# Movies that should never, ever be remade **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 22, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778 "2006-05-22T17:22:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/1 "2006-05-22T17:22:00Z")
Inspired by this thread: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=372551](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? ---
**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:** [May 22, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/2 "2006-05-22T17:31:18Z")
**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 Again, a product of its times whose vision of the future is outdated.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. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/3 "2006-05-22T17:34:03Z")
**Casablanca** (even though they tried). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/4 "2006-05-22T17:36:31Z")
**Gone With The Wind Silence of the Lambs One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest** ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/5 "2006-05-22T17:43:06Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/6 "2006-05-22T17:52:02Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **Casablanca** (even though they tried). Hmm? ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/7 "2006-05-22T18:02:27Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Hmm? Well there is [Coboblanco](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080485/). And then there’s [Barb Wire](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115624/) (yes, the one with Pamela Anderson). :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/8 "2006-05-22T18:46:12Z")
To Kill a Mockingbird. Gregory Peck owns that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f475e1/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slip_1)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/9 "2006-05-22T19:18:09Z")
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? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/10 "2006-05-22T19:42:10Z")
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.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335245/) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/11 "2006-05-22T20:45:47Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slip](#): > > 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. 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**. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f475e1/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slip_1)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/12 "2006-05-22T21:49:27Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > 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** ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/13 "2006-05-23T00:55:19Z")
**Triumph of the Will** It was _so_ wrong then, and it ain’t gonna get any righter. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2006, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/14 "2006-05-23T00:57:11Z")
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez wanted to produce and star in a Casablanca remake, but luckily they broke up first. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/15 "2006-05-23T02:21:03Z")
[QUOTE=Freudian\_Slip] Hi Gigi! 😃 > [@Freudian\_Slip](#): > > The first one? **Wizard of Oz** The entire Judy Garland mystique began with the W of O. It would be hard to replace. 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. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/16 "2006-05-23T02:30:25Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Perhaps the British could redo some of those classic Ealing comedies. There’s absolutely no need to remake **Kind Hearts and Coronets**. It’s perfect as it is. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/17 "2006-05-23T02:35:55Z")
There are movies that are great because of great performances. Remaking them would be pointless because the performance won’t be the same. > [@Kalhoun](#): > > To Kill a Mockingbird. Gregory Peck owns that movie. Perfect example. **Singing in the Rain** without Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor? Virtually any John Wayne movie without the Duke. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/18 "2006-05-23T03:11:48Z")
_**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_ ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/19 "2006-05-23T03:27:32Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778/20 "2006-05-23T04:18:35Z")
Apocalypse Now [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-should-never-ever-be-remade/357778.md?page=2)