# Necessary and Unnecessary Remakes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357 "2017-03-30T16:39:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [March 30, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/1 "2017-03-30T16:39:38Z")
I’m sure we’ve done this before, but what the hell. Sometimes you look at a remake of a movie and wonder why they went to the effort. I kinda feel that way about all the current Disney Live Action remakes, but not as strongly as other cases, where I REALLY don’t understand the reasoning. On the other hand, sometimes a remake comes along that blows away previous versions and becomes a leader in its own right. I expect that for a lot of people, there will be disagreement about which category a remake should go in. **Unnecessary Remakes** Gus van Sandt’s **Psycho** – shot-for-shot like Hirchcock’s, so what’s the point? **Total Recall** – is a tube through the center of the Earth really more believable than a trip to Mars? **Robocop** – toning down the satire is _just_ what this film needed **The Jackal** – Because, you know, the film directed by Fred Zinneman was just too unbelievable **The Wicker Man** – Really, words fail me **the Flight of the Phoenix** – just being able to recast some parts with women ought not to be the justification for making the film **The Trouble with Charley** – let’s take a breezy, fast-moving action/suspense/romantic comedy (Sidney Lumet’s **Charade** and make it a slow-moving dud. **King Kong** – the 1976 de Laurentiis version managed to get everything wrong, except for the effects work of Carlo Rambaldi and Rick Baker. **The Day the Earth Stood Still** – you know you’re in trouble when the CGI Giant Robot looks worse than the one played by a big guy in a mostly leather suit. **Clash of the Titans** **Necessary Remakes** **The Maltese Falcon** – John Huston’s take on the _noir_ classic seems to perfect and obviously the way to film this that it blows the two previous efforts out of the water. **King Kong** – I know a lot of folks will disagree, but Peter Jackson’s version was aimed right at me. I loved it as a necessary remedy for the 1976 version, and I think it stands up next to the 1933 original. **The Lord of the Rings** – I like Bakshi, but his version of Tolkien just didn’t work, even after you allow for all his setbacks. I haven’t seen them, but they don’t seem like a good idea: **Ben Hur** – did anyone see this? **The Magnificent Seven** ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/2 "2017-03-30T17:02:30Z")
Seems like “necessary” just means “good.” If it was good, it may not be necessary, but if it was bad, it was definitely unnecessary. The first good remake of a good movie I always think of is _True Grit_. Both cover some parts of the Charles Portis story, both skip others, and both make up new scenes out of whole cloth. Both versions are well worth watching. (If I had to pick one as the better, I’d go for the remake, because 12-year-old Maddie Ross was played by an actual 12-year old and not a 22-year-old, and still managed to act circles around her." Unnecessary includes almost every movie version of a past popular TV series (whether the movie was a financial success or not.) Among those, I include _The Beverly Hillbillies_, _21 Jumpstreet_, and the current _CHiPS_. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/3 "2017-03-30T17:15:52Z")
The remake of Vanishing Point was not only unnecessary, but insulting. The movie completely misses the point of the original, adds in contemporary motifs like shock-jocks and paranoid anti-government conspiracies, and provides a motive (absent in the original) for Kowalski that happens to make even less sense than no motive. The remakes of: The Andromeda Strain Rollerball Death Race 2000 The Stepford Wives The Manchurian Candidate and in TV: Kolchak The Night Stalker all miss the point of the originals. They try to give a new spin on the original and make them fit with current times, but all failed bigly. Why add time travel to The Andromeda Strain? Why add microchip mind control to The Manchurian Candidate? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/4 "2017-03-30T17:27:17Z")
**Poseidon** - what a waste! **Day the Earth Stood Still** - ditto ---
**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:** [March 30, 2017, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/5 "2017-03-30T17:36:30Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Unnecessary includes almost every movie version of a past popular TV series (whether the movie was a financial success or not.) Among those, I include _The Beverly Hillbillies_, _21 Jumpstreet_, and the current _CHiPS_. Arguably one of the few Good movies to come out of a TV series was **The Fugitive**. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/6 "2017-03-30T17:40:43Z")
_Halloween_. The first one, though iconic is really only good because it was one of the first of the genre, which is to say, it’s really not a very good movie. We’re all so used to slasher films(and by “used to” I mean “sick of”) there really was no need to revisit it and on top of that it was crap in its own right. _The Wicker Man_ wouldn’t have been unnecessary if they hadn’t totally blown it. They took a creepy classic and practically made a spoof of it. As far as _King Kong_, I’m in the opposite camp as the OP. I enjoyed the DeLaurentiis version but the Peter Jackson one not so much. This may be a different situation as I’m not really familiar with the genre, but don’t different people keep making the same superhero movies over and over again? For instance, haven’t we had something like four Spidermans in seven years? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/7 "2017-03-30T17:46:26Z")
We need a remake of _Reflections in a Golden Eye_ with anthropomorphic CGI animals. And a Hip-Hop sound track. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/8 "2017-03-30T17:50:32Z")
