A similar thread about movies to which you’d like to see sequels made me decide to post this.
What movie do you wish they would scrap the original and re-make a new one from scratch and why?
My first thought is The Running Man. I would love to see a movie made that actually has some semblance to the book. IMHO it would be far superior and deeper than that crappy one with Richard Dawson and Schwartzenegger.
the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (not Yojimbo, not that Sheite Bruce Willis gangster remake)
I loved the book The Three Musketeers and hated what they did to it when they made the movie with Chris O’Donnell. But I’m sure I could find a better version of it if I bothered to look.
I’m sure someone’s going to say Starship Troopers so I’ll have to say it first. I didn’t read the book until after I had seen the movie, but I would have liked to see the movie made in a way more true to the book.
Interesting that all we’ve mentioned so far are movies made from books. I know I’ve seen movies where I’ve thought that the idea was good but the implementation sucked, but I can’t think of any at the moment. (whoops, broccoli snuck in there while I was previewing this so I probably shouldn’t say “all”)
The Mummy movie with Brendon Fraser.
It should have been pure slapstick or pure special effects adventure.
One that comes to mind of good idea, bad movie, is Mystery Men.
Brocoli,
You have got to be kidding or I didn’t understand your post. “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” has got to be one of the greastest western or civil war error movie ever made. IMHO I Loved That MOVIE!
broccoli! I think you mean A Fistful of Dollars, IIRC correctly, that’s the one where Clint plays back and forth between the rival cowboys in town. The Good the Bad and the Ugly is the 3 hr long western where they are trying to find which grave has the gold in it.
I’d like to see Jason and the Argonauts remade. I loved this movie as a child, and I’d love to see what a good director can do with todays SFX, just gotta get a good screenwriter and actors attached to the project so it doesn’t turn into 2 hrs of eye candy with bad dialogue and wooden actors.
For the same reason Gazoo wants to see Running Man remade, I’d like to see a fresh take on Dune. The book was mesmerizing and the movie put me to sleep. They made up too much stuff (deviating from the book, that is) in the interest of time or lack of special effects or something.
Of course for real justice to be done, the movie would have to be about 8 hours long.
The Phantom Menace, The Dark Half (What Crap!), Needful Things (Again What Crap!), G.I. Jane (Its too bad this had to be the first serious attempt to show women in a combat position), The Pelican Brief (Wasn’t bad but could be better) That’s all I can think of.
BTW - I agree with Wildest Bill. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is a classic. It’s my favorite western of all time. IMHO, it is the best of the spaghetti westerns and should never be remade. Ever. No one could ever be better than Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallace in their roles. Lee Van Cleef could be replaced though.
Highlander, starring somebody other than Christopher Lambert. He was the one, huge flaw in an otherwise great film.
SNorman
I’m with Spiny. shudder Remake Highlander III while you’re at it.
The Sci-Fi Channel is doing a remake of Dune. IIRC it should debut December 3rd or 4th. They better leave out those frikkin wierding modules, or I’ll be highly irritated.
Damnit! I don’t have cable.
Can I come over to your house to watch it?
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (the Coppola version) was an utter travesty. It’s a shame, too, because the book is phenomenal and would lend itself well to an artfully done true-to-the-book adaptation.
I would like to see that movie completely re-cast (perhaps using actual Britons to play the English characters), with Ridley Scott directing.
I would like to see Jurassic park re-made closer to the book. I also think it would be interesting to see Metropolis re-made with an updated view of the future. It would have to still be silent, of course!
. . . which was, in fact, based on a book. Well, a comic book, but anyway.
spoke, the sad thing is that Coppola’s was about as close to Stoker’s book as anyone has actually ever gotten, screenplay-wise. Except for the prologue and the garbage about Mina being Dracula’s reincarnated wife, he hit all the major plot points and beats nearly exactly. You’d think it would have been a lot better!
I desperately wish someone would do another version of Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me. There was a version released in 1976 with Stacy Keach that’s as dreadful as the book is good. And much as I like Coup de Torchon, I’d love to see someone do a Pop. 1280 that’s set in Texas.
I also would love to see a good film version of Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. IMDB lists a 1972 Yugoslavian version and a 1994 Russian one, but no English-language version. With the Soviet Union a thing of the past, however, it seems unlikely that anyone will take it on now.
pldennison wrote:
I agree that the screenplay was pretty close to the book. My problems were more with the casting and the direction.
5’7" Gary Oldman playing Dracula? (Described in the book as a giant of a man.) Keanu Reeves? Wynona Ryder? What in God’s name was the casting director thinking???
As for the direction, I felt that Coppola took what should have been a suspenseful film, and turned it into a “Hollywood Action Movie!!!” Fast cuts!! Yelling actors!! Loud noises!!!
I don’t know what came over Anthony Hopkins, but he took what should have been a professorial character (Dr. Van Helsing) and turned him into a raving, screaming lunatic. (Was that his idea or Coppola’s? I don’t know.)
The script itself wasn’t too bad. Like you, I was annoyed by the “reincarnated wife” business, and the ending where they tried to turn Dracula into a sympathetic character. :rolleyes:
My only other beef with the script was the section where they dealt with Dracula’s crossing in the ship. In the book, this is an extended and especially eerie passage. Dracula’s coffin is in the ship’s hold, and the sailors on the ship begin disappearing one by one. Finally, the ship somehow manages to find its way into port in England with no living sailors on board.
That’s pretty creepy stuff, and it could have been used to build tension in the movie, and to convey some of Dracula’s power. Instead, they glossed over the whole thing in about 2 minutes.
All in all, I think that if they had handed this same script and a better-selected cast of actors to Ridley Scott, he would have made a far superior movie.