Funny, I was going to post earlier about “The Bad News Bears”, which has not aged well. But the more I thought about it, if you fix all the bad behavior, what’s left? (Unless you swap in a bunch of other “more acceptable” objectionable behavior, whatever that may be…) So maybe just leave it alone.
I’m aware that there was a remake of Bad News Bears some years ago, but I’ve never seen it and don’t know how it compares to the original.
I showed the original Bad News Bears to my own kids a couple months ago. They adored the bad behavior and asked to watch it again.
I agree with many of the nominations here (in particular Revenge of the Nerds is and always was trash), but being concerned about BNB feels like pearl-clutching to me.
When I asked my younger daughter why she liked it so much, she said, she’s never seen a movie where the kids are just as rude and stupid as actual kids.
are TV shows included in this thread?
Fawlty Towers has aged , but is still a reasonably good comedy, except for one character:
the Spanish-speaking servant was intended to be an over-the-top exaggeration of a buffoon. But today it would be seen as cruel racism.
B.S was very much mocking things like racism and sexism.
Yes, but it is a popular title on a list of ‘Can’t be made today’ movies due to its extreme language throughout. Also do you think modern audiences could pick up subtly or nuance?
Yeah, that is another aspect of the discussion, some of these works the discomfort and unease it causes was already intentional when it was made.
The basis for much of the humor in the Austin Powers series was how cringey some of the “classic” Connery/Moore Bond could get.
And nevermind Goldfinger, lads: I give you You Only Live Twice and Live and Let Die. Throw in some Orientalism and Blaxploitation into the mix.
That goes into the category of “reboot = pointless”. Blazing Saddles could and need only be made at that time, commenting on not just blatant racism but also on racial tokenism while taking a piss on the whitewashed nature of the (admittedly by then dying) classic Western. “It couldn’t be made today” BECAUSE it was made then.
Of course.
Those lists are usually really stupid rage-bait, and should be ignored.
“You know…morons.”
I wholeheartedly agree, however it seems an audience missed that memo and they need to take another jab to shine a light and poke fun on modern American racism.
Yeah that was a bad example, in hindsight the same people saying “Blazing Saddles can’t be made today” are the same people saying “Make comedy legal again”. To use a quote
When people ask Mel Brooks whether Blazing Saddles could be made today, his stock response is to say, “Hell, we couldn’t make it then! But we did anyway.”
Subtle wisdom inside that joke, I think.
I saw it as a preteen in the late 80s, and it didn’t leave a good impression on me the way other similar movies of that time period did. Police Academy (and the sequels), Weekend at Bernie’s, Caddyshack II, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, etc. all made a much better impression on me than Revenge of the Nerds. It had the advantage of coming out at the right time in my life, and being the right type of movie, and I still didn’t like it. So yeah, it just wasn’t a good movie.
Not only creepy but sends a bad message.
You dont agree that some women in the middle of the 20th century were taught to act “hard to get”? Of course that is mostly gone now, and good riddance, but there’s a lot of weird stuff from the fairly recent past.
Needs to be left as is.
Right.
I always liked the ending of Revenge of the Nerds. There are some parts that need to go, true.
Mary Poppins was reclassified in the UK to restrict audience access (a token change, actually). The problem scene is the dancing chimney sweeps, who are referred to as “hottentots” - an archaic racial slur. You could snip that, but the whole scene looks a bit too much like a “blacking up” joke these days.
j
I could very well be mistaken, but I believe the “hottentots” line came not from the chimney sweep scene, but from a cutaway scene involving the crazed old naval officer who lived next door to the Banks’. The guy who fired his canon each morning at precisely [whatever time]. At one point in the film he exclaims “we’re being invaded by hottentots!”
The chimney sweep scene screams “blackface!” But let’s be honest: it fits perfectly within its context and there is absolutely zero racist intent in it.
No, I think you’re correct.
j
Here’s the thing, outside of teen me’s obsession with the naughty bits, it’s ONLY the end that has lasting meaning. The piece we probably all remember more-or-less fondly where they call out to everyone who’s felt unpopular, unwanted, or marginalized. It’s a great moment.
But 80-90% of the rest? Not worth saving. It doesn’t need a remake, and we have a ton more movies these days about outcasts recognizing their own potential, which is generally a good thing. Though I consarn to heck the trope of “ugly ducking taking off glasses and getting better clothes = beautiful” despite being portrayed by an already beautiful actress.
Honestly, and feel free to disagree, I think remaking most comedies is doomed to failure, as much humor (slapstick and absurdist being pretty strong outliers) is so much a piece of it’s time that an honest remake is nigh impossible. If you’re going to adapt it to be more modern, better to do something fresh inspired by something of the past. We have too many remakes that weren’t needed anyway.
IMHO, YMMV, Different Yuks for Different Schmucks
(Sorry, I really wanted the joke but most of us fine people aren’t schmucks on a daily basis!)
Hell, if people still don’t get Adventures of Huckleberry Finn after 141 years, they’ll never get Blazing Saddles.
It’s hard to argue with this.
For truly great movies, I’m fine with appreciating them as they are, recognizing where they made missteps and appreciating where they got it right. Some of them messed up so badly they ruin the film, and that’s too bad, but there are new and fresh and interesting and thoughtful films being made every day. We don’t always have to look backward.
I’ll also add, I’m not really bothered by stalker tropes in romance movies. Romance is fantasy. There are exceptions that take it way too far, but honestly, John Cusack in Say Anything, holding that boom box over his head? Swoon. I enjoyed Love Actually, also. It may have an outdated trope but it was very funny and there were a lot of great stories in there. I enjoy ensemble casts.
I love The Breakfast Club too, even though Bender is clearly a future domestic abuser. I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for a while, the same way other people can suspend it for cars jumping over bridges at full speed.
Which reminds me of the poster child for unnecessary comedy remakes:
Tootsie (1982) seems impossible to redeem from the get-go, though it’s a great movie for its time, IMO. It even makes some very valid points about sexism, while at the same time its two female main characters are very badly used – particularly Teri Garr’s.