Hampa dorada

Sinatra's PI, Tony Rome, shrewdly uses verbal parry and thrust instead of muscle to clear things up. It's a showcase for the actor, without a tuneful song in sight. Plot-wise he's got to figure out where an expensive diamond pin went and where the heck bad guy Nimmo is. Along the way, there's a lot of scenic Miami Beach and bikini clad skin, mainly Jill St. John's. But what grabbed me was the innuendo, intentional or not. Catch the brief scene with Mrs. Schuyler and her repetition of a lost pussy. That exchange with Rome is simply dropped in, and has nothing to do with the plot. Perhaps it was included on a dare. Tellingly, there're other, albeit passing, innuendos, as well. After all, this was a period when the counter-culture was taking hold and the repressive Production Code was all but dead.

It's also a good chance to catch a number of Hollywood vets in supporting roles, especially noir icon Richard Conte as a cop. All in all, it's a smoothly done (Gordon Douglas) eye- catcher. Moreover, the high-key Technicolor is about as far from classic gumshoe noir as possible. Happily for Sinatra the actor, it's a restrained showcase. Just bring your note pad to keep up with the tricky plot.

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.

This is an interesting and very modern detective film. Frank Sinatra plays the title role--a private detective who seems very cool and disaffected. Of the three detective shows he made in the late 60s, I'd rate this one #2--behind the superior film "The Detective". However, this exceptional film is not related to "Tony Rome" or its sequel "The Lady in Cement". Regardless, Sinatra's world-weary performances were excellent--even if he seemed to try to make it look like he's not trying.

The film begins with Tony doing what seems like a very mundane and not at all dangerous task--bringing home a drunk young lady to her rich daddy (Simon Oakland). Oddly, however, this good deed ended up leading to an apparently minor task--to find the young lady's missing earring. And, this task led to murder...in fact, a LOT of murders and mayhem. By late 60s standards, this film is awfully violent and Tony isn't exactly always the macho hero. Although he generally gets the best of it, he, too, gets the crap knocked out of him a few times in this rough and tumble film.

As I said, I preferred Sinatra's "The Detective", but not by much. "Tony Rome" is a very good private eye film--a bit like a grittier version of "The Rockford Files"...minus most of the laughs. It's also odd that Tony is NOT the perfect manly sort of hero--especially since he repeatedly shows a stronger desire to wrap up the case than unwrap the very alluring Jill St. John--who spends much of the movie pursuing Tony. A very good film--especially since the mystery turns out to be a very interesting one. Worth your time.

By the way, a couple interesting parts in the film are a cameo by the ex-champ Rocky Graziano as well as a VERY unusual sort of role for the comic Shecky Greene. Also, I just loved Tony's line "This is not a family. Just a bunch of people living at the same address." Priceless and indicative of the sort of smart-allecky stuff he tosses about during the film.

This is one breezy film. Sinatra one lines himself solidly throughout. In films like this, there aren't many moments of reflection. This saves us the trouble of examining the plot and the character motivation too intently. The benefit to the viewer is that the whole experience remains visceral and on the surface. On occasion I like films that don't challenge me, that simply vibrate with a peculiar sort of corrupt, smarmy, highly heated decaying fun. Sinatra dashes all over Miami in search of his maguffin. He pops in to the lives of many marginalized denizens of the underworld. He gets a taste of the lives of the newly rich and partially famous. His alter-ego, Richard Conte, provides a mundane, safe balanced universe for him to rest up in from time to time but the bulk of his characters time is spent in high risk action and lots of smart-assed talk. And for this viewer, that was just fine.

You must be a fan of 60's movies to like this flick. Negative comments about this movie are negative comments about 60's movies in general.

Tony Rome is an ex-cop, current private dick who is hired by a family to find there missing jewels. Rather unique things happen, the movie is over, and you are either a bigger Sinatra fan, or at the same level.

My advice is to imagine you are sitting in a 1967 Olds 442 at the drive in, and the rest will take care of itself.