Report to the Commissioner

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Synopsis

This action-loaded drama set in New York City stars Michael Moriarty as a naive rookie cop whose youthful idealism thrusts him into an interdepartmental power play with disasterous consequences.

Picture 6/10

Fox and MGM, through their manufactured-on-demand service, the MGM Limited Edition Collection, present Milton Katselas’ 1975 crime drama Report to the Commissioner on a single-layer DVD-R in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, enhanced for widescreen televisions.

Again I’m now figuring How I Won the War was a complete fluke because this disc (along with The Fearmakers and Park Row) delivers far-better-than-expected image, despite some issues that become more obvious in the latter part of the film. My biggest surprise is really just how clean the source materials are; I only noticed a few instances where debris or marks call attention to themselves, the rest of the film remaining practically spotless. The colour scheme is fairly muted and can look washed but I have a feeling this was the intended look of the film, which goes for that common 70’s gritty-cop-movie look with interiors that are always smoky and hazy, but there are moments where certain colours, like reds and greens, do have more of a pop. Definition is adequate, leaning a little hazier on long shots but close-ups present some impressive fine details on faces and clothing.

Blacks are unfortunately weak and do look crushed through much of the film, a problem since there are a lot of darker sequences. Compression artifacts are also always present, primarily in the form of noise which is clearer in the darker areas of the screen. This is a little distracting but these problems are still not to the level of How I won the War and its halos. It has its issues by upscaled it is still watchable.

Audio 6/10

The 2-channel mono track delivers an adequate sound presentation: dialogue is clear, music and effects have some minor power behind them, and the track overall sounds clean.

Extras 1/10

We get a rather bad theatrical trailer for the film but nothing else. And similar to other MGM MOD discs the chapters are broken out every 10-minutes.

Closing

The film’s story and the rather complicated narrative structure present a lot of potential and I think in more capable hands it could have been a real stand out amongst the many cop dramas that came out of the 70’s. The buildup is rather good but it sadly loses steam during its last act when it really should be building up more tension with everything in the story coming together. The performances are very strong from Yaphet Kotto and Michael Moriarty (who admittedly grated on me a little at first) and it’s also fun seeing a younger William Devane (in a small role as an Internal Affairs agent) and a super young Richard Gere (as a pimp) both stand out in the minor roles they’re given. I enjoyed it for the most part, despite some of its 70’s cheese (like Moriarty’s hair and that almost porn-like music that plays during chase scenes) but I can see why it got sort of lost. But having said that I don’t understand why a film like Rage of Honor would receive an actual DVD release back in the day from MGM (a DVD I proudly own I must add) but this one would only arrive now through a MOD service.

As to the disc it’s the weakest out of the recent batch of MGM MOD titles I’ve gone through but for those interested in the film they shouldn’t be overly concerned; it’s still very watchable. But again, it’s a matter of whether you want to spend almost $20 on a ripped DVD (with a misspelling of “youthful” on the back of the package that reminds me of Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinney.)

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