Report to the Commissioner

A not too likable, idealistic young detective is given an assignment which was unnecessary and therefore led to a tragedy and a shakeup in the police hierarchy. The detective, who was totally useless as a policeman, got all wrapped up emotionally with his assignment and acted completely irrationally when confronted with a dangerous situation. I liked the way the film jumped back and forth in time and depicted life in the department and in the inner city realistically. I didn't care for the way a pad happened to be placed conveniently on the rooftop so the jumpers would have a soft landing. Good drama well worth watching.

I was one of the many bystanders who witnessed part of the major scene which took place on location in front of and inside Sak's 5th Avenue in Manhattan, a lunch hour that turned into two. I believe it was based on a true event and is documented in the NYPD files.As for the movie it was one of the best and well acted movies of the seventies in my opinion. I have been trying to get a copy of it for years.The movies involves a screw-up that leaves a female undercover cop dead because the brass feel asleep and later looked for and found a scapegoat, sound familiar? As I mentioned the acting was great, all of the cast acted as if they been NY City cops at some point in their lives.

Such an odd collection of hollywood names that went on to become HUGE.. Hector Elizondo, Bob Balaban, Vic Tayback, Richard Gere. Female, undercover cop Butler (Susan Blakely) turns up dead, and all they have is another, uncooperative cop Lockley (Michael Moriarty) in custody. Lockley is now in the psych ward, and the brass demand a report of everything that took place, although they may not want to hear what really happened along the way. Yaphet Kotto is Crunch, who has seen it all. most of the cast is on the police force, at some level. and even they aren't sure who is what rank at times. So Crunch walks Lockley around town, showing him the ropes. but they learn from each other. In the report, Crunch makes a couple comments that he wishes he had known someone like Lockley with a heart when he was growing up. Rough. Gritty. underbelly of NYC in the 1970s. and the cops that watched over it. at one point, i think they are in Studio 54. Directed by Milton Katselas. Only directed SIX films... and one of them was wacky weird Butterflies are Free, with Goldie Hawn. I really like this one, but the mood may be a little dark for some.

I just got back from a film club screening of Report to the Commissioner, followed by a Q & A with Jonathan Demme...I loved it!

I thought that Michael Moriarity's performance was amazing; he was able to capture the ambivalence of wanting to do "the right thing", according to his value system, and carrying out the legacy that his father had wanted for his older brother, who'd been killed in Vietnam.

His internal torture was brilliantly played in the elevator scene, in which he was wordless, but communicated his conflict and terror chillingly nonetheless.

The most touching scene for me was when he was giving his statement to the police officials. When he was questioned about his "subversive" college activities he poignantly stated that he had protested the (Vietnam) war. It was resonant for me, having been one of those protesters, and relevant to these times--- our war in Iraq, and the current political environment which implies that anyone protesting it is "un-American".

Looking at the demographics on this site in terms of voting on this film, I find it very interesting that my age cohort gave this film the highest ratings. Perhaps it's because we lived through times that make this film cinema verite'. I'd love to hear other's opinions on this interesting phenomenon.

Report to the Commissioner is a film about a misfit detective who does not heed the warning of his senior partner and gets himself into one beautiful jackpot as Andy Sipowicz would put it. It's an underrated classic film from the seventies with an interesting cast and a lot of good performances.

Abby Mann wrote the original screenplay of Report to the Commissioner and Mann who is famous for writing Judgement at Nuremberg also is the creator of that classic police series Kojak from the seventies. The film does have a Kojak feel to it. Shooting the thing entirely on location in New York really helps with the believability of the plot.

Michael Moriarty plays a young and very naive detective assigned to what looks to be the Midtown North Precinct in Manhattan. He comes from a police family and he's assigned to partner with Yaphett Kotto who worked with Moriarty's father.

At the same time Susan Blakely is a young, fresh faced, but most experienced detective whose all American good looks fool a lot of perpetrators. She decides to get close to a big time drug dealer played by Tony King to get the goods on him.

To make her cover as a runaway sound feasible, higher up captain Hector Elizondo has Moriarty make some routine inquiries looking for Blakely under her street name of Chicklet. The only problem is that Moriarty takes the assignment way too seriously, earnestly trying to win respect among his peers. It results in tragedy all around.

The cast is really finely tuned in this film. Especially Elizondo who will chill you with his attitude. He turns in a fine performance as a bureaucratic cop real good at department politics, but a real snake as a human being.

In one of his earliest roles is William Devane who has only one scene in the film questioning Moriarty about what's happened. Devane's a hotshot Assistant District Attorney who's practically salivating over a homicide conviction, another scalp for his lodgepole so to speak. You will remember him.

Report to the Commissioner is a nice look at the Seventies in New York and a great police drama. You will agree that Yaphett Kotto gave Moriarty the best advice about knowing the players in a given situation.