Cop Hater (1958)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

William Berke

Writers:

Evan Hunter (novel)
Henry Kane (writer)

Release Date:

1 October 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

Cop Bait! She winks... she loves... she kills... and it's always a guy with a badge!

Plot:

The hardworking detectives of the 87th Precinct in an unnamed city during a massive heat wave investigate the seemingly random murders of policemen.

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Murder | Police | Based On Novel

Cast

Robert Loggia	...	Detective Steve Carelli
Gerald S. O'Loughlin	...	Detective Mike Maguire (as Gerald O'Loughlin)
Ellen Parker	...	Teddy Franklin
Shirley Ballard	...	Alice Maguire
Russell Hardie	...	Detective Lieutenant Peter Byrnes
Hal Riddle	...	Mercer
Bill Neff	...	Officer Bert Kling
Gene Miller	...	Hank Miller, reporter
Vincent Gardenia	...	Danny Gimp (as Vince Gardenia)
John Gerstad	...	Forensics Lieutenant
Ralph Stantley	...	Detective Hal Willis
Glenn Cannon	...	'Rip' Xavier, street gang tough (as Glen Gannon)
Alan Manson	...	Frank Clark
Sandra Stevens	...	Mrs. Frank Clark
Janet Manson	...	Maggie Reardon (as Jan Kalionzes)

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 (1958) | Finland:(Banned) (1958) | Portugal:17 (censored version) | USA:PG | Sweden:15

Company:

Barbizon Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Steve Franken's film debut.

Brutal and realistic 1958 big city police drama

****SPOILERS**** Graphically brutal movie for a film released in the 1950's about a cop killer on the loose with the entire city police department mobilized to track him down.

When two policemen are shot and killed in two days who happened to be partners at the same police precinct for no apparent reason, other then being policemen, the word is out on the street that whoever knows anything about those murders better talk. Or else the full heat of the police force will come down on them.

After checking out every hood and punk gang member in the city the police department came to the conclusion that whoever committed those killings did it only out of his personal hatred of policemen and are looking for a cop hating psycho. What they don't know is that the person behind these murders is a lot closer to them then they think.

Det. Carelli and Maguire, Robert Loggia and Gerald S. O'Loughlin, are assigned to the case but unknown to them one of the detectives is the real reason behind this slew of killings. Later Det. Maguire gets gunned downed in the street and his partner, Det. Carelli, starts to put together what he knows of the case. Det. Carelli comes up with an unbelievable theory to who's doing these killings from his talking to Det. Maguire and his wife Alice, Shirley Ballard.

Going through the motions looking for the killer Det. Carelli is at the bar one night with reporter Hank Miller,Gene Miller. Who's meddlesome actions with this story about a cop killer to get his big scoop almost cost the life of a cop who was mistaken for him. Thats when Miller tried to get a story out of a local teenage gang member by threatening him and his gang with unwanted media exposure.

Det. Carelli drunk and not thinking tells Miller what he thinks is going on with the police killings and who's behind them. Miller irresponsibly prints the story that tips off the killer. Miller also foolishly prints the address of Det. Carelli's fiancée the pretty but hearing-impaired Teddy Franklin, Ellen Parker.

Busting into her apartment the cop killer Marcer, Hal Riddle, finds Teddy alone and waits for Det. Carelli to show up and murder him. Alerting Carelli when Teddy sees the door light go on, thats the way she can tell if someone is ringing since Teddy can't hear. Det.Carelli surprises Macer and after having it out with him beats a confession out of Mercer not only to his killing the three cops but who was really behind and had him do those killings. This is in 1958 before the Supreme Court's passing of the 1966 Miranda decision. For a person to be read his rights and be presented with a lawyer before he says anything.

Fine big city police drama that plays like an episode of "Naked City" but is far far more realistic as well as brutal without being filmed in city of New York, the name New York City is never mentioned in the film. Even though "Cop Hater" does look like it was filmed there.