There's no doubt that Frank Sinatra could act. With all his money and popularity as a singer, his political and other connections and interests, he just didn't seem to want to work too hard at it. So, his film portfolio includes just a few very good roles and movies – "From Here to Eternity," "The Manchurian Candidate," and this one, "The Detective." As a movie, it's not on the level of the other two; but Frank's role as Detective Joe Leland is on a par with his Private Angelo Maggio and Major Bennett Marco.
This film was set in a time when police corruption, crooked cops and police brutality were at their peak in some of America's largest cities. Other movies would follow with these themes, and publicity grew as cities grappled with cleaning up the police forces and corrupt city administrations. Some later movies delve deeply into the feuding and infighting that developed between good and bad cops. The 1973 film, "Serpico" heads the list of great movies about exposing police and city corruption and cleaning up the forces.
But, before then we have "The Detective," and Frank Sinatra's very good role of an honest and conscientious cop. This film covers crooked cops, police brutality, gay-bashing, infidelity, suicide, fraud, murder, mutilation and more. Other reviewers have noted that it provides a picture of the gay scene in the Big Apple at the time, and the general climate and treatment of gays by the police.
The plot has some nice intrigue, but also some confusing pieces where the audience is left out of some connections. Perhaps those were left on the cutting floor in the film editing. Otherwise the story isn't particularly engaging. Mostly, we in the audience are meant to have some empathy for Joe in his struggles to be an honest cop. The rest of the cast all put in very good performances as well. Jack Klugman is an honest friend, Dave Schoenstein – the only one Joe can trust in the department. Ralph Meeker does the crooked copy very well as Curran. Lee Remick is OK as Joe's ex-wife, Karen; and a young Robert Duvall gives a great performance as the brutal cop, Nestor.
At one point early in the film, a reporter is trying to get some information from Leland. The reporter says that he heard that Leland is the best detective in New York. He certainly was the best detective in this film. Overall, this is a good mystery and detective story. It's based a 1966 novel by the same title, written by Roderick Thorp.
This film was set in a time when police corruption, crooked cops and police brutality were at their peak in some of America's largest cities. Other movies would follow with these themes, and publicity grew as cities grappled with cleaning up the police forces and corrupt city administrations. Some later movies delve deeply into the feuding and infighting that developed between good and bad cops. The 1973 film, "Serpico" heads the list of great movies about exposing police and city corruption and cleaning up the forces.
But, before then we have "The Detective," and Frank Sinatra's very good role of an honest and conscientious cop. This film covers crooked cops, police brutality, gay-bashing, infidelity, suicide, fraud, murder, mutilation and more. Other reviewers have noted that it provides a picture of the gay scene in the Big Apple at the time, and the general climate and treatment of gays by the police.
The plot has some nice intrigue, but also some confusing pieces where the audience is left out of some connections. Perhaps those were left on the cutting floor in the film editing. Otherwise the story isn't particularly engaging. Mostly, we in the audience are meant to have some empathy for Joe in his struggles to be an honest cop. The rest of the cast all put in very good performances as well. Jack Klugman is an honest friend, Dave Schoenstein – the only one Joe can trust in the department. Ralph Meeker does the crooked copy very well as Curran. Lee Remick is OK as Joe's ex-wife, Karen; and a young Robert Duvall gives a great performance as the brutal cop, Nestor.
At one point early in the film, a reporter is trying to get some information from Leland. The reporter says that he heard that Leland is the best detective in New York. He certainly was the best detective in this film. Overall, this is a good mystery and detective story. It's based a 1966 novel by the same title, written by Roderick Thorp.