User reviews

The best reason for watching this film is to use it to transport yourself back to the 1960's, and experience that period from the perspective of a 50's Rat Pack star.

This is not a great movie by today's standards, but as a child of the 60's and 70's myself, I can say that this movie does take you back to a time when America had a completely different environment, and mindset. The character portrayed by Sinatra, and the dialogue in general, presents a good example of what the typical American Male thought of as "cool" in the early 60's.

True, it's not what we find entertaining today, but that's not why I like to watch old movies. I watch old films because they have an extraordinary ability to take you to a time when the world, and people in general, had a very different view of things and also what was fashionable at that time.

This is one breezy film. Sinatra one lines himself solidly throughout. In films like this, there aren't many moments of reflection. This saves us the trouble of examining the plot and the character motivation too intently. The benefit to the viewer is that the whole experience remains visceral and on the surface. On occasion I like films that don't challenge me, that simply vibrate with a peculiar sort of corrupt, smarmy, highly heated decaying fun. Sinatra dashes all over Miami in search of his maguffin. He pops in to the lives of many marginalized denizens of the underworld. He gets a taste of the lives of the newly rich and partially famous. His alter-ego, Richard Conte, provides a mundane, safe balanced universe for him to rest up in from time to time but the bulk of his characters time is spent in high risk action and lots of smart-assed talk. And for this viewer, that was just fine.

You must be a fan of 60's movies to like this flick. Negative comments about this movie are negative comments about 60's movies in general.

Tony Rome is an ex-cop, current private dick who is hired by a family to find there missing jewels. Rather unique things happen, the movie is over, and you are either a bigger Sinatra fan, or at the same level.

My advice is to imagine you are sitting in a 1967 Olds 442 at the drive in, and the rest will take care of itself.

Long before Miami Vice which had hip cop Don Johnson living on a boat with an alligator in Miami Beach, you had Frank Sinatra as private eye Tony Rome doing the same.

He's an ex-cop now a private eye who still has an inside with the police in the person of Richard Conte who's his former partner. Turns out he needs him when he takes the case of Sue Lyon who misplaced a diamond stickpin.

Before the film ends Sinatra has himself all involved with every member of Lyon's family including wives and ex-wives, husbands and ex-husbands in a lovely blackmail scheme. Quite a number of people wind up dead including Sinatra's private eye partner Robert J. Wilkie. In the tradition of Sam Spade, though he might not have thought Wilkie the salt of the earth, it's an obligation to find out who shortened Wilkie's life span.

Tony Rome is a Sinatra project through and through. Basically he just plays himself or at least shows the public persona that we know him for. Frank got parts in this for restaurant owner pallies, Mike Romanoff and Jilly Rizzo and one even for Rocky Graziano as a punch drunk old pug. There's even a part for Jill St. John as an amorous divorcée who you're never quite sure how she fits in the story. Jill and Frank were once a hot item, but this one was for old time sake.

The problem with Tony Rome is you really do have to be a Sinatra fan to watch it. And I don't mean just of his singing, you have to be really into the whole rat pack scene.

Otherwise Tony Rome and it's sequel Lady in Cement just ain't for you.

The guy Sinatra is looking for throughout the film is named Nimmo. I just couldn't let that go by without comment. This is good light entertainment. Florida in the 1960's is not bad to look at. A few good laughs thrown in. All in all not a bad flick. Ms. Rowlands looked incredible. Almost Grace Kelly good looking. St. John was good. Conte was good. Simon Oakland did his usual great job. Oakland must have been working somewhere every day of the 60's and 70's. And Frank was Frank.

This is an interesting and very modern detective film. Frank Sinatra plays the title role--a private detective who seems very cool and disaffected. Of the three detective shows he made in the late 60s, I'd rate this one #2--behind the superior film "The Detective". However, this exceptional film is not related to "Tony Rome" or its sequel "The Lady in Cement". Regardless, Sinatra's world-weary performances were excellent--even if he seemed to try to make it look like he's not trying.

