Tony Rome (1967)

Starring: Frank Sinatra, Jill St. John, Sue Lyon, Richard Conte, and Rocky Graziano
Grade: C+

The corporation that handles the Kosterman’s jewelry is the ACME insurance company? This has to be a joke. They’re dealing with a subsidiary of the guys who make weapons for the Looney Tunes? No wonder Tony Rome has trouble solving this case.

Summary

Drinking a beer and driving his boat the Straight Pass, private detective Tony Rome (Sinatra) meanders back to the shores of Miami, Florida. Immediately upon docking, he sees a married couple get on a boat and a different woman he has his eye on.

Right after, Rome is at a boxing gym where a fight is being held in front of a bunch of onlookers. Ever the gambler, Rome isn’t paying attention because he’s playing against a friend in a game of gin and loses. Before he exits, he gets a phone call from Ralph Turpin (Robert J. Wilke), Rome’s ex-partner who works at a hotel now. He needs Rome’s help with a girl who checked in last night. Since Rome owes him, he agrees to come to the hotel, though he warns Turpin he doesn’t want to be involved in any heavy stuff. If so, he’s just passing through. Upon getting there, Turpin introduces Rome to manager Mr. Welch, and they examine the drunk and passed out girl. She came alone and hasn’t done anything they know of. They just called Rome because they can’t afford an entanglement with the cops. Rome sees she’s wearing expensive clothes and has good quality alcohol with her, so she can’t be a bum. Turpin offers Rome $100 to take her home and to not say where he found her. However, Rome isn’t interested until Turpin reveals her reports have been filed as she’s a missing person. She’s married, her name is Diana Pines (Lyon), and her father Rudy Kosterman (Simon Oakland) of Kosterman Construction filed the report. He’s big in Florida. Since Turpin can’t take her home because he’ll be traced back to the hotel, he again asks if Rome can do it on account of the fact that he saved his life once before by stopping some guy who had a gun to the back of Rome’s head. Rome relents but only if he gets $200. It’s agreed upon, but the manager can only give $100 there and the other $100 the next day, which Rome is fine with. Rome tells the two he’s going to bring his car to the side exit. Once he’s gone for thirty minutes, he wants the two to call Kosterman to tell him he’s bringing Diana home. He also reminds the manager to get him the rest of his money.

After Rome leaves, the manager is anxious that Rome will give up the name of the hotel, but Turpin insists that the day Rome gives up a name is “the day Georgia elects a colored governor”.

Rome drives Diana to the lavish Kosterman home. As they come out to greet them, she rushes right past her husband Donald (Richard Krisher) and hugs her father. Kosterman invites Rome in and has him wait inside for him. The family takes Diana upstairs. As they go up, Diana calls family friend Ann Archer (St. John) a slut before being pulled away. Uncaring, Archer strikes up a conversation with Rome, and she talks about how she slept over from the house party the night before. She makes Rome a drink and talks about how Diana got drunk at the party and went off in a taxi. Kosterman comes back down the stairs with Donald and they both start hurling questions towards Rome about why she was at the hotel and whatever else, but Rome doesn’t reveal any details because he was hired by the hotel as a private investigator to keep matters under wraps. Kosterman threatens to call the police to force the information out of him, but Rome deflects with some sarcastic comments about Diana’s drinking. Kosterman wonders aloud why Diana would do such a thing, but Rome doesn’t have an answer for him because he knows just as much as him. Kosterman wants to know why though, so he offers to pay Rome to find out. Rome suggests he wait for Diana to sleep it over and potentially talk things over with Kosterman. If they can’t figure out things then and she’s in a jam, he’s open to the offer. When Donald questions Rome’s credentials, he tells them Lt. Dave Santini (Conte) of Miami PD can vouch for him. He heads to the exit, so Archer asks for a ride, and he accepts. When the two leave, Kosterman demands to know if Donald knows anything, but he doesn’t either.

