COP HATER (1958)

Main Title
Robert Loggia
Shirley Ballard
Jerry Orbach
Shirley Ballard

Cop Hater is the screen adaptation of the first of Ed McBain’s numerous “87th Precinct” novels. Although clearly a B, there are plenty of reasons to like this film. McBain’s fictional Isola is transposed to a realistically filmed (yet nevertheless unnamed) New York City suffering under something akin to a biblical heat wave. The oppressive heat is the mantle under which all of the characters must make do, and it symbolizes the tension and frustration of police detectives unable to find the cop killer on the loose in their city.

Robert Loggia plays Steve Carelli, the detective in charge of investigating these killings that seem to exist only within the universe of the detective bureau. There are no newspaper headlines, no panic in the streets, no rallying cry from a concerned public — life seems to go on as usual in the churning machine of the modern city as the ambivalent public goes unconcerned about its business. While the other cops in the movie are just punching the clock, Carelli takes the murders personally, and is consumed by the weight of the responsibility for solving them. His character has little in common with Barry Fitzgerald or Howard Duff in The Naked City in that he doesn’t seek to reestablish public order or serve his community — he wants personal justice, and needs to solve the killings so that he can return to a comfortably mundane life of impending marriage, drinks, and dealing with petty crooks.


Women play an important part in this film, with Ellen Parker as Carelli’s fiancé Teddy, a deaf-mute who despite her handicap is the most well-adjusted character in Cop Hater. She serves no greater purpose than to be the bright spot in Carelli’s life, and the stereotypical cop’s girl who both keeps his motor running and helps him fend off despair. Shirley Ballard plays Alice, the wife of Carelli’s partner. In the majority of her scenes Ballard is only semi-dressed, and her sturdy frame and severe features are the stuff of a Robert Crumb wet dream. While clearly presented as a cliché, she is still the most interesting character in the film: a cop’s wife who regrets her choices, who is still young and attractive enough to go out, yet unable to do so because of the irregular schedule of her detective husband. Alice is unsatisfied and unhappy, and Ballard’s Amazonian persona is appropriately too large for her cooped up cop’s wife. (Note in the 'white dress' photo above the similarity to the famous Sharon Stone scene in Basic Instinct. Inspration?)

The fifties was a transition period for screen acting styles, and Cop Hater benefits greatly from this evolution. Loggia, a native New Yorker, is relaxed in his environment and at ease with the camera. His method-based approach is evident at the film’s climax, as he practically foams at the mouth while beating a confession out of the killer. His repetition of “Cop hater, hater, cop hater!” certainly rings of Stanislavsky. The addition to the cast of actors with highly affected manners such as the sweaty, frantic Vincent Gardenia and the laconic and aloof Jerry Orbach give the seedy atmosphere of Cop Hater a boost.


Cop Hater is part police procedural, part drive-in cheesecake, and part late-show mystery. It’s elevated by strong performances from a cast of ambitious up-and-comers, an overarching sense of oppression and gloom; and presented in the style of film noir. If nothing else the film takes itself seriously — and while certain story clichés are unavoidable, this film never feels like camp.

Cop Hater (1958)

Director: William Berke
Screenplay: Henry Kane, based on the novel of the same name by Ed McBain
Starring: Robert Loggia, Gerald O’Loughlin, Shirley Ballard, and Ellen Parker. Vincent Gardenia and Jerry Orbach appear in small parts.
Released by: United Artists

Running time: 75 minutes