The film begins with Tony doing what seems like a very mundane and not at all dangerous task--bringing home a drunk young lady to her rich daddy (Simon Oakland). Oddly, however, this good deed ended up leading to an apparently minor task--to find the young lady's missing earring. And, this task led to murder...in fact, a LOT of murders and mayhem. By late 60s standards, this film is awfully violent and Tony isn't exactly always the macho hero. Although he generally gets the best of it, he, too, gets the crap knocked out of him a few times in this rough and tumble film.

As I said, I preferred Sinatra's "The Detective", but not by much. "Tony Rome" is a very good private eye film--a bit like a grittier version of "The Rockford Files"...minus most of the laughs. It's also odd that Tony is NOT the perfect manly sort of hero--especially since he repeatedly shows a stronger desire to wrap up the case than unwrap the very alluring Jill St. John--who spends much of the movie pursuing Tony. A very good film--especially since the mystery turns out to be a very interesting one. Worth your time.

By the way, a couple interesting parts in the film are a cameo by the ex-champ Rocky Graziano as well as a VERY unusual sort of role for the comic Shecky Greene. Also, I just loved Tony's line "This is not a family. Just a bunch of people living at the same address." Priceless and indicative of the sort of smart-allecky stuff he tosses about during the film.

Promising blend of hard-boiled crime flick and campy detective yarn that doesn't quite go the distance. Pulpy plot features a gaggle of cartoony characters and Frank Sinatra at his wiseass best playing Florida private dick wrapped up in convoluted mystery centering on millionaire's daughter (Sue Lyon). Terrific supporting cast includes Gena Rowlands (looking lovely), Jill St. John (at her slinky, sexy best), Simon Oakland and Richard Conte, but the plot runs out of gas somewhere in the second act. A bit stronger than its immediate sequel, "Lady in Cement", and Sinatra's panache is definitely worth checking out. After getting out of a rickety elevator, he tells the female operator, "Nice riiide." **1/2 from ****

The Maltese Falcon is alive! Frank Sinatra is every bit the hard P.I. that Humphrey Bogart was as Sam Slade. What adds to the movie is the Miami background of the 1960's. One of the great things about old movies is when they are set in the same time frame as when the movie is being filmed. You get a chance to see life at that point in time.

The case involves a stolen diamond bracelet and Tony Rome is hired to find it. Tracking it down involves people of all walks of life, from the rich to those who want to be and those that aren't. Yet everyone is involved with the missing bracelet. Many twists and turns that come together neatly in the end. This was a movie that I thought got better as it went. This one is worth seeing again.

Sure, it doesn't have a great plot line and there are more holes than a B-17 flying back from the ball bearing plant in Germany, but it is fun!It is as about as politically correct as a Klan meeting, and that is part of its charm. By 1967, Sinatra was already a magnificent anachronism. His world of of "ring a ding,ding",and "broads", martinis and captain's hats were longer hip or remotely cool. He still keeps trying, however. Just four years before, with Kennedy still in office, Tony Rome would have seemed like "Mr. Hip"', Daddio. By 1967, the glory days of the Rat Pack were over, the Beatles had taken over America along with their countrymen, we were deeply involved in Vietnam, American cities were burning, and drugs were everywhere. Timothy Leary was now cool to an entire generation of young Americans. Still,Sinatra is Sinatra. I am awfully glad he didn't pull up in a flower power VW Beetle, wearing long beads and a Nehru jacket.It must of been galling to him that he was no longer the hippest thing on two feet, however. His reaction seems to be to ignore the entire subculture. " Just a bunch of kids!".

Anyway, this is a fun movie! Shecky Greene, a former Sinatra favorite and later an outcast, is a bad guy. Richard Conte, a Sinatra pal, plays his pal in the movie.Rocky Graziano is in it. And let's not forget one of the all time babes, Jill St. John. They could have forgotten the plot and had her steal bikinis all day, by trying them on and wearing them out of the store. Normally I would rate this movie a four or a five, just based on the acting on the script. It gets two extra points for Jill St. John's bathing suit!

