This remake of the John Wayne-Gail Russell original is only partially successful.

Rebecca Unger, who portrays Temperance in this film, does just that with her performance. She has tempered it down a lot. You want her to evoke some emotion despite the fact that she portrays a Quaker woman.

Lou Diamond Philips has certainly matured and is now older from his days of La Bamba and Stand By Me.

The story of a gunfighter who is reformed by a Quaker woman that he meets while recovering from wounds is always interesting but there still needs to be more action here. By the way, how did Temperance really get hurt in the fire? She didn't appear to be shot and was out of the house before she would inhale that much smoke.

Kudos to Maggie, the dance hall woman who belts out "You're Not the Man I Used to Know" in a way that the late Peggy Lee would have done.

The people who produced the made-for-television remake of the 1947 John Wayne classic "Angel and the Badman" should have heeded Michael Caine's sage advice. According to Caine, never remake a classic. No matter how good your movie is, it will never top a classic. Instead, the noted British thespian insists producers remake second-rate films. A greater possibility exists for the remake to surpass the flawed original. "Max Havoc: Ring of Fire" director Terry Ingram's "Angel and the Badman" remake isn't half as good as the original. Anybody who has not seen writer & director James Edward Grant's 1947 version of "Angel and the Badman" might actually enjoy this modest but politically-correct, romantic oater. Otherwise, carved-in-the-leather John Wayne fans might reserve it one derisive snort. This simple but powerful drama concerns the conversion of a hardened gunslinger by a peaceful Quaker woman.

Two significant changes include the visual differences and the changes in character. Whereas the 1947 version was in lensed in glorious black & white, the Hallmark Channel Original remake exploits the advantage of color. Sadly, the photography and the sets look at best budgetary. Furthermore, whereas the heroine in the original was a virgin, the remake heroine is a single-parent mom with a son who father died. Admittedly, Lou Diamond Phillips cannot rival John Wayne, but Deborah Kara Unger gives Gail Russell a run for her money. The Bradley - Town Telegrapher (Olin Howard) constituted a major source of comic relief in the original, but actor Michael Teigen generates none of Howard's hilarity. Carson in the original is a rancher who has set off the Quaker's water supply to their farm, while in the remake he is the town mayor who reduces their rent. Setting wise, the original took place in the Southwest whereas Ingram's remake occurs in snow swept Oregon. They appeared to have shot entire sequences in freezing weather because you can see their oxygen crystallize as they utter lines of dialogue. Other than its color photography, Ingram and freshman scribes Thomas Makowski and Jack Nasser have eliminated the atheist and whittled away at the Quaker. Nevertheless, they retain most of the original dialogue. Indeed, sometimes it seems almost word-for-word. Unfortunately, the same is not true for the actual events. Budgetary constraints compelled Ingram and company to rewrite the action. For example, rather than a runaway wagon chase that ends with our hero and heroine taking a plunge into a river, the remake substitutes a fire that nearly kills the heroine.

Each film opens with Quirt Evans killing three men, catching a slug in the chest, and then riding off to wind up in the dust in front of a Quaker homestead. The congenial Quakers attempt to help him, but Evans refuses to accommodate them. He insists that they take him to the nearest telegraph office. Initially, the telegrapher refuses to send a telegram because he has just shut down the office. When he discovers that the wounded man is Quirt Evans, he taps off the message, something about a mining claim. The Quakers take him back to their home and put him to bed. Later, the town physician arrives and fills him up of laudanum, but he watches helpless as Evans thrashes around in deliriously in the bed. The doctor complains that he cannot operate on Evans and remove the bullet unless the patient calms down. Intuitively, the Quaker patriarch fetches Evans' revolver after he has removed the cartridges. In the original, the Quaker wife is instructed to put the shells back in Evans' gun belt, while in the remake she is ordered to throw them away. Not even a mediocre made-for-television remake can mar this memorable scene. The physician operates and Evans recovers. John Wayne looks a sight funnier walking around with a blanket wrapped around his hips than Lou Diamond Phillips. Of course, Temperance (Deborah Kara Unger of "The Game") is an older woman who has been married, given birth to a son, and lives with her parents after he husband died. In the original, the Gail Russell character has not been married.

Mind you, the "Angel and the Badman" remake is tolerable, especially if you haven't seen the original. Although Lou Diamond Phillips is a talented actor, he is sorely miscast. Worse, John Wayne casts a long shadow. The singular advantage that Phillips brings to the role is that he looks like villain, where Wayne was always heroic. It doesn't help matters that Phillips is forced to wear a truly hideous looking hat. Phillips has appeared in several westerns, and his "Young Guns" movies were minor classics, but "Angel and the Badman" lacks the spirit or the ferocity of them. Moreover, Luke Perry as outlaw Laredo Stevens is no match for perennial villain Bruce Cabot. Harry Carey virtually stole the original as the wholesome, home-spun exemplar of justice, Territorial Marshal Wistful McClintock. Suffice to say, you need to watch the original "Angel and the Badman" if you enjoy the remake.

Anyone who is expecting a word for word remake of the John Wayne classic Angel And The Badman will not be disappointed. With one glaring exception this Hallmark Channel remake sticks very close to the original story of a gunfighter reformed by a Quaker woman's love.

The exception is that instead of an innocent young unmarried girl as Gail Russell played in the original, Deborah Kara Unger is a widow with a young boy to raise which she is doing with her parents. She's a good woman, but even good women have their needs and when Lou Diamond Phillips as Quirt Evans literally lands on her doorstep, wounded after a gun battle, he gets her mojo going good and proper.

Wisely Lou did not opt for an imitation of John Wayne in his interpretation of the gunfighter. If he had he would have been laughed off the small screen. He's still one deadly individual and this screenplay make it clear just why Quirt Evans and Laredo Stevens as played by Luke Perry are fated to tangle.

The role of the marshal that Harry Carey played in the original is cut down somewhat, though Winston Rekert is effective in the scenes he does have. I liked the Carey character though, wish there had been more of the marshal in this one. The Wayne family put their imprimatur on this remake with the casting of the Duke's grandson Brendan Wayne as Randy McCall the sidekick to Phillips and played in the original film by Lee Dixon.

Probably important the Wayne family did that because the Duke's The Angel And The Badman was the very first film in which he not only worked on the production end, but also directed himself. Of the films John Wayne directed, that was far and away his best effort. So you can imagine the family had a big personal interest at stake.

I think even the hardest and most loyal of the Duke's legion of fans will not be disappointed with this version of The Angel And The Badman.