Getting into Rome’s car, Rome and Archer discuss how she’s never met a private detective before, how he’s in a dirty business (a comment he doesn’t appreciate), and that she doesn’t live in Miami. She’s further out and is here to divorce her husband because the only good thing about him was his money. During the drive, Archer suggests they stop for a drink. Instead, Rome pulls a small bottle out of his glove compartment and gives it to her before asking if it’s strange that a married couple are living with the wife’s father and stepmother. Taking a swig from the bottle, Archer says Diana and Donald are building a new house, so it’s only temporary. Archer herself met Kosterman because of a party. Actually, all she does is party and dodge advances from men. When Rome suggests she say she’s not interested, she admits this is part of the trouble because sometimes she is. Archer goes on about how she’s referred to as an F.M. (formerly married) and doesn’t like her in-between status as a now single person with experience. Rome isn’t married because he has a gambling problem, and he knows this wouldn’t be a nice life for a future wife. On top of that, he lives on a boat that he won in a dice game, and he likes it. Once they get to her spot, she offers him a drink upstairs but rescinds the offer because her pursuing the matter isn’t healthy for her ego. Rome laughs it off and attributes it all to being a case of the “divorcée blues”. It’s kind of like a “post-pregnancy depression. Neither lasts”. That night, he gets back to the Straight Pass to sleep but runs right into two thugs waiting for him at gunpoint. They demand to know where a certain pin is, but he’s got no clue what they’re talking about. Because of this, he will be knocked out. They offer him the butt of the one man’s gun or chloroform. So, he picks the chloroform.

The next morning, Diana shows up at the Straight Pass and sees the place destroyed. She wakes him up, thanks him, and wants her diamond pin back. She was wearing it when she left the house, but it was gone when Rome brought her home, so she assumes he took it. Obviously, he didn’t but someone did. Rome tells her to talk to the cops or the insurance company, but Diana doesn’t want her father to know she lost it because he’s already mad at her to begin with. She wants Rome to find it, but he’s not too interested because it could be anywhere since she was so drunk. Diana admits this and adds that she was only left $15 in her purse too compared to the $100 she started with. When she reveals the pin is worth about $5,000, Rome offers the going rate of 10% if he finds it. She agrees to his terms. Just then, he gets a phone call from Kosterman who wants Rome to find Diana since she just skipped out again. Since she’s there with him, Rome agrees to try but downplays how easy it will be. Kosterman adds that he also wants Rome to find out what is bothering her because she wouldn’t talk to him about it. Rome asks if Donald had anything to do with it, but Kosterman doubts it. After he hangs up, Rome tells Diana to meet him at his office at 5PM. It’s possible he could have the pin by then, and she insists she’ll do anything to get it back. He appreciates her advances but makes it known that he needs the money more. Soon after, Rome goes back to the hotel to collect his $100 from Turpin. Once he gives it up, Rome asks him for the pin too. Turpin denies the accusation and thinks that she lost it at one of the bars she went to, but Rome knows she lost about $85 that night and couldn’t possibly drink that much whiskey. He thinks Turpin or someone in the hotel robbed her. During the conversation, Rome calls in to his bookie and puts a quick bet on a horse.

Getting back on topic, the two argue a little more until Turpin finally admits he took $50 from Diana’s purse. He sees it as him doing her a favor to stop her from drinking. After making fun of Turpin, Turpin tries to attack Rome, but Rome runs across the room and threatens him with a frying pan. Next, he tells Turpin that the pin isn’t worth that much and it’s hot at the moment. At most, he could get $200 for it. Rome offers him $100 for it if he manages to find it “laying around” or something. If he finds it, all he has to do is drop it in the mail to Rome. He’ll get $100 and no further questions will be asked. Turpin agrees to look around for it. As they talk by the door, Rome notices a shadow over the blinds of the room, so he opens it. Both men see a thug looking at them before running. Rome chases him on foot through the beach and into the parking lot, but the guy gets away after another man blindsides Rome and tackles him on the hood of a car. That guy escapes as well. Following this, Rome waits in the parking lot where his office is at. Diana shows up on time, but the door is locked, so she leaves. Once she drives off, Rome follows her. This leads him down a hidden pathway down the side of a road, and he pursues on foot. As he walks through, one man can see Rome and comes after him. Eventually, Rome gets into an abandoned mansion of sorts and sees Diana talking to alcoholic Lorna (Jeanne Cooper) and her husband Adam (Jeffrey Lynn) to whom Diana brings money to. The two get into an argument once Diana drives away, and Rome hears it all. Just then, the random man attacks Rome. They get into a huge fight, and Rome is close to being choked out until Adam stops them. Apparently, the man is Adam’s brother Sam (Stanley Ross). Adam demands to know what Rome is doing, but he deflects with a joke before kicking Sam in the shin and Adam in the stomach, allowing him to leave.

