remakes...

[H.Donald]

I was reading on another thread about the remake of the Longest yard.
Which seems to be an ok movie,not good not great just ok.Which started me pondering....has there ever been a remake as good as the original?
Has any remake been more than just ok?It seems when they remake a movie...explosions are louder,the language has more spice,maybe more sex....and this is an "improvement".
I can't think of any remake that comes close to the original....
A few off the top of my head...Day of the Jackal,the original,an excellent film...the remake,the Jackal with Richard Gere...so so.
King Kong....I'll take the black and white,anytime....
Even "Shaft" lost his badness...in the remake....

Anyone think of a remake close to the original?

[David Meek]

Herman, the new King Kong that Peter Jackson (Mr. Lord Of The Rings) is working on could be a good one. Time will tell.

The Thing was a good remake of a true classic. Different but good.

Anna & The King was a good remake of The King & I.

The Four Feathers was also pretty decent.

I enjoyed King Arthur and Excalibur both. Not exactly remakes but interesting retellings of the Arthurian legend. Hehe, you'll probably get some differing opinions here.

The Last Of The Mohicans was well done with Daniel Day-Lewis.

I'm sure there are more, but nothing else comes to mind at the moment.

[Nick M]

If you count the original animation as films (which I do), Peter Jackson did a pretty good job with LOTR. :T

[Shane Martin]

Ben Hur(1959) was a remake and superior to the original
Oceans 11 was a remake and far superior to the Brat Pack version.

These are 2 off the top of my head.

[George Bellefontaine]

There have been so many bad remakes it's hard to think of something remade better, other than some of the titles mentioned here. We will have to wait and see on Peter Jackson's Kong, though the trailer looked like it will follow the original pretty closely. I also agree with the 1959 Ben Hur, and Last Of The Mohicans. But some poor remakes that come to mind include the God-awful Flight Of The Phoenix and the color version of Psycho with Vince Vaughan in the Tony Perkins role. Even though the Psycho remake followed the original scene by scene, it still didn't have the same impact Hitchcock's version made on millions of viewers at the time of its release and Vauighan just couldn't make your blood run cold like Perkins did. The original Hitchcock version was sort of a groundbreaking film for the time period and was the beginning of the slasher flicks to come.

[Brandon B]

The Thing is sort of loosely a remake, as it is much more true to the short story than the old 50's version.

Cat People? I never saw the old one but certainly enjoyed miss Nasty Kinky in the 80's version.

BB

[David Meek]

miss Nasty Kinky. :laughat:

[George Bellefontaine]

Okay, on Cat People, the remake is better than the original. More dramatic, more realistic and scarier. And Miss Nasty Kinky was nice, too. :W

Now, what about the remake of Amityville Horror ? I haven't seen it. Anyone think it is better than the original ?

[Nick M]

I saw the new Amityville in the theaters. It's been so long since I've seen the original, that I can't honestly comment. I saw that the original was at the Evil Empire on sale for $8.95. I think I'm going to pick it up as an expensive rental to compare. Here were my thoughts on the remake...

Paid my $4.75 for the ticket.

With all the material available, I still can't believe a great haunted-house film hasn't been developed. This one was pretty good, but I thought the storyline lacked severely in spots and had trouble as a whole. Some scenes were definetly cool, but others were stupid/overdone. No regrets about seeing it though.

It will be worth a rent, but not a purchase.

:3: out of :5:

[H.Donald]

I have the new Manchurian Candidate with Denzil sitting on myself for a while now.
I have heard mixed reviews about it.....may get a chace to watch it this weekend...

[David Meek]

I liked the 1998 version of Man In The Iron Mask better than the '39 original.

I liked both Manhunter and Red Dragon.

The Mask Of Zorro was a good one. And the sequel looks to have possibilities, too.

The Brendan Fraser Mummy was a lot of fun, but better than the classic? I don't know...

Hour Of The Gun vs. Tombstone? I like them both.

[Azeke]

David,

I never saw Hour of the Gun, I always compared Tombstone with Gunfight at OK Corral.

I also like both of them.

Best regards,

Azeke

[Nick M]

I liked both Manhunter and Red Dragon.

Me too. I think I actually preferred the new one more though. Theres just something about Hopkins and the Hannibal role. Hands down my favorite film character.

[David Meek]

Oops, I forgot Gunfight At The O.K. Corral. That's the third good one about that (in)famous event.

Yeah Nick, there is something about Hopkins playing Lector. Just plain eerie.

[Burke Strickland]

The "new" Manchurian Candidate is a very good movie. I enjoyed it on its own terms. The original was an excellent movie -- a classic. I have a feeling that twenty years from now, the one on the "best" lists will still be the original.

Sometimes a classic is so good, it basically renders futile any follow-on attempts to redo it. One remake that should never have made it out of the concept meeting was the 1966 rehashing of "Beau Geste" (BG). The 1939 version with Gary Cooper (which was itself a "remake", since there had been a silent version with Ronald Coleman in 1926) was "it" for that story. I admire Cooper's performance in BG even more than his "High Noon" sheriff.

Even Leslie Nielsen couldn't save the 1966 version. Although they were playing it straight, it was a lumbering unintentionally farcical mess. So given his later movies, it may not have been such a bad casting decision, but the rest of the cast had no comic timing at all. (No dramatic timing either).

But 1977's "Last Remake of Beau Geste" with Marty Feldman (he even directed it) pretty well used up the comic possibilities of the material. I hope that one really is the "last remake".

Speaking of movies by Fred Zinnemann (director of "High Noon"), his "A Man For All Seasons" from 1966 fully deserved its numerous Academy Awards, including one for Paul Scofield in the title role, and is one of the great movies of all time. On the other hand, copies of the vanity production directed by Charlton Heston (who also hammed it up in the title role) for TV in 1988 should be reserved for skeet practice.

Burke

[audioqueso]

Cruel Intensions
Gone In 60 Seconds
I think the remake was better than the originals.

[David Meek]

Well, the remake of Gone In 60 Seconds did have Angelina Jolie in it. That's a plus.

[audioqueso]

I know a lot of people liked the original one better, but to me I thought the newer one was better. It was 'funner'. And yes, it did have a ridiculously hot woman in it.... Angelina... ahhh Angelina.

[George Bellefontaine]

Oops, I forgot Gunfight At The O.K. Corral. That's the third good one about that (in)famous event.

Yeah Nick, there is something about Hopkins playing Lector. Just plain eerie.

Let's not forget Henry Fonda in John Ford's version of the OK Corral: MY DARLING CLEMENTINE. Was this the first Wyatt Earp film ? I'm not sure, but the ones that followed were similar. Thing is, I liked them all. I'm still trying to get Hour Of The Gun. I read that that is a darker version of Earp the man than the others.

[George Bellefontaine]

Beau Geste with Gary Cooper

I never saw the silent version ( c'mon now, I'm not that old) of this film but I'll never forget Gary Cooper in this film. It was the best of all that followed. Thanks for bringing it up, Burke. I really should see if this is on dvd. I only have it on tape and PQ isn't that great now.

[prifakes]

remake vs original

Cape Fear...liked both the original and remake, but thought the remake was better..DeNiro really plays a psycho very well.