Key to ‘Howard Beach’ Is Approach, Star Says

Daniel J. Travanti said the big question in dramatizing events at Howard Beach in New York three years ago was what approach the story would take.

The incident, in which one black man was killed when he was chased into traffic by white teen-agers and another was severely beaten on Dec. 20, 1986, exacerbated racial tensions in New York.

“Do you explore the character of the young assailants, as was done in ‘The Preppie Murder Case?’ ” Travanti asks. “Do you tell it from the viewpoint of the black men? That would be interesting. Or do you tell it through the prosecutor?”

The latter is the approach taken in the NBC movie “Howard Beach: Making the Case for Murder.” Travanti stars as special prosecutor Joe Hynes. William Daniels stars as defense attorney David Slaney.

The two-hour movie, written by Steve Bello and directed by Dick Lowry, will be broadcast tonight on NBC.

“Once they settled on telling it from the viewpoint of Hynes, the approach very specifically became how they made the case for murder--not manslaughter, but murder,” Travanti said.

Travanti is best known for his role as Capt. Frank Furillo on the much-honored series “Hill Street Blues.” There was talk of a new series after he left “Hill Street” two years ago. The offer was made to him but he turned it down.

“If I do a series I want to do work I haven’t done,” he said. “That means comedy. I’ve done comedy but not on a large scale for film. I want to do comedy and it would have to be as good as ‘Hill Street Blues.’ ”

Howard Rosenberg reviews “Howard Beach,” Page F1.