Upon getting back to his office, Rome calls his friend Joe about a fence operation out of Miami. Sadly, he looks down and notices Turpin under his desk. He’s dead and a gun is laid up next to him. Hanging up, Rome grabs his own gun and looks around the room, finding blood on the ground near the filing cabinet. Not knowing where else to turn, Rome calls Lt. Santini in Homicide to tell him about what has happened. He also admits he hates Turpin during the phone call, which doesn’t help the implications of the crime. Later, Rome goes to meet with Kosterman in the middle of the night. Once Rome is let in, he immediately blames Kosterman for Turpin showing up dead in his office because it relates to Diana. They both know he didn’t do it, but the cops can take Rome’s license, so Rome wants Kosterman to pull some strings to keep the law off his back. As Kosterman contemplates, Rome asks who Lorna is. It’s Kosterman’s ex-wife and Diana’s biological mother. Kosterman gives Rome $500 and a bonus. All he has to do is keep his family out of his proceedings. Additionally, he will make some phone calls for Rome. However, if the cops get on him, Rome has no problem bringing Diana into this mess. Once Rome leaves the room, he sees Kosterman’s wife Rita (Gena Rowlands) scurry down the steps as she was clearly listening in on their conversation. She tells Rome privately that whatever he finds out about Diana to use his own judgment whether he should reveal it, as she wants to protect her husband in anyway. Rome agrees because this is usually his MO anyway. Even so, he asks how she got involved with Kosterman. Since he sees through her initial bullshit, she admits they met at a bar at the Columbia Towers in New York. She was a cocktail waitress, and he picked her up, though she insists she wasn’t hustling.

Rita gives Rome $500. If he finds anything upsetting about Diana, he is told not to tell Kosterman.

“First Diana hires me. Then, your husband hires me. Now you wanna hire me. If you had a bigger family, I could retire.”

Even so, he refuses Rita’s offer because it would be unethical, as having all three as clients undermines the other. Pivoting, Rita asks if Rome can instead just tell her his findings first and he accepts this, taking the money. Before he leaves, she asks if he has any idea where the pin is at, but he admits he’s not so sure now. She has the audacity to ask if he’s working hard enough, and he’s annoyed because he’s turned down two opportunities to have sex because he is working so hard. Next, he makes a quick phone call to alert the police he is coming to them. As he gets to the door, Donald walks in, with Rome quipping that it makes sense why his wife is pissed since he always gets in so late. At the station, Rome is being interrogated by Santini, but they both know he didn’t kill Turpin. Ballistics already confirmed the bullet wasn’t from his gun. Instead, he asks Santini to check the hospitals for the guy Turpin shot. Santini just wants a list of Rome’s clients. They are interrupted by a phone call. Kosterman pulled some strings and got Rome released, which yields a smile out of Rome who comments about the benefit of having influential friends. This prompts Santini to mention that Rome’s father didn’t think so towards the end. Rome is angered by such a comment about his father but chooses to ignore it since they’re friends, but Santini doubles down and tells him to remember it as a warning. Bothered by this, Rome considers dumping Kosterman and turning over his evidence if he forgets the word that came down. Santini knows Kosterman is his client, so Rome suggests he bring Kosterman down to the station and heckle him like he did to Rome. Santini knows he couldn’t do this to someone so powerful and tells Rome to leave, and he has no problem in doing so.

