I know it’s been done before, but I just had my first “Movie Remake Night” at my place this weekend, so I’m looking for a few more ideas.
We watched two of my favorites: The Thing from Another Planet followed by Joh Carpenter’s The Thing. Both brilliant movies, but aside from The Blob and Sabrina I can’t think of any good remakes right now.
So, what are some of your favorites.
The Man Who Knew Too Much remake was on a par with the original.
John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon was a remake; the film had been done twice previously (once as Satan Met a Lady).
I like Brewster’s Millions, starring Richard Pryor. It has been made several times, but not as good as that.
I like Mel Brooks’s To Be or Not To Be better than Jack Benny’s.
Farewell, My Lovely (1975) with Robert Mitchum
Also, I guess the 1970’s version of The Three Musketeers should be able to qualify
David Cronenberg’s The Fly.
Clint Eastwood’s Upon a Pale Horse is better than Man With No Name with Clint Eastwood.
EVERYBODY STAY CALM! THIS IS A THREAD HIJACK!
I liked the original Gone in 60 Seconds orders of magnitude more then the remake.
I really enjoyed the Gary Sinise / John Malkovich version of Of Mice and Men more than the original Burgess Meredith version.
Alias: << I like Mel Brooks’s To Be or Not To Be better than Jack Benny’s. >>
You’re just wrong.
Reality Chuck: << The Man Who Knew Too Much remake was on a par with the original. >>
Oh, please, the remake is SO much better than the original…
Many of Kurosawa’s films were remade as Westerns (which is a bit ironic considering Westerns were a huge influence on his work).
The Seven Samurai was remade as The Magnificent Seven, Yojimbo as A Fistful of Dollars (And more recently, as Last Man Standing), Rashoman as Outrage, and I’m sure there’s probably a couple others I’m not thinking of.
While I prefer the original film in all cases, the remakes are decent in their own right, and in the case of Magnificent Seven as much of a classic as the original.
Bit of a hijack . . .
Three remakes that should have never been made:
The Shining miniseries, Gus Van Sant’s Psycho and Tim Burton’s “reimagining” of Planet of the Apes.
Ugh. Just . . . just ugh!
Also, I think the remakes of The Thomas Crown Affair and Ocean’s Eleven are way better than the originals.
And of course there’s Little Shop of Horrors, the film version of a stage musical which bears so little resemblance to the film it’s based on that I’m not even sure it qualifies as a remake. Still a great movie though.
In both those movies, it really seemed (to me) that the only reason they even had the same name was so that they could use the same idea and copy some of the lines with out people thinking they stole them. Those movies seemed quite different. And for the record I liked the remakes quite a bit better (don’t get me wrong, I love Steve McQueen though). I also have to say that I liked Mag Seven more then Seven Samuri (I liked Seven Samuri but it was quite long and there was ALOT of weeping in it). And if everyone promises not to judge me…I have to say that one movie where I honestly like the remake just as much as the original is The Parent Trap.