Sinatra's take on Dino's "Matt Helm" is "Tony Rome," with a rousing theme song sung by his daughter, Nancy Sinatra. It starts out flashy with Ol' Blue Eyes as a bachelor/private detective and loving it, with plenty of eye-candy like Jill St. John. Her presence makes it feel like Connery's Bond movie "Diamonds Are Forever." They do have great chemistry and their scenes together make for most of the film's charm. "Tony Rome" does have some recognizable faces and names for die-hard film buffs, including Gena Rowlands, Simon Oakland, Richard Conte, a fun role for Joan Shawlee (one of Billy Wilder's constant actors) as a "lady" Sinatra interrogates and who propositions him, and a rare 60s role for 1930/40s actor Jeffrey Lynn, who you'd miss, if you didn't know him. But, the film's major flaw is its length and its emphasis on characters introduced late in the film, which makes the viewer confused, having to deal with so many interested parties in "the case of the missing jewelry," and of whom the viewer has not invested any interest in. Therefore, the viewer is left wondering what happened and feeling rather unsatisfied. A movie similar in tone, but done much better is Paul Newman's "Harper." But, I give it a 5 for a good beginning and Jill St. John making the most of her role.

Another 60's COP SINATRA flick about nothing, but with the usual amount of a bevy of beautiful women (and Actresses). Jill St. John once again, she knew the Rat Pack, blesses a "decent" crime film with her presence with an actual character (who Sinatra doesn't date). Typical stuff, from the director and supp. cast (the men - cronies of Frankie from Vegas who know they can't act (even in'67)), but it's on the beach and Frankie will solve his case. Thank you America!

A 5 out of 10 (mainly because of Ms. St. John's character) that plods and wipes it's brow and guys still wearing hats (post Sgt. Pepper's) ACTING HIP...I guess. A sense of humor would come in handy EVEN THEN, Mr. Sinatra.

Anyway, it's not terrible..the crime stuff is feasible (plot-wise), but it's mainly (Sinatra played this character again POST-Rat Pack) Sinatra running down babes to say cool lines (from the 50's) because he probably produced this flick. If you excerpt the Frank lines when he is talking to "suspects" or babes, there's actually a detective story happening. Thank you Jill St. John. Standard basic stuff, with a few "interesting" twists (but not from Frank's Oscar-winning acting capabilities..no offence). A 5 out of 10!

If you haven't seen this don't worry it's on cable almost every week. Whenever I realize I haven't seen it in a while it comes on again. This is a really fun movie, much better then the sequel "Lady in Cement", my friend and I were really disappointed in the sequel that we couldn't wait to see. Anyway Sinatra plays a local Private Eye, sort of a Rockford Files without the trailer, Sinatra is in a houseboat. After a local rich girl ends up in a broken down motel and her pin is missing, Sinatra is hired by her father(the great Simon Oakland) to find out who stole her jewerly. This was filmed on location so you really get to see 1960's Miami, it's fun just for that. Gena Rowlands stars as Oaklands wife, Jeannie Cooper the soap star is married to Gena's ex, Joe E. Lewis of Car 54 fame is a bartender and it also includes a lot of other 1960s character actor regulars(watch for Joan Shawlee as "Fat Candy", she was one of my favorites in "The Apartment", the girl Jack Lemmon spends christmas eve in a bar with. Keep an eye on AMC or TCM, they seem to run it the most

This is one of my favorite movies and even my son Nathan Connor (11) and Ryann (9) daughter will watch this. It was made circa 1967 and really is a good clean movie by todays (2006) standards. It has a lot of action and clean language throughout the movie. This is made before movies began to go into the extreme violence and explicit sex and language. I have watched this probably over 6 times trying to figure out the intricate or crazy plot. It is a lot of fun and can be seen by the entire family. Be sure to check this out! I felt this was better than Lady in Cement which was the sequel. I wish Frank would have made another one after Lady in Cement. I wonder why he just quit after two of these movies which were in competion to Matt Helms (Dean Martin)

