There’s a writer whose work I enjoy by the name of Will Leitch. I wasn’t familiar with his work as a sportswriter for various publications and founder of Deadspin, but when I came upon one of his Substack columns purely by chance, I liked it enough to subscribe. And I’m still happy to pay to read his clever pieces.
A couple of years ago, Leitch wrote a smart novel called “How Lucky,” which I devoured in a weekend. Then, a few weeks ago, he published a new one, “Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride,” which I gobbled up pretty quickly, too. It’s clever, funny at times, and a little heart-breaking.
It’s about an Atlanta police officer who is told by his doctor that he has glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer which can’t be cured, leaving him with mere months to live. McNeil is horrified at the news, not only because it means he’s going to die soon, but because he won’t get to see his son — who lives with McNeil’s ex and her new husband — grow up. He also knows they don’t make enough money to ensure the boy can go to a really good college, and McNeil’s life insurance won’t help much.
But then he discovers that the police union will provide a much bigger payout — including monthly checks for his son forever — if McNeil dies in the line of duty. So, he starts taking big risks on the job in the hope some bad guy will kill him, or a high-speed chase will end badly.
As I was reading Leitch’s book, somewhere in the back on my mind I remembered a movie with this same plot. The more I thought about it, the more I saw Dabney Coleman in the lead role. So, I searched his filmography on IMDb and found the answer.
It was a 1990 movie called “Short Time,” starring Coleman as a cop who — one week before he’ll retire — is given a mistaken diagnosis of a rare blood disorder because of a mixup in the lab. But he doesn’t know that, and he also has a young son he wants taken care of. So he follows the same I-wanna-die path McNeil would trod 35 years later.
In “Short Time,” Teri Garr played the not-so-doomed cop’s wife (this was during the era in which, by law, Teri Garr had to play the wife of the leading character in at least one movie every year). Matt Frewer, who became famous in the 1980s as Max Headroom, played Coleman’s police partner. Barry Corbin and Joe Pantoliano are in there, too.
It’s very likely you’ve never heard of “Short Time.” The reason is that it starred Dabney Coleman. Don’t get me wrong, he was a very good actor who gave memorable performances in “Tootsie,” “War Games,” and “9 To 5,” among others. But those were supporting roles, not leads. There’s a list a mile long of great character actors who could never advance to name-above-the-title status, and Coleman was one of them. So were co-stars Barry Corbin and Joe Pantoliano, now that I think of it.
Coleman was given a shot as the star of his own TV series in 1983, “Buffalo Bill.” It was created by successful showrunners Tom Patchett and Jay Tarses (“The Bob Newhart Show,” “ALF,” “The Tony Randall Show”), with a cast that included Joanna Cassidy, Max Wright, John Fiedler, and Geena Davis. With a pedigree like that, right at the time Coleman was a hot property, it must have been a hit, right? Nope. NBC cancelled it after one season.
There have been plenty of actors who successfully transitioned from supporting players to movie stars (e.g. Geena Davis, Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, even Jack Lemmon). But Coleman wasn’t one of them, which is why “Short Time” was quickly forgotten.
I don’t bring all of this up to imply Will Leitch ripped off a bad movie for the plot of his novel. I think the odds are pretty good that, like you, he’s never even suffered through “Short Time” — and the fact that his book has the same storyline as the screenplay is pure coincidence.
The big difference is that Leitch’s book is a really fun read — good enough for me to recommend it, which I surely can’t do with Coleman’s movie.
Incidentally, the publicity for Leitch’s book says it’s “soon to be a major motion picture,” but doesn’t mention who will be in it. Hmmm.