Review of Lady in Cement (1968) by Harry W — 09 Mar 2014

While Lady in Cement serves as a sequel to Tony Rome, I never saw the latter and only saw Lady in Cement because it featured Frank Sinatra in the lead role.

Unlike many other detective films of the day such as Frank Sinatra's other feature from the same year entitled The Detective, Lady in Cement makes an effort to keep things interesting through its energy.

The spirit in Lady in Cement is vibrant because it fuses the colourful visual elements of the film captured by fine cinematography with a strongly spirited musical score. The energy in the atmosphere of Lady in Cement is so strong that it feels sort of like a summer party, and that helps to keep it energetic over the course of its running time. I like that element because it separates Lady in Cement from the more formulaic of detective movies without making it into an comedic feature. Last in Cement fines a fine line between them thanks to the directional work of Gordon Douglas.

Visually, Lady in Cement is great. The scenery is lush and colourful and the actors are all attractive, and there is some decent action moments in there which maintain the same kinetic energy that the better scenes in the film maintain. And combined with the strength of its musical score, it proves to succeed as an atmospheric venture from a visual and auditory perspective.

It is more than certainly a fact that the greatest quality in Lady in Cement is Frank Sinatra's lead performance. As usual, Frank Sinatra packs a lot of strength into his lead performance. And since Lady in Cement combines drama with a large touch of light energy it is required for him to give a passionately dedicated performance with non- stop energy which he never fails to deliver on. Frank Sinatra reminds us why he is such a great actor in Lady in Cement, and his sharp line delivery and quick wit is what makes him perfect for the role of Tony Rome. He lights up the already colourful screen in Lady in Cement.

And while Raquel Welch's performance isn't her finest, it is arguably one of her better efforts because she combines her strong sex appeal with a friendly chemistry with Frank Sinatra which proves to go a sizeably long way in Lady in Cement. They make a great on screen duo.

But underneath the visual elements of Lady in Cement there isn't too much though. The story isn't the most original concept and it doesn't really touch upon all that much that hasn't been explored in many different detective films. Essentially, it feels like Lady in Cement is a generically written detective story which attempts to hide that underneath its memorable visual style, but when audiences find themselves at the end of the film without having really taken much in aside from an exhilarating visual quality. When I think back on Lady in Cement I barely remember the story but simply the imagery, so some elements of the film are memorable while some that are still important are easy to just forget. Lady in Cement is an example of how Gordon Douglas knows how to tell a story, but unfortunately he doesn't have a story worth telling. I can admit he does a good job making the most of what he has, but a director like him really deserves more. I surely enjoyed watching Lady in Cement thanks to him and Frank Sinatra making strong efforts to make the sequel to Tony Rome all it could be, but if writers Marvin H. Albert and Jack Guss put in the same kind of effort than perhaps Lady in Cement could have been largely superior to how it turned out.

I can happily say that I enjoyed Lady in Cement due to its memorable visual qualities and thanks to Frank Sinatra's dedicated lead performance, but its story could be a lot better than in turned out and needs more originality.