Any Brits see the original??

My reply is about 6 months too late for you, but yeah it was good. I was only about 15 at the time it was on, and it left quite an impression on me, because up until then I had mostly seen films with a more simplistic sense of justice (baddies get punished, goodies get rewarded etc). This story showed the innocent being punished MORE than the guilty.

*** SPOILERS ***

What particularly stands out in my mind is that in the British TV adaptation, the murder of the girl (called Sophie in the movie but something else in the TV version - played by Caroline Catz off The Bill if I recall) was far more graphic. I remember simply seeing Caroline Catz' face crying, with blood running down it, as her murderer repeatedly smashed at the top of her head. I remember thinking it was such a sad scene, not least because I had a thing for Catz at the time (still do, actually).

The "hanging" scene on the staircase was also shot very similarly.

I've read other comments here about this film, with several people also saying that they had a hard time hating Bill Pulman's bad guy. I had the same problem, but had no problem at all despising Michael Kitchen in the same role. He just seemed colder, and more capable of the heartless behaviour of the character.

The film was quite good, but I remember the TV version being much better, and also deeply upsetting to an impressionable 15 year old brain.

The UK version of The Guilty (mini series) ran in the early '90s here in Australia. Now, I quite like the US version, but the UK version was way better.
The biggest shame I found was the ending, when the main character stands in the hall corridor, stares at himself in the mirror and states "I sentence you to life". Very expressive.
I don't know who the actor was in the UK version, but that bit was brilliant.
This is also where the miniseries ended.
In the US version Bill Pullman just briefly makes that statement as if it was "let's just squeeze this in for the record" kinda thing.
His estranged wife having sent his letter to the DA after all was not in the UK version (and it didn't need it!). I haven't read the book but the UK version was vastly superior.
That all said, The Guilty still is a great movie, but it hasn't quite the appeal or impact as the UK version did. When it ran on TV it was riveting IMO.

-- Kris

Yep, I saw the original in British TV many years ago, and was really cheesed off by the US version. Although I'm a fan of Bill Pullman, his bad guy just didn't have the impact of the brilliant Michael Kitchen, and the film did not have the impact that the series had, especially with regard to the ending. I was shocked by it's callousness, but bored by the film's adherence to moral simplicity. It was a bit of a cop-out.