Rapporto al capo della polizia

Here we have yet ANOTHER case of an extremely underrated film. is everyone out of their minds?? Whats with all the mediocre reviews/comments? And here we go with the "it isn't as good as the book" comments. I thought I cleared that up when I reviewed "Slaughterhouse Five" A great cast in a fascinating gritty 70's crime thriller, VISUALLY much in the vein of French Connection, Taking of Pelham 1,2 3 or Panic in Needle Park. The sequence with Bob Balaban as the maniac amputee was brilliant, Susan Blakely is beautiful, story is fascinating. Thank god I had the chance to see this on film (as a pristine 16mm print) I'm looking forward to seeing the 2nd reel.

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.

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 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.

I still have the book version of this movie. I am not sure if it was an original screenplay or novel first because the writing is so dense that it xould have come from a very involved novel.

Tje story is about a modern, perhaps overly sensitive detective played by Michael Moriarty who is the son of a prominent member of the force. He is disrespected and dismissed as a byproduct of nepotism. He stumbles on a criminal investigation being led by an undercover detective who is building a case against a drug kingpin while being his lover. This detective has alot of anonymous fame and is an acknowledged star on the force. Things roll on from there as the plot twists and curves toward a "Mexican standoff", career politicans and self serving officers exploiting situations and a very tragic but inevitable conclusion.

There is alot of character development. These characters are not empty vessels but are fully realized. Very strong script. Highly recommended although the narration does get in the way from time to time. It really is not neccessary.