Demond Wilson and Ron Glass absolutely flopped like catfish on hot asphalt with it, though. (It’s not a race thing when I say that was one of the stupidest remakes in history.)
Ironically, when Matthau and Lemmon got around to reprising their roles 30 years later people totally associated the roles with Klugman/Randall. (One thing that barbecued the plot was that it would have made more sense for Felix & Oscar’s grandchildren to be marrying each other than for their children.)
Everyone who played Phillip Marlowe had to fight to get out of Humphrey Bogart’s shadow. Robert Mitchum is the only Marlowe since who has made the role his own.
He didn’t really play the Tramp—he played Chaplin playing the Tramp, which is different; he didn’t try to reinterpret the character. Which doesn’t take away from his truly impressive performance in the role.
Bad: Poor Marky Mark. First he tries to be Charlton Heston, then he tries to be Carey Grant, then he tries to be Michael Caine.
Speaking of Michael Caine: swing-and-a-miss, Jude.
Good: I loved Nicol WIlliamson’s portrayal of Sherlock Homes in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution. Basil who?
Young Fairuza Balk had the uneviable task of playing Dorothy in Return to Oz.
It is impossible to watch this movie without thinking of Judy Garland, but Fairuza did a great job. She’s a different sort of Dorothy, but of course the Dorothy in the 1939 Wizard of Oz bore little resemblance to the Dorothy of the Oz books.
Ironically, Fairuza Balk went on to a series of teen bimbo roles, often appearing as a slutty Goth chick.
Simlarly, Stephanie Mills did an great job in the Broadway urban black “take” on The Wizard of Oz, but her movie counterpart, Diana Ross, was too old too pull off such naivete. It was the same problem Lucille Ball had when she took over the Rosiland Russell role of Mame Dennis.
Madonna was younger than Patti Lupone when she took the role of Eva Peron, and opinions vary how well she did her part.
… I watch a lot of musicals for a straight black male. What’s up with that?
Ooh, really good call. Supposedly Cher is going to play the part in a remake of the musical- she’s pushing 60 (well, about 24% of her is anyway) so I’m curious if she can make it work. The great thing about Ros was you could believe her as an intellectual (Lucy you never could and as a lush and as somebody who’d ride bareback during a fox hunt- Lucy was just Lucille Ricardo Goes to Georgia.
I personally liked her performance. She was certainly a damned site better than the dread “I could overplay a corpse” Faye Dunaway was in the role (who in an O-D of optimism felt at 40 that she could convincingly play a 14 year old virgin).
I’ve seen promos for that … . looks interesting. Telly Savales is a god, but I think Rhames might be able to fill his shoes. I’m definitely going to check it out.
Gloria Swanson will always be Norma Desmond. Take that, Patti, Glenn, Elaine, Betty, Dianne, Rita, Debbie, faith, Helen, Danielle and the rest…
I haven’t seen the stage musical Chicago, but I’ve heard the original cast recordings and I thought they sucked compared to the cast of the movie version.
Whoever plays Seymour in subsequent live productions of Little Shop of Horrors won’t hold a candle to Rick Moranis.
Pierce Brosnan is one of the top two James Bonds of all time (and in some ways, I prefer him to Connery.)
Christopher Reeve is the best Superman, but I’m convinced Christian Bale will be far and away the best Batman.
Tobey Maguire was an amazing Peter Parker/Spider-Man compared to Nicholas Hammond, who played Spidey in the low-budget '70s made-for-TV movies.
I’m sure Johnny Depp will make an excellent Willy Wonka; different from Gene Wilder’s portrayal, but neither will be considered “better.” That said, I think Johnny Depp was the best actor to play Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, but Bill Murray still pulled off an excellent (and different) Thompson performance in the lesser-known film Where the Buffalo Roam.
What about Ed O’Neill taking on Jack Webb’s Joe Friday in the remake of Dragnet?
Can’t argue the point Dooku, he was good, but Jeremy Brett owns the role of Holmes.
I also immediately thought of Colin Firth as Darcy, too.
He also played Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman’s character in The French Connection) in some crappy TV movie.
Or Dan Ackroyd in the movie? Of course, remaking the Blues Brothers with anyone but Ackroyd and Belushii was a capital offense.
I’ll see your Jeremy Brett (R.I.P.), and raise you Edward Hardwicke as Dr. Watson. A totally different conception of Watson than the standard “By Jove, Holmes!” An intelligent professional man, a partner, not a foil. A worthy companion to Brett’s definitive Holmes.
Actually, Annie, Ackroyd played the original Friday’s nephew, also named Jack.
The good:
Gary Sinise and Amy Morton as Randle McMurphy and Nurse Ratchett in Steppenwolf’s stage production of “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.”
Though it probably doesn’t really count, Brian Dennehy as Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman.” The image I have in my mind of Willy Loman was as played by Dustin Hoffman - the needy nebbish. This was the version that was popular when I first read the play in high school. Dennehy played the part in a completely different way, as the gregarious glad-hander who becomes all the more vulnerable when his flaws are exposed. I was floored. It was that moment that I realized just how brilliant the play was, and how much of a difference an actor can make in how a role is interpreted.
Sarah Michelle Gellar taking over the character of Buffy Summers from Kristy Swanson.
The very, very, bad:
Julia Ormond, Greg Kinnear, and Harrison Ford trying to recreate the roles made famous by Audrey Hepburn, William Holden, and Humphrey Bogart in “Sabrina.”
:smack:
That should be “also named Joe.”
Geez, I’m a :wally
Oh, Sinise! While Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney were excellent in the old Of Mice and Men, I think Sinise and John Malkovich were practically perfect in every way in the remake.
I think Robert DeNiro did an excellent job filling Robert Mitchum’s shoes playing Sam Cady in the otherwise shitty remake of Cape Fear. Nick Nolte, on the other hand wasn’t fit to lick Gregory Peck’s muddy boots.