Tony Rome

Rather slow-moving, but otherwise a witty and thoroughly enjoyable attempt to revive the cynical, corpse-laden, bafflingly plotted Chandler thrillers of the '40s. Here the quest for a diamond pin lost by a rich but unhappy girl (Lyon) leads through some exotic Miami locations and a fine assortment of blackmailers and sleazy undesirables, including a striptease dancer and her lesbian protectress, a venal doctor and his moronically muscle-bound son, a raffish dope peddler, and a drink-sodden mamma kept shut away in a derelict house. Most of them come to a bad end while Sinatra, standing in ably for Bogart as the tough private eye, times his deadpan cracks perfectly, takes his beatings like a man, and batters his way to some sort of solution.