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The Detective - NewYorkjoe - 02-01-2011

This film starred and was directed by Frank Sinatra. Theo recorded it for me off of Encore because I once told her that my parents appeared briefly in it as extras.

My first summer job during college involved walking dogs. Back then, it was a great deal easier than now (I didn't have to clean up after them). The woman I worked for (Mary Jane Lane) was also a theatrical agent and told my parents that she could get jobs as extras for them in locally shot films.

Near the beginning of The Detective, there is a scene with Frank Sinatra and Lee Remick shot at a stadium. My parents (Jayne and Joe) told me that they had to pretend there was a game going on at the field. They had to leap up and cheer, then sit down and talk. Then, they had to do the same thing over, but without making any sound (so the stars' dialog could be heard).

I saw both my parents behind and upstairs from Frank. They both looked so young! Then, I realized that my mother was 38 at that time and I'm 20 years older now than she was back then. It gave me a kind of sad feeling, since she passed away 20 years ago this April, but she will always be young on that film in that scene. My father appeared as an extra in a number of other films that year (the private detective business was a little slow). If you ever see "Goodbye Columbus," he's the guy in glasses dancing the Hora with a fat redhead at the wedding reception scene and having a helluva time!

Believe it or not, this was the first time I had ever seen the film. It actually was quite good, had some complicated plot turns, and interesting character development.

NYj


The Detective - NewYorkjoe - 02-01-2011

ImDeranged Wrote:Interesting trivia about The Detective, it's based on a 1966 book by Roderick Thorp. In 1979 Thorp published the sequel to the book called Nothing Lasts Forever. The film rights to that were sold. They changed the characters name from Joe Leland to John McClain and renamed the movie to Die Hard. So if you read the books it's the same character.

Next time you watch Die Hard try to imagine Frank Sinatra saying Yipee-Kay-Ayee Mother Fucker.....
Ring-a-ding ding pally.Big Grin

You're right, that is interesting trivia!

I can't imagine that "The Detective" and "Die Hard" had the same lead characters, the same author, or anything else.

Thanks,
NYJ


The Detective - Scott Hajek - 02-03-2011

NewYorkjoe Wrote:You're right, that is interesting trivia!

I can't imagine that "The Detective" and "Die Hard" had the same lead characters, the same author, or anything else.

Thanks,
NYJ

But, alas, joe, it was the same author, lead character and the book is almost identical to the movie in everything but the character relationship. In the book, it is a father-daughter connection, instead of estranged husband and wife. Plus, the ending of the book is a little less than happy.

It's one of the very rare cases that the book and the movie are both freakin' awesome!