The First Deadly Sin is a 1980 film produced by and starring Frank Sinatra, along with Faye Dunaway, David Dukes, Brenda Vaccaro, James Whitmore and, in his final acting role, Martin Gabel.
The last of nine films produced by Sinatra and his final starring performance, he plays a troubled New York City homicide cop, Detective Sergeant Edward X. Delaney.
The First Deadly Sin was based on a series of popular novels by Lawrence Sanders and was originally slated to be directed by Roman Polanski, who was dropped by Columbia Pictures after statutory rape charges were brought against him.
Co-starring in the film was Dunaway as the detective's ailing wife, bed-ridden in hospital during the entire duration of the story with a rare kidney affliction. The musical score was provided by composer and arranger Gordon Jenkins, who first worked with Sinatra on the 1957 album "Where Are You?".
One of the bit players was an unknown Bruce Willis who had a walk-on part, virtually unrecognizable as a hat covers most of his face.
The First Deadly Sin was the third production by Sinatra's Artanis production company and was shot on location in New York City. It premiered on October 23 1980 at Loew's State Theatre in Times Square as part of a benefit for the Mother Cabrini Medical Centre.
Plot
New York police Sgt. Edward Delaney is at the scene of a brutal murder when news comes from the hospital in which his wife is receiving treatment for an unusual kidney illness that her condition has worsened after an operation.
Approaching retirement, with a growing depression in the face of his wife's condition, Delaney throws himself into the murder case. He is fascinated by a crime committed with what seems to be a very unusual weapon.
Delenay tries to cross-section the recent killing with other murders in various parts of the city, looking for a common link. A lack of solid leads leaves Delaney at a loose end until he recruits assistance from an enthusiastic museum curator, a coroner and the victim's wife.
His investigation leads to a man named Blank, a seemingly normal businessman who is leading a secret life. Delaney uses psychological warfare in an attempt to trap the killer, all while the condition of the policeman's wife deteriorates by the hour.
Critical Reception
The First Deadly Sin failed to make much of an impression at the box office, whilst some critics were left cold by a slow-burning picture that tried to focus more on character and plot without succumbing to action scenes and shootouts.
The ending was changed from the novel in which a car chase resulted in a shootout with the killer. Here, a more subtle approach allowed the ending to be more in tune with the rest of the film. Critics Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin both praised Sinatra's performance as one of his best, whilst daughter Nancy Sinatra commented in her book Sinatra: An American Legend that this was a film her father was very excited about.
"Who would have thought, in all honesty, that Frank Sinatra still had this performance in him?" wrote Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. "The movie is one of the season's pleasant surprises."
Maltin wrote: "Sinatra in good form in one of his better serious vehicles."
Awards and nominations
- Nominated: Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA Best Supporting Actor Martin Gabel
Cast
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