# Films that should be remade. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157 "2013-07-10T18:27:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157/81 "2013-07-15T23:35:41Z")
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle just CRIES OUT to be remade as a live action movie. It was an animated thing made some years ago, but there is no reason in the world this wonderful book can’t be re-made. I always pictured Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Schmendrick. (but maybe it’s too late now. Fairy tale movies are still coming out, but by the time they even cast The Last Unicorn, the genre would be totally passe.) ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157/82 "2013-07-15T23:43:45Z")
A movie based on the V.I. Warshawski books by Sara Paretsky. Kathleen Turner was excellent casting, but the movie sucked. Do it right, and cast it right (again). ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157/83 "2013-07-16T00:26:34Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > I recently saw the old classic [Kings Row](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034946/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) (often regarded as Ronald Reagan’s best movie). It’s not half bad, but in reading up on it afterwards it sounds like a ton of source material was excised because of Hays Code standards - incest, nymphomania, homosexuality, etc. Sounded like a good candidate for a modern, uncensored remake. If I remember right, the book wasn’t much more explicit than the movie. But yeah, I’d watch a faithful remake. Same with **Leave Her to Heaven**. **The Searchers** is visually stunning, but the real story of Alan LeMay’s book deserves to be told. People wouldn’t be all WTF? at Ethan’s quick turnabout at the end. Has there ever been a realistic movie about Native American society in the 1800’s? Or about western heroes and villains? Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, Judge Roy Bean, Buffalo Bill? TV’s Deadwood came close, I think. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157/84 "2013-07-16T00:28:42Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > **Rebecca** because it would give a new generation a chance to gasp at the evil glory that is Mrs. Danvers. There have been remakes of _Rebecca_ but none as good as the Hitchcock version. In fact, Hitchcock tightened up a rambling novel and improved it for the screen. The remake I want to see is _The 39 Steps_. This is one of my favorite books, and it would make a great movie if someone would faithfully follow the book. It has a wonderful, intricate plot, suspenseful, clever. The Hitchcock version is bad, and a recent PBS version was also bad. Hint: there is no romantic interest in it. ---
**Author:** ![Renifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Renifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renifer)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157/85 "2013-07-18T16:26:55Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Some Like It Hot, Seven Year Itch, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, etc… > > Yeah, redo some classic Marilyn flicks, make them hotter, update to current social mores, add a couple of time traveling robots. > > DUNE - give it the Peter Jackson 3 movie treatment so we can get some depth without silliness. Current effects would be fun to see. A proper treatment of several of the supporting characters would be appreciated. Add a couple of time traveling robots. > > They LIVE! - NSA spying on us? No, it’s them! OBEY! Eat at Joe’s! Add a couple of time traveling robots and BAM! There ya go. > > The Pit and the Pendulum - as cool as he was, Vincent Price’s version wasn’t that true to the story. Add a couple of… you get the point… I don’t see They LIVE! being remade. Isn’t there one scene where the sunglasses-wearing guy walks into a post office and starts shooting the aliens? And of course the human bystanders can’t see the aliens, so to them it looks like some wacko walking in and shooting people for no reason. We’ve had way too many real life incidents like this: some wacko shooting a bunch of innocent people and believing that doing this is somehow saving the world. Hollywood today wouldn’t want to send that message that it’s okay to shoot people because they might be part of the conspiracy of oppression. It could still be remade, I suppose, but the plot would have to be very different. And, I’ve brought this up before, but a movie about the eruption of Pompeii. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157/86 "2013-07-18T17:26:36Z")
> [@Renifer](#): > > I don’t see They LIVE! being remade. Isn’t there one scene where the sunglasses-wearing guy walks into a post office and starts shooting the aliens? And of course the human bystanders can’t see the aliens, so to them it looks like some wacko walking in and shooting people for no reason. > We’ve had way too many real life incidents like this: some wacko shooting a bunch of innocent people and believing that doing this is somehow saving the world. Hollywood today wouldn’t want to send that message that it’s okay to shoot people because they might be part of the conspiracy of oppression. > It could still be remade, I suppose, but the plot would have to be very different. > > And, I’ve brought this up before, but