Movie remakes that are better than the originals

[The Cellar]

Sort of a corollary to Steve's "Sequels" thread.

It's no secret that a remake hardly ever does justice to the original, mostly because of the "If it ain't broke..." principle. But what remakes are more worthwhile than their earlier incarnations? Here are a few that come to mind:

"A Star is Born" (1954, with Judy Garland)
"The Man Who Knew Too Much"
"The Lord of the Rings"

And if we stretch the definition of remake a bit, we can add the Spanish version of the 1931 "Dracula", filmed at the same time as the English-language version and better in every way except for not having Bela Lugosi.

[RDK]

"The Maltese Falcon" (John Huston's 1941 remake is a classic; better than the 1931 film)

More arguable is the 1944 remake of "Gaslight." It's better known, but some feel the 1940 British film is superior.

[guy incognito]

I disagree on The Man Who Knew Too Much. To me, the 1934 version is the "keeper", not least because (a.) It's got Peter Lorre and (b.) It hasn't got Doris Day.

I like Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers better than the original. It has a better, darker ending and the idea of the pod people taking over a huge metropolis is more frightening to me than their taking over a small town.

The big '50s Biblical epics (The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur) surpass the silent originals, IMO.

[The Cellar]

Originally posted by guy incognito
I disagree on The Man Who Knew Too Much. To me, the 1934 version is the "keeper", not least because (a.) It's got Peter Lorre and (b.) It hasn't got Doris Day.

We'll agree to disagree. Although your point (b) gives me some doubts. :D

I like Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers better than the original. It has a better, darker ending and the idea of the pod people taking over a huge metropolis is more frightening to me than their taking over a small town.

I forgot about that one. I definitely agree with you there.

[Roscoe]

Ocean's Eleven - As much as I love the Rat Pack, the original looks like it was more fun to make than to actually watch.

[Ron Stone]

The Jack Nicholson/Jessica Lange 1981 remake of THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE is wonderful, featuring a gritty David Mamet script, terrific performances, and for those who care about such things, a bit more of Ms. Lange than she'd be willing to reveal again. Most movie buffs will prefer the original with Lana Turner, though.

The Micheal Mann version of LAST OF THE MOHICANS is a personal favorite, especially Wes Studi as Magua. The battle scenes are scary, and the drama believable. Apparently some changes were made to the film for the DVD release, and this has fans furious, judging from the amazon.com reviews.

1995's ROB ROY is my all-time favorite, featuring a Shakespearean script (every action is carefully presaged), tremendous acting, two-count-'em-two Academy Award nominated bad guys you want to reach through the screen and strangle (Tim Roth's Archibald Cunningham and John Hurt's Marquis of Montrose), and the greatest sword fight in the history of cinema: you'll cringe at every cut. I loan this one out and get responses like, "Why aren't all movies this good?" The DVD'll cost you all of $10.

[Hawklord]

John Carpenter's "The Thing"
David Cronenberg's "The Fly"
"A Bug's Life" remake of "The Seven Samurai" (Just Kidding)

[Beatlelennon65]

There were several versions of His Girl Friday. One was with Cary Grant. One was called the Newspaper (I think) and starred Walter Matthau and the other dude (I think). There were about 5 other verisons of this movie too. Anybody have any info as to which were better?

I always think that people who remake classic movies are stupid. What they should do is remake movies that are just ok. It is the same principle as covering songs of the Beatles. Why do it? Do you reall think you can improve on Cant Buy Me Love or Casablanca? Somebody should remake some movies that did ok but were not classics. There is plenty of room for improvement

[Michael]

Cape Fear...Bobby was killer in that one!

[Khorn]

I've always liked the Philip Marlowe portrayal in The Big Sleep (1978) with Robert Mitchum better than the Humphrey Bogart one in the Howard Hawks 1946 version.

I know, I know, you think I'm nuts!

[John Moschella]

Some of these mentions I really agree with.

Last of the Mohicans is way better than the 30's version. The newest DVD is great as well and I like the changes.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers; There were three versions of this, one was kind of loose but the version with Southerland was far superior the the 50s camp version.

I would add Michael Radford's 1984 being superior to the 50s version. This is a stunning film just released on DVD and it looks great.

[John Moschella]

Originally posted by Khorn
I've always liked the Philip Marlowe portrayal in The Big Sleep (1978) with Robert Mitchum better than the Humphrey Bogart one in the Howard Hawks 1946 version.

I know, I know, you think I'm nuts!

You're right, you're right, I think your nuts. How can you say that!!

[John Moschella]

Originally posted by Michael
Cape Fear...Bobby was killer in that one!

I like Scorsses Cape Fear but I would hessitate to say its better than the original. Mitchum played it much differently than DeNiro. Mitchum was physically imposing while DeNiro was more psychological. On this one I would come down on the side of the original.

