At the recommendation of one of our readers, I watched Report to the Commissioner this week. Thanks for the advice, it’s a good film, and our recommendation for this installment of Weekend Buff.
Report to the Commissioner is the epitome of 70’s crime drama. Gritty, bleak, and full of cool characters. It’s a wild story, a bit of a stretch, but entertaining.
The film starts with a homicide scene. A female undercover detective is found shot dead on a bed in the crime ridden Times Square neighborhood. The investigators on scene reference an ongoing incident at Sak’s Fifth Avenue as possibly related. The movie then flashes back to days prior.
Detective Beauregard “Bo” Lockley, played by Michael Moriarity, is a newly minted cop turned undercover detective walks into the squadroom of the 16th Precinct. (There are a few points in this movie that we have to suspend our knowledge of the NYPD procedures, and to some degree logic.) Bo is not your typical cop. He is a longhaired college type. Milquetoast is the best way to describe him. He is introduced to his new teammates, and is immediately shunned. He is the new type of cop that the NYPD is looking for, but the other detectives see that he doesn’t have what it takes.
He is teamed up with street smart veteran mentor “Crunch” Blackstone, played by Yaphet Kotto, who is excellent. Crunch is tasked with showing the job to the bumbling and incompetent Lockley.
Meanwhile undercover Detective Patty Butler, played well by Susan Blakely, asks to go into a deep and long-term undercover roll as the girlfriend of a bigtime drug dealer. Her overly ambitious and scheming bosses played by Hector Elizondo and Michael McGuire allow it despite all department policies prohibiting such action.
Due to Lockley’s incompetence and bad decisions by police bosses, he crosses paths with Butler in her undercover roll. It all goes downhill from there. At the end, the Police Commissioner wants a full report.
This is a well told story. It is based on a book by James Mills and directed by Milton Katselas. The innovative use of the timeline is a good device here. The audience knows how the story ends to a degree, but as the oncoming disaster unfolds, you cannot look away. There are some holes in the story, and a few campy 70’s moments (the legless vagrant in a full-blown pursuit more comedy that action) but it is entertaining and has several important messages.
The primary message is, Lockley is not a cop. He doesn’t have what it takes. But he is what the job wants. Unfortunately, we have seen this many times in our careers. Some people were just not cut out for police work. They can’t be counted on when the chips are down. You can apply this to many jobs, but incompetence can kill in the police department. A lesson that is forgotten over and over again, as we see people without courage, intelligence, compassion, or good judgement pin on the shield and go forth to police our communities. Just look at some of the recent school shootings where cops dropped the ball. Hire the right people and get good results. To us, that is the big takeaway from this movie.
The movie overall speaks to a lack of character in many people in the movie. Ambition, cowardice, greed, and self-preservation all play big roles in this tragedy.
The cast here is quite amazing once you get past Michael Moriarity, who is overdoing it for the entire film. Hector Elizondo, William Devane, Vic Tabak are all great and very believable in their roles. Richard Gere makes his acting debut here. There are some great cameos by retired cops. Former Chief of Detectives Al Seedman, former detective Sonny Grosso (the real French Connection case), and former detective Randy Jurgensen (Phillip Cardillo murder) can all be seen in the movie.
Report to the Commissioner runs a little less than two hours. It can be watched for free on Tubi, or rented on AppleTV or Amazon Prime. It’s not a perfect movie but makes some great points and we get to experience New York City and Times Square in its deconstruction from the crossroads of the world to a heroin and prostitution blighted disaster. Thankfully we are not back to those days despite the givebacks to disorder we have seen of late.
Thanks for reading The Ops Desk. Stay Safe.
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