# Movie remakes that make you ask "Why?!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790 "2011-09-19T04:26:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/21 "2011-09-19T14:39:14Z")
A television series rather than a movie but why do a remake of _The Rockford Files_? The concept of the show wasn’t anything special - the main attraction was James Garner. So why make the show without him? ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/22 "2011-09-19T14:42:42Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > Right. > > Also in the remake, Norman/Vince Vaughn is waxing his carrot, so to speak, as he’s peeping through the peephole. I don’t remember that happening in the Hitchcock original. I believe that same scene was actually shot for the original, but was removed to appease the censors. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/23 "2011-09-19T14:56:16Z")
RE: The Psycho remake. It was really odd watching it. Since it was a shot-by-shot remake it felt like they were setting you up for some kind of parody of the original and you were waiting for a punchline. Especially with casting Vaughn & Macy. But when it got played straight with no twist then you were kind of asking yourself why you were watching this rather than the original. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/24 "2011-09-19T15:01:17Z")
The one that baffles me is the recent remake of _Straw Dogs_. What the heck? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/25 "2011-09-19T15:12:08Z")
Why do they revive plays on Broadway? Basically, there are two reasons: one is that you have a known commodity that is easier to sell. The other is that you can bring to the movie something that was lacking from the original. Ideally, it can be both, but often it’s just the former. Note what’s happening right here on this board. People are discussing the remake of **The Thing**. If the movie was **The Creature in the Ice** would we be talking about it? People are saying it’ll probably be crap, but the name is coming up in conversation. Some people will go see it because they liked the originals and wonder if this can be as good. Some will go because the love the originals and want to jeer at the remake. Some will go because they have vaguely heard of the original movies and think it looks good on the trailer. In a time when movies are designed to make all their money on the first weekend, anything that creates a buzz is going to help it. ---
**Author:** ![Foxy40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/26 "2011-09-19T15:30:22Z")
When I heard that they were remaking “Arthur” I was actually pissed. The 1981 film is one of my favorites. I simply couldn’t believe they would try to redo that classic. From what I understand, it didn’t even make half of what the original made 30 years ago. The reviews were bad but I wouldn’t have seen it even if it had four stars. ---
**Author:** ![Hogfather65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7bcc69/32.png) [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/27 "2011-09-19T15:56:06Z")
Good or Bad - most of us have our own pre-set feelings about remakes / Updates / or whatever they call them. Sargent Bilco - Loved the Phil Silvers stuff but thought that Steve Martin was just taking the piss of an old favourite. Charlie’s Angles – Loved the Remake – it updates the characters superbly – and with the original Charlie – but in film 2, WTF happened to Bosley? True Grit – New one was utter crap – Roster Coburn was a drunk and sort of harped back to the good old days when he rode into battle with his reigns between his teeth and a Winchester in each hand…. All they did was take the best of the old and drag it down. The War of the Worlds – Loved the original – thought the remake was just a Tom Cruise flick – no substance. Star Trek – Loved both – the new Star Trek allows them to go off in a new tangent from TOS – can’t wait for more. Willy Wonka – I agree that’s it’s just a retelling – but the update did not take it away from the original – both where entertaining in different ways – the 1 guy as all the Umpa-Lumpa’s and Johnny Depp as Wonka worked. The Producers – Bombed – Thank Christ they did not try and remake Blazing Saddles. King Kong – Loved the original (black and white with Fay Wray) – My mother used to say that I cried as a kid when Kong died (46 now). The remake(s) did nothing to improve on the original. The Taking of Pelham 123 – Good movie ruined! Clash of the Titans – Remake had some good stuff in it and loved the throw away Owl – Homage paid…. And dont get me started on Arthur or St Trinians - Loved the originals but hated the new Arthur and Flash Harry charachers (or is it Russell Brand I dislike) ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/28 "2011-09-19T20:14:18Z")
Nobody mentioned “The Day the Earth Stood Still!” That had such incredible POTENTIAL. We watched the previews, thinking, “At last!” At the end of the original TDTEST, Klaatu gives a speech to all of mankind, admonishing the people of Earth to stop their wasteful, stupid, warmongering and destruction of the planet. He warned that the other citizens of the Universe had been watching, waiting, and if Earthlings didn’t start behaving, “They” would be back to kick ass and take names. That didn’t HAPPEN in the remake! It’s literally a remake, only with much cooler graphics. The potential here was magnificent. Instead of Klaatu being a Keanu clone to deliver the same message (“Shape up, Earth, or you’re gonna get it!”) the movie needed to be a continuation of the original story. (I’m BACK, guys, and I don’t like what I see!) Trying to morph Gort’s name into a tired military acronym was tacky, too. The remake was a tremendous disappointment. ~VOW ---
