Bullet Points: Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct: Lightning

Ed McBain is the pen name of the prolific author Evan Hunter and most might remember him as the author of the novels The Blackboard Jungle and Fuzz, I always think of the 87th Precinct series of novels. What many of you might not know is that some of those novels were turned into television movies. The good thing is you don’t need to be familiar with the books to enjoy, and in fact many who are 87 diehards don’t like how they stray from the source material. Me and you, we can live with some creative license so let’s take a look at the first made for television movie in the series, Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct: Lightning.

• The Gangs All Here – Detective Steve Carella (Randy Quaid, Valentine’s Day) is the main character in Lightning, and he is joined by the usual cast of 87th Precinct characters. We get to see Bert King (Alex McArthur) Artie Brown (Ving Rhames), Ollie Weeks (Alan Blumenfeld) Meyer Meyer (Ron Perkins) and even more.  The characterizations might differ slightly from the novels, but you can rest assured that Meyer Meyer is still the but of the jokes. Toupee jokes… amirite?!?!
• Lone Wolf McQuaid – Lightning might be an suspenseful actioner, but they really want you to care about Carella’s love life. So much that a review of Lightning brings up his love life over the plot. Carella is single because he wanted a child with the woman he was with but she didn’t. In case I didn’t mention it, this is a work of fiction. Carella isn’t alone as we get to see Bert’s model girlfriend cheat on him that leads the story to nowhere. Speaking of the story, when a runner gets murdered late at night the only witness is a deaf woman named Teddy (Deanne Bray) and we have ourselves a story and a potential love interest for Carella.

• Walk, Don’t Run – One dead runner leads to multiple dead runners and there is a serial killer on the loose. A serial killer who is not only killing runners, but sending notes and clues to the police. As if running isn’t fun enough, let’s throw in some police antagonization. This isn’t much of a spoiler as the movie doesn’t hide it, but the killer is Henry ‘Lightning’ Lytell (Steven Flynn). Hey, his nickname is just like the title! Lightning is killing runners because he was left off the Olympic team years ago and we officially have one of the worst motivations for a serial killer I have seen.
• What Did You Say? – So the plot and action are not top notch in Lightning, but the performances save it. Ving Rhames always shines and even has a bandage on the back of his neck just like Marsellus Wallace. Dayton Callie can play a stumblebum cop with the best of them and I already mentioned Ron Perkins in a toupee. However, the real star of Lightning is Deanna Bray and she didn’t say a word. Deanna is a deaf actress and I am a sucker for movies that display people with disabilities in a positive light. Of course, Teddy getting together with Carella at the end makes me think she might also have problems with her sight.

Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct: Lightning might not be the best of the television movies, but it was the first. I never thought I would say this, but Dale Midkiff as Carella in the other movies is an improvement over Randy Quaid. The action might be on the light side, but the story and characters are engaging, even if their motivations are skewed. Don’t go into Lightning expecting to get the novel, that is what reading is for, and you may still have a good time. You certainly will get some Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct: Lightning Bonus Bullet Points.

• More McBain – 87th Precinct was a series that ran for one season in the early 1960s, but also was the basis for two Columbo movies and two more TV movies after Lightning.
• The Big Isola – Lightning, like all of the 87th Precinct series is set in Isola, a New York City rip off, but the movie was filmed in Los Angeles. Even stranger, Lightning shows the Cleveland, OH skyline as an establishing shot.
• Second Favorite Character – After Teddy, I really enjoyed seeing Christopher Darga as Paolo the maitre d. Not because the character was good, but because I only think of Kenny Blankenship from Most Extreme Elimination Challenge when I hear Christopher Darga.