Frank Sinatra, after losing his recording contract, movie contract, bobby-soxer fan base,
Ava Gardner, and for a period of time,
the voice, waged a remarkable comeback by winning an Academy Award for his performance in
From Here to Eternity (1953). How a person whose career was as over as Sinatra's appeared to be could have gotten the part in the first place is the source of
ancient Hollywood rumor.
Nonetheless, Sinatra went on to have a decent movie career (better than
Elvis'), appearing in such classic films as
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) and
The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Being the Sinatra fanatic I am, I can't help but also enjoy
High Society (1956),
Come Blow Your Horn (1963), and a couple of his "Rat Pack" movies, such as
Ocean's 11 (1960) and
Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964).
By the mid to late '60s, one can see that either the British Invasion had dealt even Sinatra's unprecedented career a blow, or he no longer cared about making movies. Whatever the reason, from that time period forward, he was cast in movie after movie (for the most part) as a cop or a detective. This phase of his Hollywood career began with a bang when he selected the role of Bogart-esque private detective
Tony Rome in 1967.
The synopsis from
Rotten Tomatoes: "The tough, dashing private eye who lives on a boat finds his troubles beginning when, after being hired to escort the daughter of a wealthy businessman, the girl's diamond pin is mysteriously missing. The trail leads him to guns, bullets and love." It sounds a little like the plot to one of
Raymond Chandler's great Philip Marlowe novels,
The High Window, later made into a Bogart-less film version called
The Brasher Doubloon.
Here's Frank pulling one of those old pull tabs from the first of many Budweisers we see him drink during the film.
Daugher Nancy sings the
swingin' theme song.
It's hard not to laugh, though, with lyrics like these:
Mothers lock your daughters in
It's to late to talk to them
'Cause Tony Rome is out and about
And Tony Rome will get 'em
If you don't watch out
Tony Rome will get 'em
If you don't watch out
You see, by 1967, Sinatra was a long way from his
skinny crooner days, when it was said he would disappear when standing behind the microphone stand.
Co-star
Jill St. John didn't seem to mind. She would later play a somewhat similar role in
Diamonds Are Forever.
Don't you know, if they look pretty good by today's standards, they were smokin', back in the day?
The plot is just as convoluted as any great detective novel, and all in all, Sinatra is pretty good. But, obviously, one never forgets that it's Sinatra. Any scene he's in, you can be certain, it's most likely the first and only take. He had no patience for the process of making movies. He would probably have told you, back when he still took acting seriously, that to do the scene more than once would take away from the believability. By 1967, he didn't have much "method". He could point
and point
and point
and point
and point
and point
yep, point
and point
and point
and point some more.
Note the Bud.
Because the film was made in Frank's world, there's lots of drinking. But didn't
everyone drink and smoke in those days?
Note the
odd gesture he's making with his left hand. What's that called? Oh yeah,
pointing. Did I mention they drink Budweisers?
In between, Sinatra found work for his pallies, like best friend Jilly Rizzo:
and Beverly Hills restauranteur/con artist
Michael Romanoff.
Since the film is set in Miami, there are great shots of beaches and buildlings you know are looong gone.
Tommy Vercetti's mansion?
The Fontainebleau Hotel, featured in other films such as
Goldfinger and
The Bellboy, is captured in all it's retro glory:
It's not a bad film, and it's definitely not the
worst one Sinatra made. It's a good time capsule, if anything, of a lifestyle, a sensibility and aesthetic that was limping along, and soon to die, as the swingin' 1960s ground to a halt.
There's no doubt the meeting of The Beatles and Bob Dylan in 1964 was a momentous occasion in pop culture history. Dylan was a huge influence on John Lennon. One need only listen to "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" (whereupon Lennon does his very best Dylan imitation) to hear evidence. Dylan is said to have introduced the Fab Four to the chronic. Legend goes, Dylan believed the Liverpudlians were already "imbibing" because he thought the lyrics to "I Want to Hold Your Hand" included the line 'I get high', when in fact they were singing 'I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hiiiiiide'.
