Lady In Cement (1968)

While diving for treasure off the Miami coast, a private detective (Frank Sinatra) discovers a dead blonde (Christine Todd) with her feet encased in cement. Soon after, he's hired by a hulk of a brute (Dan Blocker) to find a missing girl. Could they be one and the same girl? Based on the novel by Marvin H. Albert (DUEL AT DIABLO) and directed by Gordon Douglas (THEM!). A sequel to the previous year's TONY ROME, this one is vastly inferior with Sinatra walking through his role. Not that TONY ROME was a great film but it had a nice post noir-ish feel to it and it took itself much more seriously. This one is a confusing mess which is a pity since the original source material was well reviewed and if done straight might have made a solid movie. The film isn't helped by one of those godawful "swinging" scores (courtesy of Hugo Montenegro) that screams out the 60s. The film also has an unpleasant undercurrent of homophobia with its sleazy gay characters and Sinatra's unsubtle ridicule of them which is surprising since Sinatra's other 1968 film THE DETECTIVE was surprisingly sympathetic to the plight of homosexuals in a hostile 1968 atmosphere. With Raquel Welch, Richard Conte, Martin Gabel (miscast as a mobster), Lainie Kazan and Steve Peck.