![]() |
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 Lt. Byrnes |
![]() |
Hal Riddle | Mercer |
![]() |
Bill Neff | Rookie Cop - Kling (as William Neff) |
![]() |
Gene Miller | Reporter Miller |
![]() |
Vincent Gardenia | Danny the Gimp (as Vince Gardenia) |
![]() |
John Gerstad | Laboratory Technician |
![]() |
Ralph Stantley | Detective Hal Willis |
![]() |
Jerry Orbach | Gang Leader - Mumzer |
![]() |
Alan Manson | Newlywed Clark |
![]() |
Evan Hunter | Novel |
![]() |
Albert Glasser | Original Music Composer |
![]() |
Henry Kane | Screenplay |
![]() |
William Berke | Director |
![]() |
J. Burgi Contner | Director of Photography |
![]() |
Evan Hunter | Story Contributor |
"Cop Bait! She winks... she loves... she kills... and it's always a guy with a badge!"
During an intense summer heat wave in New York City, two cops are murdered and it's up to the detectives of the 87th Precinct to find the killer. Steve Carelli (Robert Loggia) and Mike Maguire (Gerald S. O'Loughlin) are the lead investigators on the case, but they can't seem to make any progress, and their work is made more difficult by a reporter, Hank Miller (Gene Miller), who keeps sticking his nose in. The two cops try to keep their personal lives separate from their work, but it keeps bleeding through. When Maguire is shot and killed, Carelli has to comfort his partner's sexpot wife Alice (Shirley Ballard), and then goes on a bender with the reporter, inadvertently revealing his suspicions about the case, and putting his girlfriend Teddy, a deaf-mute author (Ellen Parker), in jeopardy. When a hood (Hal Riddle) shows up at her apartment, Carelli overpowers him and forces a confession: he killed all the cops, but Maguire had been the intended victim all along, as his wife wanted him out of the way.
Theatrical : 1958-10-01 : United States of America
Theatrical : 1959-04-27 : Sweden
Theatrical : 1960-02-12 : West Germany