The First Deadly Sin (1981) Movie
Based on Lawrence Sanders’ enormous book, it is a tribute to superb yarn-spinning and claptrap ’70s psychology.
The film is considerably more sparse all round—the contrast of the novel between murderer and policeman is gone, save for small snippets of the killer, Daniel Blank, sulking about his flat, and the frenetic ending of the book is ditched for a very low-key denouement.
The film is worth watching chiefly for Frank Sinatra in his last real dramatic performance as Sergeant Edward X. Delaney, the retiring policeman whose wife (Faye Dunaway, who gets to lie around looking sick for the whole film) is dying and becomes determined to nail the shadowy serial killer whacking guys on the head with his ice hammer.
The late, superb actor David Dukes makes a fascinating appearance as the murderer, and there’s wonderful, creepy cinematography of midnight New York by Jack Priestley. Apparently, Roman Polanski was associated with the movie before his stat-rape allegations came out; it’s unfortunate he didn’t get to make it, since Brian G. Hutton’s directing is barely competent.
