# Re-Makes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 20, 2001, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584 "2001-10-20T15:00:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584/21 "2001-10-22T03:31:53Z")
It’s OK, no harm done. Do you have any news on the sequel ? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584/22 "2001-10-22T04:02:17Z")
Cousin Cousine = Cousins Get Carter Gone in 60 Seconds Boudu Saved from Drowning = Down and Out in Beverley Hills Return of Martin Guerre = Sommersby Victor und Victoria = Victor Victoria and the remake next year of Casablanca with the cast of Friends - Matt, Matthew and David = Claude, Humph and Sydney. Lisa = Ingrid. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584/23 "2001-10-23T00:42:36Z")
This [article](http://www.perfectworldusa.com/wgaarticle.htm) lists 29 films remade from 1977 to 1997. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584/24 "2001-10-23T01:41:40Z")
_What Price Hollywood_ (a good movie) was remade as another good movie _A Star is Born_ with Janet Gaynor and Frederic March which was remade as yet another good movie _A Star is Born_ with Judy Garland and James Mason which was remade yet again with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson only this time it wasn’t any good at all. _Here Comes Mr. Jordan_ with Claude Rains was remade as _Heaven Can Wait_ with Warren Beatty, both okay movies. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584/25 "2001-10-23T01:52:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by El Elvis Rojo \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > > \*\* > > Sam Raimi’s _Evil Dead II_ was basically a remake of _Evil Dead_. \*\* > > Evil Dead 2 is **NOT** a remake of Evil Dead. It is clearly a continuation of the story, same as Army of Darkness is of the other two. The confusing little “recap” in the beginning confuses people, but it is purely a sequal, NOT A REMAKE!!! > > Sorry, big ED fan here, and I just wanted to clear that up. > > How come no one’s mentioned the wonderful example of cinematic art that was “Just Visiting” yet? Come on, it had French actors in it, and Christina Applegate. That alone makes it better than the original. If you’re a thirteen year old, at least. \*\* But it isn’t a continuation of the original story. The “recap” isn’t a recap; the story is different, and it doesn’t show highlights, it shows everything that happens the first night. By recasting Linda and changing the plot of the first night significantly, they remade the first movie, and then continued from there. Raimi and Campbell may have intended to make a straight sequel, but the movie that they made is more remake than sequel. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584/26 "2001-10-23T11:16:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Unbeliever \* > \*\* > Nattenvakten – Nightwatch > \*\* [slight nitpick] The original title is **Nattevagten**. [/slight nitpick] As I hadn’t heard of either film before I had to look them up and apparently the remake is actually done by the same director as the original. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2001, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584/27 "2001-10-23T11:48:21Z")
> [@](#): > > IMHO, a remake is a movie adapted directly from a previous movie version. Multiple adaptations from the same source material are not remakes. For example, the short story “Who Goes There” inspired The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Alien. All originals that come from the same source. Subsequent versions of Body Snatchers were adapted from the first movie version, and so can be considered remakes. There must be somebody going around saying this, because I’ve encountered it before. (Is it Roger Ebert?) It ain’t true. John W. Campbell’s short story “Who Goes There?” did inspire the 1950s Christian Nyby/Howard Hawks movie \*\* The Thing\*\* (changed just before release to **The Thing from Another World** , because a novelty song called “The Thing” came out about then) and the 1982 John Carpenter film **The Thing**. The Carpenter version (with script by Burt Lancaster’s son Bill) was more faithful to the source, but the earlier film is also excellent, and considered a classic. **Invasion of the Body Snatchers** (as well as the two remakes of it – _true_ remakes, right down to the title) was based on Jack Finney’s book **The Body Snatchers**. Finnery (who is, I think, still alive) would be pissed to be told that his work was taken from Campbell’s. **Alien** is the 1979 Ridley Scott film with a script by a whole collection of people, including Walter Hill and the multi-talented Dan O’Bannon. To anyone familiar with the genre, Alien looks like a remake of another 1950s movie – **It! The Terror from Beyond Space** an unjustly neglected sf jewel written by the underappreciated Jerome Bixby (who also gave us **Fantastic Voyage** , the short story “It’s a _Good_ life!”, that became a Twiilight Zone episode and later part of the TZ movie, as well as the 1950s sf films **The Atomic Missile** and **The Curse of the Faceless Man** ). The thing is that calling Invasion and Alien “remakes” of The Thing is puzzling at best. Invasion shares with the story and the second version of The Thing the idea of an alien that can “absorb” the body of a person and assume their shape, but the plots and characters, and the ways people deal with the problem are completely different. One might as well say that every job about a bank heist is a “remake” of all the previous movies about bank heists. There’s even less reason to say that “Alien” is a remake – all that has in common is a Monster – there’s no shape-shifting at all. Does that make Alien a remake of King Kong? ---