Both remakes of _Dark Shadows_-the television remake had coherency, class actors and a good budget(the exact opposite of the original), and the movie was Depp being Depp again. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/9 "2017-03-30T17:51:41Z")
Worst has to be Psycho. Why bother if you’re basically reshooting the original? I halfway agree about Poseidon, though anything that puts Emmy Rossum onscreen is worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/10 "2017-03-30T18:10:14Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Necessary Remakes** > > **The Maltese Falcon** – John Huston’s take on the _noir_ classic seems to perfect and obviously the way to film this that it blows the two previous efforts out of the water. > > … > > **The Lord of the Rings** – I like Bakshi, but his version of Tolkien just didn’t work, even after you allow for all his setbacks. I wouldn’t consider films like these remakes of the previous films but rather different takes on source material from another genre that’s famous in its own right. In this vein, the Coen Brothers’ version of _True Grit_ was neither necessary nor unnecessary, just different. Nothing can compare to John Wayne’s portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in the first version, but I think the other characters, especially Matty, were portrayed in a much more interesting way in the recent version. > [@](#): > > King Kong – I know a lot of folks will disagree, but Peter Jackson’s version was aimed right at me. I loved it as a necessary remedy for the 1976 version, and I think it stands up next to the 1933 original. The 1933 version is my favorite movie of all time, and I hated the 1976 version. IMO, Jackson’s version was entertaining but suffered from Jackson’s penchant for Wretched Excess. Having Kong fight three Tyrannosaurs while falling down a cliff tangled in vines in my book was just too over the top. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/11 "2017-03-30T18:13:28Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **The Magnificent Seven** About this–I haven’t seen the same name remake, but I liked it when it was called _Battle Beyond the Stars_, _The Three Amigos_, and _A Bug’s Life_. (And of course the original _Seven Samurai_.) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/12 "2017-03-30T18:16:14Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Unnecessary includes almost every movie version of a past popular TV series (whether the movie was a financial success or not.) Among those, I include _The Beverly Hillbillies_, _21 Jumpstreet_, and the current _CHiPS_. I’m going to disagree with you on _21 Jump Street_. It was extremely good satire of the genre you mention, and sends up buddy cop movies almost as well as _Hot Fuzz_ does. _22 Jump Street_ is also an excellent sequel satire. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/13 "2017-03-30T18:45:11Z")
How about some Disney movies? _[Race to Witch Mountain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_Witch_Mountain)_ was in no way an improvement to the classic _[Escape to Witch Mountain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_to_Witch_Mountain_%281975_film%29)_. However _[That Darn Cat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Darn_Cat_%281997_film%29)_ was a worthy remake of _[That Darn Cat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Darn_Cat!)_!–it is funny and clever, and frankly the original drags quite a bit. (Don’t have strong enough memories on Freaky Friday vs. _Freaky Friday_ or _The Parent Trap_ vs. _The Parent Trap_, if anybody wants to wade in on those or others.) ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/14 "2017-03-30T18:55:20Z")
I recently watched the remake of Steel Magnolias, and was sorely disappointed. It was the same exact story line. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/15 "2017-03-30T19:35:37Z")
I keep hoping they will remake **The Last Starfighter** , **Dreamscape** and **Enemy Mine** , but especially Starfighter. It’s such a good story and is just begging to be applied to online gaming. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/16 "2017-03-30T19:47:24Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > I keep hoping they will remake **The Last Starfighter** , **Dreamscape** and **Enemy Mine** , but especially Starfighter. > > It’s such a good story and is just begging to be applied to online gaming. …not to mention getting better CGI treatment ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/17 "2017-03-30T19:52:22Z")
What about _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ vs _Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory_? In _Charlie_, at least, the technology existed to do the squirrel scene instead of a goose scene. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/18 "2017-03-30T19:53:07Z")
I’m going to say that every remake of “The Fantastic Four” has been necessary but none have been successful. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/19 "2017-03-30T19:58:38Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I haven’t seen them, but they don’t seem like a good idea: > > **Ben Hur** – did anyone see this? > > **The Magnificent Seven** Well, they missed their chance to make them **Ben Her** and **The Magnificent Se7en**. Whatta waste. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357/20 "2017-03-30T20:02:04Z")
I agree that **Dreamscape** would be a great choice for a remake. I’d also like to see someone take on **Streets of Fire**. I was thrilled when Hollywood remade **Clash of the Titans** and **Fright Night** , but both movies turned out to be forgettable. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/necessary-and-unnecessary-remakes/783357.md?page=2)