I THE JURY (1982), the first Mike Hammer movie since THE GIRL HUNTERS (1963). This was a half-hearted attempt to bring Hammer into the modern world-- or something. Armand Assante's too short & skinny, his accent's all wrong & he seems too laid-back about all the nastiness going on, like he's a wise-guy when he should be a dangerous Neanderthal. Laurene Landon's pretty, but she seems too helpless when the going gets rough-- and she's blonde! (Velda's supposed to be a brunette, how hard is it to get even the simple details right?) Paul Sorvino as Pat Chambers isn't bad, but he gets forced to involve Hammer against his will, while in the original, he happily fed Mike all the info he could, knowing Mike would not be held back by rules & regulations the way he would be as a cop. The highlight of the film is no doubt Barbara Carerra, who gets to have one HOT nude sex scene about 2/3rds of the way in-- but it doesn't seem like she's really given much chance to act. Her lack of ability, or just a director who has NO IDEA what he's doing? Someone said this looked and felt like a "tv movie"-- the only difference being, the excessive graphic violence, nudity & sex. And while the original I THE JURY was a very complex plot, which left you marvel at the way such a "thug" on the outside as Hammer could figure it out when nobody else could, here, too much is spelled out for the audience, and yet, not enough is spelled out clearly for any of it to really make sense. OY! Bill Conti tries his best with a high-powered jazz score, but it's no FOR YOUR EYES ONLY.
It's a fun flick and can be enjoyed for exactly what it is. But watching this again really makes me wish I had a good copy of the Biff Elliot film...
