when his 1979 sequel novel, Nothing Lasts Forever, was adapted as the 1988 film Die Hard, Sinatra was offered the starring role. Again, Sinatra passed on a role that led to another hit action film series. The Joe Leland character was changed from a retired police detective to a younger, still-working police detective named John McClane played by Bruce Willis.
The Detective was released just months before the Motion Picture Association of America rating system began. It is a clear indication of the medium’s new direction using edgier, adult content reflecting the increasing turbulence of the times and questioning the merit in society’s classes and institutions. All the sordid compromises and resulting complications in an unethical society make the story’s murder and its solution seem to be almost beside the point. In this messy and compromised world, Sinatra’s Joe Leland weathers disappointments and eventually must change his tactics to keep making a difference. This film does not offer a tidy and triumphant climax but tells us that the good fight must continue to be waged and that ethics still matter.
