In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I wanted to see a remake of Beau Geste with all 4 of the Baldwin brothers playing the various Geste brothers.
There has been talk of Chris Hemsworth playing Doc Savage. With a decent director and decent writers, it might be good.
I want to see some of the old matinee serials remade as cable TV series. Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers, done with a Game of Thrones budget. Dick Tracy or The Shadow, done with a Boardwalk Empire budget.
Roger Corman’s old Edgar Allen Poe/H.P. Lovecraft films were kind of fun. Are there any actors today who could fill Vincent Price’s shoes?
I want a Frankenstein film, done with Jack Pierce’s makeup design.
I don’t want a remake of John Carter. I want two sequels. And while we’re at it, do Amtor and Pellucidar.
The Lord of the Rings prequel I’d like to see (we’ll forget The Hobbit ever happened) is Akallabêth, the story of the Downfall of Numenor. How Sauron corrupted the last king of Numenor, Ar-Pharazôn the Golden, and convinced him to build an armada, sail to the Undying Lands, and wage war on the Gods themselves.
It did not end well. (spoiler) A cataclysm swamps the armada, drowns the entire continent of Numenor, and the world turns from flat to round in case anybody gets any bright ideas of trying that again. But Elendil and his supporters wash up on the shores of Middle Earth and found the kingdom of Gondor.
Sauron survives too, of course.
I’ve got the script written in my head. It would be EPIC.
I would like to see that. The idea that George Peppard was a ‘kept man’ (kept by a woman, Patricia Neal) is rather absurd, but I suppose they had to do that in the 1961 movie.
Similarly, ‘The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone’ is based on Tennessee Williams’ own past, where he was ‘Mrs. Stone’ and keeping a younger Italian man. I love the look of the movie but find it hard to believe a wealthy widow played by Vivian Leigh would arrange through an old-lady-friend-pimp for the ‘companionship’ of younger gigolo Warren Beatty. (Seems there were plenty of gigolos for hire in the 50’s and 60’s and plenty of sex-starved rich older women eager for their services!) I wish a movie would show the truth once in a while, but such efforts are relagated to ‘art films’ and ‘foreign films’. Much admired - but showing the truth of gay for pay would still be a career killer for modern major actors…
This would be interesting. The original film did well with its budget, but it was a “B” picture, so the budget wasn’t really great. Even for the time, a lot of the special effects were of low quality.
In addition, there’s a lot in the original novel that couldn’t be done in a film mad in the 1950s – the film hints at sexual frustration between the shrinking man and his wife, which could be more explicit these days*. And in the novel he was approached, in his reduced size, by a child molester.
And they could do a much better job these days with the spider (which actually occupies a very large portion of the novella), and actually depict it as a Black Widow spider, as in the book, rather than a Tarantula.
*despite the fact that there’s a lot of Giantess/Shrinking Man erotica on the web these days, the prospect of it really affecting people was treated in the novel as tragic in its implications.
I would like to see a reboot of Highlander franchise. Take elements of the original film (which I love, btw), and add the mythology of the tv show.
Me, too. And I’d love to see a new take on the ‘Angel’ show, the one starring David Boreanaz as a vampire, if they could do it without messing with the darkness, no pun intended.
Oh, I remember that. You and I must be close in age, I was a kid when I saw it on TV. As a girl I kind of had a thing for James Franciscus, but the dinos were good too.
I’d like to see Buck Rogers done as the original book did it. It was all set on Earth. But the PC police wouldn’t allow it now, with the racial issues.
Damn it, he wasn’t even called Buck in the book. He was called Tony, as his first name was Anthony.
The Black Cat (1934) – First and best teaming of Karloff and Lugosi in story of revenge, satanic worship and necrophilia was significantly altered during and after shooting. I’d like to see the story and characters expanded, along with a more modern sensibility.
The Face Behind the Mask (1941) – Peter Lorre is Janos Svabo, an immigrant watchmaker horribly disfigured in a fire. He’s saved from suicide by a petty crook and 20 minutes later, he’s the head of the mob thanks to his skill at plotting crimes. I’d like to see this basic premise play out with a female lead, possibly Nastassja Kinski or Angelina Jolie.
Return to Paradise (1953) – One of Gary Cooper’s most obscure movies has him adrift in the South Seas. He finds a beautiful island, but has conflicts with its dickwad-cum-dictator pastor. After knocking up a native girl, Coop splits, but he returns years later and struggles to take responsibility with the (now-mellower) pastor’s help. This is prime Kevin Costner material.
I Sailed to Tahiti with an All-Girl Crew (1968) – Love to see this redone (with weightless scenes!) as I Flew to Alpha Centauri With an All-Girl Crew.
Death and the Compass (1992) – Alex Cox ruins my favorite Borges story. A bigger budget and better casting would be mighty helpful in doing the story properly.