At dawn, Rome shows up at Archer’s place and wakes her up, but she’s not complaining. Right away, she makes the exhausted Rome a gin screwdriver. When Archer walks past him with the orange juice, he asks if Diana was wearing the pin the night she left the Kosterman house. She didn’t notice. Rome questions this because all women look at other women’s jewelry, but this isn’t the case with Archer. She only looks at their men. Archer goes out to the balcony to make their drinks while talking about how bothered she was with some guy who ordered a brandy and ginger ale. She gets back in and finds Rome laying on the floor asleep. She kisses him awake, and they share their drinks while lying on the floor together, talking about their sexual exploits. Eventually, Rome changes the subject back to Diana and that party, but Archer wants to keep things light and comments how he’s not a real cop anymore. It turns out, she did some digging on him and found out Rome used to be a cop and so was his father until he leaned on the wrong politician. Once it broke in the papers, he shot himself. It’s a big reason as to why Rome left the force. Not wanting to talk about this, he asks Archer if she ever got with Donald. Smiling, she admits that Diana once found Archer with Donald in a bed before. She says nothing happened, though it seems like there was more to it. Now, Rome is on to something. He gets up to leave, even though she wants him to stay and hangout, but he promises he’ll be back. They kiss, and he departs.

Rome gets back to the Straight Pass and pays the man he had fix things after the thugs tore it apart. As soon as Rome enters his boat, he calls his bookie and makes a bet. He starts to look around during the call and finds it. Inside his stuff is the pin! Turpin sent it over before he was killed. Well, this mystery is just getting started, as the underbelly of Miami is much more convoluted than Tony Rome was expecting.

My Thoughts:

Trying to finagle his way out of a career slump, Frank Sinatra found his way into the popular private detective genre following the success of Harper, a role he turned down to star in The Naked Runner. With this came Sinatra’s last stand, as the tail end of his acting prime consisted of the somewhat unserious Tony Rome series and its polar opposite in The Detective sandwiched in-between. In doing so, the entertainment legend finally found his sweet spot as an actor in the last few years of his movie career. This doesn’t automatically mean that 1967’s Tony Rome is a total knockout of a film, but Sinatra hits his stride as the titular character. In fact, the character itself is better than the picture as a whole, making us want to see a sequel regardless of the fact that the movie is just a little bit above average.

Because of his publicized friendship with Humphrey Bogart, Sinatra’s role as Tony Rome was considered to be a Sam Spade copy, but this couldn’t be further from the truth in terms of characterization or performance. The only comparison you can make between Tony Rome and The Maltese Falcon is that they are both private detective movies. Other than this and Rome’s black suit, which stands out because he’s the only person in all of sweltering hot Miami wearing this and a black fedora like some sort of crazy person, the protagonist is nothing like Spade. First of all, Rome is a laidback guy. The opening scene is evident of this. Accompanied by his catchy, all-time banger of a theme song sung by his famous daughter Nancy (“Tony Rome“), we are privy to a regular day in the life of Tony Rome. Wearing a comfortable, bright yellow, long-sleeved turtleneck and a captain’s hat, the calm and collected Rome cracks open a beer and drives his boat through the ocean before docking it. Just like the city of Miami, Rome is relaxation and coolness personified. He’s doesn’t have a lot of personal baggage, and his backstory doesn’t involve him in anything too heavy. For being a detective in Miami, you’d think he would have a lot of it, but that just isn’t the case here. The tone of the movie is fitting with Rome’s personality in that though he’s involved with a hectic mystery to solve, he’s going to have some fun while doing it. After all, it’s just a job. This doesn’t mean Rome doesn’t take his job seriously, it’s just that he’s not going to be ultra-serious while doing it compared to most cinematic hardboiled detectives.

From the beginning, the audience can sense Rome isn’t one to bring stuff home with him. Though he does get involved deeply with each case he takes, once things are over, he’s cool with it. He plays around a lot too, in stark contrast to the no-nonsense style of someone like Sam Spade. No matter how serious the case is and no matter where he is at, Rome will go out of his way to make extra side cash with a bet or make constant wisecracks at his clients, suspects, or bad guys coming his way. Rome keeps things light-hearted, as does the film. There’s no way a Humphrey Bogart-type of main character would try to woo someone like Ann Archer once the case is over. If she was involved in the case, he’d see himself as being too close to it all and move on. Additionally, she’s a bit of a mess. Sam Spade would never go for someone like her. However, Tony Rome isn’t bothered by any of her negative traits and looks forward to finishing the case so he can hang with her. He knows not to mix his pleasure with business, despite how easy he could since he has two chances to do so, which he hilariously makes clear to Rita. Nevertheless, he keeps his eye on Archer, played by the gorgeous Jill St. John. After that scene at the Fontainebleau, Rome has to stop things from progressing further before subtly implying he’ll be back to make up for it once this case is solved. With this scene alone, he is able to prove his focus as a detective while maintaining his fun personality, laidback style, and penchant for messing around from time to time. With a lot of detectives, there tends to be a dark backstory as to how they got there too, but Rome’s is a bit different. It was more just situational stuff that led to him leaving the police force to start his own detective agency. Rome’s ex-partner Turpin would steal stuff and sell it, and Rome’s father killed himself because he had a partnership with a politician that was publicized. Even so, there’s no dark and brooding story element to Rome or his life. He’s not numb to what happened to his dad either, as it does bother him a bit when Archer reveals this information about him after doing some digging, but Rome doesn’t respond as if he’s trying to hide his inner feelings.

