Movies of the 80s: 'First Deadly Sin' Frank Sinatra's Final Starring Role

The First Deadly Sin

Directed by Brian G. Hutton

Written by Mann Rubin

Starring Frank Sinatra, Faye Dunaway, Brenda Vaccaro

Release Date October 3rd, 1980

A veteran detective with a wife confined to her bed by illness tries to catch a serial killer terrorizing New York.

Based on the book The First Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders.

What did critics say?

Critic Gordon Tretick in the Ridgeway News wrote: "The First Deadly Sin is a rather joyless exercise."

Roger Ebert wrote: "(The First Deadly Sin) is one of the season's best surprises." He marveled at Sinatra's comeback performance.

Critic Desmond Ryan in the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote "The First Deadly Sin was the film's release."

Critic Hal Lippen wrote "Sinatra's First Deadly Sin Will Disappoint fans."

Critic Bill Lammers was happy to see Sinatra back writing: "Sinatra Plays Classy Cop in First Deadly Sin"

Critic Bernard Drew disliked The First Deadly Sin writing "An awkward, cumbersome, un-thriller, thriller"

Critic Tim Hewitt wrote in The Sun News "Wouldn't you like to see a good murder mystery with lots of mood and loads of suspense? The kind that Howard Hawks or Fritz Lang used to turn out? Unfortunately, that's not what you'll get if you see The First Deadly Sin."

Critic Joan Bunke joined the chorus of jeers for The First Deadly Sin, writing: "The First Deadly Sin in filmmaking is boring your audience. Director Brian G. Hutton and Producer and Star Frank Sinatra have committed it, at excruciating length in The First Deadly Sin."

Critic Ed Blank liked The First Deadly Sin, writing of Sinatra "He's back, at last, in First Deadly Sin... and his performance alone is worth celebrating. The picture is very, very good."

Critic Maurice Yacowar was also part of the critical minority that enjoyed "The First Deadly Sin" writing, "The First Deadly Sin is an excellent thriller that leaves all kinds of second thoughts and moral issues echoing through the mind."

Critic Ted Mahar also liked the movie writing, "Sinatra's Taut Delivery Redeems 'Deadly Sin.'"

Behind the scenes

The First Deadly Sin bombed at the box office. The film cost $8 million dollars and made only $3.9 million at the box office.

Director Brian G. Hutton took over as the director of The First Deadly Sin after Roman Polanski dropped out. At the time, Polanski was on the run from American authorities and could not make a movie in America.

Notable facts:

Frank Sinatra hadn't acted in 10 years. His last film was 1970's Dirty Dingus McGee.

Film debut for Bruce Willis... sort of. Willis found work on the set of First Deady Sin as the stand-in for David Dukes' villainous Daniel Blank. And Willis made it on screen as he was used in a scene where, with a hat mostly covering his face, Willis pushes past Sinatra as he's entering a bar where the killer may be. - IMDB Trivia

Also the first film in the career of Willem Dafoe who also appears in the bar scene, sitting at a table, his famous face in profile. - IMDB Trivia. Sadly we could not find a screenshot to use to confirm this trivia.

Faye Dunaway was nominated for a Razzie for Worst Actress for her performance in The First Deadly Sin in which she never leaves a hospital bed. Dunaway's performance, though pivotal in the backstory of Sinatra's detective, was relatively short in screen time making her Razzie nomination in hindsight seem strange.

The film holds a 67 percent critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.7 out of 10 on IMDB.

The First Deadly Sin is featured on our YouTube channel, Movies of the 80s. Every day we drop a short form, info-heavy, breakdown of movies from the 1980s, from the most well known beloved classics to the obscure or genuinely forgotten movies from the greatest decade ever, the 1980s. Like and subscribe to Movies of the 80s at this link.