Inspired by this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=372551
I can’t imagine a remake of Citizen Kane. Maybe an updating of the concept about some modern mogul, but that wouldn’t be a true remake; Kane’s character and story are inextricably bound up with the events and culture of the 1920s-'40s; and they just don’t make 'em like William Randolph Hearst any more.
What films can you name, which remaking would be a bad idea on every level?
Birth of a Nation Racist, divisive. I can’t see enough interest in it to justify this.
Forbidden Planet – A product of its times. A remake would undoubtedly screw around with the basic premises (more computers, different relationships between characters) The effects still hold up after all this time.
2001: A Space Odyssey A film about Space Travel made during NASA’s Golden Age of Space Flight. Again, a product of its times whose vision of the future is outdated. And the effects are still great.
Casablanca (even though they tried).
Gone With The Wind
Silence of the Lambs
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
Unique movies I can name that would suffer from being remade:
The Godfather
Taxi Driver
Amelie
All The President’s Men
Dr. Strangelove
Vertigo
Bullitt
A Place In The Sun
Blade Runner
Hmm?
Well there is Coboblanco.
And then there’s Barb Wire (yes, the one with Pamela Anderson). :eek:
To Kill a Mockingbird. Gregory Peck owns that movie.
Xanadu. Yes, I know, one critic called it a “celluloid travesty” (and many others called it much worse). However, I can’t watch it without a sense of wonder that the prolific special effects were done by hand and not computer.
Phantom of the Paradise (another guilty pleasure). It was perfectly bad the first time around - why mess with success? 
Perhaps the British could redo some of those classic Ealing comedies. But they should not be remade by an American studio, such as this recent remake.
Plus no one would believe a story about a muse on roller skates in this day and age. It’s bound up in the culture of the 80s. 
My name is gigi and I love Xanadu.
Hi Gigi!
OK, I sat down with the partner Slip, and he came up with a few additions.
The first one? Wizard of Oz The entire Judy Garland mystique began with the W of O. It would be hard to replace.
**The Women ** - what kind of star power today could reproduce it?
The Graduate - name a replacement for Anne Bancroft - he dares you 
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
ET
Saturday Night Fever
Triumph of the Will It was so wrong then, and it ain’t gonna get any righter.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez wanted to produce and star in a Casablanca remake, but luckily they broke up first.
[QUOTE=Freudian_Slip]
Hi Gigi!
You might be able to pull this off, but you’d have to do a complete re-imagining. Probably if you did it in a really authentic-to-the-book, Edwardian style. (Kinda like Return to Oz, if as directed by Peter Jackson.)
Schindler’s List probably doesn’t need a remake.
Jurassic Park would be pretty pointless.
King Kong is probably good for another half-century or so.
There’s absolutely no need to remake Kind Hearts and Coronets. It’s perfect as it is.
There are movies that are great because of great performances. Remaking them would be pointless because the performance won’t be the same.
Perfect example.
Singing in the Rain without Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor?
Virtually any John Wayne movie without the Duke.
The Grapes of Wrath
Citizen Kane
I don’t think anybody will ever try to remake either of them, but I know i shouldn’t put it past the same Hollywood that remade Planet of the Apes
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and the Knight one with Danny Kaye. (can’t believe I cannot remember the name of it… the one with the True brue)… I know they are still (or are?) trying to remake Mitty and I really wish they wouldn’t.
I agree with Forbidden Planet…
I would like to see a remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, but I bet they would ruin it similar to the remake of “War of the Worlds” - which I enjoyed, but it still didn’t have the flavor of the 50s version.
Apocalypse Now