Lady in Cement (1968)

During an ocean dive, Miami gumshoe Tony Rome finds a woman's body with its feet encased in a concrete block and sets-out to solve the murder case.

Director:

Gordon Douglas

Writers:

Marvin H. Albert (novel), Marvin H. Albert (screenplay)

Stars:

Frank Sinatra, Raquel Welch, Richard Conte

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Frank Sinatra	...	Tony Rome
Raquel Welch	...	Kit Forrest
Richard Conte	...	Lt. Dave Santini
Martin Gabel	...	Al Mungar
Lainie Kazan	...	Maria Baretto
Pat Henry	...	Rubin
Steve Peck	...	Paul Mungar (as Steven Peck)
Virginia Wood	...	Audrey
Richard Deacon	...	Arnie Sherwin
Frank Raiter	...	Danny Yale
Peter Hock	...	Frenchy
Alex Stevens	...	Shev
Christine Todd	...	Sandra Lomax
Mac Robbins	...	Sidney the organizer
Tommy Uhlar	...	The Kid, Tighe Santini

Storyline

Tony Rome is a Miami based detective who while diving in the ocean finds the body of a young woman. He is hired by Gronsky to find her killer. Tony has to sift through a stack of suspects, plus trying to elude the police.

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Plot Keywords:

go go dancer | motorboat | punched in the face | police car | semiautomatic pistol | 

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Taglines:

This Is The Action Picture!

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 December 1968 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Die Lady in Zement

Filming Locations:

Miami Beach, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,585,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arcola Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Frank Sinatra says that he knew a girl that used to date bullfighters, a reference to his ex-wife Ava Gardner's affair with a matador when filming The Barefoot Contessa (1954) in Spain.

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Goofs

Lt. Dave Santini Actor Richard Conte kisses his son roughly 01:04:38 into the movie he's wearing the wedding band on the wrong finger it's on his pinky finger.

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Quotes

Tony Rome: Time to hoist the martini flag.

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Crazy Credits

The detectives son his nickname was Tiger "Tommy Uhlar" Whose name in the movie was Tighe Santini and this was his only role.

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Connections

Follows Tony Rome (1967)

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Soundtracks

Bonanza
(uncredited)
Music by Jay Livingston
Played on the television

User Reviews

LADY IN CEMENT (Gordon Douglas, 1968) **1/2

To begin with, though it didn't do well at the box-office and is clearly inferior to its predecessor, this isn't that bad a sequel to TONY ROME (1967). The mystery this time around is more clear-cut because it starts off with a body (the titular figure); eventually, the hero (once again played by Frank Sinatra) himself is incriminated – leading to him falling out with his cop friend Richard Conte!

The female roles aren't as effective, however: Lainie Kazan makes a good impression as a go-go dancer but, despite her high billing, is restricted to just one sequence!; as for leading lady Raquel Welch, she's okay but no match for Jill St. John from the original (the script relies a bit too much on Welch's glamorous presence alone to carry the role) – and there isn't even that much chemistry between her and Sinatra! With this in mind, the star strikes up an unlikely alliance throughout with beefy and imposing Dan Blocker (from the Western TV series "Bonanza") – which gives a humorous vein to the generally hard-boiled proceedings and immediately reminds one of the Philip Marlowe/Moose Malloy partnership in MURDER, MY SWEET aka FAREWELL, MY LOVELY (1944).

Again, most of the suspects in the case are unsavory characters – from former mobsters (now ostensibly leading a respectable life) to homosexuals (remnants perhaps from Sinatra's previous collaboration with director Douglas, THE DETECTIVE [1968]). Incidentally, while the mystery in the original led to an unexpected revelation, the clues here point to either Welch or Blocker but – predictably – the identity of the real culprit is much more obvious; for what it's worth, the script was co-written by Marvin H. Albert, who created the Tony Rome character in the first place on the written page!

Miami – in all its aspects – still acts as an alluring yet dangerous backdrop to the sex and violence going on; however, Rome even gets to fight the inhabitants of the ocean as a number of sharks are attracted to the 'lady in cement' in the opening sequence! Similarly, the bouncy score supplied by Hugo Montenegro emerges to be a definite plus. One final thing: apparently, Joe E. Lewis – the singer-turned-comedian played by none other than Sinatra in THE JOKER IS WILD (1957) – puts in an appearance here as himself!