Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Ice

A decent detective movie with interesting story line, though with many implausible turns.

Acting is uneven: stretching from creating quite genuine characters to some foolishly cartoonish ones and even the individual roles fluctuate.

Music is good, though it's a bit oversized for this TV movie. Filming is also a bit too dramatic and artistic for the rest of the movie. Yet it is interesting, often very close with unusual perspectives and dizzying movements.

I haven't read the book, but this little gem immediately made me want to seek it out: being familiar with the work of both men, though, I suspect that I'll eventually find that both can claim significant credit for the success of the film.

It hasn't set the record for the length of time I'd put a viewing of a DVD bought/film taped on the long finger, but I know I've previously found plenty of excuses for not watching it - TV movie; the previous small-screen 87th Precinct adaptation which had been too much of a Randy Quaid star vehicle, and then there was the no-name director. Pity my eye hadn't previously settled on the scriptwriter's name: in fact, it didn't register until about half-way through and I was ready to admit just how much I was loving it.

The plot might be standard-construct McBain - albeit still enough to rank it in the upper ranks of policier plots - and there were plenty of stock scenes and characters, and heard-it-all before dialogue, but the devil was in the detail, and particularly the playing of well-drawn support-character roles, such as the killer/drug-dealer, and a delightfully-devilish odd-couple pair of opportunist small-time criminals.

It starts off as shocking-murder - which might be someway theatre- district connected - then gravitates to apparent standard serial-killer type, before roping in related drug-deals,in a wonderfully-implausible way, by way of typical 87th Precinct sidelined sub-plots. Give credit where credit is due, though, it's actually quite niftily directed, and smartly paced, too, but I strongly suspect that in the way apparently- unconnected scenes are knitted together, and those sub-plots are made to appear all-in-a-night's work by the 87th Precinct crew, genre-movie scriptmeister Cohen is due at least as much credit as director, Bradford May, is.

In fact, I'd go even farther and say that this little effort compares more than favourably with Johnnie To's glorious policier,PTU, which I reviewed here recently: they'd even look good on a double-bill, together.

Now the question is: can I award a humble TV movie an 8, or will I stick to the safe 7? If the IMDb had a 7.5 rating, it'd be a no-brainer.

This is a fairly good murder mystery with plenty of 'red herrings' thrown in, but what interested me most was the location of the filming: the ornate theatre box office shown in many scenes. This unusual island box office had a dome of stained glass in intricate pattern, as did the entry doors. There is nothing as of this date in the sidebar links at the "film location" button to indicate anything, but the credits of the movie do list both Canadian and American locations. So, I looked through my books of theatres and confirmed from the photos on page 53 of the 1983 book "Turn Out The Stars Before Leaving" by John Lindsay to be the LOWE'S YOUNGE ST. theatre in Toronto, referred to as the "ELGIN" in the film. The other theatre scenes may or may not have been filmed there.

I watched this movie because of Andrea Parker and it was really worth it! The story was good and kept me watching and the actors were amazing and made me believe them. It was glamorous, with all the theater and the 1980ies police department feeling. You know what I mean? . For me Andrea Parker was still the highlight of the movie :D I like her hair that way and she really kicked some butt! Please watch it, I'm sure you will enjoy it! It's a movie you can watch alone with a glass of wine or with a group of people. Some story lines weren't finished perfectly or completely, but it was satisfying. . In the beginning it is sometimes hard to understand how the different story lines are connected, but with time you understand. Again, watch it!

Say it's a lazy, dank, rainy Saturday afternoon and you have no cable nor the inclination to go outside and either rent a DVD or go to a movie. The stage is perfect then for this one. Some good casting, especially the dark, brooding, police detective, Steve. Joe Pantoliano is practicing his basic role, not half bad.