How about His Girl Friday, a reworking of The Front Page.
Or, still in the vein of screwball comedy, I really thought Rob Reiner did a great job of updating It Happened One Night in The Sure Thing, though it was marketed as a teen sex comedy, ensuring that most people who would enjoy it wouldn’t see it.
“Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man got to be common.” –Satchel Paige
I liked the musical version of Little Shop of Horrors better than the black and white B movie. Steve Martin as a sadistic dentist. I LOVE it.
The Stanley Cup: A repeat is in the STARS!
There were actually 1931 and 1936 versions of “The Maltese Falcon,” both of which sucked, despite having Bebe Daniels and Bette Davis, respectively, in the Mary Astor role.
And the 1960s “The Children’s Hour” was better than the 1930s version—though really, neither of them were much to write home about.
However—I will defend to the death the 1926 version of “Ben-Hur” (Ramon Novarro—hubba hubba!) over that overblown 1959 Charlton Heston version!
I’m not a movie buff, really, but I do own the 1957 and 1997 versions of Reginald Rose’s play 12 Angry Men.
I’ve even played them side-by-side to watch the new actors interpret the original. There aren’t a lot of films that you could try that with.
I think that if I was a lawyer in a more literate universe, this film would figure in my voir dire questioning. Sadly…
That’s a lead-in; how far did the remake of Psycho go with their shot-for-shot refilm? Where was the breakpoint?
I feel I should mention Evil Dead II, which is a remake of the original Evil Dead; at least, it tells the same story.
The original Evil Dead was unintentionally funny, just too over-the-top and goofy to be taken seriously as a horror movie. So, with Evil Dead II, Sam Raimi decided to retell the story while being funny on purpose. Net effect: a more entertaining film, although the original deserves some credit for starting the whole franchise.
The Stanley Cup: A repeat is in the STARS!
“The Caine Mutiny Court Martial” with Eric Bogosian was much better than “The Caine Mutiny” with one of those Ferrer guys. I think it had also been televised as a play in the 1950s (predating the movie), but I haven’t seen that one.