One thing you notice immediately in this TV version of the novel which became a successful Broadway play and was later re-written for the screen is how youthful the good majority of the cast is. That's gives it at first a jarring viewpoint, but then you quickly realize that this is not the Hollywood version of the Herman Wouke story but in spite of a few familiar faces, this is a really fresh peek into what we had viewed in 1954 as an ensemble film that got Humphrey Bogart his last Oscar nomination. The character of Captain Queeg is simply a part of the ensemble, played here with cool assurance by Brad Davis, but one that breaks down when his resolve fails.
The bulk of the material is given to the defense attorney, played by Eric Bogosian who gets the majority of the dialog and Jeff Daniels who is on trial for mutiny, determined to prove his justification. Daniels gets a ton of chilling closeups that indicates his malevolence towards Queeg so you are not sure from the start whether he's sinister or absolutely correct in his determination to bring Queeg down. You certainly can't default the direction of the legendary Robert Altman who has another triumph with his variation of the film.
Davis is excellent in his few extended scenes where you can't tell until the end if Daniels is correct, and it's absolutely chilling. That's what the theme of this film becomes, questioning those in authority over whether they are actually stable enough to be in authority, an issue that is still debated to this day. While the film has more details of the events leading up to the court-martial, the focus on the trial itself is more psychological intense and that really changes the impact of how you hear the story. It certainly is one of the great ensemble casts of a TV movie ever, certainly very theatrical in nature and riveting as it unfolds.
The bulk of the material is given to the defense attorney, played by Eric Bogosian who gets the majority of the dialog and Jeff Daniels who is on trial for mutiny, determined to prove his justification. Daniels gets a ton of chilling closeups that indicates his malevolence towards Queeg so you are not sure from the start whether he's sinister or absolutely correct in his determination to bring Queeg down. You certainly can't default the direction of the legendary Robert Altman who has another triumph with his variation of the film.
Davis is excellent in his few extended scenes where you can't tell until the end if Daniels is correct, and it's absolutely chilling. That's what the theme of this film becomes, questioning those in authority over whether they are actually stable enough to be in authority, an issue that is still debated to this day. While the film has more details of the events leading up to the court-martial, the focus on the trial itself is more psychological intense and that really changes the impact of how you hear the story. It certainly is one of the great ensemble casts of a TV movie ever, certainly very theatrical in nature and riveting as it unfolds.