The 3 Feb 1967 editions of DV and LAT announced that Frank Sinatra would star in Shamus, the first of two Twentieth Century-Fox crime films. The second would be an adaptation of novelist Roderick Thorp’s The Detective (1968, see entry). Shamus was based on the 1960 novel Miami Mayhem by Anthony Rome, a pen name of Marvin H. Albert. Filming was set to begin 3 April 1967 in Miami and Miami Beach, FL.
       Director Gordon Douglas, who had already worked with Sinatra on Young at Heart (1954, see entry) and Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964, see entry), was chosen to direct Shamus. Because of Sinatra’s concurrent three-week stand at Miami Beach’s Fontainebleau Hotel, filming would remain in the area, the 9 March 1967 and 31 March 1967 editions of DV reported. As a concession to his shooting schedule, Sinatra would limit himself to only one show a night. His opening act, comedian Shecky Greene, also had a role in the film, as did Lenny Dawson and his Fontainebleau Hotel Club Gigi Orchestra.
       The 23 March 1967 DV noted that the film’s title was changed from Shamus to Tony Rome. Principal photography began as scheduled on 3 April 1967, according to a production chart in the 7 April 1967 DV.
       Wendell Corey was set for the featured role of a disgraced physician, the 2 May 1967 DV noted, but was later replaced by Jeffrey Lynn.
       The 11 May 1967 DV announced that filming would end that night, eighteen days ahead of schedule. An actor hired to play a pawnbroker in the film’s final scene was not due to arrive in Miami until the next day, so Douglas shot the scene without him, using Sinatra’s real-life attorney, Milton “Mickey” Rubin, in the role.
       The film’s premiere was held at Miami’s Carib Theatre on 10 November 1967, the 15 November 1967 Variety reported. The before-and-after parties were held at the Fontainebleau Hotel. The 29 November 1967 Var announced that Tony Rome opened nationally in 194 theaters that week. Reviews were mixed. The 16 November 1967 NYT accused Sinatra of imitating Humphrey Bogart’s “Sam Spade” character from The Maltese Falcon (1941, see entry), called the “vivid melodrama” a “demonstration of social vulgarity, degeneracy and crime…to satisfy the most lurid tourist taste,” and commented that there were enough “trade names of hotels, cars and beer” to give “the impression it’s an advertising film.” The 22 November 1967 LAT credited Sinatra with providing enough energy to improve what was otherwise “thin, familiar stuff.”
       After filming The Detective later in the year, Sinatra and the Tony Rome creative team made a sequel, Lady in Cement (1968, see entry), based on another Marvin H. Albert novel, The Lady in Cement. A third film, based on a third Albert novel called My Kind of Game, was planned, according to the 5 June 1967 LAT and 14 June 1967 Var, but never made.