“12 ANGRY MEN” (Showtime- Aug. 17 premiere) review by Susan Granger
The most compelling drama you’re likely to see this weekend will be the premiere of a new version of “12 Angry Men” at 9 PM on Sunday on Showtime Television. This tense, powerful courtroom drama features a stellar cast including Jack Lemmon, Courtney B. Vance, George C. Scott, Ossie Davis, Mykelti Williamson, Tony Danza, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Hume Cronyn. Based on Reginald Rose’s 1957 screenplay, updated to 1997 with a racially-mixed cast, the story revolves around 12 men on a jury who have been charged by the judge to deliver a verdict on what appears to be an open-and-shut, first-degree murder case involving a New York City youth whom eye-witnesses have fingered for killing his father. But one soft-spoken juror believes the young Latino might be innocent of the crime and his “reasonable doubt” prevents him from declaring “guilty as charged.” Thus begins an exhilarating war of words and actions that will not only reveal each juror for the man he is but will determine the fate of the accused. Director William Friedkin keeps the tension taut in the hot, sweltering jury room where the air-conditioning doesn’t function – and kudos to him for not giving in to “political correctness” and turning it into “12 Angry People,” which would have changed the tone of the testosterone-driven concept. This classic American drama, which ranks up there with “Death of a Salesman” and “Streetcar Named Desire,” has been done many times but never better than this. And it speaks to the sad state of big-budget feature films and network programming that only cable television is willing to risk this kind of intimate, character-driven material.