[Ken_McAlinden]

Originally posted by guy incognito
I disagree on The Man Who Knew Too Much. To me, the 1934 version is the "keeper", not least because (a.) It's got Peter Lorre and (b.) It hasn't got Doris Day.
I agree with the conclusion, but not the reasons :) The 1934 version is a bit more tightly constructed and plays better as a result. I do like the first half hour of the remake better than the opening of the original, but the ending of the remake just seems to go on a bit too long. Despite the absence of Peter Lorre, I thought the villains in the remake were pretty well played. :)

Regards,

[John Moschella]

Originally posted by Beatlelennon65
There were several versions of His Girl Friday. One was with Cary Grant. One was called the Newspaper (I think) and starred Walter Matthau and the other dude (I think). There were about 5 other verisons of this movie too. Anybody have any info as to which were better?



The Walter Matthau/Jack Lemmon version is called The Front Page and was directed, I believe, by Billy Wilder. Its an OK film, but nowhere near as good as the Cary Grant/Rosalind Russell His Girl Friday that was directed by Howard Hawks. The latter film practiaclly invented the fast talking back and forth dialogue popularized in modern films like Pulp Fiction. Stick with the original on this one.

[Ken_McAlinden]

Originally posted by Khorn
I've always liked the Philip Marlowe portrayal in The Big Sleep (1978) with Robert Mitchum better than the Humphrey Bogart one in the Howard Hawks 1946 version.

I know, I know, you think I'm nuts! I disagree strongly on this one, but if you were comparing Robert Mitchum's Marlowe from "Farewell My Lovely" (1975) to Bogart's Marlowe in "The Big Sleep" (1946), I could at least see where you were coming from. :)

I thought the Big Lebowski was a better remake of The Big Sleep than the 1978 version set in England. :)

Regards,

[Ken_McAlinden]

Originally posted by Beatlelennon65
There were several versions of His Girl Friday. One was with Cary Grant. One was called the Newspaper (I think) and starred Walter Matthau and the other dude (I think). There were about 5 other verisons of this movie too. Anybody have any info as to which were better?


The Ben Hecht/Charles MacArthur play, "The Front Page" has been filmed several times.

1931 Dir: Lewis Milestone Hildy: Pat O'Brien Burns: Adolphe Menjou
1940 "His Girl Friday" Dir: Howard Hawks Hildy: Rosalind Russel Burns: Cary Grant
1974 Dir: Billy Wilder Hildy: Jack Lemmon Burns: Walter Matthau
1988 "Switching Channels" Dir: Ted Kotcheff Hildy (Christy): Kathleen Turner Burns (Sullivan): Burt Reynolds

"His Girl Friday" is my favorite, but there is a lot to like about the 1931 and 1974 versions, too.

I always think that people who remake classic movies are stupid. What they should do is remake movies that are just ok. It is the same principle as covering songs of the Beatles. Why do it? Do you reall think you can improve on Cant Buy Me Love or Casablanca? Somebody should remake some movies that did ok but were not classics. There is plenty of room for improvement This was along the lines of why Hitchcock avoided adapting "Great Novels". If a piece of art has reached its definitive expression as a novel, why would you want to make it sub-definitive in another medium?

I still await the definitive "King Solomon's Mines", although the Stewart Granger/Deborah Kerr remake from 1950 is my favorite - slightly edging out its 1937 predecessor. It seems like someone could improve on the ending, but it certainly wasn't the folks who made the dreadful version in the 80s.

Regards,

[Khorn]

Originally posted by John Moschella


You're right, you're right, I think your nuts. How can you say that!!

At Last!! I've finally found someone in this forum that agrees with me.

[ATR]

Originally posted by Ken_McAlinden
I disagree strongly on this one, but if you were comparing Robert Mitchum's Marlowe from "Farewell My Lovely" (1975) to Bogart's Marlowe in "The Big Sleep" (1946), I could at least see where you were coming from. :)

I thought the Big Lebowski was a better remake of The Big Sleep than the 1978 version set in England. :)

Regards,

My wife and I are fans of The Big Lebowski, and I'd been telling people for years that it's actually a remake of The Big Sleep, but for some reason I recently started doubting my own take on it. Thanks for supporting my long held belief. Of course, The Big Sleep is so famously incoherent that you could take substantial liberties and still call what you were doing a remake. Jeez, you could even turn it into a comedy and have the detective be an acid casualty bowling bum. As I already mentioned in the thread on better sequels, my all-time improvement upon remake is Cronenberg's The Fly, which has already been mentioned.

[Beatlelennon65]

I enjoyed the Big Lebowski but had no idea it was a remake of The Big Sleep. Of course I never really understood TBS because of all the plot twist bs. One day I will buy the dvd with both versions.

Are all the versions of HIs Girl Friday available on DVD? I think I have seen the Cary Grant version, but I am not sure about the others.

[John Moschella]

I have seen both The Big Sleep and The Big Lebowski many times each. To consider the latter a re-make is a bit strong. Lebowski is very loosely based satire on the former and even that is a stretch. By that reasoning Spaceballs is a re-make of Star Wars.

While the plot of the Big Sleep is notoriously hard (impossible) to follow, that is part of its charm, that and Bogart. The alternate version on the DVD is also interesting and is a little easier to follow.

[Ken_McAlinden]

Lebowski is not exactly a parody a la Spaceballs. It borrows the basic structure of The Big Sleep (pornography, blackmail plot, war time setting) and replaces the hard nosed detective at the center of it with, well, The Dude. Then there's the cowboy narrator and the bowling... ;)

Regards,