I feel like I’m struggling to find the vocabulary to explain a simple concept. So I’ll just give an example. Terry Tate, Office Linebacker –
Original Pilot:
Superbowl version:
Same script, same main actor. The same people made both versions, but the second one has higher production values. I love finding that stuff to see how things evolve, and now I want more examples.
I think I know what you mean.
Cecil B. Demille made the the Ten Commandments twice, which is unusual.
Also, George Lucas took his THX 1138 short and made the feature film version of it.
Shane Acker also made a feature version “9” based on his original short.
Michael Mann remade his movie L.A. Takedown
as the movie Heat:
District 9 was an expansion of a concept from the short film Alive in Joburg.
The Evil Dead started as a short called Within the Woods. Evil Dead 2 : Dead Before Dawn was technically a sequel, but it almost fits the ‘remake’ idea. Desperado (El Mariachi) is along the same lines - a sequel with a similar story and higher production values.
Sean Ellis took his short film Cashback and made it into a feature. The short version is part of the full version and uses the same cast.
George Lucas’s THX 1138 was developed from a student film he made.
Alfred Hitchcock made The Man Who Knew Too Much twice. Hitchcock also did several “running man” films that he kept improving: Young and Innocent, The 39 Steps, Saboteur, and North by Northwest (where he specifically redesigned a scene from a mistake he made in Saboteur)
sam raimi took his original Evil dead student film and remade it as the Evil dead, with more money.
There are two examples I know of where the same actor stars in the remake of his own film (Sean Connery in Thunderball/Never say Never Again and Clark Gable in Red Dust/Mogambo. Vincent Price appeared in two different versions of House of Seven Gables, but in different roles (and the second version actually had lower production values) Jimmy Stewart starred in the movie version of Harvey and a later TV version, also arguably lower production values.
There was an episode of South Park where they essentially remade the short pilot. It was construction paper and a bad camera versus the CGI that brought us Jurassic Park. The voices sounded a lot better, too.
You can also compare the first episode with the remake/continuation/alternate interpretation in the 100th episode, but the difference isn’t nearly as stark. (and, of course, a lot of stuff is missing.)
I came in here to post the “Evil Dead” movies, but since I’ve been beaten to it I shall bore you all with more punk trivia.
Coincidentally enough two very different punk rock bands completely re-recording their debut albums:
The UK crusty-hardcore punk band Doom used to be on the once very underground-and-do-it-yourself label “Peaceville”. After Peaceville was sold out to a larger European heavy metal label, Doom felt betrayed, so they re-recorded their first two releases and called the album “Fuck Peaceville”. (Ha ha, take that Peaceville!) Unfortunately, in this case the original Peaceville recordings are far superior. (Umm… take that, Doom.)
Japanese horror-punk band Balzac also completely rerecorded their first album (I’m too drunk to accurately remember the reason why.) This time around, I’m happy to say the re-recording trumps the original.
Well, there’s piles of examples in music, though it’s relatively rare for the first versions to become well-known first.
For punk and garage rock, there’s plenty that I wish had the opportunity to record with decent production. There’s a difference between a lo-fi aesthetic and just sounding like crap.
Billy Bob Thornton turned his short film, Some Folks Call It A Sling Blade, into the full-length Sling Blade.
The 1996 film **Bottle Rocket **(Wes Anderson and Luke and Owen Wilson) was an expansion of their 1994 short film, also titled Bottle Rocket. Or so I assume. I’ve never seen the short.
John Carpenter and Kurt Russel did both Escape From New York and Escape From LA
While still a college student here in Austin, Robert Rodriguez made the action flick “El Mariachi” on a shoestring budget with a cast consisting largely of friends and acquaintances.
when that movie became an underground hit, he more-or-less remade it with a bigger budget and a more famous cast, under the title “Desperado.”
Do we count things like Sting’s “Symphonicities” album, which consists largely of more lush, mellow versions of old Police songs?
Didn’t Hitchcock do two versions of “The Man Who Knew Too Much”?
Checks Google Yep, 1934 and 1956. One black and white with Peter Lorre, one color with Jimmy Stewart & Doris Day.
Mentioned already in post #5
PSXer writes:
> John Carpenter and Kurt Russel did both Escape From New York and Escape
> From LA
This is an example of a movie and a sequel, not a movie and a remake.
I can think of a couple of examples where European directors had a chance to direct the Hollywood remake of their own film, although the production values were not necessarily superior. George Sluizer’s 1993 reworking of his 1988 classic “The Vanishing” ballsed-up the ending and was widely panned by the critics; Michael Haneke’s 2008 remake of his 1997 original “Funny Games” was a lot more successful.
I relaise that it pushes the concept, but you could perhaps count Stephen King’s film version of his “Maximum Overdrive” - the production values of the film are much higher than the original novel - but that’s straying into the world of adaptations rather than remakes.
<deadpan>Waris Hussein’s classic television mystery “An Unearthly Child” was a direct remake of an earlier, pilot version of the same story. I always thought they should have turned that into a full series - who was that crazy old man, with his time machine - but sadly no, unless it had a different title and I missed it.</deadpan>
You carry on, by the way. This is interesting. Not quite as interesting as the other thread with the chap being airbrushed out of old Beatles photographs, but interesting nonetheless. I’m going to have a cup of tea, you carry on.
John Wayne and Howard Hawks made Rio Bravo, then made it again eight years later as El Dorado.
The British film Death at a Funeral was tragically remade with an American cast, but Peter Dinklage plays the same role in both films.
that’s the joke