User Reviews

Some of the negative posts keep snarling that the film is dated..... sure it is--lots has changed since 1967. For one thing, Jill St. John nee Jill Oppenheim is a classic Rat Pack hottie, with the elaborate hair that never seems out of place and apparently has enough shellac in it to varnish a kitchen. The hippie movement brought us the natural look in "hottie" women, with long, straight flowing hair and little makeup, but Frank's Rat Pack women were still into a gaudy Vegas look. And, I'm no expert on 1967 fashions, but I sure don't think men ran around in a warm climate (I was raised in So Cal) wearing hats with their suits.....but enjoy this look back at 1967, when fashions and what was "cool" were changing dramatically (today's starts don't even change their names, chuckle).

The film is beautifully filmed on actual Miami locations, by a renowned cinematographer Joseph Biroc (check him out here on IMDb). And, of course Richard Conte's house is no mansion, with its chain link fence along the waterway---he's an honest cop, not a multi- zillionaire....but the house looks real cuz it is real!

I submit that Richard Breen's script if full of truly great "hard boiled" lines.....even the one where Jill dumps Frank, telling him, "you'd probably just lose me in a poker game anyway" and Frank agrees. Check out Sue Lyon, who looks great to me--if Jill fails to excite you (she does nothing for me), I think you'll like Sue, as she is even convincing in the part (beside being hot looking).

So, stop being grouchy and enjoy!

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.

Frank Sinatra does his best to bring the tough talking, hard drinking, womanizing detectives of the 1940s into the 1960s. Sinatra plays detective Tony Rome much like I would image Bogart would have had he been alive. Sinatra doesn't do much of anything that Bogart wasn't doing when he played either Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade. In fact, beyond the characters, there are other similarities. Much as Bogart had his falcon, Rome has his diamond stickpin. And just as Bogart was forever carrying Carmen Sternwood home after one too many, Rome seems to be always at hand to make sure the Kosterman daughter gets home safely. In a way, it's this familiarity that makes me enjoy Tony Rome more than I probably should. Realistically, I've probably overrated the movie. You're not going to find anything award worthy here and Sinatra is doing little more than playing Sinatra. But it is fun and I always have a good time watching it. The mystery surrounding the stickpin keeps my attention even after having seen the movie three times. And what more can you really ask of a movie. Other highlights for me beyond the plot include some really cool scenes of Miami in the 60s and Jill St. John in a bikini.

Easygoing private detective Tony Rome (ably played with winning weary grace by Frank Sinatra) gets a seemingly simple job of driving drunken rich girl Diana Pines (an appealing portrayal by the cute Sue Lyon) back home after she's found passed out in a cheap hotel. Complications ensue when Diana's diamond pin is reported missing and Rome has to go into action to find it.

Director Gordon Douglas relates the engrossing and enjoyable story at a steady pace, offers a vivid evocation of the sunny Miami setting, maintains a fairly gritty tone throughout, and stages the occasional exciting outbursts of action with flair and skill. Richard Breen's sharp script presents a colorful array of low-life characters along with several neat twists and turns. Sinatra effortlessly carries the picture with his laid-back charisma and delivers his snappy quips with deliciously dry gusto. The ace supporting cast rates as another substantial asset: Richard Conte as Rome's loyal buddy Lt. Dave Santini, Jill St. John as sultry and enticing dame Ann Archer, Simon Oakland as powerful wealthy businessman Rudy Kosterman, Gena Rowlands as Rudy's deceitful wife Rita, Lloyd Bochner as slimy drug dealer Vic Rood, Robert J. Wilke as seedy hotel detective Ralph Turpin, and Shecky Greene as wormy limping hood Catleg. Popping up in nifty bits are Rocky Graziano as washed-up former boxer Packy and Tiffany Bolling in her film debut as a cocktail waitress who gets roughed-up by some toughs. Joseph F. Biroc's vibrant widescreen cinematography provides a pleasing polished look. Billy May's groovy score hits the right-on swinging spot. A really fun slice of 60's crime noir.

