MAY CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS I rate this film 7 out of 10 mainly for the strength of Frank Sinatra's performance.
He plays a retiring police detective, whose wife has fallen ill and is slowly dying in the hospital. Seeking to distract himself from his personal troubles, he becomes deeply involved in trying to solve a series of murders and stop the killer.
The story is based on a novel by Lawrence Sanders, who wrote a series of "Deadly Sin" mysteries. It provided Sinatra with his final starring role in a film, and he plays it well. As the worn-out aging cop, he is effective and moving in several scenes. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't play fair with its audience regarding the killer and it never reaches the tension necessary to be more interesting as a thriller. Thankfully, Sinatra is in nearly every scene and has some nice interactions with supporting players like James Whitmore, Brenda Vaccaro and Martin Gabel.
It's David Dukes' killer that we never really get to know. He's alternately bold and weak, and we are never given any insight into why. In a more exciting thriller, we might overlook that flaw, but here it makes the chase a little less interesting. However, as I said, the Sinatra scenes are plenty and they are well-done. For example, there's a nice scene where he buys ten minutes to snoop around an apartment to look for clues. And the scenes with Whitmore's coroner and Gabel's curator are nicely played.
Had the makers of the film, which include executive producer Sinatra, been more in-tuned to the serial-killer aspect, they may have balanced out the film a bit more. Also, Faye Dunaway is wasted in her role as the dying wife. She's fine acting her scenes, but has so little to work with that she's almost non-existent. Some complain about the down-beat ending, but I feel that it fits well in the context of the film.
As it is, "First Deadly Sin" represents a solid, yet somber, final star vehicle for Frank Sinatra.
He plays a retiring police detective, whose wife has fallen ill and is slowly dying in the hospital. Seeking to distract himself from his personal troubles, he becomes deeply involved in trying to solve a series of murders and stop the killer.
The story is based on a novel by Lawrence Sanders, who wrote a series of "Deadly Sin" mysteries. It provided Sinatra with his final starring role in a film, and he plays it well. As the worn-out aging cop, he is effective and moving in several scenes. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't play fair with its audience regarding the killer and it never reaches the tension necessary to be more interesting as a thriller. Thankfully, Sinatra is in nearly every scene and has some nice interactions with supporting players like James Whitmore, Brenda Vaccaro and Martin Gabel.
It's David Dukes' killer that we never really get to know. He's alternately bold and weak, and we are never given any insight into why. In a more exciting thriller, we might overlook that flaw, but here it makes the chase a little less interesting. However, as I said, the Sinatra scenes are plenty and they are well-done. For example, there's a nice scene where he buys ten minutes to snoop around an apartment to look for clues. And the scenes with Whitmore's coroner and Gabel's curator are nicely played.
Had the makers of the film, which include executive producer Sinatra, been more in-tuned to the serial-killer aspect, they may have balanced out the film a bit more. Also, Faye Dunaway is wasted in her role as the dying wife. She's fine acting her scenes, but has so little to work with that she's almost non-existent. Some complain about the down-beat ending, but I feel that it fits well in the context of the film.
As it is, "First Deadly Sin" represents a solid, yet somber, final star vehicle for Frank Sinatra.