**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:** [September 19, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/29 "2011-09-19T20:18:35Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Nobody mentioned “The Day the Earth Stood Still!” **I** did, up in post #20 > [@](#): > > That had such incredible POTENTIAL. We watched the previews, thinking, “At last!” At the end of the original TDTEST, Klaatu gives a speech to all of mankind, admonishing the people of Earth to stop their wasteful, stupid, warmongering and destruction of the planet. He warned that the other citizens of the Universe had been watching, waiting, and if Earthlings didn’t start behaving, “They” would be back to kick ass and take names. > > That didn’t HAPPEN in the remake! It’s literally a remake, only with much cooler graphics. The potential here was magnificent. Instead of Klaatu being a Keanu clone to deliver the same message (“Shape up, Earth, or you’re gonna get it!”) the movie needed to be a continuation of the original story. (I’m BACK, guys, and I don’t like what I see!) > > Trying to morph Gort’s name into a tired military acronym was tacky, too. > > The remake was a tremendous disappointment. > ~VOW I didn’t expect the remake to be a sequel, but I _did_ expect at least better effects. But when they made the CGI Gort look even less believable than Lock Martin in his silvered leather Gort suit, then I knew it was awful. And I hope that, should I end up on some alien planet, their doctors don’t try to “cure” me by stripping off my skin. How the hell _dare_ they scrape off Klaatu’s apparent epidermis? ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/30 "2011-09-19T20:29:48Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > > [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > > > _The Wicker Man._\ > > I _loved_ the remake! It was so horrendously bad that it crossed over into being hysterically funny. I swear there were a couple of times when I was laughing so hard I almost passed out. Word. Were else are you going to see [Nicolas Cage](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6i2WRreARo) riding around on a Schwinn cruiser, pulling his weapon on unarmed ladies, laying out old women and young girls with right-crosses and dropkicks, and wearing a freaking bear suit to boot? I mean, aside from on an average Tuesday night for Nick. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/31 "2011-09-19T20:48:28Z")
Thanks! I forgot about him punching out the chick while _in_ the bear suit. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/32 "2011-09-19T20:53:25Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > There are two reasons I can think of to remake films. Either brand recognition to get bums on seats, or reuse of an interesting or marketable concept. The two reasons are not exclusive. In that context it’s not difficult to understand why any remake gets made. I don’t have a problem with remakes in theory, it’s the reality that usually lets them down. > > _The Thing_ prequel (to the John Carpenter film) isn’t strictly a remake, as it’s set at the Norweigan camp, but it’s almost exactly the same setting and plot. It’s pointless artistically, we don’t need to see what happened there as we can imagine it from what is shown in the 1982 film. However, it’s possible the end result might be a suspenseful horror with up-to-date effects, bringing the story to a new audience. Unless it gets very good reviews, it’s probably best avoided by fans of the Kurt Russell version. What bugs me, though, is this: we know what happened at the Norwegian camp, to some extent. And we know that the Thing got out. It escaped, and a couple of Nords chased after it. So, that’s where it has to end. And that ending sucks. The movie won’t so much “end” as “stop”, with more story to be told. That’s very unsatisfying. So, it seems to me that they know they’re making a loser from the get-go, and gambling on people liking the effects enough that they buy the DVD. ---
**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/33 "2011-09-19T20:56:35Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I can’t fathom that the world needs a remake of Footloose. > > Even given the “the studios just want to make money, use safe properties, etc” angle, I can’t imagine that the best idea they had was to remake Footloose. This. It just seemed like a movie that doesn’t make sense to remake, like Rad, or Gleaming the Cube. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/34 "2011-09-19T21:28:53Z")
> [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](#): > > Word. Were else are you going to see [Nicolas Cage](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6i2WRreARo) riding around on a Schwinn cruiser, pulling his weapon on unarmed ladies, laying out old women and young girls with right-crosses and dropkicks, and wearing a freaking bear suit to boot? > > I mean, aside from on an average Tuesday night for Nick. Worth the price of admission for “Not the Bees! NOT THE BEES! Aaaah!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/35 "2011-09-19T23:32:17Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > I believe that same scene was actually shot for the original, but was removed to appease the censors. I really doubt this. I 1962, there is no way that Hitch could even HINT at that activity, even in an “adult” (in the non-pornographic sense) movie, and he absolutely would have known that. It would even be too raw to be included as censor bait (the bit they put in the film for the censors to cut, leaving behind the stuff he really wanted). ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/36 "2011-09-19T23:48:13Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > True Grit > > … > > 3:10 to Yuma Both of these movies were great. Maybe the original True Grit struck you as a masterpiece back when it first came out but I direct your attention to [Exhibit A](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn_N17JyPbc). ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/37 "2011-09-20T00:00:25Z")
Just to point out that THE THING was actual a “remake” of a 1953 THE THING… which featured James Arness as the creature (“A giant carrot, the mind boggles.”) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/38 "2011-09-20T00:09:11Z")
**The Flight of the Phoenix** - Remake a shitty movie, Johnny Mnemonic can _only_ get better. If everyone involved with this project thought they could outperform Jimmy Stewart in one of his best roles they were just flat out wrong. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/39 "2011-09-20T00:23:03Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > **The Flight of the Phoenix** - Remake a shitty movie, Johnny Mnemonic can _only_ get better. If everyone involved with this project thought they could outperform Jimmy Stewart in one of his best roles they were just flat out wrong. Again, already mentioned by me in #20. Does anybody else read my posts? I _know_ that I’m writing them – I can feel my lips move. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790/40 "2011-09-20T01:22:07Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Again, already mentioned by me in #20. > > Does anybody else read my posts? I _know_ that I’m writing them – I can feel my lips move. Too dull; didn’t read. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-remakes-that-make-you-ask-why/596790.md?page=3)