12 x 2

Around a year ago, I first saw the original 12 Angry Men -- a movie I was pleased to find worthy of the praise heaped upon it. Not long afterward, I found out about a particular remake that had been done in 1997. The director was William Friedkin, the man behind The Exorcist. And you almost couldn't believe the cast.

In the role made famous by Peter Fonda was Jack Lemmon. Also "sitting on the jury" were George C. Scott, Armin Mueller-Stahl, James Gandolfini, Tony Danza, Hume Cronyn, Edward James Olmos, and William Petersen. Mary McDonnell appears briefly as the judge. And the rest of the jury is filled with folks you might not know by name, but may well recognize -- Courtney B. Vance (from Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and the just-canceled FlashForward), Ossie Davis (from Evening Shade, among dozens of other things), Dorian Harewood (who has guest-starred on almost every TV show a sci-fi fan would love made in the last three decades), and Mykelti Williamson (misused on the final season of 24, but very good in the brilliant-but-short-lived Boomtown).

It sounded like something I'd have to see. But it also sounded like something I'd probably never get to see. It's not available on DVD. And it turns out to have been a made-for-TV movie -- made by Showtime, in fact -- so it's probably unlikely to ever be released on DVD if it hasn't already.

But then I happened to pick up Showtime for a few weeks to watch the final season of The Tudors. (I'd still say that's entertaining, but not outstanding, by the way.) And I happened to catch that they were actually broadcasting the movie on Showtime 2 in the dead of night -- 3:00 one morning. This looks like a job for the DVR!

On the plus side, the acting is as good as you'd imagine looking at the cast list. Jack Lemmon is great (thought Peter Fonda really was too, so I can't really say I liked him "more"), but the real star of the show is George C. Scott. He's the highlight of the film as the final hold-out juror with a barely contained rage. I noted in my review of the original film that I thought the acting surprisingly naturalistic for a movie made at that time. The acting here still manages to top it.

That said, the movie doesn't really bring anything new to the game. Nothing at all. I suppose you can't really do much to change the script of such an acclaimed movie, but this incarnation hardly changes a thing. Even the staging is almost identical, and the camera work too. Perhaps understandable, given the confined space, but it still comes off as virtually a shot-for-shot remake.

In the end, I found it hard for me to distinguish my opinion of this film from the original. Yes, the acting was stronger, yet you couldn't really argue anything had been "improved" upon -- it hadn't. It's still a B+ movie, just dressed up with a new cast. Given that it might be pretty hard to get your hands on this version, don't make it harder on yourself than it has to be. If you haven't see the original, get out and do that as soon as possible, and call it good.