# Which movies \_should\_ be remade with modern special effects? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692 "2006-05-14T01:35:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/21 "2006-05-15T13:22:31Z")
I’d like to see the whole “Rocky Jones: Space Ranger” series redone with modern special effects and sets. Keep the plots and so forth goofy, just make it look better. I bet it would be even funnier. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/22 "2006-05-15T13:42:48Z")
On second thought, I think **Mant** (“Half man, half ant, all terror!”) is a good candidate. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/23 "2006-05-15T13:45:31Z")
**The Hobbit.** ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/4af34b/32.png) [@Umbriel2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel2)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/24 "2006-05-15T15:54:06Z")
[QUOTE=MaxTheVool] I actually thought **The Poseidon Adventure** was a good choice. I mean, a bunch of people are trapped in a boat that has flipped upside down. That’s a DAMN good premise for a thriller. Sadly, the reviews have been lackluster. [/QUOTE] I agree. And a modern cruise ship is a much more spectacular setting than the old-fashioned transatlantic liners were – it’s like capsizing Las Vegas! Pity they seem to have decided to model the characters after _Beyond the Poseidon Adventure_ instead of the original. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/25 "2006-05-15T17:09:12Z")
I was just thinking along these lines recently, while watching **Moby Dick**. I wouldn’t remake the film – it’s great as is. I would just replace the titular Whale with CGI. The problem isn’t so much the whale itself (which is fairly good, except its jaw flops open unconvincingly), models-in-a-tank technology could never make the water itself convincing. Water doesn’t miniaturize well; so splashes and wakes look stupid. (You see this in any old sailing movie with ships firing broadsides at each other. The ships themselves could look wonderfully realistic, but the splashes of cannonballs alongside them would be these stupid little “doinks”.) ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/26 "2006-05-15T17:18:46Z")
Actually, I’m rather looking forward to living long enough to see the entire Star Wars saga re-done at some point. 🙂 I’m not talking about taking the re-touching the same films, or adding in some new special effects…I’m talking about a whole new cast, new script (that follows the spirit of the original, but with better dialogue and better plot), etc. With that in mind, I would love to see a new remake of, say, Blade Runner. -XT ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/27 "2006-05-15T17:21:11Z")
Oh, and now that I think about it…if we can go beyond a movie and into a series…I’d like to see the Richard Sharpe series re-done so that its closer to the books, and with some really cool special effects (or at least more accuracy in the battles). -XT ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/28 "2006-05-15T17:40:44Z")
Add me to the list of people who thought redoing The Poseidon Adventure with all the nifty newfangled special effects was gonna be righteous. After reading the reviews and seeing star Josh Lucas talking about it, I don’t know if I’ll even rent it when it comes out. I think North by Nortwest would be a good choice. Imagine that scene with the crop duster if it looked even a little bit real, and Cary Grant’s suit if it got a little rumpled. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/29 "2006-05-15T18:52:24Z")
[QUOTE=WOOKINPANUB] I think North by Nortwest would be a good choice. Imagine that scene with the crop duster if it looked even a little bit real, and Cary Grant’s suit if it got a little rumpled. [/QUOTE] Wouldn’t have made the slightest difference. The scene works as it is. ---
**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:** [May 15, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/30 "2006-05-15T19:09:26Z")
> [@](#): > > I think North by Nortwest would be a good choice. Imagine that scene with the crop duster if it looked even a little bit real, and Cary Grant’s suit if it got a little rumpled. I don’t understand this – the scene looked real to me as it was. Didn’t they have a real crop-duster flying around? Wasn’t Grant running around in a field in most of the shots? I don’t even recall any of the scenes having the tell-tale “false edge” of blue-screening (aside from the shot where the plane blows up). His suit did get dirty, but could have been more rumpled. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/31 "2006-05-15T19:10:21Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Wouldn’t have made the slightest difference. The scene works as it is. [/QUOTE] I thought the scene \*was \* real. Was it shot using back-projection? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/32 "2006-05-15T19:12:59Z")
[QUOTE=MaxTheVool] I actually thought **The Poseidon Adventure** was a good choice. I mean, a bunch of people are trapped in a boat that has flipped upside down. That’s a DAMN good premise for a thriller. Sadly, the reviews have been lackluster. [/QUOTE] I, for one, enjoyed it thoroughly. My formula: Emmy Rossum + IMAX Screen = Who cares about the plot? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/33 "2006-05-15T19:18:31Z")
Don’t get me wrong; I really like North by Northwest, but realistic looking it aint. I watched it for the first time in a long time yesterday afternoon and was stunned by how unreal the stunts looked. Didn’t subtract from my enjoyment, but it was noticable (to me) nonetheless. The crop duster scenes were indeed done having a film of the plane in the background and Cary doing his thing partially in the field and partially on a sound stage. He and the plane were never in the same place together. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/34 "2006-05-15T20:20:53Z")
Heck if you’re being picky, the green-screen is appallingly obvious in _The African Queen_, but I think a remake just for _that_ would be kinda pointless. Somebody somewhere must have a Captain Marvel (Billy Batson version) script lying around, which could certainly be filmed much better today than the 1941 serial or the 1970s TV series. For that matter, the state of the art finally allows comic-book characters of _all_ kinds to have their powers depicted in a reasonably convincing manner. ---