None of this stuff lead him down a dark path or forced him to internalize such trauma. It’s more as if he’s over it and sees Archer as trying to deflect from his interrogation about Diana and the party. He’s not an emotional person. Rome is in control of his life and is enjoying it. He’s just focused on the case at hand. At most, his sole problem is his aforementioned gambling, but it’s not treated like a debilitating habit. It’s more of a comical trait because no matter where he’s at or how deep he’s involved in a case, he calls in to his bookmaker to make a random bet. The guy even calls in at the police station, and it’s played for laughs because it’s undeniably amusing as well as cool. At most, it’s used as a reason as to why he can’t find a wife, but Rome is fine with it because he is clearly loving the bachelor lifestyle and doesn’t want to change the way he lives. When Archer lets him down easy in the final minute of the movie (“You’d get shot or lose me in a poker game”), he is notably disappointed, as any man would be, especially because he finally had the free time to hang out with her. However, he watches that ass leave and moves on to the next one, being totally content with going back to square one. That is Tony Rome. He knows the fast-paced life of Miami and his business and doesn’t take anything to heart. It’s just on to the next day. Rome is a likable and charismatic detective who is determined to solve this convoluted case more so because it will allow for him to go back to chilling on the Straight Pass, living a leisure-focused life and gambling from time to time. Basically, he’s not one for long-term planning. It’s all day-by-day. Passing him off as a Bogart/Spade copy like how The New York Times did is the work of someone who either didn’t pay attention to the movie or has a vendetta against Sinatra personally. He is very much his own man and is the reason why such an average movie still has lots of entertainment throughout.

With all of this being said, Rome’s business attire making him look like some guy transported from the 40s into the late 60s doesn’t do him any favors in trying to set him apart from his famous friend. I’m not sure if this was an option, but Rome wearing his boat getup with the captain’s hat and the yellow shirt from the first act throughout the story would have been a great choice to make this Miami gumshoe a cool detective representative of the time period. In regard to our main character, this is the lone missed opportunity the film should have capitalized on. It fit his attitude, style, and the city he’s in and should have been synonymous with the character like Sherlock Holmes’s hat or Hercule Poirot’s mustache or something. Though I do think fans remember this costume choice most when looking back at Tony Rome, it’s importance to the character should have been more front and center. For the record, Sinatra’s Rome is cool, but he’s not on the level Paul Newman hits as Lew Harper in Harper. In the case of Harper, Lew Harper’s antics are inserted into the story to strengthen the overall picture. In Tony Rome, the main character’s antics do a majority of the heavy lifting and seems to be treated as the headlining act of the entertainment factor of the movie. However, neither the performance nor what the character is given to do is great enough to rise above the story. If either was, we’d give it a pass. Unfortunately, since they were relying on Sinatra’s Rome for everything and didn’t invest in the rest of the picture to complete the job, the movie fails to reach the level they were going for and had the capability in reaching. That is the difference. It’s enough for me to want to see more of Tony Rome in sequels, but the hope is that each one would potentially get better, as the character is cool enough to want to see more of him even if this film didn’t necessarily meet expectations. It’s quite the conundrum. Unfortunately, there were only two movies in the series, and Lady in Cement was an even bigger step down in comparison.

Since we’re on the very specific subject of two-movie private detective franchises, it’s a good thing Sinatra turned down Harper because Newman brought a charm to the film that Sinatra wasn’t able to pull off, nor was he the actor Newman was. I’m not saying Sinatra was bad at both either. It’s just that Newman was on a level of the all-time greats. Basically, both men’s choices happened exactly as they were supposed to. Though I commend Sinatra for going to Tony Rome to make it his own thing, there’s no question which detective movies are better when comparing the two.

