The First Deadly Sin

Details

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This special limited edition spot gloss slipcover (designed by Adam Maida) is limited to 3,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.

Welcome Vinegar Syndrome Labs (VSL) to the VS Sub-Label family! As with each of our sub-labels we are hoping to expand and defy expectations with the diversity of films we restore and release. As the name implies, VSL will serve as a kind of testing area for releasing genres and eras of film that one might not immediately expect to come from VS. The ultimate objective of VSL will be to see if these types of films will find an audience, and if so, pursue and release more of them…and even if not, still serve as a means of restoring more of the weird, rare, and unusual movies you might not expect from Vinegar Syndrome.

Detective Sergeant Edward X. Delaney has only a few weeks left before he retires after decades of service with the NYPD. Weary after seeing it all in a city now down at the heels, and with his wife just hospitalized with critical organ failure, he finds himself desperate to sort out a few Manhattan serial killings which leave victims with a gaping, round hole in their skulls. His captain wants him out, the department doesn't care, and all that Delaney has left is his dogged determination and a few sympathetic old friends and civilians who lend him a hand. Meanwhile, the killer's mysterious weapon, and completely random means of choosing his victims on the dark, isolated streets of affluent neighborhoods, is all for Delaney to solve in a city that no longer seems to make any sense.

A downbeat, gritty, neo-noir thriller set against sleazy 1980s NYC, director Brian Hutton’s (Kelly’s Heroes) adaptation of author Lawrence Sanders' bestselling novel, THE FIRST DEADLY SIN, marked the final starring role for legendary singer and actor Frank Sinatra (Von Ryan's Express, The Manchurian Candidate). It also boasts supporting roles from Academy Award® winner Faye Dunaway (Network, Mommie Dearest), Tony Award® winner James Whitmore (The Shawshank Redemption, Planet of the Apes), Academy Award® nominee Brenda Vaccaro (Midnight Cowboy, The House by the Lake), and Joe Spinell (Rocky, Maniac). Vinegar Syndrome Labs is delighted to finally bring this underseen, dirty old New York gem to Blu-ray, newly restored and featuring an illuminating assortment of extras.

directed by: Brian G. Hutton
starring: Frank Sinatra, Faye Dunaway, James Whitmore, Brenda Vaccaro, Joe Spinell
1980 / 112 min / 1.85:1 / English Mono

Additional info:

• Region A Blu-ray
  
• Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm interpositive
• Commentary track with author and telefilm historian Amanda Reyes
• Commentary track with film critic Travis Woods
• A Scene with Sinatra (9 min) - a new interview with actor Jeffrey DeMunn
• A Consummate Artist (20 min) - a new interview with Laurent Bouzereau, Director/Producer of FAYE (2024)
• A Tender Capstone (21 min) - a new featurette with James L. Neibaur and Gary Schneeberger, film historians and co-authors of Frank Sinatra on the Big Screen: The Singer as Actor and Filmmaker
• Sinascapes (10 min) - a new featurette looking at the locations of THE FIRST DEADLY SIN
• Original trailer
• Still gallery
• Reversible sleeve artwork
• English SDH subtitles