Review of The Detective (1968) by Oscar L — 15 Apr 2011

The trailer says "The Detective" is based on a bestseller and my question is "really?" It's a movie that hasn't aged well though it provides Frank Sinatra with a solid role as a moral cop. I hated the depiction of the 3 gay characters as a murderer, bitch, and psycho/retard. Lee Remick as Sinatra's wife is given a thankless role as a nympho. The other female character (Jacqueline Bisset wearing a ridiculous wig) shows up at the halfway mark and is just a plot device. It appears to be a straight man's movie with gays and women as lesser citizens. The scene of Klugman's wife going back and forth from the kitchen to the living room while demanding the cops eat bagels made me cringe.

Besides Sinatra, the only other notable character is the psychiatrist played by Lloyd Bochner but he's given just two scenes. Jack Klugman is fine as Sinatra's buddy but Robert Duvall overacts as the homophobic cop. Watching this movie actually made me happy that I wasn't an adult in the 60s because the characters and situations seem so retro. It's actually a movie that could be remade because "The Detective" does face some moral issues about seeking justice despite what others may think.