Gordon Douglas' "Tony Rome" ranks as an average whodunit that benefits immensely from Joseph Biroc's fantastic widescreen lensing in actual, authentic Miami locations. First off, "Tony Rome" is no "Maltese Falcon" or "Big Sleep" and Frank Sinatra–for all of his cool moves–is no Humphrey Bogart. Nevertheless, this detectives' story is complicated enough, humorous enough, and relies on enough gumshoe conventions to make it entertaining. What surprised me about everything that I've read here and at other Internet websites is that nobody observed that "Tony Rome" was the only movie that ole Blue Eyes made that had a sequel. Sinatra never played the same named character more than once except here and in "Lady In Cement." Another interesting fact is that old Blue Eyes must have gotten along well with veteran helmer Gordon Douglas because Douglas directed him in "Tony Rome" and then "The Detective" and then "Lady in Cement." Earlier, Douglas called shots on Sinatra's Rat Pack clan gangster movie "Robin and the 7 Hoods" and even earlier "Young at Heart." As sensitive as Sinatra was about his friends and co-workers and as ready as he was to punish them for their slights, the fact that he worked with Douglas so many times must say something. Perhaps Douglas was simply compliant. Compliant or otherwise, Gordon Douglas was one of those extremely efficient but rarely celebrated Hollywood helmers. Reportedly, Sinatra hated to shoot a scene more than once and some directors–even Oscar winning Lewis Milestone–were content to follow his wishes.

Oscar winning scenarist Richard L. Breen, who penned the Barbara Stanwyck version of "Titanic" as well as "PT-109," knew a thing or two about writing hard-boiled detective dialogue. He wrote enough "Dragnet" episodes to ensure this quality. Breen's screenplay contains some hilarious moments that do rank up there with "The Big Sleep" and the horse racing dialogue scene between Bogart and Lauren Bacall. In this instance, a client shows up at Rome's roomy office and tries to hire him to investigate their kitty cat because "pussy doesn't smile" any more. I suspect that even in 1967 everybody knew that this was racy joke. Later, there is a scene between a gorgeous stripper and her fat, worrisome roommate. The fat roommate slaps around the curvaceous stripper and then both cry and hold each other. Tony Rome observes them with all the cynicism in the world and switches off the lights for them and leaves their trailer. Surely, this must have raised some eyebrows back in 1967, especially since the Production Code Administration was on its last legs.

As for the plot, "Tony Rome" is mild compared to the classics. Miami private investigator Tony Rome does a favor for his ex-partner Ralph Turpin (Robert J. Wilke of "The Magnificent Seven" at his slimy best) who saved his life once. The unsavory Turpin is a house detective at a seedy hotel, and he has a young drunken dame on his hands that he needs to get rid of before the Miami Police give him flak. It turns out that he rolled her for fifty bucks and he winds up paying Rome $200 to take her off his hands. The dame is pretty Diana Pines (Sue Lyon of "Lolita") the daughter of wealthy construction magnate Rudy Kosterman (Simon Oakland of "Bullitt") and Rome takes her home without getting Turpin in trouble. Kosterman pays off Rome to make sure that his family doesn't get in the headlines. The next day Diana shows up at Rome's houseboat. She appears to have lost a diamond stick pin valued at $5-thousand and she wants it back without her father knowing about it. No sooner does she tell Rome about the pin than a couple of thugs show up and give Rome the option of a pistol butt over the head or chloroform. One nice trait of Sinatra's Tony Rome is that the guy is no hero. He chooses chloroform and the thugs trash his boat, only to find zilch. Interestingly, Lloyd Gough, who portrayed the idiotic Sentinel news reporter on the TV series "The Green Hornet," plays a strong-arm guy who roughs up Rome. Rome is a gambler, too, who often loses. Moreover, his back story is that his father was a Miami cop who tangled with the wrong politician and committed suicide. Tony quit the force and earns peanuts as a private eye. Eventually, Rome finds himself up to his neck in trouble with his own cop buddy, Lieutenant Santini (Richard Conte of "The Violent Professionals") because he finds Turpin shot dead in his office. Meanwhile, Rome discovers that the precious pin that Pines wants recovered is made out of glass. He also suspects that Kosterman's lovely wife Rita (the ever lovely Gena Rowlands) has something to hide. The high point of the plot occurs when an imported gunman tries to kill Kosterman at his construction site. Shecky Greene of TV's "Combat" shows up briefly as a hit-man who has been arrested so many times that he knows the law better than his lawyers. The fabulously beautiful Jill St. John of "Diamonds Are Forever" slums through several scenes with Sinatra as a three-time married vodka guzzling babe. For a while, it looks like Tony Rome is going to get the girl, but no such luck. She goes back to hubby number three because he has bought her a new nightgown and a new honeymoon in Nassau.

"Tony Rome" has more plot than action and it lacks noisy gunfights, car chases and nudity, but it is a good Sinatra flick.