The neo-noir and private detective genres hold a soft spot in my heart, and Frank Sinatra does an admirable job as the smart-aleck main character. Seeing Rome scour the beautiful city, making quip after quip, while involving himself in shootouts and chases are a lot of fun. That move where he jumped under the table to shield himself when he shot Jules Langley’s henchman, after he hit Langley with a lamp and shot him too, was genius. Even though he runs like a girl, Sinatra has always been a great action hero, and that doesn’t stop here. If you love “private eye” movies, there are a lot of positives coming out of Tony Rome. The overall problem with the picture is of no fault of the star. It’s the complications revolving around the story and the case that pulls him in. The screenplay just doesn’t do a great job at engaging the viewer with the mystery from the get-go. Diana being a wild child doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, the “diamond” pin isn’t worth that much, and upon further reveal is proven to be worth even less, and there are so many interweaving stories and wrinkles in the puzzle that it’s easy to get lost or lose interest entirely. Again, most of it is because you don’t realize the stakes until much later into the movie, so the viewer is not invested in the story. The same can be said about all of the supporting characters sans Archer, but it’s more because Jill St. John is hot. The character herself exists to only reveal information and flirt with Rome, despite it never going anywhere. The only entertaining factor in the first half is watching Sinatra’s Rome navigate through the mundane story until it starts picking up. The viewer is able to get through it because of Sinatra’s “movie star” capabilities as an onscreen presence, but this should be enough to tell you how subpar the screenplay is. All the moving parts that come together to make the puzzle are logical and everything, but the rest of the screenplay doesn’t do a good enough job to show us why we should care about it, or the characters involved other than the protagonist.

Actually, the only reason why we want to see Rome solve the case is because it’s an obstacle. He’s not even drawn into it fully.

Had a regular actor led the pack, the film would be much worse overall, as all the other elements of the movie just aren’t tended to. On a second watch, you end up understanding all angles of it and why the story plays out like it did, but the conclusion is all the same. It’s just not that interesting. All of it is straightforward and by the books. When there is a twist taken, it doesn’t excite, it’s rather accepted. So, Turpin stole the pin, but Rome keeps it to help his investigation, even though he was paid to give it up? Alright, I suppose that’s cool. Diana gives her allowance to her alcoholic biological mother and her husband Adam, who in turn has a son named Sam who patrols the property they can somehow afford to live on? Alright, I guess that makes sense, even though they are portrayed as being desperate for Diana’s money. The questions we have involving the overcrowded details just continue on and on, but it’s never enough to where we truly care. We are introduced to an abundance of characters that don’t do anything captivating like Camelot Joe (who says like a sentence at that), and the characters who do seem to have more to offer are basically there for a one-off appearance like the girl at the Flora Dora who got beat for looking into Nimmo on Rome’s behalf or the milk-drinking lesbian stripper Georgia, who met Nimmo in New York and dated him. Seriously, she comes back from work to her trailer and pours a glass of milk. What is she? Canadian? Also, had I not done further research, I would’ve never even guessed she was a lesbian. It’s never said or implied. Is Irene supposed to be her lover? It would make sense of Rome’s confused look when they are screaming and crying in each other’s arms while they’re on the bed after Irene slaps her when Georgia tells her to lose weight, with him quipping, “You want the lights on or off?” and then deciding, “Better off”. However, Irene looks like her mother and worries like one, so you leave the scene just as confused as Rome does.

