Tue 21 Nov 2017
A PI Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: TONY ROME (1967).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[8] Comments
TONY ROME. Twentieth Century Fox, 1967. Frank Sinatra, Jill St. John, Richard Conte, Gena Rowlands, Simon Oakland, Jeffrey Lynn, Lloyd Bochner. Screenplay: Richard L. Breen, based on the novel Miami Mayhem by Marvin H. Albert writing as Anthony Rome (Pocket, 1960). Director: Gordon Douglas.
Tony Rome is sunshine noir at its best. Although the plot is somewhat (I suspect deliberately) muddled and convoluted, the film works extremely well in portraying a private investigator doing his best to maintain his own personal standard of decency in a corrupt society where outward appearances obscure deception and internal turmoil.
Frank Sinatra portrays the titular Anthony “Tony†Rome, a former Miami cop who is now working as a PI. And like many private investigators portrayed in fiction and on screen, he’s very much a loner. Aside from his bookie and a police lieutenant still on the force (Richard Conte), Rome doesn’t seem to have many stable relationships in his life.
But that’s not to say that he couldn’t socialize more if he really wanted to. Enter Ann Archer (Jill St. John), a flirtatious divorcee living in Miami Beach, who ends up providing Rome with extensive information about a gangster who may be responsible for the death of Ralph Turpin (Robert J. Wilke), his former partner.
Rome meets Ann for the first time after doing a big favor for Turpin, now working in hotel security. He ends up taking a girl who passed out in a hotel room home to her father. As it turns out she’s the daughter of a wealthy construction magnate married to a woman (Gena Rowlands) who is guarding a deep secret about her previous marriage. And Ann Archer is at the house, having slept there the night before.
If it sounds somewhat confused, that’s because in many ways it is. But confusing doesn’t mean that there isn’t any clarity in the movie. Because at root, Tony Rome isn’t about plot as it is about as character and atmosphere. The viewer goes along on a journey with Rome as he travels through a city and a society reeking with corruption, deception, and greed. He’s not a white knight as much as he is a flawed knight. one who is tasked with battling modern society’s proverbial dragons.
November 21st, 2017 at 10:58 pm
An underrated pi movie with Sinatra perfect as the not quite seedy Rome.
November 22nd, 2017 at 2:18 am
I was pretty impressed by this movie as well. Have you seen the other Tony Rome movie, Lady in Cement?
November 22nd, 2017 at 11:02 am
That’s the one with Raquel Welch. The general consensus seems to be that it’s not as good as the first film. I can’t compare the two myself, as while I’ve seen the second — and didn’t care for it all that much — I’ve never caught up with the first one.
Looks like I ought to.
November 22nd, 2017 at 8:22 am
“Tony Rome” (aka, Anthony Rome) was actually veteran writer Marvin H. Albert. The TONY ROME movie is based on MIAMI MAYHEM. Other books in the Tony Rome series are THE LADY IN CEMENT and MY KIND OF GAME. I’m a big fan of Marvin H. Albert’s work.
November 22nd, 2017 at 11:06 am
Albert was the subject of a “Gold Medal Corner” by Bill Crider several years ago, and you can find it online here:
https://mysteryfile.com/GM_Albert/goldmedal_albert.html
Added at the end is a complete bibliography for Albert, including all of the work he did under his various pen names.
November 22nd, 2017 at 11:09 am
THE LADY IN CEMENT, like TONY ROME, is worth watching for the supporting characters, in particular Dan Blocker, Martin Gabel, comedian Pat Henry and Richard Deacon. It is nice to see Blocker in something other than BONANZA.
For me, a big difference between the two movies was the casting of Raquel Welch as the leading lady. She has no more charm or depth than one of her photographs, while Jill St. John in TONY ROME, had, as we used to say in ancient times – PIZZAZZ! Obviously, both women were cast for their eye candy value, but St. John made much more of a limited opportunity.
November 22nd, 2017 at 4:17 pm
Always enjoyed TONY ROME, but after watching LADY IN CEMENT I was embarrassed to be seen leaving the theater.
November 27th, 2017 at 5:56 pm
The second film isn’t bad, just too self aware for its own good. Where TONY ROME is tongue in cheeks, and nice cheeks in Jill St. John’s case, LADY IN CEMENT is too often head up the posterior. That’s a shame, because Dan Blocker plays well off of Sinatra in a well done variation of Moose Malloy and Philip Marlowe (the movie even more than the book is pretty much a rip off of FAREWELL MY LOVELY).
But TONY ROME is faithful to Albert, and damn good pi stuff. You may wonder watching it, as I did, what might have been if Sinatra had ever got to play Mike Hammer as he wanted at one time (alas before he had clout), though Tony Rome is more in the classic eye mold.
Albert had at least two other private eye series, one as by Nick Quarry (Gold Medal), and the other under his own name about ex-patriate American eye Peter Stoner in Paris. He also penned a couple of good minor Alistair MacLean variations as Ian MacAlister, and of course, some to the best film novelizations (including THE PINK PANTHER) and some great Westerns.