The Detective (1968 film)
Encyclopedia
The Detective is a 1968 film directed by Gordon Douglas
, produced by Aaron Rosenberg
and starring Frank Sinatra
, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Roderick Thorp
.
Co-stars include Lee Remick
, Jacqueline Bisset
, Jack Klugman
and Robert Duvall
.
The Detective marked a move towards — and was billed as — a more "adult" approach to depicting the life and work of a police detective whilst confronting, for one of the first times in mainstream cinema, hitherto taboo subjects such as homosexuality. Here, the detective in question is Joe Leland, who is trying to juggle marital issues with a murder case that seemed to be open-and-shut at first, but runs much deeper than he could have imagined.
The Detective was Sinatra's fourth collaboration with director Douglas, having worked together on Tony Rome
(1967), Robin and the 7 Hoods
(1964) and some years prior on Young at Heart
(1954). Their final film together would be a sequel to Tony Rome, 1968's Lady in Cement
.
Few leads are found, other than the fact that a house-mate of the victim remains conspicuous by his absence. All the while notions about the victim's sexuality and personal interests warp the ideals of the officers assigned to the task. Leland tries to remain focused on the case while, at the same time, dealing with the breakdown of his marriage to wife Karen.
Eventually, the victim's housemate is identified as one Felix Tesla, and he is soon tracked down by Leland and his partner. Resisting hostile questioning, Tesla gives nothing away until Leland's gentler approach coaxes a confession out of him. This results in extensive publicity and a promotion for Leland and the electric chair for Tesla, which distresses Leland because it is clear to him that Tesla is insane.
Later, across town, a man kills himself by jumping from the rooftop of a racetrack. The case goes all but unnoticed until the wife of the dead man, Norma MacIver, comes to Leland's office and asks him to look into it, not believing it was truly a suicide.
As Leland begins to investigate the situation, he soon learns that certain powerful interests in the city do not want him asking questions. The incorruptible detective presses on nonetheless, and the path he follows will ultimately lead him right back to the Tesla murder.
cast as Norma MacIver, a role that was eventually taken by Jacqueline Bisset
after Farrow was kept beyond the previously scheduled end of filming for Rosemary's Baby
. This was the last straw for Sinatra, who had the divorce papers publicly served on Farrow on her film's set. Their divorce became final in August 1968, putting an end to a short-lived romance of barely two years.
The Detective was cast strongly, with key roles being filled by character actors of good repute, including Jack Klugman
, Ralph Meeker
, Al Freeman, Jr.
, Lloyd Bochner
, Sugar Ray Robinson
, William Windom
, and Robert Duvall
. Bisset and Duvall would both end up in the cast of another popular detective drama of the era, Bullitt
with Steve McQueen
.
The Hollywood Reporter
would comment: "Sinatra has honed his laconic, hep veneer to the point of maximum credibility." Roger Ebert
praised his performance and the concept of the film, stating: "It is pretty clear that Sinatra wanted 'The Detective' to be as good a movie as he could manage. It provides a clear, unsentimental look at a police investigation, and even the language reflects the way cops (and the rest of us) talk."
In 1979 Roderick Thorp wrote a sequel to The Detective called Nothing Lasts Forever
, in which Leland is trapped in a Klaxon Oil Corporation skyscraper after it is taken by German terrorists and must rescue his daughter and grandchildren. The novel was adapted into the 1988 20th Century Fox
film Die Hard
, in which Joe Leland's name was changed to John McClane, the object of his heroism was changed from his daughter to his wife, and Klaxon became the Nakatomi Corporation.
The Detective was released on DVD by 20th Century Fox in 2005 as part of a boxed set that included Tony Rome and Lady in Cement.
Gordon Douglas (director)
Gordon Douglas was an American film director, who directed many different genres of films over the course of a five-decade career in motion pictures. He was a native of New York City.-Hal Roach and Our Gang:...