a movie about the eruption of Pompeii. **They Live** is based on an Ed Nelson short story, _Eight O’Clock in the Morning_, which is _really_ short. It definitely needed some fleshing out if it was going to be a movie, not to mention some action scenes. (The fight between Roddy Piper and Keith David just illustrates how over-padded this film is, though. I mean, fer cryin’ out loud, you have editors for a reason) You can read the story here: [http://www.scribd.com/doc/43784308/8-O-Clock-in-the-Morning-Ray-Nelson](http://www.scribd.com/doc/43784308/8-O-Clock-in-the-Morning-Ray-Nelson) No scene quite like you describe is in there, but the hero does act like a homicidal maniac. It’s understandable in the context of the story, though. Stephen King did his own version of this, at greater length, which he titled _The Ten O’Clock People_, clearly showing his influence. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157/87 "2013-07-19T01:36:14Z")
Agree with “The Conversation.” It would indeed be timely. “The Searchers” would be harder to pull off (can’t go around hatin’ Injuns _that_ much these days), but if they were to do it, please give the Nathalie Wood character more screen time! (Assuming the remake’s actress would be as easy on the eyes as Ms. Wood in her prime.) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157/88 "2013-07-19T14:56:58Z")
I love the movie, but I’d love to see _Roger Rabbit_ remade with the storyline of the original book. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157/89 "2013-07-19T19:54:29Z")
I’d love to see a remake of _Neighbors_, the disastrous Belushi-Aykroyd comedy. The Thomas Berger novel it’s based on is a literary masterpiece; it’s one of my all-time favorite books. I’m convinced there is a great film inside that novel that’s waiting to be made. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > 2.) **From the Earth to the Moon** – the only real adaptation of this book was a joke, not at all faithful to verne’s novel. This would make an interesting “steampunk” sorta thing, as Disney’s _20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_ arguably gave a push toward steampunk in the first place. I was going to mention this one, but as a revision, not a remake. Although it’s not particularly faithful to the novel, I think it’s a decent film that is handicapped by its atrocious, impoverished visual effects. The VFX shots could easily be replaced with new CGI sequences. Of course, that’s not going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157/90 "2013-07-19T20:30:29Z")
I am surprised I am the first to say \*Phantom Menace \*and its two sequels. Changes I would like to see: - Anakin is about 25 years old at the start - Obi-Wan is about 40 or so - Palpatine’s plan makes sense - The Jedi are regarded as old-fashioned and irrelevant by almost everyone - Anakin never visits Tatooine, and his parentage is never brought up - The Force is not mediated by midiclorians - And, of course, no Jar-Jar Binks This is at least theoretically possible now. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157/91 "2013-08-18T03:29:47Z")
[“They Live”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkVeKb2igrg) With proper special effects we could have the whole country freaked out. We could make War of the Worlds look like a late night infomercial. I’m betting we’d get a permanent conspiracy theorist sub-culture out of it if done correctly. . . on second thought, best not. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157/92 "2013-08-18T04:04:41Z")
I’d like to see a very faithful and detailed rendition of _The War of the Worlds_ as a period piece as well. No modernization, no steampunk, just 1890s England meets alien tech. _Cowboys versus Aliens_ has a brilliant premise, IMHO, but they slipped by making the aliens conventionally grotesque. They needed to be _alien_. Like, say, [starfish](http://www.cracked.com/article_20539_6-horrifying-dark-sides-creatures-you-think-are-adorable.html). And mining _gold_? They should have been mining something inexplicable, and maybe just collecting the gold as a byproduct alongside other things. > [@mr.jp](#): > > I also don’t think I get a sufficiently good sense of how vast middle earth is, and how different the different parts are. Rohan feels more like a small village a little ways from the Shire, not a distant and fascinating kingdom. _This._. Very much, this. _The Lord of the Rings_ takes place on a continental scale. They got some things very well: the lighting of the Beacons on the mountaintops, and the falling fight between Gandalf and the Balrog bring shivers to me still. However… The lower Anduin in the film should have been the size of the Mississippi, at least. Even above Sarn Gebir it was not something you could wade across. (Though they did very well with the Statues of the Kings.) The townlands around Gondor should have been green and fertile, with the ruins of farms and orchards, and Mordor should have been a dark rim on the horizon. As it was, it looked like you could ride to Mordor in a couple of hours. I’m not sure whether this was because they filmed it in New Zealand and they didn’t _have_ a continental-scale landscape, or what, but it just didn’t seem as _big_ as the books. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-that-should-be-remade/663157.md?page=4)