Numerous films and TV series have been made over the years from Ed McBain’s many novels dedicated to the 87th precinct. It is normal that, between sometimes disguised adaptations (even two episodes of Columbus,
certainly not apocryphal) TV films officially based on the series also make their way. Like this LIGHTNING for example, preceded in the title by a bombastic ED MCBAIN’S 87th PRECINT. A detective story that timidly mimics thrillers in which an elusive serial killer
At the precinct they can’t find their way around, also because every single agent seems to have some problem with women to think about: Steve Carella (Quaid) separated a year ago and has no longer had a relationship, Bert King (McArthur) is taken with a model wife who is clearly not easy to trust and Meyer Meyer (Perkins) is married to a woman who is talkative to the point of exhaustion. In addition, he also has problems with his hair, given that to cover his baldness he decided to buy a toupee with the consequence of having to face heavy teasing from his colleagues…
A nice little group never in uniform to which is added (but without much impact) the famous Ving Rhames. They joke, share their anxieties and give a discreet three-dimensionality to the characters. However, the best in terms of detachment is Quaid, not surprisingly the real protagonist, who at the scene of the first crime questions and meets Teddy Franklin (Bray), a sweet deaf-mute girl with whom he immediately establishes an understanding. Obviously the relationship between the two is not easy (when they warn him of her problem, he approaches her, speaking slowly, pronouncing each letter, with the result that she shows him a piece of paper where she has written “I’m deaf and dumb, not an idiot”) , but over time the two will understand each other. Curious that in the book the couple have actually known each other for many years, are married and even have children! It is their funny relationship that gives rise to perhaps the best written scenes in the film or which in any case manage to make themselves more interesting, because the hunt for the serial killer (whose face we see right away) is resolved in a few quick investigations, a few clues obtained without imagination and a single scene of suspense (in the restaurant) which reminds us how, on the surface, this LIGHTNING could also seem like a thriller, perhaps partly action.
As a television production it is modest but almost discreet, considering that a certain greater care in the dialogues than average is noticeable and a faint ironic streak peeks out here and there, giving us the opportunity to smile from time to time (Meyer’s toupee, of course, but not only that), while some banalities such as Bert’s relationship with his sexy wife could have been spared. What is most disappointing is the thriller plot, dragged out and resolved listlessly almost as if it were an unnecessary frill, also closed in the most anonymous and sloppy way imaginable. In short, observed from this aspect, the film largely disappoints, and considering that the plot should be the most studied component… Above all, Randy Quaid is saved: nice, melancholic and endowed with great humanity.
