| Tony Rome | |
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original one-sheet poster |
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| Directed by | Gordon Douglas |
| Produced by | Aaron Rosenberg |
| Written by | Marvin H. Albert (novel) Richard L. Breen |
| Starring | Frank Sinatra Jill St. John Richard Conte Sue Lyon |
| Music by | Lee Hazlewood (title song) Billy May |
| Cinematography | Joseph F. Biroc |
| Editing by | Robert L. Simpson |
| Studio | Arcola Pictures |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation |
| Release date(s) | 10 November 1967 |
| Running time | 110 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Tony Rome is a 1967 detective film starring Frank Sinatra and directed by Gordon Douglas, adapted from Marvin Albert's novel Miami Mayhem. Filming took place on location in Miami, Florida, with some scenes being shot during the day at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, where Sinatra was performing in the evenings. The story follows the adventures of Miami private investigator Tony Rome (Sinatra) in his quest to locate a missing diamond pin that belongs to a wealthy heiress.
Nancy Sinatra, daughter of Frank, sang the film's eponymous title track which appears on her album, Nancy Sinatra, The Hit Years (Rhino Records, Inc.).
A sequel, Lady In Cement, was made in 1968, again featuring Sinatra as Tony Rome, and co-starring Raquel Welch and Dan Blocker.
Both films are examples of a late-sixties neo-noir trend that revived and updated the hardboiled detective and police dramas of the 1940s. Sinatra had originally been considered for the lead role as the tough private eye in Harper (1966), but lost out to Paul Newman. Other films in this genre include Point Blank (1967), Bullitt (1968), Madigan (1968), Marlowe (1969), and The Detective (1968) starring Sinatra.
Tony Rome, The Detective, and Lady in Cement were all directed by Gordon Douglas. The three films were packaged together in a DVD box-set by 20th Century Fox in 2005. Douglas also directed Sinatra in Young at Heart (1954) and Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964).
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Tony Rome, an ex-cop turned private investigator, lives on a powerboat in Miami. He is asked by his former partner, Ralph Turpin (Robert J. Wilke), to take home a young woman who had been left unconscious in a hotel room. The woman, Diana Pines (née Kosterman) (Sue Lyon), is the daughter of rich construction magnate Rudolph Kosterman (Simon Oakland), who subsequently hires Rome to find out why his daughter is acting so irrationally.
Diana, after regaining consciousness, discovers that a diamond brooch, which she had been wearing the night before, has gone missing. Diana and her stepmother (Gena Rowlands) also hire Rome, in this instance, to find the lost brooch. This, however, leads Rome into a maze of trouble, all the while being hired and counter-hired by Kosterman, his daughter, and his wife.
Tony Rome was met with good reviews upon release, although not quite the best notice Sinatra had in his career. Nevertheless, it was thought by many that he eased well into the kind of role in which his late friend Humphrey Bogart specialized.
Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars.[1]
This movie was filmed partially on the rental property of Douglas Fairbairn, the author of "A Squirrel of One's Own" and "A Squirrel Forever."[2]