The name Joe Leland may not be instantly recognisable among movie goers, but what about that of John McLane. Some may already know this, but the character of Joe Leland as portrayed by Frank Sinatra in The Detective (1968) was the original basis for one of Hollywood's most popular action heroes.
The original plot for what would become Die Hard was based upon the Roderick Thorpe novel, Nothing Last Forever, which was the sequel to the novel of The Detective.
Of course, before it reached the screen, the story went through a major overhaul. The script would go onto completely alter the character of Joe Leland, who in the original novel was grandfather age, into the modern day action hero that Bruce Willis would go on to build his career upon.
Due of his involvement in The Detective, Frank Sinatra was offered first refusal on Die Hard, but rightfully turned it down. Without this decision, audiences may have been robbed of what is clearly one of the finest action movies in Hollywood history.
Although The Detective may not be remembered as fondly as Die Hard, it is still an excellent crime drama, featuring one of Sinatra's finest performances.
Nowadays The Detective could be considered dated or possibly naive in its views of homosexuality and homophobia, but at the time of its production its was seen as ground-breaking. Viewers have to remember that these weren't subjects that major studios would normally cover at the time, and even having a star the magnitude of Sinatra headlining, it was still considered a major risk.
The plot kicks off when Detective Leland is called to the site of a brutal murder. The victim hasn’t only been beaten to death, but the murderer has removed his genitals. With the rest of the police being disgusted by what they see, it is up to Leland to keep things together.
While his fellow officers are disgusted by the idea that the victim may have been a homosexual, Leland stays focused on the case, not letting the victim’s sexuality cloud his judgement. In fact, Leland is one of the only officers who show any sense of compassion and understanding towards the gay community during the investigation.
At first, Leland and his partner Dave Schoenstein (Jack Klugman) find it difficult to find any clues, with the victim’s housemate being conspicuous by his absence. Eventually they find out his housemate is the mentally disturbed Felix Tesla (Tony Musante), who is quickly apprehended.
Under an intense interrogation, Leland is able to get a confession out of him, which brings about a promotion for Leland, and the electric chair for Tesla. This troubles Leland, who knows that Tesla is insane and doesn’t think should be given the chair.
As well as having to deal with the stress of the case, Leland is facing the breakdown of his marriage to Karen (Lee Remick), whose continuing infidelity is starting to take its toll on the seasoned Detective.
After the execution of Tesla, another man kills himself by jumping from the rooftop of a racetrack.
What initially was perceived as a simple suicide begins to unravel into a twisted conspiracy that is linked to the earlier murder. It is made clear to Leland that there are people in positions of power that don’t want him investigating this case, and would rather it go unsolved. Of course Leland has too much integrity for that, and with threats to both his life and career, forges on in his quest to solve this mystery.
Gordon Douglas directs proceedings with a sure hand. Douglas takes a realistic and unshowy approach in telling the story, something that would become more popular among the new wave of film makers during the 70's. Douglas doesn't include any of the Hollywood sheen that had been apparent in some of his other films, before and after.
This marked the fourth of five films Douglas would direct with Sinatra as star. Young at Heart (1954), Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964) and Tony Rome (1967) all featured the superstar in familiar surroundings, focusing on his laid back cool and charm.
With The Detective, Gordon took an altogether different approach, directing Sinatra towards one of his most intense performances. Gone were the easy going attitude and witty one liners. In their place was a character with the weight of the world on his shoulders, continuously disgusted by his fellow cops and increasingly stressed by the ensuing breakdown of his marriage.
Audiences seem to forget how good an actor Sinatra could be when he put his mind to it. Although his charisma was enough to get him through some films, one only has too look at the likes of From Here to Eternity (1954), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), The Devil at 4' O Clock (1960) and his stellar work in The Detective to get a clear picture of his acting talents.
Gordon and Sinatra would follow The Detective up with Lady in Cement (1968), their fifth and final collaboration. With Sinatra returning to his Tony Rome character, it proved to be an enjoyable time thriller but was ultimately a disappointment when compared to their ground-breaking work earlier in the year.
Sinatra is ably backed by a wonderful roster of supporting players. Lee Remick does excellent work as Leland's nymphomaniac wife, even though her character is secondary to the main plot.
More integral is Jaqueline Bisset. The actress does well enough, even if she seems an unnatural fit for the role. Maybe this has something to do with her role being intended for Mia Farrow, Sinatra's wife at the time. Apparently due to another of Farrow' films running over schedule she refused to appear, which essentially resulted in the end of her marriage.
Jack Klugman gives a solid performance as Leland's partner, seemingly the only other decent cop on the force. In the same year he would co-star in another interesting crime thriller, director Gordon Flemying's The Split (1968). Noteworthy as being the first theatrical release to receive an R rating from the MPAA, it was also Jim Brown's first lead role, where he would play a variation on Richard Stark's Parker character.
In addition to his investigation, Leland has to deal with dishonest Cops Curran and Nestor, played by veteran character actor Ralph Meeker and Robert Duvall in an early role.
Meeker is always great at playing unsavoury characters, with even his version of famous detective Mike Hammer in Robert Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly (1955) being one of the most unheroic takes on the character.
Duvall's role is relatively small, working more of a taster of the classics that were too come, but he still gets some memorable scenes. Interestingly, he and co-star Jacqueline Bisset would both feature in another crime classic in the same year, Peter Yates' Bullitt (1968).
Also memorable is a small but pivotal role from Lloyd Bochner as a secretive doctor, who clearly knows more than he's letting on. Coincidentally, considering The Detectives links to Die Hard, his son Hart Bochner would go on to feature in that movie, playing the memorable Ellis.
As well as the main cast, keep your eyes peeled for Tom Atkins, here making his screen debut as a beat cop.
Screenwriter Abby Man may be best known for creating another dedicated detective, that of lollipop sucking cop Kojak (1973), which he originally introduced in The Marcus Nelson Murders (1973), a based on fact television movie. In many ways, the character of Joe Leland could be seen as a prototype for Kojak, both being righteous cops not scared to stand up against their fellow detectives.
With a great deal of television credits under his belt, Mann additionally wrote a number of terrific "message" movies, such as the Oscar winning Judgement at Nuremberg (1961) and John Cassavetes' A Child is Waiting (1963).
Like those, The Detective has a script littered with real world issues, such as injustice, bigotry and corruption at the highest level. And while the styles and fashions of The Detective may be dated, most of these issues still remain today.
Years later, Mann would go on to work on the mini-series Sinatra (1992), based around the life of The Detective's leading man.
Any fans of crime drama's or Frank Sinatra in general should watch The Detective if they get the chance. It doesn't have a reliance on action set pieces to get its point across, focusing more on great story telling and world class acting.
Rating: 4/5
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