Customer Reviews

Ed Mcbain's 87th Precinct [VHS]

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Here is one of the better movies about the 87th.precinct. Don't like the actors much, buth dialogues are good and similar to the dialogues in the books. Prefer the B/W TV-movies with Robert Lansing and Norman Fell. Buth still the price worth,even if you are not a McBain fan. Hope to see more where this came from.

When you have a movie where you know the identity of the killer, you HAVE to make the story move so you don't lose interest. Unfortunately, in 8TH PRECINCT (based on Ed McBain's "Lightning") fails to provide the chills and suspense necessary when you already nowhodunit!!!! And by the end of the movie, the killer's motive is so predictable, it's almost laughable!!!
In trying to capture the "grittiness" of McBain's popular series, director Bruce Paltrow only manages to give us lifeless acting, no true suspenseful scenes, and an embarrassing romantic entanglement for Randy Quaid and deaf mute Deanne Brey. Randy is not as apt at this type of role as those in which he is allowed to release his inhibitions and chew up the scenery. Alex MacArthur as his partner who finds out his wife is cheating on him is also flaccid and uninteresting.
Good plot, weak script, poor acting, Ed deserves better than this.

This movie was my first opportunity to observe Quaid in a serious role and I was impressed. The story is your basic homicide thriller but Quaid and Rhames did excellent jobs of making it work. I would whole-heartedly recommend this to anyone who enjoys the genre and/or doubts the range of Randy Quaid.