"Tony Rome" is a 1960's update of the classic 1940's private eye / film noir formula, which works out rather well. It is largely a plot and dialogue driven film, and luckily both elements deliver: the plot is appropriately convoluted and twisted but still followable, and the dialogue is sharp, snappy and sometimes very funny ("Oh, I get it. She's the mother and you're the grandmother" or ""First Diana hires me, then her father hires me, and now you wanna hire me. If you had a bigger family I could retire!"). Sinatra plays the private detective role with a well-judged mixture of seriousness and humor, cynicism and ethics, toughness and fatigue. Jill St. John begins as an independent, smart character, just like her more famous role in the Bond outing "Diamonds Are Forever"; the (welcome) difference is that in "Tony Rome" she stays that way to the end. The rest of the cast is solid. The Miami locations are well-used; they're not just background, they give the film its own character. Even if it's not the most exciting thriller of its decade or anything, I would still recommend "Tony Rome" to any Frank Sinatra / mystery fans. (**1/2)

Frank Sinatra is never the guy I think of when visualizing a private dick (when my brain isn't corrupted with Humphrey Bogart spatting out saucy lines it leans more toward pulp fiction heroes that dopplegäng John Payne), so I suppose we just have to go along with his Philip Marlowe mimicry in "Tony Rome", even if he isn't so quick to sneak in a one-liner and isn't the usual young guy looking for justice aged quicker due to pessimism and gin. Sinatra is never anything less than likable — he was one of the few singers who could act his ass off and convince us that no job could ever be too difficult to master — and "Tony Rome" thrives off of our inability to do anything but want him to win the battle that pits him against a bunch of glamorous two-faces. It's better than his other late-'60s Sam Spade imitation, "The Detective" (fearless but tiresome), and it's a lot more tolerable than his later career moments that attempted to disguise him as a young buck, when he, in fact, was a wizened old buck. It's breezy and shimmering, a neo-noir without all the hardcore grit of the other cop pieces of the era.

In "Tony Rome", Sinatra's titular portrayal is put to good use as he investigates the bizarre behavior of a millionaire's daughter (Sue Lyon). Middle-aged, tired, and living on a houseboat, Rome has lived the life of a detective for decades, only succumbing to the tirelessness of it all in recent years. He's an ace at what he does — just don't expect him to get very involved with his clients. Because here, he has three: the daughter, who wants his help in solving her many predicaments, her father (Simon Oakland), and his chic wife (Gena Rowlands), who happens to be her distanced stepmother. Also involved in the story is Ann Archer (Jill St. John), a sultry divorcée with little purpose besides love interest fodder.

Set in Miami Beach, "Tony Rome" has a feeling of boundless sexy heat, Rome's job always seeming romantically dangerous, as the thugs are always shady characters instead of people and the women are decorations made to disappear as soon as a potential sequel is announced. The film is nothing more than studio fluff meant to modernize the private detective noir era, with a bona fide star leading the way no less — but it's enjoyable. Sinatra suits the role, St. John providing him with a presence at once seductive and self- aware.

"Tony Rome" is much less imaginative than the darkened crime thrillers it so desperately tries to emulate, but it's agreeable and well acted — a cut above many films of the late-'60s, which was, no doubt, a shaky era. So I'm not just glad Nancy Sinatra sings the title tune like the star isn't her father; I'm also glad Frankie gets to put his blue-eyed appeal to good use.

I'd watched this one before in a pan-and-scan version on Cable TV, but had lost the sequel – LADY IN CEMENT (1968) – a number of times on Italian TV; recently, I acquired both in anticipation of the 10th anniversary from the death of their leading man – Frank Sinatra. TONY ROME was one of a number of films which, during the late 1960s, attempted to revive the private eye subgenre which was a staple of the Noir style prevalent from the early 1940s through the late 1950s. Others in this vein included HARPER (1966) and MARLOWE (1969); this kept on steadily till the late 1970s and, in fact, the whole movement acquired new resonance with the Watergate political scandal (reaching an apotheosis with CHINATOWN [1974]).

