The First Deadly Sin (1980) Reviews

• Worth watching; Sinatra shines

  nogimmicks2003-11-20

  Above-average police procedural based on the excellent novel by Lawrence Sanders. The Chairman of the Board delivers a powerful performance as Sgt. Detective Edward X. Delany, and David Dukes's Daniel Blank is suitably psychotic (if a bit tamer than in the novel). Plays somewhat fast and loose with the adaption, but still does the book justice. Like the book, this is somewhat slow paced and character-driven, but Sinatra does such a good job at making Delany human and making the audience emote for him that the shortcomings seem minimal. If you are a fan of Sanders, police procedurals, or Frank Sinatra, then this film is certainly worth checking out.

• "No, I'm in no psychical danger."

  lost-in-limbo2011-04-22

  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.

• Final hurrah for Frank.

  jrs-82001-07-20

  "The First Deadly Sin" will be remembered as the last starring role for Frank Sinatra. It's a good performance in a decent (but should have been better) film. Frank plays a New York homicide detective investigating a series of murders. This main story is a good one. It is involving and creepy. David Dukes turns in a terrific performance as the killer. The problem comes in the sub-plot with Faye Dunaway as Frank's dying wife. Every 10 or 15 minutes the film comes to a screeching halt so Frank can visit Faye in the hospital. Faye must have been desperate to work with Frank since she literally spends the entire film in a hospital bed. It's a needless distraction to the main plot. Still the film is worth watching. Frank is at his gritty best as his whole world falls apart in front of his eyes. The film also does one other good thing. It erased the possibility that the awful "Dirty Dingus Magee" would be his last starring role.

• Good, but Deadly Intentions

  bkoganbing2007-09-16

  I saw someone else's user comments on this film and I can't believe that there were going to be series of films based on Frank Sinatra's character mainly because of the ending this film had. If you're thinking that gives the ending away, don't look for an obvious conclusion. To his credit, I guess Frank Sinatra did not want to end his film career with Dirty Dingus Magee. He wanted to end his film with the serious part, unfortunately The First Deadly Sin messes up the telling of a potentially good tale. Frank Sinatra is days away from his retirement as a Detective Sergeant and a strange murder has been assigned to him. A man apparently selected at random is killed with an unidentified weapon that is just driven into the top of his skull. A little good detective work and he finds their just might be a pattern of killings. It's all in identifying the weapon and it's an unusual one at that which I won't reveal. A professor in medieval history played by Martin Gabel helps with the hunt and later on he's joined by the widow of Sinatra's victim, Brenda Vaccaro to help with the hunt. They're helping because Sinatra's new captain is one total jerk played by Anthony Zerbe. Maybe I'm missing something in Zerbe's performance, but I would think that an ambitious guy like Zerbe plays would instead of pooh-poohing Sinatra's ideas would think that this guy if he is on to something with this serial killer business. And if he's right Zerbe will get all kinds of accolades for figuring this out in his precinct and even more if the doer is apprehended. It's an absolutely impossible role and poor Anthony Zerbe can't do much with it. All this while Frank's wife Faye Dunaway falls ill to a misdiagnosed kidney malady. She spends all her time in the hospital and Sinatra visits her at breaks in this case. Frank delivers a very good performance in a role similar to the one he had in The Detective. He's supported by the rest of the cast very well, except with Anthony Zerbe's impossible role. Besides who I've mentioned look for a really nice turn by Joe Spinell as the mendacious doorman where suspect David Dukes lives. His role is similarly undefined, we really never learn why he's doing these crimes.

• what the...?

  boknyc2006-12-16

  I recently watched this movie only because it was on my high def station and it "looked" pretty good, but after waiting over an hour to become interested in it, it ended with a confusing and ho-hum climax. Sinatra sleepwalks through the entire movie and looks completely bored. Faye has one of the worst roles in movie history. Can someone explain this ending to me sometime? On second thought, don't bother. If you love Frank and NYC movies from the 80s, this might work for you, but only if you don't mind a story that never really achieves liftoff. The Dunaway role is such a waste of her talent, and him calling her "kiddo" in every scene kind of creeped me out.