**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:** [May 15, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/35 "2006-05-15T20:39:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Don’t get me wrong; I really like North by Northwest, but realistic looking it aint. I watched it for the first time in a long time yesterday afternoon and was stunned by how unreal the stunts looked. Didn’t subtract from my enjoyment, but it was noticable (to me) nonetheless. The crop duster scenes were indeed done having a film of the plane in the background and Cary doing his thing partially in the field and partially on a sound stage. He and the plane were never in the same place together. Yeah, but I think your claim that “it doesn’t look close to real” is way too harsh. Aside from that one shot, most of it looks fine to me. I really don’t see the point in remaking it. Someone could clean up the effects in African Queen (the splashes when they go over the falls are really bad cases of bad green screen), but I wouldn’t go farther than that. about 20 years ago people _were_ shooting new scenes for some films. I think **Rocketship XM** was one of them. I _really_ son’t see the point there – that’s one flick that wasn’t worth the trouble of making in the first place. And there’s at least one case of redoing the effects with CGI – the most recent DVD realease of **Star Trek – The Motion Picture** fixedup some of the original effects, and added ones to scenes that were shot but never completed. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/36 "2006-05-15T20:45:48Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Yeah, but I think your claim that “it doesn’t look close to real” is way too harsh. Aside from that one shot, most of it looks fine to me. I really don’t see the point in remaking it. [/QUOTE] Not so much a "claim’ as my _opinion_, and therefore not right or wrong. And the scenes on Mount Rushmore, ya know _the climax of the movie_, could be much better done today too. ---
**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:** [May 15, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/37 "2006-05-15T20:54:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Not so much a "claim’ as my opinion, and therefore not right or wrong. And the scenes on Mount Rushmore, ya know the climax of the movie, could be much better done today too. You’re welcome to your opinion, but yiou shouldn’t abuse the English language by saying “if it looked only a little bit real”. That’s appropriate when descruibing Flash Gordon serial spaceships with cigarette smoke coming out the back, but seem inappropriate when describing actual film footage of an actual crop-dusting biplane. And, yeah, the shots from the top of Mount Rushmore (and the one from the top of the UN Building) could’ve been done better today. Actually, they could’ve been done better back then. The shots of the Wright-esque house of Van Damm were matte paintings, but they looked fine, and still do. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/38 "2006-05-15T21:11:46Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] I’d like to see the whole “Rocky Jones: Space Ranger” series redone with modern special effects and sets. Keep the plots and so forth goofy, just make it look better. I bet it would be even funnier. [/QUOTE] Seconded! I got two episodes on a DVD for Christmas just by luck - my wife didn’t know I watched Rocky religiously as a kid. They stand up fairly well too. A new Rocky Jones series, or a movie, would be great. (The DVD came with two episodes of a Flash Gordon TV series I was unaware of. You wouldn’t like it - let’s say if the Dale on that series went to Saudi Arabia, they’d tell her to take off some clothes. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/39 "2006-05-15T21:22:48Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] You’re welcome to your opinion, but yiou shouldn’t abuse the English language by saying “if it looked only a little bit real”. That’s appropriate when descruibing Flash Gordon serial spaceships with cigarette smoke coming out the back, but seem inappropriate when describing actual film footage of an actual crop-dusting biplane. And, yeah, the shots from the top of Mount Rushmore (and the one from the top of the UN Building) could’ve been done better today. Actually, they could’ve been done better back then. The shots of the Wright-esque house of Van Damm were matte paintings, but they looked fine, and still do. [/QUOTE] Perhaps it’s because of my being used to today’s special effects and I forget how it was done back in the day. I mean no disrespect to Mr. Hitchcock or to his many fans. Hell, _I’m_ one of his many fans, but I was honestly, consciously thinking how fake it looked. In fact, when I watched the “making of” segment and Eva Marie Saint confesses to feeling like a traitor for revealing how the scene was done, I thought “well, duh, it doesn’t even look real”. Again, doesn’t lessen the film for me, I was just contributing based on the premise that some key scenes in this film relied on special effects and could perhaps benefit from today’s technology. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692/40 "2006-05-15T21:27:55Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] You’re welcome to your opinion, but yiou shouldn’t abuse the English language by saying “if it looked only a little bit real”. That’s appropriate when descruibing Flash Gordon serial spaceships with cigarette smoke coming out the back, but seem inappropriate when describing actual film footage of an actual crop-dusting biplane. And, yeah, the shots from the top of Mount Rushmore (and the one from the top of the UN Building) could’ve been done better today. Actually, they could’ve been done better back then. The shots of the Wright-esque house of Van Damm were matte paintings, but they looked fine, and still do. [/QUOTE] Perhaps it’s because of my being used to today’s special effects and I forget how it was done back in the day. I mean no disrespect to Mr. Hitchcock or to his many fans. Hell, _I’m_ one of his many fans, but I was honestly, consciously thinking how fake it looked. In fact, when I watched the “making of” segment and Eva Marie Saint confesses to feeling like a traitor for revealing how the scene was done, I thought “well, duh, it doesn’t even look real”. Again, doesn’t lessen the film for me, I was just contributing based on the premise that some key scenes in this film relied on special effects and could perhaps benefit from today’s technology. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-_should_-be-remade-with-modern-special-effects/356692.md?page=3)