Sure, Rome himself has quite a few cool moments in the heat of the case, but the actual case isn’t as compelling as it needs to be for a movie focused ENTIRELY on said case. It’s not until Rome finds out that the jewels have been lifted from the jewelry Kosterman gave to Rita and Diana and replaced by phonies that it starts to hook you back in, as his little trick of taking the doorbell off the door of the Dutchman’s jewelry place to hear the guy’s warning phone call to Jules Langley was an amusing way to show Rome’s street smarts. Rome’s friendship with Richard Conte’s Lt. Santini was an underutilized element to the story in both this film and in Lady in Cement. Conte is a great addition to strengthen the cast and Rome having such a close friendship with a current cop to the point where he knows Santini’s family, comes and visits periodically, and feels comfortable enough to walk in the house to grab a beer for himself, was cool to see. In a lot of these private detective movies, there is always a contentious relationship between the private detective character and the cop who is assigned to the case he is working on, but Tony Rome having these two be this close was very intriguing. It made for some fun developments like Santini giving Rome a longer leash than he deserved regarding the trail of murders he could be implicated while seemingly never having the upper hand on Rome or the case, and seeing Rome so far ahead in the details that he just lets Santini in from time to time to check on certain people he thinks are trouble, like him deducing Nimmo and Catleg are responsible for Turpin’s murder and he should look into it. Even so, something felt missing. Santini still needed something to do to strengthen the “B” story. All he does is share certain scenes with Rome and is like, “Hey, don’t do that!” and Rome just does it anyway.

There needed to be more moments like when Santini slyly gives Rome the address of Nimmo because the cops don’t have a search warrant to legally enter the house, knowing Rome will just break in. It shows how strong their partnership/friendship really is while adding some much-needed depth to Santini.

On a side note, I loved the moment when Rome makes it clear to Santini that he wouldn’t leave him completely in the dark regarding the case, but when Santini wants him to double down and asks, “Would you?”, Rome just shrugs like he doesn’t even know, and he was just talking shit. That’s classic Tony Rome right there. This is what saves the movie, all the moments that endear us to the star in the midst of the middling mystery. There’s stuff like when Rome tells Kosterman directly that his wife’s a liar before having the proof to show him, Donald trying to talk shit but Rome shoots back by talking about how Donald went AWOL in basic training as if to say, “Why don’t you sit this one out fuckhead?”, Rome waiting for Ann Archer at the beach in a full suit while sitting on a lawn chair, Rome not denying that taking Archer to the Flora Dora is strictly to use her to find out more details, him giving money to Packy to bury Turpin and a little extra to give him a nice tie, Rome smashing the Flora Dora’s manager’s hands in the drawer for beating on the girl to protect “good customer” Nimmo, him telling Santini to make a bet for him if his bookmaker calls back at the police station, the whole scene at Paradise Cove with his reaction to Fat Candy (Joan Shawlee) and having to subsequently act like a junkie to get Vic’s address, and making food at Vic’s house and watching boxing with him after kicking his ass before Sally shows up.

Though the movie holds up better on a rewatch, cheesy “B movie” humor like a closeup of Ann Archer’s ass as she bends over does not. Then again, that’s just that corny sex humor that was popular in the 60s like the recurring gag of Rome walking the docks and hearing the married couple loudly have sex to the point where he gets annoyed by it, following Langley almost killing him at his house. On the other hand, I admit that I laughed at Rome’s conversation with Mrs. Skyler in his office. All she does is talk about her possibly poisoned cat but refers to it nonstop as her “pussy”. They wring a lot of mileage out of this joke with Rome realizing why it’s funny and her being oblivious to it. I imagine this scene got a huge laugh in the theater in 1967, especially when she is adamant in suggesting, “You could at least meet my pussy!” and Rome immediately saying he can’t. The feather in the cap of the scene was Rome sending her to another agency with, “Why don’t you try the Burns agency. They specialize in pussy that won’t smile”. Going along with the humor and Rome’s quick wit, I loved how his response to Catleg not having a murder charge on his rap sheet was, “All it means is he’s a lousy shot”. Separately, the setup for the ending was cool and the reveal made sense, and the standoff with Rome facing Boyd and Catleg was exciting momentarily. However, Catleg’s underwhelming response to the evidence didn’t feel appropriate for a climax. It wasn’t necessarily a “shaggy dog” ending, but it was not the payoff this was building to. If anything, you came out of it having a friendly respect for the villain. Was that the intention?

Tony Rome is a decent neo-noir film, but Frank Sinatra deserved much more. The titular protagonist is very cool and a worthy star of his own private detective franchise, but considering this movie was the better of the two Tony Rome films, the potential of what could have been a fruitful franchise was utterly botched by a mishandled and uninspired production team who relied too heavily on their megastar to carry the interest of the story two times over. In their defense, it was always enough to get you tune in but just not enough for you to love it or keep revisiting it.