Arguably more entertaining than predecessor TONY ROME...if only for the oddball casting (Raquel Welch, Richard Deacon, Lainie Kazan, Dan Blocker...as Waldo Gronsky!). After a pretty creepy opening scene, Frank Sinatra is hired to find some missing jewels and runs into mafioso Martin Gabel and his goons. Sinatra is dynamite and has a lot of chemistry with Welch. Gabel is certainly the most unlikely & shortest mafia don imaginable. Directed, with his usual lack of style, by Gordon Douglas but highlighted by a priceless Hugo Montenegro score. It's a lot of fun and does manage to capture Sinatra at his most swinging. He lives on a boat, drive a convertible, is afraid of no one and is very mouthy. Longtime Sinatra crony Richard Conte (taking things very seriously) returns as the crusty yet benign Miami cop who helps Rome out.
Review of Lady in Cement
