# What movie would you like to see remade, but better? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [July 12, 2020, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072 "2020-07-12T00:03:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/221 "2020-08-13T14:25:36Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > Looked **Rat Race** up on **IMDb**. With the exception of John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson and one or two others, the cast looks weak. A better cast and director is needed. I liked _Rat Race_. It was like a modern, more small-scale _IAMMMMW_. Not a masterpiece, by any means, but a perfectly adequate comedy. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/222 "2020-08-13T20:03:56Z")
Grimdark? I’d say it barely qualifies as dark humor. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/223 "2020-08-13T20:29:16Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I liked _Rat Race_ . It was like a modern, more small-scale _IAMMMMW_ . Not a masterpiece, by any means, but a perfectly adequate comedy. I feel the same way about the movie. It would never win any awards, but it was funny and entertaining. Fun Fact: A lot of it was filmed here in western Canada. Not everything, of course, but enough that I could recognize familiar sights in some of the scenes. I also dated one of the Lucys (Lucies?) for a bit. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/224 "2020-08-22T14:47:42Z")
There’s talk about “The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao” over in another thread, but tossing it out here as well. Also “When Worlds Collide” could benefit from a remake. (And if it hits, there’s a sequel waiting to be done, although some modernization would be required.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/225 "2020-08-24T17:39:16Z")
How could “The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao” be better? ---
**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:** [August 24, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/226 "2020-08-24T18:03:00Z")
Eight faces. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/227 "2020-08-24T18:10:48Z")
Considering that all those effects in that movie were done the old fashioned way, redoing it digitally wouldn’t be quite as amazing. Although it might be neat if they hired the people who won the Syfy channels make up show. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/228 "2020-08-24T19:39:21Z")
How could they make _The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao_ better? They could stick a bit closer to the book _The Circus of Dr. Lao_, and add several things the 1964 film left out. And CGI would be better than Jim Danforth’s animation\*. And Og knows, anything would be better than the “Woldercan” segment at the end, which re-used bad effects from Pal’s earlier film _Atlantis, the Lost Continent._ The script by Charles Beaumont (a great short story writer, and one of the stable of writers who did the scripts for the original _Twilight Zone_) actually helped the book, which was an episodic fantasy with no real story or connecting matter. Beaumont’s script brought narrative coherence to the story and some depth. And maybe this time they could get someone of Asian ancestry to play Dr. Lao. \*Jim Danforth was “the poor man’s Ray Harryhausen”. He did the effects for not only Dr. Lao, but _Jack the Giant Killer_ (a transparent attempt to remake Harryhausen’s Seventh Voyage of Sinbad)and _The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm_… He got better – _When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth_ was pretty good, and I have no complaints about his work in _Flesh Gordon_ (under a very transparent pseudonym). ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/229 "2020-08-24T19:46:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > his work in _Flesh Gordon_ (under a very transparent pseudonym). Mij Htrofnad. Not exactly NSA level encryption there. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/230 "2020-08-24T20:03:50Z")
But is Dr Lao really chinese or just pretending to be, since in the Old West, Chinese was mysterious and exotic? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/231 "2020-08-25T00:44:48Z")
> [@robby](#): > > Beat me to it. I saw this film in the theater in 1980 (at the base theater at NAS Alameda!), and was also disappointed in the ending. What other ending could it possibly have had? It would have been kinda stupid to have the jets just blow away the Japanese strike force. Maybe you could construct the narrative better to GET to that point. But you cannot have them win World War II. That’s just dull as shit. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/232 "2020-08-25T02:35:06Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > > [@robby](#): > > > > Beat me to it. I saw this film in the theater in 1980 (at the base theater at NAS Alameda!), and was also disappointed in the ending. > > What other ending could it possibly have had? It would have been kinda stupid to have the jets just blow away the Japanese strike force. > > Maybe you could construct the narrative better to GET to that point. But you cannot have them win World War II. That’s just dull as shit. Did I mention I was 12 years old when I saw the film? 😉 Yes, that’s exactly what I wanted to see. I wanted to see the _Nimitz_ take out the whole Japanese task force. In retrospect, that was obviously not going to happen. (If nothing else, they didn’t have the budget for this.) But at the time, to a 12-year old (and to a theater full of Navy sailors), it felt like a cop-out. It’s still one of my favorite films (as a guilty pleasure). It’s been 40 years, but I still remember the order being given to “splash the Zeros” followed by one of the Tomcats accelerating and its wings sweeping back dramatically. When the order was given, the whole theater cheered. This almost, but not quite, made up for the cop-out of an ending. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/233 "2020-08-25T03:55:49Z")
P.S. The reason I call the ending a cop-out is that the whole final act is about the CO of the _Nimitz_ wrestling with whether or not he should interfere and defend Pearl Harbor against the impending Japanese attack. Finally he decides it his obligation to defend the U.S. no matter the place or time, and so commits to engaging the Japanese, when the time cloud abruptly returns out of nowhere. 🙄 The dogfight between the two Tomcats and two Zeros earlier in the film was neat, but it was over far too quickly. Taking on the whole Japanese task force promised to be a whole different order of magnitude. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/234 "2020-08-25T14:30:00Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > first, you’d have to get refineries cranking out jet fuel! Jet fuel of the time was a 50/50 paraffin/petrol mix. Hardly hard to get hold of. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/235 "2020-08-26T03:23:52Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Jet fuel of the time was a 50/50 paraffin/petrol mix. Hardly hard to get hold of. But the Navy used JP-5. Less volatile, for the obvious shipboard benefits. Not to mention the additives (such as Prist) that might not be available. of course, I should also mention spare parts. Need a new fuel pump, radar, let alone a new engine? Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/236 "2020-08-26T03:41:25Z")
_Fantastic Voyage_ with modern special effects. ---
**Author:** ![awahl1138](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@awahl1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awahl1138)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/237 "2020-08-26T03:55:06Z")
Harry fucking Potter ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/238 "2020-08-26T06:52:19Z")
Oh, yeah, the additives and the spare parts are definitely where you’re going to get trouble. I remember a short story about a (fictional) jet transported back to WWI France. They fuel it with plain old paraffin, but the problem is that all its weapons system are geared towards taking down equivalent tech planes and don’t target German biplanes, or give it enough time on target for guns. It turns out its most effective attack is just to buffet them with its turbulent wake, or something like that IIRC. _Hawk Among the Sparrows_, by Dean McLaughlin ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/239 "2020-08-26T16:01:09Z")
For similar views, **MrDibble** , see: ["The Final Countdown": Tomcats vs. Zeros](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-final-countdown-tomcats-vs-zeros/404590) > [@awahl1138](#): > > Harry fucking Potter What didn’t you like about the originals? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072/240 "2020-08-26T16:18:03Z")
> [@peccavi](#): > > If _Damnation Alley_ could have been _Escape From New York_ , **Logan’s Run** could have been _Snowpiercer_ more than 40 years early. Are you insinuating that Snowpiercer was well done? Because frankly, that was on my list as well. . . “The Scarlet Letter” and “The Count of Monte Cristo” are both still waiting for a faithful treatment. And both would make amazing movies. I can’t begin to comprehend the arrogance of these idiots who think they are improving the story. I dearly hope it turns out that my #1 on this list will be “The Winds of Winter” which will demand a new dramatization of its actual ending. (Oh please, oh please, oh please.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-would-you-like-to-see-remade-but-better/915072.md?page=13)