The Detective (1968 film)

The Detective
The Detective
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gordon Douglas
Screenplay by	Abby Mann
Based on	The Detective; 1966 novel; by Roderick Thorp
Produced by	Aaron Rosenberg
Starring	Frank Sinatra; Lee Remick; Ralph Meeker; Jack Klugman; Lloyd Bochner; William Windom; Tony Musante; Al Freeman, Jr.; Robert Duvall; Jacqueline Bisset;
Cinematography	Joseph Biroc
Edited by	Robert L. Simpson
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Production; company	Arcola Pictures Corporation
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	May 28, 1968;
Running time	114 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$4.5 million
Box office	$6.5 million (rentals)

The Detective is a 1968 American neo-noir^[3] crime drama film starring Frank Sinatra. Directed by Gordon Douglas and produced by Aaron Rosenberg, it is based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Roderick Thorp.^[4]

Co-stars include Lee Remick, Jacqueline Bisset, Jack Klugman, William Windom, and Robert Duvall, with a script by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Abby Mann. The book's rights were owned by Robert Evans, who was to produce the film but never got a chance to when Evans was hired by Gulf+Western to run Paramount Pictures.

The Detective marked a move towards — and was billed as — a more "adult" approach to depicting the life and work of a police detective while confronting, for one of the first times in mainstream cinema, previously taboo subjects such as homosexuality. Here, the detective in question is Joe Leland, who is trying to juggle marital issues with a murder case that seemed to be open-and-shut at first but runs much deeper than he could have imagined.

The Detective was Sinatra's fourth collaboration with director Douglas, having worked together on Young at Heart (1954), Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), Tony Rome (1967), and then later Lady in Cement (1968).

^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p255
^ Solomon p 230. See also "Big Rental Films of 1968", Variety, 8 January 1969, pg 15.
^ Silver, Alain; Ward, Elizabeth; eds. (1992). Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (3rd ed.). Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-479-5
^ Cite error: The named reference vcnyt680529w was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[1] Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p255

[2] Solomon p 230. See also "Big Rental Films of 1968", Variety, 8 January 1969, pg 15.

[3] Silver, Alain; Ward, Elizabeth; eds. (1992). Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (3rd ed.). Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-479-5

[vcnyt680529w-4] Cite error: The named reference vcnyt680529w was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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