Review: 12 Angry Men (1997)
Starring: Jack Lemmon, George C. Scott, Tony Danza, Edward James Olmos, Ossie Davis, Hume Cronyn, Mykelti Williamson, Courtney B. Vance, Armin Mueller Stahl, James Gandolfini, William Peterson
Directed by William Friedkin
In 1957, a young man by the name of Sidney Lumet ventured into the world of feature film directing with 12 Angry Men, a taught and involving drama about the events that unfold while a jury of a dozen men from different worlds delibertate in a murder trial.
40 years later, a second attempt at the film is made, and the only question this viewer could manage was `why?'
William Friedkin, no doubt one of the finer directors around assembled one of the most impressive casts in modern-day movie history, particularly when you consider that this movie was made for HBO. But the rehearsal for these fine men was obviously to watch the film that came before it. Each somehow manages to give sub-par performances that look like lame regurgitations of thier thespian colleagues' work of 40 years earlier.
In 1957, Sidney Lumet worked with Boris Kauffman, one of B&W cinema's finest cinematographers, to develop a `style' for the film. As the tense afternoon turned into evening, the room seemed tighter, and the lenses changed. The camera was tighter on each character as we got deeper inside their heads. Each character had his own motivation which was beautifully conveyed. Here, Friedkin picks a seemingly arbitrary camera plot, one in which the frame is either at some funky dutch angle or rather a jerky steady-cam. (In a confined space?)
Another fault of the modern-day remake is the dialogue. As great as it is, the banter worked better when taken in context. This was written nearly 50 years ago, and the expressions sound like it. But the script is redone ver batim, though a few brief dialogue scenes are added, and none of them need to be. James Gandolfini asks Mykelti Williamson if he was a `Nation of Islam guy'. Courtney B. Vance `modernizes' his story about coaching a league championship football game in the rain, and then starts to cry. A few jurors talk behind other's backs while in the restroom. But none of it means anything. Each actor re-performs the work of another great actor, only it is blatantly obvious.
The original film dealt with a cultural problem that is no longer an issue today. There were no black men on the jury in the original, and in the remake there are four. Mykelti Williamson is the oddest choice to play juror number ten, and his character is the most changed from the original. The juror is a bitter racist, but Williamson plays him that way. He talks of latino's as lesser people and talks about scum from the ghetto, while he doesn't make any attempt to hide his urban slang, nor does he hide the fact that he is a mechanic. When Ed Beagly played the role, it was very fitting that he was a white racist, but Williamson's re-invented character is just a mystery here. His extreme hatred and ignorance really takes away the power of the group dynamic. When the climax is reached, it is now very unsatisfying, because of how dominating his character was. The story really ends with juror number three, and the transformation he makes. But because of Williamson's new edge (no fault of the actor) he becomes the focal point, though he is not involved in the climax.
The best thing HBO could have done last year would have been to put the money from this budget into digitaly re-mastering the original film and presenting it in widescreen format. It would have been fitting, since it was the film's 40th anniversary. Instead, a boatload of talent is wasted on one of the most completley pointless remakes of all time. Lemmon can't outdo his old friend Fonda. Williamson's character is way over the top and even the Great Scott can't perform with the power that Lee J. Cobb could. (Though Danza gives Warden a run for his money in a surprisingly good performance.) Rent 12 Angry Men 1997 ONLY if you've seen the original masterpiece and want to compare.
* * out of * * * * stars © 1998 Nick Amado email me with comments namado@concentric.net
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