The Detective (1968)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Gordon Douglas

Writers:

Abby Mann (screenplay)
Roderick Thorp (novel)

Release Date:

28 May 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

Police detective Joe Leland investigates the murder of a homosexual man. While investigating, he discovers...

Plot Keywords:

Homosexual | Detective | Beautiful Woman | Gay Bar | Neo Noir

Cast

Frank Sinatra	...	Det. Sgt. Joe Leland
Lee Remick	...	Karen Wagner Leland
Ralph Meeker	...	Curran
Jack Klugman	...	Dave Schoenstein
Horace McMahon	...	Capt. Tom Farrell
Lloyd Bochner	...	Dr. Wendell Roberts
William Windom	...	Colin MacIver
Tony Musante	...	Felix Tesla
Al Freeman Jr.	...	Robbie Loughlin
Robert Duvall	...	Nestor
Pat Henry	...	Mercidis
Patrick McVey	...	Police Officer Mike Tanner
Dixie Marquis	...	Carol Linjack
Sugar Ray Robinson	...	Kelly
Renée Taylor	...	Rachael Schoenstein

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Singapore:PG | West Germany:18 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:Approved

Company:

Arcola Pictures

Trivia:

First film of Don Fellows.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Joe leaves his apartment to go to Dave's apartment he leaves his hat behind. But when he leaves Dave's apartment he has his hat.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Frank Sinatra (1977) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Again

Big Town Corruption

In this film done one year before the Stonewall Riots we get a picture of corruption and homophobia in the NYPD. The Detective should be required viewing for those who want to know about the days before Stonewall when as a people we were subject to routine abuse and violence.

A nude man is found murdered in his apartment which usually spells one thing, a homicide with gay overtones. Such an occurrence allows the police to be more brutal than usual all in the pursuit of a killer.

Back in those days it's hard for people today to believe how bars that catered to gay people were the subject of random police raids, usually because the cops didn't get their payoffs. In those days just being in one of those places could constitute an arrest for disorderly conduct and if you touched a member of the same sex and not necessarily in a sexual way that could land you in jail for some time, unless you had the money to pay your way out.

A man's been killed and suspicion falls on a street punk played by Tony Musante. Frank Sinatra plays a cop who has a specialty in extracting confessions and he does it the hard way, without the rubber hose. Miranda was new at the time, so they can't beat it out of Musante as per normal. Musante confesses he gets convicted and he gets the still operative electric chair.

But right after Musante is killed, prominent citizen William Windom jumps to his death from the roof at Aqueduct racetrack. Sinatra is again the detective and connections are established with the two deaths. Sinatra's investigations are opening a lot of doors powerful folks just don't want opened. In this he has the support of Windom's widow Jacqueline Bisset.

Sinatra's dealing with some personal problems at the same time. His marriage is breaking up because it turns out his wife, Lee Remick is a nymphomaniac. Still it's the story of the two gay related deaths that dominate the film.

The Detective boasts one of Frank Sinatra's best latter film performances. Sinatra eschews the hipster mannerisms and delivers a straightforward performance as an honest Serpico like cop in the midst of big town corruption.

In the supporting cast I liked Ralph Meeker as a sleazy cop on the take who's quite willing to stop Sinatra any way he can. Also Jack Klugman as Frank's honest sidekick and Renee Taylor as his wife.

Forty years after The Detective came out who would have thought in 1968 that we would have something called the Gay Officers Action League among the police fraternal societies in New York and many other metropolitan police forces. Their organized presence in police departments have gone a long way in bringing a sensitivity and awareness for the GLBT community.

And this review is dedicated to two out police officers now retired from the job that I knew and worked with in New York City when I was at Crime Victims Board. To Detectives Vanessa Ferro and Mark Caruso who are the finest of the finest in New York and to all the other out gay law enforcement officials.