The First Deadly Sin (1980)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I see by the other user comments here that the majority of viewers seem to think that this movie is bad or mediocre. But personally, I thought that the movie was quite riveting almost all of the way through. Sinatra, in a comeback lead performance after a long absence (though it turned out this was his final lead role in a movie), is very good as a close-to-retirement police officer. He plays the role with appropriate weariness that shows his character has seen it all, but at the same time shows another side to his character, one that is dedicated to his job and wants to exit without any loose ends hanging. The heart of the movie - the mystery of a serial killer - is also well done. Now, I will admit that the mystery unfolds at a VERY slow pace, a reason that many people here cite in their disappointment with the movie. But while the investigation unfolded slowly, it felt realistic to me - most investigations by the police in real life unfold at a careful pace. Also, the slower pace made it very easy to understand the unfolding investigation - there are no confusing portions. Well, maybe there is one confusing part. I won't say what happens at the climax, except to say that Sinatra's ultimate action seems a little out of the blue and doesn't seem to fit what we've seen of his character before that moment. Though this surprise does prevent the end of the movie feeling like the endings of other police investigation movies. Give this movie a chance... though maybe wait until you are in a patient mood to fully appreciate it.

A sombre character drama crossed with an old-fashion police detective story is broken up in two parts, as a retiring NYPD Edward X. Delaney is on his last case tracking down a psychotic serial killer while also dealing with his bed-ridden wife (a warm-hearted Faye Dunaway) that's dying in the hospital from an unclear disease. How these two threads are connected isn't really garnished, other than to give the lead character more emotional weight and progressive depth. Instead it just comes across as depressing and somewhat pointless. It manages to hold you there, but not much really happens in this slow-grinding thriller as Frank Sinatra's wearily brooding performance is determined, but filled with melancholy heartache. Ambitious, but unfulfilled and too long toothed is how you can describe it. The narrative just feels incomplete, like it was aiming for something more profound (like the symbolic use of the cross) and mysterious (the killer's motive) but it came away rather puzzling and affected in its intentions. The grungy New York setting is painted with darkness, dreary atmospherics as there's a killer randomly leaving his victims with a hole in the back of their heads. A lot of the running time (and at times it does drag) has Delaney working the case, starting with very little. Putting in the hours, strenuously gathering info, seeking help outside the police force and thoroughly digging in as his personal life begins to crumble. The focus on his sick wife does very little for the story, but it takes up a fair amount of screen time. When Sinatra isn't mugging the screen, there's some able support in the cast; Martin Gabel, James Whitmore and Joe Spinell added some much needed life. David Dukes makes for an effective loony, but his icy character was just felt too one-note. An interesting, but sleepily underdone dramatic thriller.

MAY CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS I rate this film 7 out of 10 mainly for the strength of Frank Sinatra's performance.He plays a retiring police detective, whose wife has fallen ill and is slowly dying in the hospital. Seeking to distract himself from his personal troubles, he becomes deeply involved in trying to solve a series of murders and stop the killer.The story is based on a novel by Lawrence Sanders, who wrote a series of "Deadly Sin" mysteries. It provided Sinatra with his final starring role in a film, and he plays it well. As the worn-out aging cop, he is effective and moving in several scenes. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't play fair with its audience regarding the killer and it never reaches the tension necessary to be more interesting as a thriller. Thankfully, Sinatra is in nearly every scene and has some nice interactions with supporting players like James Whitmore, Brenda Vaccaro and Martin Gabel.It's David Dukes' killer that we never really get to know. He's alternately bold and weak, and we are never given any insight into why. In a more exciting thriller, we might overlook that flaw, but here it makes the chase a little less interesting. However, as I said, the Sinatra scenes are plenty and they are well-done. For example, there's a nice scene where he buys ten minutes to snoop around an apartment to look for clues. And the scenes with Whitmore's coroner and Gabel's curator are nicely played.Had the makers of the film, which include executive producer Sinatra, been more in-tuned to the serial-killer aspect, they may have balanced out the film a bit more. Also, Faye Dunaway is wasted in her role as the dying wife. She's fine acting her scenes, but has so little to work with that she's almost non-existent. Some complain about the down-beat ending, but I feel that it fits well in the context of the film. As it is, "First Deadly Sin" represents a solid, yet somber, final star vehicle for Frank Sinatra.

The First Deadly Sin is a startlingly incongruent mix of 80s vigilante cop and old fashioned gumshoe thriller. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but there's some tension built up in between the general scenery-chewing of Sinatra and others. One wonders exactly what made Sinatra think this was a good idea- he appears pretty bored throughout the film, perhaps shooting for a Philip Marlowe weariness and falling very short. The overall tone of the movie emphasizes the darkness and bleak surroundings of the city, and admittedly the lighting and tone is very dramatic. Sinatra plays a senior police officer in New York who is just about to finish up the job and retire when a strange random murder appeals to him and he becomes the only cop who sees a pattern. His wife, played by Faye Dunaway, is hospitalized throughout the film and Sinatra's character visits her frequently to try and cheer her up as well as criticize the doctors for not doing enough for her.The supporting cast fills in lots of gaps here and makes this fit in, albeit very strangely, with the NYC exploitation style that was current at the time. The great Joe Spinell shows up as a doorman, James Whitmore as the coroner, Brenda Vaccaro, Robert Weil, Eddie Jones, Victor Arnold and even a one-second appearance of Bruce Willis in his first film role. We see the horribly typical subtle racism of Jews and Latinos in New York City being displayed by stereotypes, as well as other policemen shown as haggard and corrupt, merely to contrast with Sinatra's "white knight" character. Sinatra is shown as the anachronism within the decay of the city- none of the police seem to be able to make any difference, so it takes Sinatra's illegal activities to reduce the story to a simple good vs. evil struggle. Sinatra is so bizarrely set in the story he dresses up like Bogart with a cocked Fedora and even is shown digging up an old Luger to carry in another scene. We never understand why he is so antiquated or what the point is of contrasting him in 1980 Manhattan.Too many misshapen ideas clog this film-- for instance, why exactly is Faye Dunaway in the hospital throughout the film? There is an insistence on a religious overtone throughout the film (besides the title, there are crosses displayed everywhere)that is never explained. Anthony Zerbe phones in a quick appearance as a police captain who tries to reel in Sinatra, who is retiring in mere days from decades on the force. If it weren't bad enough that Zerbe appears needlessly drunk in this scene, his character is supposed to be a no-nonsense captain and when Sinatra asks if he can stay on the case, Zerbe basically says "sure, whatever". The two people who break down the murderer's identity are bizarrely the curator of the renowned Arms & Armor wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the wife of the murderer's first victim! Sinatra merely leaves the scene to let them do the work, appropriately showing his seemingly little concern for the plot of this film.The First Deadly Sin is a very confusing film with more loose ends than a thread factory. Sinatra picked a very odd piece of work to make his last starring role and there must be some interesting story behind what happened with this obviously well-budgeted film. Sinatra was never an amazing actor but this is just a mess.