Report to the Commissioner (1975)

Police officer Patty Butler, alias "Chicklet," is the live-in girlfriend of Thomas 'Stick' Henderson to gather evidence. Detective Bo Lockley is instructed to try to find her, not knowing she's also a cop.

Director:

Milton Katselas

Writers:

James Mills (novel), Abby Mann (screenplay),

Stars:

Michael Moriarty, Yaphet Kotto, Susan Blakely

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 (as Robert Balaban)
William Devane	...	Asst. D.A. Jackson
Stephen Elliott	...	Police Commissioner
Richard Gere	...	Billy
Vic Tayback	...	Lt. Seidensticker
Albert Seedman	...	Detective Schulman
Noelle North	...	Samantha

Storyline

Police officer Patty Butler, alias "Chicklet," is the live-in girlfriend of Thomas 'Stick' Henderson to gather evidence. Detective Bo Lockley is instructed to try to find her, not knowing she's also a cop.

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Plot Keywords:

police | cover up | undercover | policewoman killing | neo noir | 

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Taglines:

No One Knew She Was An Undercover Policewoman. Including The Detective Who Killed Her.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 October 1975 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

Akros aporriton

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Frankovich Productions, Tom Ward Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Albert Seedman who plays Detective Shulman was the New York Chief of Detectives prior to his role in this film.

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Goofs

When Michael Moriarty is chasing Tony King through the street, at first King is barefoot, but at certain instances, you can tell he has on shoes, then later in the chase scene, he is barefoot again.

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Quotes

Lt. Seidensticker: Yes, what is it, son?
Detective Schulman: [smiling] Don't call him son. Call him detective.
Lt. Seidensticker: [disbelieving] You're Beauregard Lockley?
Bo Lockley: [smiling] I'm afraid so.

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Soundtracks

"Chances"
Written and Performed by Vernon Burch

User Reviews

Know The Players

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.