Sat 11 Aug 2018
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER (1975).
Posted by Steve under Crime Films , Reviews[7] Comments
REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER. United Artists, 1975. Michael Moriarty, Yaphet Kotto, Susan Blakely, Hector Elizondo, Tony King. Screenplay by Abby Mann and Ernest Tidyman, based on the novel by James Mills. Director: Milton Katselas.
For fans of gritty 1970s urban cinema, Report to the Commissioner has a lot to offer. Filmed on location in and around Times Square, this police procedural also features a lot of the great character actors from that era: Yaphet Kotto, William Devane, Vic Tayback, Bob Balaban, as well as a young Richard Gere as a pimp.
But the star of the film is a youngish, occasionally overacting Michael Moriarty who portrays a green NYC cop who is way too much of an idealist for an increasingly embittered and cynical police force. His character, Bo Lockley, is the son of a NYPD cop who always wanted his son to join the force. The other son that is, the one who got killed in Vietnam. So Bo joins the force in place of his dead brother. Problem is: Bo is at heart a lefty and a hippie who simply doesn’t belong as a boy in blue. His partner, Crunch Blackstone (Kotto) knows this from the get go and does his absolute best to make sure that Bo doesn’t get himself in trouble with his superiors.
It’s too little too late. For we get the sense that Bo was doomed from the start, from the moment he walked into the precinct. The movie, which unfolds in flashbacks, begins with Blackstone finding the body of a dead junkie in the apartment of a known heroin pusher named Stick Henderson (Tony King). His main suspect: Bo.
Report to the Commissioner proceeds to tell the story of how Bo was set up by his superiors to go on a wild goose chase in the search for a runaway named Chicklet. What he isn’t told is that Chicklet is really an undercover cop named Patty Butler (Susan Blakely) who has gone deep undercover on an unauthorized mission to bring down Stick, the heroin dealer who also doubles as a black militant. Note: Abby Mann was one of the screenwriters, so there’s a great deal of social justice messaging afoot here.
Although Moriarity puts in a good performance, it’s really the city that’s the star here. You can just feel the oppressive, sensory overwhelming nature of Times Square circa 1972. It’s a land of sleazy movie theaters, overwhelming crowds, and strange characters.
Report to the Commissioner isn’t a great film, but it’s better than average and from what I can tell, has largely been forgotten. I watched it on a Kino Lorber Blu Ray. It looks great and if the story appeals to you, this version is definitely worth seeking out.
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August 11th, 2018 at 1:49 pm
I haven’t seen it in 40 years – with that cast I wouldn’t mind seeing it again – but the only impression that remains after all this time was one mentioned – Moriarty’s overacting. Not the level he achieved in the classic Q , of course.
August 11th, 2018 at 8:15 pm
Yet another better book than film situation. I like Moriarty, but never warmed to him as a lead actor. Here is is just irritating enough his comeuppance is less tragedy than relief.
August 11th, 2018 at 10:30 pm
Only three things I recall enjoying Moriarty in are: as the pitcher who takes the dying DeNiro character under his wing in BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY; the German officer married to the Streep character ( as I recall) in the TV movie “event†HOLOCAUST; and the threatened farmer in PALE RIDER. And I’d argue they rank amongst his most understated performances. He certainly can be an annoying over-actor…
I have to admit I wasn’t a big fan of the book either. The dossier/file format in books I almost always find alienates me from the plots and characters. A little as seasoning as in DRACULA is fine with me, but not as the over-arching structure…
August 11th, 2018 at 10:33 pm
I thought he was fine on Law and Order — and Bang The Drum Slowly was just a lovely experience in all departments.
August 12th, 2018 at 12:05 pm
I myself have not forgotten this movie; I frequently recommend it to friends and acquaintances; and I often include it on lists of top-thriller-genre films. It’s a good match to pair up with ‘Serpico’ or ‘Night of the Juggler’ for outstanding Gotham crime flicks.
I found the intensity Moriarty brought to his role, plausible enough. He got his character’s idealism across to me. I feel that what would have been much worse would have been a static, unfeeling, or undemonstrative performance. It would have sunk the movie to have a ‘walk-through’ in the lead.
Maybe I’m not sensitive enough to what other audience-members regard as ‘over-acting’ but Moriarty’s character obviously needed to be agitated, nervous, jittery, shaky–and Moriarty did all that.
It;s especially important when one considers how his character winds up at the end of the film; and especially important for the hair-raising foot-chase and elevator stand-off (the quality of which is outstanding).
If Moriarty overdid it here, I would excuse him for being a young actor in one of his early roles, trying to make a name for himself and build a career. He certainly showed restraint and maturity in his other performances (‘Bang the Drum Slowly’, ‘Who’ll Stop the Rain’, ‘The Deadliest Season’, ‘The Last Detail’), some of which are classics. It’s perhaps worth remembering too, that Moriarty is a very tall actor.
Anyway, what’s great about this movie is the superb supporting cast he works with. Devane and Kotto were well-chosen for their roles; and the filming locations were astounding.
Agree the book is a little bit difficult. Departmental memos worked in Crichton’s ‘Andromeda Strain’ but here, it was over-used.
Glad to see this title reviewed on this site. The reviewer is fair and temperate in his summary.
August 12th, 2018 at 7:05 pm
I agree about the performances of Moriarity mentioned above, but in general I find him a difficult lead to identify with, and here it reached the point where is character was so obvious a sacrificial lamb and his fate so heavily presaged that it was more like watching a lamb being prepared for sacrifice than doomed hero.
I don’t fault the performance that much, it’s is how the character is written, but it’s like watching him being shorn and scourged for the length of the film. The very structure of the book spared you a little that presenting the tragedy in much cooler and more moderate form.
August 12th, 2018 at 11:12 pm
I’m glad you mentioned NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER with James Brolin. That is indeed an excellent companion piece to this film, as is WOLFEN.