The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 29, 1980, Page Page 14, Image 16
Sinatra
in 'Firs
By David Baker
Fttm Critic
After a 10 year absence
from the silver screen, 01'
Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra, is
back. Why he chose a dark.
moody, depressing movie
like Brian Hutton's "The
First Deadly Sin" in which to
make his comeback is
anyone's guess, but
Sinatra's presence goes a
long way toward keeping the
picture from sinking under
the weight of its own
melancholia.
Sinatra portrays Edward
Delaney, an aging New York
City detective who must
spend his final weeks on the
force in pursuit of a
psychotic executive who
takes to the streets at night,
dispatching unsuspecting
passersby with an ice
hammer to the cranium.
Delaney's precinct captain,
Branford (Anthony
Zerbe, in a wildly overdone
charicature), doesn't want
to know about the killings.
He even goes so far as to tell
Delaney to forget about
them, rest on his laurels, and
retire with the grace and
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Thus, Delaney must track
down the killer without the
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Adding to his problems is
his wife Barbara (Faye
Dunaway), who undergoes
emergency surgery in the
film's opening scene and
whose health goes
progressively downhill from
there.
But then, everything in
"The First Deadly Sin"
seems to start out bad and
get worse. When the film
ends the viewer wants to go
home, go to sleep and never
wake up. It's that dispiriting.
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the viewer from lapsing into
a permanent depression is
Sinatra. In the scenes where
he's called upon to erupt
with emotion, there are two
of these, he's much too
overwrought. But in the
remaining portions of the
film, his low-keyed, kindhearted
portrayal soothes
the viewers' nerves and
reminds them that there are
just as many decent people
in the world as there are
psycopaths. Even Sinatra's
most demanding fans
couldn't ask more from him
here.
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Dunaway's fans, however,
can well forget about seeing
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two (/itiui c uiuess nit; mere
sight of her checkbones is
enough to send them into a
state of euphoria. Dunaway
is onscreen very little in the
picture and is bedridden
even then. She does what's
required of her well, but we
can only assume that a star
of her magnitude took such a
nothing role either for the
money, for the chance to
work with Sinatra, or for the
chance to prove herself
capable of starring in some
future production of "Whose
Life Is It, Anyway?"
un me lecnnical side,
"The First Deadly Sin" is
exceedingly well done. Jack
Priestley's muted
cinamatography is effective
and Gordon Jenkins' music
is a delightful throwback to
the music used in the crime
melodramas of the 1940s,
heaving and overorchestrated
in the action
sequences, airy and uncertain
in thp
moments.
Hutton's direction is sure,
if somewhat heavy-handed?
it's hard to believe the
same person directed this
film as did the hilarious
"Kelly's Heroes" 10 years
ago. Mann Rubin's
screenplay, based on the
best-selling novel by
Lawrence Sanders, is
claustrophobically exceptional.
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