The Detective

From a Roderick Thorp novel, this unusual and rarely seen movie from the late 60s tackled a touchy subject, the gay subculture of the time. Frank Sinatra is well cast as the tough, world weary detective investigating a murder in the gay community and under pressure to clear it up quickly and neatly. Edgy in its day, modern viewers may find the heavy, "there's another world we never see" overtones a little patronizing in an age like ours when gay culture is openly celebrated, but as a police procedural, it's a good one and Lee Remick as Frank's randy wife adds an interesting counterpoint to the goings-on in the gay world. As an aside, the Bruce Willis movie, Die Hard, is technically a sequel to this movie. Some years after it was made, Thorp took the Sinatra character, Joe Leland, and wrote another book around him called Nothing Lasts Forever, which is the basic Die Hard plot. By the time Hollywood finally got around to filming it, it was a completely different animal, right down to the lead character's name, which was now John McClain. Believe it or not, for contractual reasons, they had to offer the lead to Frank, who had the good sense to decline. Pity. Frank in a string vest might have been interesting!