Ninho de Cobras

A tepid updated remake of John Frankenheimer's 'Seven Days In May' with even for cable television has that television movie sheen about it despite a starry cast.

Colonel Casey (Forest Whitaker) discovers his boss, General Lloyd (Jason Robards) with the Secretary of Defence Charles Potter (Josef Sommer) plan to remove President William Foster (Sam Waterston) from office and replace him with Vice President Kelly, who is more willing to increase defence spending. They wish to initiate constitutional somersaults to make the move less like a coup.

Colonel Casey only has days to get sufficient evidence to protect the president and gets help from the Russians.

The problem here is the president is so weakly presented. The Attorney General is killed and he launches no forensic investigation.

On the other hand General Lloyd and Charles Potter are a charmless bunch of fascists who make Richard Nixon look like a pussycat. There was no way people were going to follow them.

The film was well acted by Forest Whitaker but lacked drama and tension.

If humankind ever evolved to the point where godlike feats were remotely possible, we'd be in big trouble, but the first order of business would no doubt be to go back to the garden of Eden and remake everything. Not that it needed remaking. Just for the challenge. And the paycheck.

I am not usually so sassy about remakes -- actors have got to eat, agents have to make deals, the maw that is cable TV needs to be fed -- but this one gets under my craw.

The original wasn't merely good, it wasn't merely great, it was perfect, it was so good that the original A-B rolls should have been sent directly to a film museum instead of merely being stored. The original had some of the best performance on record from three of the best actors of all time - I am talking Lancaster, Douglas and March. And writing by Serling. I mean, it does not get any better than that.

But try telling THAT to the clowns behind this production. In fairness it is not all bad. Whitaker has achieved in his career what some like to call "journeyman" status, he can take almost any role and make it real. Waterston was a delight to watch then, still is now. And Dana Delaney, well, let's just say that the high watermark of her career might just be her Lois Lane voice, and leave it at that.

But here is thing, and this should be a cautionary tale for other producers whose reach exceeds their grasp. Even before you started production on THE ENEMY WITHIN, the odds, the probabilities, the Sigmas, of making this equal to or better than the original were slim and none. And Slim had just left the building.

So kind viewer you have a clear choice. Watch this for passable entertainment.

Or track down the original for the film experience of a lifetime.

Up to you.

I loved Seven Days in May, and I loved this remake, as well.

Despite his girth, Forest Whitaker did a wonderful job.

This was a very inferior remake of "Seven Days in May".

What dooms it from the outset was Jason Robards' characterization of General Lloyd (Scott). It is central to the credibility of the plot that this is a knife fight between an unpopular dovish president whom most of the country fears has endangered America by his disarmament treaty and his charismatic hawkish Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the original "Seven Days in May" General Scott is a national war hero whom millions of Americans idolize and who, if the election were held today, would win in a landslide. Jimmy Carter vs Douglas MacArthur. For the concept of a military coup to be credible there has to be a national security crisis pitting an unusually weak president against an unusually powerful general.

The original "Seven Days in May" had Burt Lancaster, an actor of enormous virile magnetism playing General Scott. You can see him as the kind of heroic man on horseback a frightened nation would turn to for salvation. You can see him as the kind of man who could seduce a nation into "Well, why don't we set aside the Constitution just this once. I won't tell if you won't tell."

This film's General Lloyd was a charisma-challenged snarling fascist whom no one would follow off a sinking ship. It is impossible to imagine him commanding the support of millions of Americans which is what you would have to do if you plan on ruling the country after shooting your way into the White House.

I have seen the original Seven Days in May no fewer than 15 times. I know, I need to get a life. However, the original cast of Lancaster, Douglas, March, Gardner, Houseman, Duggan, etc. was pure magic. The tension was palpable,and the chemistry was awesome.

That being said, The Enemy Within was a light, or lite, version of the original. Could there be more of a mis-casting than putting poor old Jason Robards as the Joint Chiefs Chairman. He looked like he had oatmeal drooling on his bib. Don't get me wrong, he was a very fine actor, and perhaps he could have pulled it off when he was twenty or thirty years younger.

The rest of the cast with the exception of the sultry Dana Delaney was weak. The plot was John Kerryesque nuanced. The ending was farcical.

I enjoy the idea of remaking fine older movies. Perhaps George Clooney can pull it off, as he did with the remake of Failsafe. However, The Enemy Within comes across as a poor man version of a classic thriller.