Classic Movie Review: Report to the Commissioner (1975)

Report to the Commissioner (1975) 

Directed by: Milton Katselas.

Written by: Abby Mann and Ernest Tidyman based on the novel by James Mills.

Starring: Michael Moriarty (Bo Lockley), Yaphet Kotto (Richard 'Crunch' Blackstone), Susan Blakely (Patty Butler), Hector Elizondo (Captain D'Angelo), Tony King (Thomas 'Stick' Henderson), Michael McGuire (Lt. Hanson), Edward Grover (Captain Strichter), Dana Elcar (Chief Perna), Bob Balaban (Joey Egan), William Devane (Asst. D.A. Jackson), Stephen Elliott (Police Commissioner), Richard Gere (Billy), Vic Tayback (Lt. Seidensticker), Albert Seedman (Detective Schulman).

 

Report to the Commissioner is the kind of gritty cop flick that the 1970s seemed to produce at will, but which Hollywood has forgotten how to make – or perhaps more accurately, completely lost interest in making. This is a cynical film, about how the police system itself grinds everyone down to nothing – uses them, and discards them when they are no longer needed. It isn’t a perfect film – the lead performance is far too obvious, going for intensity, but going too far – and you figure out where it’s going before it gets there. Still, it’s a refreshing look back at an era of Hollywood moviemaking where something like this could be made.

 

The film is told with a complex flashback structure. Bo Lockley (Michael Moriarty) is a young cop on the NYPD – new to the detective division, and still really too green, too naïve for his own good. We find out in the films first scene that Lockely has shot and killed a young woman – and that young woman is Patty Butler (Susan Blakely), a young, pretty, blonde undercover cop. The how and why of the shooting will take most of the film to unravel. Until we get there, we spend a lot of time with Lockley as he tries to learn the ropes of his new job – being taken under the wing of the more experiences Crunch Blackstone (Yaphet Kotto) – who shows Lockley pretty clearly the kind of moral compromises are needed to be a cop here. We also see Patty, as she slips deeper and deeper undercover – first being the kind of minor undercover agent, scoring drugs to arrest dealers, before getting to go ahead to go deeper and deeper and try to get information on Stick (Tony King) – a major dealer. This will require her to become Stick’s “girl” – but her superiors (one of whom is play by Hector Elizondo) think it will be good for their careers, so they approve it. Of course, once Lockley shoots her – the whole thing threatens to become a giant shit show.

 

The film is suitably intense. Directed by Milton Katselas, mainly on the streets of New York itself, the films major goal seems to be that street level intensity – and it mainly succeeds, especially in the later scenes, which feature some intense chase scenes through the streets of New York. That chase sequences – followed by an intense hostage situation are the highlight of the film. There are moments that stick out a little like a sore thumb – where that authenticity slips a little, although I don’t think you can really blame the film for casting a young Richard Gere as a pimp – a realization that takes you out of it a little.

 

The biggest problem is probably Michael Moriaty’s performance. Moriarty has always been a talented actor – but I’m not sure he always figured out the best way to channel his intensity for the good of a role. Here, he always seems to be just this side of either catatonic, or on the verge of tears or a nervous breakdown. It’s a performance that calls too much attention to itself. Better are the performances by Kotto – who grounds his character is a realistic cynicism, or Blakely – who makes Patty smart, ambitious and genuinely likable. Tony King is very good as Stick – so good in fact that you wonder why he didn’t become a bigger star, or at least more of a working character actor in the years after this.

 

Report to the Commissioner is the kind of forgotten film that happens all the time – films come out, and some are remembered, but many are simply forgotten – especially when the film wasn’t directed by a big name, and doesn’t star a big name either. To be fair, this isn’t a great film. But it’s a good one – one that can scratch that itch for a gritty, cynical 1970s cop movie for when you’ve seen Serpico or Prince of the City or The French Connection too many times.