**Author:** ![SteverinoAlaReno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@SteverinoAlaReno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteverinoAlaReno)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584/28 "2001-10-23T16:23:33Z")
You’ve Got Mail was a remake of The Shop Around the Corner To me, Rocky II seemed more of a remake of Rocky than a sequel Do we count silent movies that were remade as talkies? If so, Ben Hur would be one of the most notable. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584/29 "2001-10-23T17:10:40Z")
A whole bunch of silent classics were remade as talkies. The silent versions were then pretty much forgotten. For example, who’s seen the silent versions of Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Robin Hood, or the Thief of Bagdad? ---
**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:** [October 23, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584/30 "2001-10-23T18:01:07Z")
> [@](#): > > A whole bunch of silent classics were remade as talkies. The silent versions were then pretty much forgotten. For example, who’s seen the silent versions of Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Robin Hood, or the Thief of Bagdad? Raises hand. Actually, I still haven’t seen the silent **Ben Hur** or **Robin Hood** , but I love the silent version of **Thief of Baghdad** , preferring it to any later versions. The Silent **Ten Commandments** has hand-colored sequences. **The Hunchback of Notre Dame** has a wonderful performance by Lon Chaney (although the later Charles Laughton version was good, too). And don’t forget: **The Lost World** – finally available on DVD almost complete! \*\* Metropolis\*\* – I prefer the Giorgio Moroder version, even though he actually cuts out some material. Also, unlike just about everyone else, I _like_ his score. Never remade, but I had to mention it. **Nosferatu** – don’t even mention the remake (although **Shadow of the Vampire** was an interesting take on this.) **Tarzan of the Apes** with Elmo Lincoln. This first version of Burroughs’s story is amazingly faithful to the book. **20,000 Leagues Under the Sea** – The silent version is more faithful than any to follow, and also throws in **the Mysterious Island**! **The Phantom of the Opera** – To my mind, the best version of this story. If you can, dig up the version with the Technicolor Opera Bal Masque sequence. ---
**Author:** ![ScriptAnalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@ScriptAnalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScriptAnalyst)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584/31 "2001-10-24T01:00:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by brachyrhynchos \* > \*\*_12 Monkeys_ was a remake of a quirky short film by Chris Marker called _La Jetée_ (1962). I enjoyed both of them, possibly because the vastly different styles given to the same story. > > _Groundhog Day_ = Luis Buñuel’s _Exterminating Angel_ (or so says [this review](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/groundhogdaypghinson_a0a7e9.htm))? I haven’t seen that movie in years and I do enjoy Buñuel’s work. I think I’ll see if I can rent it - thank you **Miller**! \*\* I’ve never seen EXTERMINATING ANGEL, but I’ve been meaning to rent it from CineFile Video in Santa Monica. Speaking of Bunuel and remakes, THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE and DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID were both adapted from novels that had been previously filmed. Steve Biodrowski [http://www.thescriptanalyst.com](http://www.thescriptanalyst.com) ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584/32 "2001-10-24T01:17:55Z")
I agree totally with CalMeacham (my mama didn’t raise no fool!), and am puzzled as well by the charges that Body Snatchers comes from Who Goes There/The Thing. If anything, it was inspired by Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters, though I’ve always heard that Jak Finney was an “upright” individual. Unfortunately, Finney died in 96/97, something like that. A fine writer, especially of short stories. I’ve exchanged a couple emails with Emerson Bixby, son of Jerome, who reports that his dad was “sore” when Alien came out, but never sued. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584/33 "2001-10-24T03:20:45Z")
My mistake about the source of Body Snatchers. However, my point was distorted. I was trying to draw a distinction between multiple adaptations of the same source and remakes. I did not claim that Body Snatchers or Alien were remakes, rather the opposite. I rather directly said that they were not remakes, but multiple adaptations of the same source materiel, and on that point, I stand corrected. Different artists adapting the same book or story can come up with very different results. Let me use a different example. The Ed Gein case inspired the novel Psycho, which in turn was adapted into the Hitchcock movie of the same name. Mr. Gein also inspired The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Buffalo Bill character in The Silence of the Lambs. All different characters, plots, settings, and POV, but all have elements taken from the same source material. The two later movies are not remakes because they do not draw from the previous movies, but are original interpretations of the same source material. The 1998 version of Psycho is a remake because it was based on the original movie version. A few more: _A Guy Named Joe_ became _Always_. I like the remake better, but only marginally. _Seven Chances_ became _The Bachelor_. You don’t remake genius. Stick with the Buster Keaton original. _The Man Who Knew Too Much_ was remade by Hitchcock for Hollywood. The two versions are about equal. _Aliens_ is from an original script by James Cameron, but seems awfully similar to _Them_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-makes/88584.md?page=1)