Frank Sinatra in cruise control reprises his Tony Rome (1967) private eye in a hugely enjoyable and vastly under-rated murder mystery with man mountain Dan Blocker of Bonanza fame and femme fatale Raquel Welch of pin-up fame. One of the actor’s greatest characterizations, albeit with little in it for the Oscar mob, this is one of the coolest gumshoes to hit the screen. Exhibiting none of the self-consciousness of latter-day Philip Marlowes or Sam Spades, Sinatra embellishes the character with more “business” than ever before, larding his dialogue with quips while he talks his way out of sticky situations and, as a big star, happy to be picked up by Blocker and dumped on a work surface. Can’t see Newman, Redford, McQueen, and Eastwood et al putting up with that kind of treatment.
Tony Rome is almost as much of a bum as he is a detective, betting on anything possible, wasting his time on fruitless quests for sunken treasure, lazing around in his yacht until in one of his deep sea forays comes across the naked titular damsel. Reporting the murder sees Rome co-opted by cop Lt. Santini (Richard Conte) to ID the woman. Sent to the apartment shared by Sandra Lomax and Maria Bareto in search for a potential client, Rome encounters Waldo (Dan Blocker) who hires him to find Lomax.
later become the prevailing exhibition wisdom. Although the two films had in common a star in bikini.
Note that the double bill went on general release at the same time as the two pictures
were, separately, playing at London’s West End.
That takes Rome to Jilly’s go-go club where his conversation with dancer Maria (Lainie Kazan) is rudely interrupted by owner Danny Yale (Frank Raiter). Next stop is a swimming pool and who should emerge in a wet bikini than millionairess Kit Forrest (Raquel Welch) whose party Sandra attended. But a) she’s an alcoholic with memory issues and b) objects to snoopers so calls in neighbor and former hood Al Mungar (Martin Gabel) who sends Rome packing. When Maria is bumped off, Waldo is the prime suspect.
So we are enveloped in an interesting plot that soon involves blackmail and robbery and a suspect list that extends to Mungar and son Paul (Steve Peck) who has the hots for Kit, Yale and muscular boyfriend Seymour, and of course Waldo (whose reason for finding Sandra is revenge) and Kit. Despite the seeming light touch, inheritance is a theme, and the tale is character-driven, relationships complex, locales somewhat off-beat, a crap game in a mortuary, a nude painter’s studio, strip clubs, massage parlors and go-go dancing establishments abound, but with none of the moralizing that came with the territory. A racetrack is almost prosaic by comparison.
For most of the picture Santini and Rome have an antagonistic relationship until we find out, in a lovely scene, that Rome was the cop’s ex-partner, that the grumpy cop has a loving home life and that Rome is greeted with delight as “Uncle Tony” by Santini’s son. Rome is also very well acquainted with film noir and knows that a woman who appears too good to be true is in fact too good to be true so he’s sensible enough to steer clear of seduction (the bane of any film noir character’s life) unless he’s just pretending in order to glean information.
It’s a classic detective story, one lead following another, naturally a few contretemps along the way, some deception, and the laid-back Rome proves not as relaxed as you might expect, possessing a handy right hook and a neat uppercut. Interesting subsidiary characters include Al’s neglected wife, a bumptious beach attendant and a whining nude model.
Director Gordon Douglas – who handled Sinatra in Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964), Tony Rome and The Detective (1968) – brings out the best in the actor, keeps the action zipping along despite multiple complications and prefers a quip to a momentous speech.
Sinatra is just so at ease he oozes screen charisma. His shamus is no slick unraveller of truth, but a steady digger, accumulating information. You might think any tentative relationship with Kit stretches the age angle a tad but bear in mind at this stage Sinatra was married to Mia Farrow, 30 years his junior. Raquel Welch (The Biggest Bundle of Them All, 1968) is surprisingly good as a vulnerable mixed-up wealthy alcoholic and, except in her opening scene, manages to steer clear of a bikini for most of the picture.
Richard Conte (Hotel, 1966) is as dependable as ever but Martin Gabel (Divorce American Style, 1967) steals the supporting show as an apoplectic racketeer trying to go straight. You might like to know Lainie Kazan (Dayton’s Devils, 1968) is still working, The Amityville Murders (2018) and Tango Shalom (2021) among her recent output. It’s a shame Dan Blocker did not live long enough (he died in 1972) to build on his idiosyncratic performance.
The lively screenplay was written by Marvin H. Albert (A Twist of Sand, 1968) and Jack Guss (Daniel Boone: Frontier Trail Rider, 1966) based on Albert’s novel. Mention, too, for the jaunty theme tune by Hugo Montenegro (The Undefeated, 1969). You’ll find yourself humming it for days on end, it pops up often enough.
Into the catchphrase hall of fame must go Blocker’s exhortation “Stay loose” just before he unleashes mayhem. And while we’re about it, what is it about the quality of actor or status of a star that permits hoodlum Al’s peeved “I tried to go clean and you dragged me down” to be ignored while a couple of decades later a similar line from The Godfather Part III (1990) uttered by Al Pacino is hailed as a classic. You know the one I mean: “Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in.” Steven Spielberg is another who should have watched this picture for tips on how to deal with marauding sharks – Rome’s solution: kick them on the snout. By the way did Blocker fall out with imdb? Despite third billing, he’s not listed at all in the main credits and when you scroll down to the extended credits, he’s at the very bottom. Jeez!
