A serial killer is hunting New York City. Grizzled veteran police detective Edward Delaney (Frank Sinatra) is investigating the case. His wife Barbara (Faye Dunaway) is in the hospital. He enlists the help of ancient arms expert Christopher Langley. Sinatra is playing a tired cop who is distracted by his wife's illness. It does not make for a compelling investigation although it may be more accurate. It's a darker reserved performance. The more exciting character is eager Langley searching for the murder weapon in the local shops. He has a couple of hilarious scenes. Otherwise, this is grinding film about the grind of a grinding investigation. While I appreciate the personal aspect of the wife, it doesn't make it compelling as far as the investigation goes. Although it does not excuse the horrible insult of someone nominating Dunaway as the worst actress. The woman is in bed dying for most of the movie and that's what she gives. This is a bit of a grind to watch but it somehow maintains my attention for the most part.

The First Deadly Sin (1980)** 1/2 (out of 4)Weeks from retirement, Detective Edward Delaney (Frank Sinatra) is trying to take care of his bed-ridden wife while at the same time trying to figure out who murdered a man with what appears to be an ice ax. Pretty soon it becomes clear that there's a serial killer at work and the detective must try and find out who it is even though he has no one behind him.THE FIRST DEADLY SIN turned out to be Sinatra's final theatrical starring role and it came ten years after his previous turn in DIRTY DINGUS MAGEE. The film was originally released to rather mixed reviews and it ended up not doing too well at the box office and in all reality the thing has pretty much been forgotten in time. It's really too bad the film turned out so mediocre because with a few fine touches it really could have been something special.As it is the film is only worth watching thanks to the excellent performance from Sinatra. The actor had played a detective in some of his late 60's films so it's clear that Sinatra was comfortable playing this type of role. It's also clear that the age of Sinatra here had him showing off a certain calm and patience that we didn't always see to him. You can really see the actor slowly working and carefully planning out the characters moves and I think it really makes for an excellent performance. The actor has such a presence on the screen that it's impossible to take your eyes off of him.The supporting cast includes nice work from James Whitmore, Joe Spinell and Brenda Vaccaro. Faye Dunaway plays the role of the wife and in all honesty she has very little to do outside of acting sick and laying in a bed. This here is the biggest issue with the movie because whenever we flash to her hospital scenes it pretty much kills everything and the film comes to a crashing halt. What's so bad about these scenes is that there's nothing that really happens. Sinatra gives her a flow several times. They talk about the same thing (a house) and there's just nothing here that adds anything to the plot.It also doesn't help that the direction by Brian G Hutton is so deadly dull. There's no visual style going on. There's never any tension. The movie has a very cheap feel as if it belongs on television. What's worse is that it's pretty out-of-date with the times as it seems like it should have been made a decade earlier. They just don't do anything with the material and even the killer is rather boring.THE FIRST DEADLY SIN is worth watching because of the excellent performance by Sinatra but sadly there's not much else here.

The plot is derivative and recalls too many serial killer stories .But Frank Sinatra ,portraying a cop nearing retirement ,gives the movie substance ;it's one of his last parts and ,like the character,he seems jaded ,it's a long way from "Tony Rome" or "The detective" .This last affair becomes a last challenge ;he's told that he can give it up but it actually helps him cope with his harsh private life:his wife is seriously ill.Faye Dunaway spends the whole movie bedridden in a gloomy hospital and her husband does not even trust her surgeon.Dunaway makes the best of a thankless part .The scene of the book she used to read when she was a child is a highly emotional moment.

"The First Deadly Sin" is one of my favorite films. I think it was much better than the book. There are two serial killers, not one. The other one is Sinatra's wife's doctor. I'm surprised that the other posters didn't mention this. The cast was excellent. Sinatra was perfect for this part. Faye Dunaway made the best of hers. Martin Gabel was charmingly eccentric. David Dukes turned in an excellent performance as the homicidal maniac. You should keep in mind that this film came before the Hannibal Lecter craze and the film "Seven" when actors were truly eager to play the worst kinds of serial killers. The musical score by Gordon Jenkins was truly fine. I really don't understand the lukewarm reviews here. This is the kind of film someone new to film-making should really study.