, produced by Aaron Rosenberg
Aaron Rosenberg
Aaron Rosenberg was a film director and producer. His film efforts included the box office hits The Glenn Miller Story and The Benny Goodman Story, as well as Mutiny on the Bounty.Born in Brooklyn, he studied at the University of Southern California and played college football...
and starring Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Roderick Thorp
Roderick Thorp
Roderick Mayne Thorp, Jr. was an American novelist specializing mainly in crime novels.As a young college graduate, Thorp worked at a detective agency owned by his father...
.
Co-stars include Lee Remick
Lee Remick
Lee Ann Remick was an American film and television actress. Among her best-known films are Anatomy of a Murder , Days of Wine and Roses , and The Omen .-Early life:...
, Jacqueline Bisset
Jacqueline Bisset
Jacqueline Bisset is an English actress. She has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award. She is known for her roles in the films Bullitt , Airport , The Deep , Class , and the TV series Nip/Tuck in 2006...
, Jack Klugman
Jack Klugman
Jacob Joachim "Jack" Klugman is an American stage, film and television actor known for his roles in sitcoms, movies, and television and on Broadway...
and Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
.
The Detective marked a move towards — and was billed as — a more "adult" approach to depicting the life and work of a police detective whilst confronting, for one of the first times in mainstream cinema, hitherto taboo subjects such as homosexuality. Here, the detective in question is Joe Leland, who is trying to juggle marital issues with a murder case that seemed to be open-and-shut at first, but runs much deeper than he could have imagined.
The Detective was Sinatra's fourth collaboration with director Douglas, having worked together on Tony Rome
Tony Rome
Tony Rome is a 1967 detective film starring Frank Sinatra and directed by Gordon Douglas, adapted from Marvin Albert's novel Miami Mayhem. Filming took place on location in Miami, Florida, with some scenes being shot during the day at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, where Sinatra was performing in...
(1967), Robin and the 7 Hoods
Robin and the 7 Hoods
Robin and the 7 Hoods is a 1964 American musical film that transplants the Robin Hood legend to a 1930s Chicago gangster setting. Directed by Gordon Douglas and produced by Frank Sinatra, with a screenplay by David R. Schwartz, the movie stars members of the Rat Pack as well as Bing Crosby, Peter...
(1964) and some years prior on Young at Heart
Young at Heart (1954 film)
Young at Heart is a 1954 film, directed by Gordon Douglas. It was a remake of the 1938 film Four Daughters, and it starred Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Gig Young, Ethel Barrymore, Alan Hale, Jr and Dorothy Malone and was the first of five films that Gordon Douglas directed with Frank...
(1954). Their final film together would be a sequel to Tony Rome, 1968's Lady in Cement
Lady In Cement
Lady In Cement is a 1968 detective film, directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Frank Sinatra, Raquel Welch, Dan Blocker, Martin Gabel and Richard Conte. A sequel to the 1967 film Tony Rome, and based on the novel by Marvin H...
.
Plot
Detective Joe Leland is called to the home of a murder victim who has been beaten to death and has had his genitals removed. Puzzled and disgusted, the police on call are left bemused, Leland holding things together with his direct, no-nonsense approach.Few leads are found, other than the fact that a house-mate of the victim remains conspicuous by his absence. All the while notions about the victim's sexuality and personal interests warp the ideals of the officers assigned to the task. Leland tries to remain focused on the case while, at the same time, dealing with the breakdown of his marriage to wife Karen.
Eventually, the victim's housemate is identified as one Felix Tesla, and he is soon tracked down by Leland and his partner. Resisting hostile questioning, Tesla gives nothing away until Leland's gentler approach coaxes a confession out of him. This results in extensive publicity and a promotion for Leland and the electric chair for Tesla, which distresses Leland because it is clear to him that Tesla is insane.
Later, across town, a man kills himself by jumping from the rooftop of a racetrack. The case goes all but unnoticed until the wife of the dead man, Norma MacIver, comes to Leland's office and asks him to look into it, not believing it was truly a suicide.