The Magnificent 60s 
You’ve given this movie a strong write-up. I thought it OK, reasonably fun and worth watching but not a patch on The Detective in terms of dramatic punch nor on Tony Rome in terms of overall entertainment value.
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I haven’t re-watched Tony Rome yet. And yes The Detective is dramatically stronger. But I just hell-out really enjoyed this one.
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You’re making a stand for this, when few others give it the time of day. Might be worth exhuming the Tony Rome flicks by your account. And I’ve found out the hard way; never trust the order of credits on imdb…
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I just really enjoyed it. And am not afraid to say so. A lot of my ratings are based on enjoyment rather than old-style critical assessment.
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It was entertaining. That was it purpose and it succeeded.
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Info for you:
“Lady in Cement was the sequel to Tony Rome (1967, see entry); both films were based on Marvin H. Albert’s private detective novels written under the pen name “Anthony Rome.” In between the two Miami, FL-based “Tony Rome” movies, the same production team—Twentieth Century-Fox, producer Aaron Rosenberg, director Gordon Douglas, and actor Frank Sinatra—made another film, this one based in New York City, called The Detective (1968, see entry). A third Tony Rome film, based on another Anthony Rome novel called My Kind of Game, was planned, according to the 5 June 1967 LAT and 14 June 1967 Variety, but never made.
The 2 June 1967 DV announced that Albert would write the screenplay for his own novel, The Lady in Cement. Richard Breen, who scripted the earlier Tony Rome from Albert’s novel, had died in February 1967 before it went into production.
As he did while filming Tony Rome in early 1967, Frank Sinatra performed nightly at the Fontainebleau Hotel’s La Ronde Room in Miami Beach, FL, while shooting Lady in Cement during the day, the 18 December 1967 DV reported. He opened 7 February 1968 for “the longest nitery engagement of his career—six weeks,” with “two performances nightly, six days a week.” All filming would take place nearby in Miami and Miami Beach, FL, beginning 19 February 1968, according to the 17 January 1968 Variety. To facilitate easy travel between Sinatra’s two jobs, the movie production converted the basement of the Fontainebleau into a film studio, where at least four sets were built, Aaron Rosenberg told the 21 February 1968 DV.
Sammy Davis, Jr., who had co-starred with Sinatra in Gordon Douglas’s Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), was originally picked for the role of Tony Rome’s close friend and former partner, but bowed out due to other commitments, according to the 5 February 1968 DV. Sinatra gave the role to comedian Pat Henry, his opening act at the Fontainebleu. Los Angeles Rams football star Merlin Olsen also auditioned for a role, the 24 January 1968 Variety noted, but was apparently not involved in the film.
The 28 February 1968 Variety mentioned that filming had begun two days earlier, after a delay caused by Sinatra’s bout with the flu, but according to a list of studio schedules in the 8 March 1968 DV, principal photography for Lady in Cement actually began on 4 March 1968.
Articles in the 4 March 1968 DV and 6 March 1968 Variety described a squabble between Twentieth Century-Fox and the Hialeah Park Race Track in Hialeah, FL. When Hialeah president Eugene Mori refused to allow Lady in Cement to be filmed there, the production moved to Gulfstream Park at Hallandale Beach, FL. Mori publicly criticized Gulfstream for hosting the film, saying: “We read the script of the movie, and it is a picture which portrays violence and underworld activity. We don’t feel the best image of racing would be served by having Hialeah, or any track, involved in such a movie.” The Gulfstream location scene was shot on 5 March 1968. A week earlier, the 29 February 1968 DV reported that 250 Florida schoolteachers, who were in the middle of a strike, were hired as extras to sit in Gulfstream’s stands behind Sinatra and actress Raquel Welch.
Filming ended 5 April 1968, the 10 April 1968 Variety reported.
Comedian Joe E. Lewis was hired for a small part. Frank Sinatra had portrayed Lewis in the 1957 film biography The Joker Is Wild (see entry).
In one scene, actor Dan Blocker’s character sat in a motel room watching the television show Bonanza, whose theme played on the soundtrack. Blocker, who portrayed “Hoss Cartwright” on the popular program, was on hiatus during the Lady in Cement production. When Twentieth Century-Fox ran a full-page advertisement in the 6 November 1968 DV and other trade papers publicizing the film’s premiere that night at Hollywood, CA’s Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, it printed a photograph of Blocker manhandling Sinatra, with the words: “Hoss plays the heavy!”
Critical reception was tepid. The 8 November 1968 LAT reported that the plot of Lady in Cement was “cumbersome without being rewardingly intricate,” and as with most sequels, “the law of diminishing returns is still in force.” The 21 November 1968 NYT called it such “a perfect blending of material with milieu that the movie’s extraordinary vulgarity and sloppiness can almost be cherished for themselves, like widescreen graffiti.”
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Thanks for all that. I’ve a big fan of Sinatra’s 1960s output.
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