Anyway, to get back to the film proper: with its serpentine plot and roster of suspects spread equally between the idle rich and small-time losers, TONY ROME plays almost like an updated version of THE BIG SLEEP (1946); the fact that it works at all is due to the coming together of various elements. While the mystery as it evolves isn't particularly compelling, it's ultimately justified – or, if you like, redeemed – by the climactic revelation; besides, it features reasonably good dialogue, evocative Miami locales that are a heady brew of glamor and sleaze, several fashionably violent set-pieces, and ideal casting all around.

Sinatra – who, on paper, might seem as unlikely in this mould as John Wayne would prove to be in the following decade – brings his undeniable presence and vast experience to the role of the tough and cynical ex-cop/investigator/skipper. In his line of work, he comes into contact with all sorts of people: from classy dames (such as Jill St. John, Gena Rowlands and Sue Lyon – all with their individual ticks, and either disenchanted with their lifestyle or fleeing from a shady past) to two-bit strippers, a wealthy businessman (Simon Oakland), a long-suffering cop friend (Richard Conte), as well as assorted low-life individuals (including Rome's corrupt ex-partner Robert J. Wilke, proscribed doctor Jeffrey Lynn and drug-dealer Lloyd Bochner) and brutish thugs; even real-life boxing champ Rocky Graziano – portrayed by Paul Newman in SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME (1956) – puts in an appearance as a dockside peddler.

We even get a nice title tune sung by the star's own daughter, Nancy Sinatra – though it seems odd to listen to her praising the amoral nature of his character! Incidentally, director Douglas would helm three consecutive thrillers with Sinatra in the lead (twice appearing in the role of Tony Rome) – even if the best among them remains the other (more serious) effort, THE DETECTIVE (1968). Later still, Sinatra went down these same dark streets again in the made-for-TV movie CONTRACT ON CHERRY STREET (1977) and, in his very last starring vehicle, THE FIRST DEADLY SIN (1980).

It's slow and clunky and dated and at times juvenile, but I still enjoy watching this movie. I think I've seen it about 3 times now. It's probably not for anybody under the age of 50. I'm guessing anybody under the age of 50 would walk out on this movie and never come back. But that's okay. It wasn't made for them. It's like when I saw Star Wars in 1977 when it first came out. I was in my 20's and I thought it was stupid. But it wasn't made for me. Like George Lucas said it was made for the 10-15 crowd. So there's that.

Anyway, it's fun to go back in time and just kind of turn off your brain and relax and enjoy the slow pace and the scenic shooting locations. Frank is Frank. That's one thing about Frank. He's Frank. I'm not Frank. You're not Frank. But Frank is Frank. And that's something to think about.

I'm not going to go over the plot because the plot is totally unimportant. This is all about attitude and location. Frank is a bachelor and he lives on a boat. And he likes to gamble. A lot. In fact, the boat he lives on he won in a crap game. He answers only to himself. He is his own boss. And he can live his life the way he wants. Don't we all really want that on some level? You bet we do.

And that's why I like this movie. Not for the plot. Not for the acting. Not for the moral. The attitude. It's all about the attitude, baby. And Frank had that attitude. And so did Tony Rome.

Revisited this recently after remembering it as pretty good when I was a kid. Boy has this not dated well.From the opening cringe inducing theme song from his daughter Nancy..I knew I was in for trouble.I am a big Sinatra fan but this was about as hard boiled and action packed as an episode of Adam-12. It is so square and lame it is laughable. Let's face it..if Jill Saint-John looks like she could kick Frank's ass..all bets are off.You see Frank drinking beer,smoking and playing Gin now and then. Snore. He also comes off as He thinks he is gods gift to women.Lying on the beach in a beach chair with a black gangster suite is a howl with his stick thin legs sticking out.

Cop-turned-private detective Tony Rome (Frank Sinatra) lives on a powerboat in Miami. In a captain's hat and a yellow turtle-neck, he is enjoying the sunshine when he gets a call from Ralph Turpin. The pair were partners in the police but now hate each other. Now a "hotel dick", Turpin has discovered a young, drunk woman lying unconscious in one of the rooms. He and the manager want her out before the police start bothering them and are ready to pay Rome for the service. Diana Pines, it turns out, is not just anyone but the daughter of millionaire construction magnate Rudy Kosterman and her father is grateful when Rome brings her home. She has been acting strangely lately and he wants Rome to find out why. Meanwhile, Diana discovers her diamond pin has gone missing, believes it must have been stolen while she was drunk and wants it back. Now hired by the whole family, Rome investigates and soon finds the first of several dead bodies...