As Leland begins to investigate the situation, he soon learns that certain powerful interests in the city do not want him asking questions. The incorruptible detective presses on nonetheless, and the path he follows will ultimately lead him right back to the Tesla murder.
Cast
- Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
as Det. Sgt. Joe Leland - Lee RemickLee RemickLee Ann Remick was an American film and television actress. Among her best-known films are Anatomy of a Murder , Days of Wine and Roses , and The Omen .-Early life:...
as Karen Wagner Leland - Jacqueline BissetJacqueline BissetJacqueline Bisset is an English actress. She has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award. She is known for her roles in the films Bullitt , Airport , The Deep , Class , and the TV series Nip/Tuck in 2006...
as Norma MacIver - Ralph MeekerRalph MeekerRalph Meeker was an American stage and film actor best-known for starring in the 1953 Broadway production of Picnic, and in the 1955 film noir cult classic Kiss Me Deadly.-Career:...
as Det. Curran - Jack KlugmanJack KlugmanJacob Joachim "Jack" Klugman is an American stage, film and television actor known for his roles in sitcoms, movies, and television and on Broadway...
as Det. Dave Schoenstein - Horace McMahonHorace McMahonHorace McMahon was an American actor.- Biography :In his early career he mostly played thugs or jailbirds, but in 1949 he starred in his most acclaimed role, as Lieutenant Monaghan in the drama play Detective Story and in 1951 he reprised his character in Paramount Pictures' film version Detective...
as Capt. Tom Farrell - Lloyd BochnerLloyd BochnerLloyd Wolfe Bochner was a Canadian actor, usually playing the role of suave, rich leading men.- Career :...
as Dr. Wendell Roberts - William WindomWilliam Windom (actor)William Windom is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his work on television, including several episodes of The Twilight Zone; playing the character of Glen Morley, a congressman from Minnesota like his own great-grandfather and namesake in The Farmer's Daughter; the character of John...
as Colin MacIver - Tony MusanteTony MusanteAnthony Peter Musante is an American actor.Musante was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Natalie Anne , a school teacher, and Anthony Peter Musante, an accountant. He attended Oberlin College and Northwestern University.Musante has acted in numerous feature films, in the United States...
as Felix Tesla - Al Freeman, Jr.Al Freeman, Jr.Al Freeman, Jr., M.Ed. is an African-American actor and director....
as Det. Robbie Loughlin - Robert DuvallRobert DuvallRobert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
as Det. Nestor - Pat HenryPat Henry (comedian)Patrick Henry Scarnato, better known as Pat Henry, was a Brooklyn-born American comedian who was known for opening for Frank Sinatra for more than two decades...
as Mercidis - Patrick McVeyPatrick McVeyPatrick McVey was an American actor who starred in three television series between 1950 and 1961, Big Town, Boots and Saddles, and Manhunt.-Early life and career:...
as Officer Mike Tanner - Dixie Marquis as Carol Linjack
- Sugar Ray RobinsonSugar Ray RobinsonSugar Ray Robinson was an African-American professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight...
as Kelly - Renée TaylorRenee TaylorRenée Taylor is an American actress, Academy Award nominated writer and one-time director, best-known for having played Fran Drescher's outspoken mother, Sylvia Fine, on the TV series The Nanny.- Career :...
as Rachael Schoenstein - James InmanJames InmanJames Inman was an English mathematician, professor of mathematics at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth.He was born at Tod Hole in Garsdale, the younger son of Richard Inman and Jane Hutchinson. He was educated at Sedbergh Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge, graduating as first...
as Teddy Leikman - Tom AtkinsTom Atkins (actor)Tom Atkins is an American television and film actor. He is primarily known for his work in the horror film genre, having worked with writers and directors such as John Carpenter, Stephen King, and George A. Romero...
as Officer Jack Harmon - George PlimptonGeorge PlimptonGeorge Ames Plimpton was an American journalist, writer, editor, and actor. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review.-Early life:...
