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There is a famous story about Die Hard (which you can watch with a Prime subscription if you haven’t seen it in a while) about how the role Bruce Willis played was first offered to Frank Sinatra. I’ve known this story for years, and though I’ve seen Die Hard countless times, for whatever reason, I’ve never gone back to check the movie that is the reason Sinatra was offered the role first, 1968’s The Detective. I finally have, and I’m really glad I did.
Why Sinatra Got The Offer First
On the surface, that’s a weird choice, since Ol’ Blue Eyes was 70-years-old when the movie was shot. It’s pretty much impossible to imagine Sinatra, in the 1980s, climbing through an air duct or eating Twinkies. Plus, Willis is just perfect in the role. A role he would go on to play four more times over the years, helping create one of the most successful action franchises of all time.
The reason Sinatra was offered the role was contractual. In 1968, the Chairman of the Board starred in The Detective, which was a book-to-screen adaptation from a novel by author Roderick Thorp. Thorp also wrote a follow-up in 1979 called Nothing Lasts Forever about the same character as The Detective, Joe Leland. Another one of Thorpe’s books, Nothing Lasts Forever, is the book that Die Hard was based on, and it’s about the same New York cop, though in the movie he was renamed John McClane.
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Due to legalities, the producers of Die Hard were required to offer the role to Sinatra, who predictably turned it down. Willis got the part, and the rest is history. So what about that movie from 1968? Does it really have the same DNA as Die Hard? Well, yes, in a lot of ways it does.
I Was Very Skeptical Going In
When I started The Detective, I really had no idea if it was going to be any good. The reviews I read were generally good, and while I do like Sinatra in some roles (especially The Manchurian Candidate), he’s not someone whose movies I seek out. I also have a love/hate relationship with a lot of movies from this era of Hollywood.
The late ‘60s were a time of pretty big upheaval in film. The Hayes Code was on its way out, but we hadn’t quite reached that era of auteur-driven films that the ‘70s have become known for. It’s a little bit of an in-between period that bridges the gap between movies of the old studio system and the more modern era that was ushered in by the likes of Scorsese, Coppola, and later Lucas and Spielberg.
I Was Very Pleasantly Surprised By The Detective
The Detective fits right in with that transition period. The plot, which I won’t spoil, centers around an NYPD detective played by Sinatra who is investigating a wide conspiracy that takes him into the gay underground of New York City. His character, Leland, is terse, tough, and rough around the edges, but he has a moral center that surprised me. The portrayal of gay men in the movie is surprisingly progressive for the era, and Leland is especially so when compared to his fellow officers (including two played by Jack Klugman and a young Robert Duvall).
The language those less enlightened cops use is hardly surprising, and while Leland uses some slurs a little too casually, he is honestly far less bigoted than I would have expected for the era. He is actually pretty open-minded in a time when gay rights were in their infancy (the movie came out a full year before Stonewall). These are topics that would have never been explored under the Hayes Code, and The Detective was actually on the bleeding edge of the subject. Is it a totally fair representation of queer identity? Well, no, not by a long shot, but it’s far more enlightened than I would have expected.
So, Does It Have That Same DNA?
In addition to getting totally immersed in the mystery at the heart of the movie, I kept one out for character similarities between Joe Leland and John McClane. The movies, after all, are very different types of movies. There is some action in The Detective, but nothing as we would see from the great action movies of the 1980s, led by Die Hard. The Detective isn’t nearly as quotable as Die Hard, either. However, the DNA in the character is still there.
Like McClane, Leland and his wife are separated (well, divorced in The Detective), and Leland is having a hard time letting go. Like McClane, Leland is tough, but has that moral center that makes you trust he would never betray what he believes in. Both detectives rankle their superiors and occasionally push the boundaries of what they are supposed to do, but never cross a line, and they both trust their guts. They definitely are the same character at their core, while being vastly different products of their respective eras.
I’d Recommend The Detective For Any Die Hard Fan
The Detective is an easy movie to recommend for any Die Hard fan. Yes, they are definitely very different movies, both of which fit nicely in the periods they were produced, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find the connections. Sinatra is really pretty great. Sure, he’s “Sinatra’ing” around the whole time, looking cool, drinking bourbon, and smoking cigarettes in a nicely tailored suit and sharp-looking fedora, but he’s also doing some of his best acting work that I’ve ever seen. I was really impressed by the character and The Chairman’s take on him.
There isn’t a ton of action in The Detective, but it’s really well paced, and it never drags. The supporting performances from Jacqueline Bisset, Lee Remick, Lloyd Bochner, and the above-mentioned Duvall and Klugman are great, too. My only complaint is that one scene really pulled me out of the movie. It comes when Leland is meeting with Bisset’s character on the beach. While the movie is set in New York, the scene was obviously shot in Malibu. I don’t know of any mountains like that on Long Island.
Aside from that, I was really happy with my decision to watch The Detective.