One of the interesting things about the 1960s is seeing how the more established stars handled it. Pretty much all of culture changed and many had to adapt. In the wake of The Beatles, Sinatra was not considered cool anymore and his film career faltered. He had always been the most credible of singers-actors, but Marriage on the Rocks (1965) and Assault on a Queen (1966) both failed at the box office while The Naked Runner (1967) received poor notices. In response, Sinatra turned to the kind of part which would fill out his remaining filmography.

Around this time, the film noir genre was making a minor resurgence, with Bulitt, Harper, P.J., Madigan and Marlowe. These films tried to recapture the grim and darkly glamourous world of The Big Sleep (1946) and Out of the Past (1947), which themselves were trying to evoke the hardboiled setting of the novels they were often adapting. Sinatra was one of the first to get on board with this. Based on Miami Mayhem, a now-forgotten paperback original by writer Marvin H. Albert, Tony Rome cast him as a private detective in the wise-cracking Phillip Marlowe mould, a jaded yet honourable man in a disreputable business. It's not surprising that he fits the part. Many of Sinatra's best songs - One for My Baby, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning - conjure the kind of bars in which you would expect to find Sam Spade and Mike Hammer, while his trademark trilby made him look like them.

The film itself is colourful, both aesthetically and otherwise. The Floridian setting gives it a look which is quite at odds with the shadows and neon found elsewhere in the genre (though both the Travis McGee and Mike Shayne books were based around detectives in the Sunshine State). The deliberate way in which director Gordon Douglas focuses on young, bikini-clad women make it seem as though the Bond films were an equal inspiration. Nancy Sinatra - who sang the theme to You Only Live Twice the same year - performs the obligatory cheesy theme here while Diamonds Are Forever's Jill St. John is Ann Archer, a three-time-divorcee whose main problem is being bored between parties. Indeed, there is a seediness which is never less than overt as Rome meets junkies, prostitutes, strippers, blackmailers, gangsters and, of course, a murderer. It is balanced, however, with the usual sardonic humour which, in fairness, is genuinely amusing. There are many great lines here ("You're not a family, you're a bunch of people who live at the same address!"). The juxtaposition between the grim underworld and the sunny scenes of cheery impudence can be a little jarring, however, most notably in a running gag involving a honeymooning couple.

The plot is convoluted in the way that is expected from all private eye movies. Like most, it begins with a routine job that quickly gets more complex - something of which even Rome is aware. He is independently hired by each of the Kostermans and finds enough skeletons to fill a cemetery. In-between times, he gets into the usual fights and chases, though they are more frequent in the first hour than the second, which drags noticeably. The film could certainly have been cut by as much as half an hour, such is the languid pace and extraneous shots of the scenery, which doesn't always involve the weather. As is the way with these things, the script has more names than a phone book and it is not always easy to match them. The motive, however, is an excellent one and clears up a story that, by the end, gets muddier by the moment. An entertaining time-waster, Tony Rome makes up for its inconsistent tone and puzzling plot with Sinatra's familiar, nonchalant charm and an unapologetic persistence in reminding you of the year it was made. A moderate hit at the box office, a sequel (Sinatra's only) followed two years later.

I really didn't care for this one that much,, being that it was Frank Sinatra Ole, blue eyes I expected a heck of a lot more and I was sadly disappointed, there were a few good things going on early 60's Miami Beach seeing Frank as a Mike Hammer type of detective, and of course the ever seductive and sexy Jill St. John, other than that I hate to say that I was utterly bored with it.. Ole blue eyes is hired by the father of a girl who loses her diamond pin, and it's up to frank to find out,, when he does it turns out to be a fake,, then you throw in the Mob, and other guys going after Ole Blue Eyes and it get's a little interesting, but truthfully I would rather watch Mike Hammer to be perfectly honest.