as reporter in the squad room
Casting
Sinatra originally planned to have his wife Mia FarrowMia Farrow
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
cast as Norma MacIver, a role that was eventually taken by Jacqueline Bisset
Jacqueline Bisset
Jacqueline Bisset is an English actress. She has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award. She is known for her roles in the films Bullitt , Airport , The Deep , Class , and the TV series Nip/Tuck in 2006...
after Farrow was kept beyond the previously scheduled end of filming for Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby is a 1967 best-selling horror novel by Ira Levin, his second published book. Major elements of the story were inspired by the publicity surrounding the Church of Satan of Anton LaVey which had been founded in 1966.-Plot summary:...
. This was the last straw for Sinatra, who had the divorce papers publicly served on Farrow on her film's set. Their divorce became final in August 1968, putting an end to a short-lived romance of barely two years.
The Detective was cast strongly, with key roles being filled by character actors of good repute, including Jack Klugman
Jack Klugman
Jacob Joachim "Jack" Klugman is an American stage, film and television actor known for his roles in sitcoms, movies, and television and on Broadway...
, Ralph Meeker
Ralph Meeker
Ralph Meeker was an American stage and film actor best-known for starring in the 1953 Broadway production of Picnic, and in the 1955 film noir cult classic Kiss Me Deadly.-Career:...
, Al Freeman, Jr.
Al Freeman, Jr.
Al Freeman, Jr., M.Ed. is an African-American actor and director....
, Lloyd Bochner
Lloyd Bochner
Lloyd Wolfe Bochner was a Canadian actor, usually playing the role of suave, rich leading men.- Career :...
, Sugar Ray Robinson
Sugar Ray Robinson
Sugar Ray Robinson was an African-American professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight...
, William Windom
William Windom (actor)
William Windom is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his work on television, including several episodes of The Twilight Zone; playing the character of Glen Morley, a congressman from Minnesota like his own great-grandfather and namesake in The Farmer's Daughter; the character of John...
, and Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
. Bisset and Duvall would both end up in the cast of another popular detective drama of the era, Bullitt
Bullitt
Bullitt is a 1968 American police procedural film starring Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Vaughn. It was directed by Peter Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. The story was adapted for the screen by Alan Trustman and Harry Kleiner, based on the 1963 novel Mute Witness by Robert L....
with Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
.
Release and critical reception
Released on May 28, 1968 The Detective was a box office success, becoming the 20th highest earning film of the year with $6.5 million taken in box office rentals. Critical reception was mostly good whilst Sinatra delivered one of his most intense and dedicated acting performances.The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
would comment: "Sinatra has honed his laconic, hep veneer to the point of maximum credibility." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
praised his performance and the concept of the film, stating: "It is pretty clear that Sinatra wanted 'The Detective' to be as good a movie as he could manage. It provides a clear, unsentimental look at a police investigation, and even the language reflects the way cops (and the rest of us) talk."
In 1979 Roderick Thorp wrote a sequel to The Detective called Nothing Lasts Forever
Nothing Lasts Forever (1979 novel)
Nothing Lasts Forever is a 1979 thriller novel by Roderick Thorp. It is mostly known through its film adaptation, Die Hard.-Plot introduction:...
, in which Leland is trapped in a Klaxon Oil Corporation skyscraper after it is taken by German terrorists and must rescue his daughter and grandchildren. The novel was adapted into the 1988 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
film Die Hard
Die Hard
Die Hard is a 1988 American action film and the first in the Die Hard film series. The film was directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. It is based on a 1979 novel by Roderick Thorp titled Nothing Lasts Forever, itself a sequel to the book The Detective, which...
, in which Joe Leland's name was changed to John McClane, the object of his heroism was changed from his daughter to his wife, and Klaxon became the Nakatomi Corporation.
The Detective was released on DVD by 20th Century Fox in 2005 as part of a boxed set that included Tony Rome and Lady in Cement.