bcstoneb444 One could make a case that 'Tony Rome' is the best private eye movie of the 1960s. Also we could argue that it's the first neo-noir, depending how one defines these things. In any case a lot of the film's success can be attributed to Sinatra, who is just terrific. The Tony Rome persona is clearly in the tradition of the classic private detective. However, Sinatra gives the character a more laid back, hip quality than the usual Old School tough detectives we saw in the 1940s, played by the likes of Bogart, Mitchum and Dick Powell. Given the setting and lifestyle, the character of Rome is also an obvious first cousin to Travis McGee of the John D. MacDonald novels. Moreover, in its way the film anticipates Miami Vice of two decades later. The style and mood is more early than late 60s, and there is a whiff of 007 with the lush Miami Beach backdrop, zingy repartee, frequent consumption of alcohol, top-notch production values, and beautiful women. And like the Bond films of that era, some of the sensibilities are, by today's standards, decidedly un-pc. To wit: Rome's penchant for violence, to the point of sadism; and the depiction of most of the women characters as little more than sex objects. Still, the film provides a good time capsule-like view of what Miami Beach was like a half century ago. Perhaps the best thing about TR is the cast of quirky secondary characters, played to perfection by the fine supporting cast. Refreshing to see Richard Conte as a cop instead of a mobster. And Jill St. John makes for a fetching (semi)romantic interest for Rome. There's not much that's new in 'Tony Rome,' but there's not a lot that's wrong with it either.

Tweekums Tony Rome is a former cop who now works as a private investigator in sunny Miami, where he lives on a boat. As the story begins he receives a call from a hotel; Diana Pines, the daughter of powerful businessman Rudy Kosterman, has turned up drunk and the management want her returned home without a scandal. It should be an easy two hundred bucks but sometime that night Diana's diamond pin has gone missing. She asks him to find it before her father finds out it has been lost but see isn't the only one looking for it; a group of heavies ambush Tony on his boat and then ransack it looking for the pin. That is only the start of the matter; Tony's partner is murdered in his office and later somebody takes a shot at Kosterman; clearly the case is about more than a missing piece of jewellery. As the case progresses Tony gets close to beautiful redhead Ann Archer who may have been involved with the man everybody is looking for.This film is almost fifty years old so it is inevitable that it looks a little dated at times but that isn't necessarily a bad thing; the violence is relatively bloodless, there is no strong swearing and raciest things get is seeing Jill St. John in a bikini and some go-go dancers in a bar. There is also the accidental comedy of seeing characters on the beach wearing suits! Frank Sinatra puts in a solid performance as eponymous hero Tony Rome; a likable character who has his flaws but not too many. He is ably supported by Jill St. John as Ann Archer; the two have some enjoyable scenes together as she flirts with him without anything actually happening. The rest of the supporting are pretty good too. The story contains a good central mystery and the actual motive for the events doesn't become obvious before it is formally revealed and when it is revealed it makes sense. There are also some comic moments along the way; every time Tony returns to his boat we hear his female neighbour encouraging somebody named Malcolm in what can only be a sexual manner… when we finally see Malcolm he can barely walk! Overall I found this to be a fun film; not dark enough to be Film Noir but it certainly features some of that genre's tropes.

Blake Peterson 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.

writers_reign All three principals - Writer, Director, Actor - had turned out far superior stuff to this and I speak as someone who bows to no one in my admiration for Richard L. Breen's Pete Kelly's Blues and A Foreign Affair (co-written with Billy Wilder), Gordon Douglas' Young At Heart and Frank Sinatra's entire career. Journeyman director Gordon Douglas worked with Sinatra on three movies besides this one; the sequel, Lady In Cement, Robin And The Seven Hoods and the aforementioned Young At Heart. He also shot the remake of Stagecoach, Only The Valiant, and a forgotten film in which Jimmy Cagney played an alkie, Come Fill The Cup, all good solid jobs without being exceptional. In the wake of Bill Goldman's screenplay for Paul Newman, Harper, the private eye genre became a drug on the market in the 60s and if Tony Rome is no worse than most neither is it any better. It's the kind of part that Sinatra could phone in while lighting a cigarette and cutting an album and there are too many strands that if developed sufficiently - like Sinatra's relationship with Richard Conte's working cop - might have lifted it out of the rut. It passes a hundred minutes more or less painlessly but that's the best you can give it.