Don't listen to the negative reviews

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

"The Detective" was a daring film for the times - it begs the question: how many mainstream films were there that included any gay characters? Not many at all. "The Detective" pushed the envelope in that sense and proves to be a successful attempt in presenting characters that could be described as being "underdogs." Frank Sinatra is very good as the New York police officer who is on the case of a murdered homosexual whose body is discovered in his apartment. Respected character actor William Windom is on hand to deliver one of his finest performances. Jack Klugman, Robert Duvall and Lloyd Bochner provide excellent support. There are a few twists and turns along the way and the explanation given at the end, ties up the film very well. This film deserves a much higher rating than a 6.5 - some people don't know what they are missing!

Sergeant Joe Leland is a tough New York homicide detective with an impressive clean up rate and a reputation for rubbing the wrong people the wrong way. His latest case involves the murder of a homosexual man who had been left naked and mutilated in his apartment. He is under pressure for a quick result as he is told his promotion will be virtually guaranteed if he solves the case quickly. He is unimpressed by the way fellow officers treat members of the gay community and it isn't long before his more softly-softly approach gains a confession… even though he isn't certain of his guilt. The man is convicted and executed and newly promoted Lt Leland moves on with his life. Then a woman comes into his station asking him to reopen the investigation of her husband's death; it was judged a suicide but she is sure he would never have killed himself. As he investigates he discovers that the man had been helping some very powerful people get rich at the expense of some of the city's most needy people; something that puts him in danger and would certainly provide a motive for murder. The actual story behind the man's death is actually more shocking and forces Joe to examine his future on the force. Intertwined with these mysteries we see, partially through flashbacks, how Joe met and eventually became estranged from his wife.When I started watching this film I expected something fairly light, perhaps because it was in a triple pack with the two 'Tony Rome' films, but it is surprisingly gritty for a film of its time. The film highlights the attitudes towards homosexuality at the time and, through our protagonist's attitudes, shows that the film makers did not agree with such attitudes. The police are shown to behave in a shocking manner… at one point a suspect is questioned while naked as an upcoming detective saw a documentary showing the Nazis using the technique! The cases were interesting but the way they were linked came as a bit of a surprise and was ultimately a bit forced. Frank Sinatra was on great form as Joe Leland and the rest of the cast, which includes plenty of familiar actors, does an impressive job too. Overall I'd certainly recommend this; there is some material that modern viewers may find offensive but this is clearly shown as a bad thing rather than something viewers should accept as okay.

As I neared the big 5,000 in terms of movies watched (at least according to my admittedly-crapola memory and IMDb), for some odd reason, I thought of Frank Sinatra, whose films I had seen quite a few of recently, and I decided to check out the private-eye films he made in the 60's, when his superstar status, both in terms of acting and performing, began to wane, as tastes changed in that tumultuous decade.Apart from 'Them!', 'In Like Flint' and a truckload of Our Gang comedic shorts from way back when, I hadn't seen any of director Douglas' works, though he's fine with the material and does quite a good, if craftmanlike, job here. Sinatra must have been comfortable with him--they worked together earlier in films as diverse as Doris Day's 'So This Is Love' and the Rat Pack's 'Robin and the 7 Hoods'. I loved how he was obviously fascinated with Lee Remick's eyes and really took advantage of Panavision's 2.35:1 aspect ratio to show how captivated she was with Sinatra's Joe Leland and therefore couldn't dismiss him entirely from her life.It struck me, after recently seeing films from just a few years before, like 'The Manchurian Candidate' and 'Some Came Running', how Sinatra's party days were starting here to catch up with him, but his work here was solid, and I would heartily recommend it, both for fans of his work and of detective tales from the period in general. I now look forward to others he did in the era (also for Douglas): 'Tony Rome' and its sequel, 'Lady in Cement'.Odd that he wanted his wife-at-the-time, Mia Farrow, to play the part that eventually went to Jacqueline Bisset, that she refused (the film she was working on was behind schedule), so he went to the set of 'Rosemary's Baby' and served her divorce papers! Ouch!

I really didn't know what to expect from this film, except that Frank is going to be a detective and probably tough, with lots of girls around him. What I got was an intelligent and realistic look at the police dept. in the 60s probing into society's sexual differences in the death of a homosexual. It has a great cast, including Lee Remick, who's always great and who seems to be attracted to movies of this ilk, like Experiment in Terror and No Way to Treat a Lady. It makes good use of time and place, and its use of flashbacks comes off surprisingly well, to portray the courtship of Frank and Lee, which you don't expect in a movie with a violent subplot in it. (But which is the subplot?) But I did appreciate its time in telling his own personal life, rather than just centering on his case. And, he's not surrounded by girls. So, if you're looking for something flashy like Dean Martin's Matt Helm, this isn't for you. It's better; it's a mature film with real life consequences. (But, yes, there is a murder to solve and Frank does it in 60s style.)