Lady in Cement (1968)

Some nice shots of a mid-60s Miami, 23 March 2008

If you take a look at what I wrote about Tony Rome a couple of years ago, you can apply a lot of it to Lady in Cement. Once again, this is a movie that I probably enjoy more than I should. That's because for the most part, it entertains me. Plot details hardly matter as the whole thing is little more than a vehicle for Frank Sinatra to show his supposed coolness. I'll just say that Lady in Cement is well paced with very few dull moments. Other than a handful of really seedy looking locations, it's a harmless enough way to spend an hour and a half. To be as light as much of it is, however, there are a few nice twists and turns along the way. In fact, the identity of one of the killers really caught me off-guard. Sinatra may be the "star", but he's not the attraction here for me. Instead, Dan Blocker and Raquel Welch are the films highlights – and in two very different ways. Blocker is very entertaining as the huge behemoth of a man, Waldo Gronsky. And Raquel is equally entertaining in her own way as wealthy socialite Kit Forrest. Finally, as with Tony Rome, I get a real kick out of the shots of a mid-60s Miami. Forty years later it looks almost like a foreign country.

I suppose the thing that bothers me the most about Lady in Cement is the amount of lame comedy found in the script (although the scene with Blocker watching Bonanza on television made me laugh out loud for some reason). You'll find comedy in Tony Rome, but I don't remember this much. The worst is the over-the-top gay-bating that Sinatra tries to use as humor. It has a terribly dated feel to it and, as some would argue, is quite offensive.

6/10