# Movies that did not deserve remakes. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-did-not-deserve-remakes/276782 "2004-11-26T20:35:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-did-not-deserve-remakes/276782/21 "2004-11-28T16:39:29Z")
> [@Miss Mapp](#): > > _The Maltese Falcon_. It was made twice before the third, famous, good version with Humphrey Bogart. That was based on a novel though, wasn’t it? As I said, I think there’s a big difference between doing an adaptation of a book or play that’s been adapted before and just reworking an old movie. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-did-not-deserve-remakes/276782/22 "2004-11-28T18:09:45Z")
> [@chinbender](#): > > Why remake the Manchurian Candidate? I haven’t seen the second, but I don’t see how technology would add anything to the simple brainwashing idea of the first. It was actually quite good. I was surprised too, but I saw both movies for the first time within a week of each other, and I thought the remake did a good job updating the terrific original, and stood on its own as a good movie as well. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-did-not-deserve-remakes/276782/23 "2004-11-28T18:22:56Z")
A movie I thought could be remade (though I love the “original” which wasn’t the original because it was actually a remake, but I digress) was “Charade.” Only the remake is so unutterably bad I can’t even remember it. I’ve blocked it from my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-did-not-deserve-remakes/276782/24 "2004-11-28T18:38:44Z")
> [@Anamorphic](#): > > We can certainly argue over the merits of Soderbergh’s remake; I personally found it, while far from perfect, a very fun film, quite clever, and definitely an improvement on the original. But regardless of your opinion of the remake, I maintain that the original is _exactly_ the type of film that _should_ be remade. I agree, I think it’s much better than the original. I do _like_ the original more than most; it seems to have been universally panned and despised. But while I think it’s fun to watch as another example of early 1960’s cocktail culture, it does drag in lots of places. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-did-not-deserve-remakes/276782/25 "2004-11-28T18:49:10Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Walking Tall. I’m rooting for the Rock to become an action star, but this was just bad. I rented this movie mostly out of curiousity. During the opening credits it said “in association with WWE films”. Right then I knew it’d suck. ---
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-did-not-deserve-remakes/276782/26 "2004-11-29T01:05:09Z")
One movie that comes to mind is the 1970’s remake of _Lost Horizons_ and then another one is _Sahara_ (the new version starring Jim Belushi.) ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-did-not-deserve-remakes/276782/27 "2004-11-29T01:46:13Z")
> [@Uvula Donor](#): > > This is why I have mixed feelings about the upcoming _Flight of the Phoenix_. The original (with James Stewart) is so damn good, and they even built and flew the Phoenix for the movie (no CGI back then.) And killed Paul Mantz in the process. I’m just hoping it doesn’t bite it, big time. DD ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-did-not-deserve-remakes/276782/28 "2004-11-29T01:55:06Z")
Ohhh. I got a good one. The Lucille Ball musical remake of Rosiland Russell’s Auntie Mame!!! There’s not ONE performance in the remake that approaches any of the cast of the original. Not one. I loved Lucy until I saw this piece of — no, no. I don’t want other pieces of shit to feel demeaned. It was _bad,_ I tell you. Bad, bad. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2004, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-did-not-deserve-remakes/276782/29 "2004-11-29T02:13:48Z")
A lot of my favorites have been named already – why, in God’s name, remake \*\*The Flight of the Phoenix, The Day of the Jackal, Psycho, \*\* or **Charade**? The originals were so good, by such excellent directors and actors, and were products of their time. What was the point of redoing **The Planet of the Apes**? Rick Baker’s makeup was better than Chambers, but – heck – there’s almost forty years of advances in prosthetic makeup. It’s not a surprise. We just rented **The Stepford Wives** – it’s nt really a remake. As pointed out above, it doesn’t really make sense (by the way – the original isn;'t a horror movie. It’s a black comedy. I don’t think _anyone_ ever took the basic premise seriously enough for it to be a horror show.) You can’t really even \*understand[/] the remake unless you’ve seen the original, or at least have heard about it. Of course, everyone has by now. The “remake” was a spoof, and the only reason to see it is for the jokes and the way it riffs on the original. That’s the only way to make sense out of the Darryl Hannah remake of **attack of the 50 Foot Woman** , too. You want a bad and pointless remake? The 1976 **King Kong**. They clearly misunderstood everything about trhe original, and used bad writing (thank you Lorenzo Semple, Jr! You can go back to TV’s Batman, now) and damned near nonexistent special effectsto make a thriller without thrills. Their entire thinking was summed up in their idea of putting the new Kong atop the World Trade Center (“Hey! It’s taller than the Empire State Building! It’ll be _that much_ better!”) as I’ve noted before, there has been recent spate of “remakes” of bad 1950s monster films. In many cases, I suspect that these are remakes in no more than title. Did we really need remakes of: \*\*Thirteen Ghosts House on Haunted Hill The She Creature The Wasp Woman How to Make a Monster \*\*? Of course, there were pointkess remakes of bad 1950s monster films in the 1960s-- \*\*Creature of Destruction \*\* was a bad remake of **The She Creature** (I’m personally of the opinion that the original wasn’t that good, so we now have ostensibly three versions of a pointless film), **The Invasion of the Eye Creatures** a remake of **Invasion of the Saucer Men** and **Zontar the Thing from Venus** of **It Conquered the World**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-did-not-deserve-remakes/276782.md?page=1)