# Tell us what Hollywood remakes of non-english-language films were better than the ori **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002 "2006-10-11T01:09:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![relevancethreshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@relevancethreshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/relevancethreshold)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/1 "2006-10-11T01:09:41Z")
ginals. And tell us why. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/2 "2006-10-11T03:04:19Z")
\*The Departed Three Men and a Baby \* I’m kidding about one of these. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/3 "2006-10-11T03:58:40Z")
Well, some of us think that _Sorcerer_ is a better film than _The Wages of Fear_. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/4 "2006-10-11T05:54:41Z")
Not really a “remake,” but I always thought the Fox edit of the anime series _Escaflowne_ (before they cancelled it…for the “NASCAR Racers” cartoon, I believe. I’m not bitter at all.) actually made the show more coherant, engrossing, and better paced. And without badly compromising the artistic “feel,” to boot. I even liked the new theme song. I’m going to Hell for that, I know. I’ve come to accept it. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/5 "2006-10-11T06:20:55Z")
_Insomnia_. While the original starring Stellan Skarsgård was also very good, Chirtopher Nolan’s direction of the remake cinches it for me. Plus, I’m a big Al Pacino fan. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/6 "2006-10-11T07:04:37Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] Well, some of us think that _Sorcerer_ is a better film than _The Wages of Fear_. [/QUOTE] Nuh uh. You sure there’s an “us” there? I refuse to believe that more than one person on the planet would carry whatever mutated gene would make that possible. Cuz _The Wages of Fear_ is a Great Film, while _Sorcerer_, well, sucks. I’m just sayin; these are the facts. You might want to check your pulse. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/7 "2006-10-11T07:20:10Z")
[QUOTE=Alessan] _Insomnia_. While the original starring Stellan Skarsgård was also very good, Chirtopher Nolan’s direction of the remake cinches it for me. Plus, I’m a big Al Pacino fan. [/QUOTE] I’ll vote for the original on this one too. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/8 "2006-10-11T08:01:20Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] I’ll vote for the original on this one too. [/QUOTE] To each his own. I saw them both in the theater, and superfluous action sequences aside, I enjoyed the remake more. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/9 "2006-10-11T08:46:16Z")
How about _The Magnificent Seven_? Tighter than _The Seven Samurai_, better music too. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/10 "2006-10-11T09:18:18Z")
La Jetee became (or at least inspired) 12 Monkeys. Boudu sauvé des eaux became Down and Out in Beverley Hills Viktor und Viktoria had to wait 50 years to be rmade into Victor/Victoria Any of these qualify ---
**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 11, 2006, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/11 "2006-10-11T12:20:11Z")
> [@](#): > > How about The Magnificent Seven? Tighter than The Seven Samurai, better music too. Despite the presence of Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn, I’ll take Kurasawa’s original over the Western remake any day. “Tighter”, in this case, ain’t _better_. There’s a lot in _Shichi no Samurai_, and it’s worth keeping. Plusd, it doesn’t have Horst Buchholz. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/12 "2006-10-11T13:54:10Z")
Star Wars (none of this “Star Wars 4: a New Hope” nonsense) over Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress” although the latter is an outstanding movie. I will take Alec Guinness and Carrie Fisher’s cinnmon buns over Mifune and the “Princess”. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/13 "2006-10-11T14:00:01Z")
_The Ring_ is one of my favorite movies of all time. _Ringu_ just left me confused. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/14 "2006-10-11T14:30:26Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Nuh uh. You sure there’s an “us” there? I refuse to believe that more than one person on the planet would carry whatever mutated gene would make that possible. Cuz _The Wages of Fear_ is a Great Film, while _Sorcerer_, well, sucks. I’m just sayin; these are the facts. You might want to check your pulse. 🆒 [/QUOTE] I’ll take _Sorceror_, too, but it took me a while to figure out why. There’s a line in _Sunset Blvd._, where Norma is talking about the silent movies; “We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces!” I think the style of moviemaking just changed between _The Wages of Fear_ and _Sorceror_. The suspenseful scenes are just done differently. In _Wages_, they tell us that “we have to go fast enough to skip over the bumps”, or “I have to back up right to the edge of this platform”, and we see the tension on their faces, but we never really see those things happen. By the time _Sorceror_ came out, people expected to actually see the action, not just the actor’s reaction to it. I think the former method is somehow considered more developed and mature, but I’m a child of my age and my culture and I like to see what’s going on. Plus, there’s the endings._Wages_ ends like some bleak, existentialist parable. “Ah, you see, the fates will push you off a cliff and all is hopeless anyway.” _Sorceror_ had the same defeat-snatched-from-the-jaws-of-victory type of ending, but it fit within the movie. Scanlon’s past caught up with him after all. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/15 "2006-10-11T14:41:51Z")
[QUOTE=Jim’s Son] Star Wars (none of this “Star Wars 4: a New Hope” nonsense) over Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress” although the latter is an outstanding movie. I will take Alec Guinness and Carrie Fisher’s cinnmon buns over Mifune and the “Princess”. [/QUOTE] Star Wars really isn’t a remake of The Hidden Fortress. Marc ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/16 "2006-10-11T15:08:28Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Despite the presence of Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn, I’ll take Kurasawa’s original over the Western remake any day. “Tighter”, in this case, ain’t _better_. There’s a lot in _Shichi no Samurai_, and it’s worth keeping. Plusd, it doesn’t have Horst Buchholz. [/QUOTE] Hear frakkin hear. HB was great in _One, Two, Three_, but all the acting was stylized and cartoonish in that movie. He’s rarely been well used in any other movie. _The Seven Samurai_ is a great movie; _The Magnificent Seven_ is a thin shadow of that. It has an almost made-for-TV feel to it, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/17 "2006-10-11T15:12:06Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] La Jetee became (or at least inspired) 12 Monkeys. Boudu sauvé des eaux became Down and Out in Beverley Hills Viktor und Viktoria had to wait 50 years to be rmade into Victor/Victoria Any of these qualify [/QUOTE] _La Jetee_ is flawless, perfect, powerful. _12 Monkeys_ is a trumped-up, watered-down, noisy mess. _Boudu sauvé des eaux_ is really a masterpiece for the ages; \* Down and Out in Beverley Hills\* is a Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfuss movie. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/18 "2006-10-11T16:04:13Z")
Well everything from the [moviefreak.com](http://moviefreak.com) Top 10 on this list has been mentioned, except, True Lies, which is supposedly a remake of La Totale- which makes sense- I always thought it was too original to be a Hollywood original, now I know why- it wasn’t. I honestly can’t think of any, but I will say that I thought Point of No Return was decent, and in the same ballpark as the original, though not better. The remake of Farewell My Lovely didn’t suck, but an 80 year old Robert Mitchum can’t compete with an in his prime Dick Powell- a younger Mitchum could though. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/19 "2006-10-11T16:07:14Z")
Sorry I forgot the OP, the 1944 Farewell My Lovely was definitely in English :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002/20 "2006-10-11T16:31:31Z")
I think Roxanne stands quite well against Cyrano de Bergerac (sp?), but then again it is more of a revisualisation than a simple remake. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-what-hollywood-remakes-of-non-english-language-films-were-better-than-the-ori/376002.md?page=2)