I think the best remake ever is a movie most people don't even realize was a remake--and the third version no less.

The Maltese Falcon.

The original (also called the Maltese Falcon) was straightforward and uninspired. The second was a bizarre flick called Satan Takes a Lady with Arthur Treacher in the Peter Lorre role and a woman (I forget who) in the Syndey GreetStreet role. It was beguilingly bad.

The Bogie version is just about perfect, and almost scene-for-scene and word-for-word taken from the novel. The 1931 version is also very faithful to the source and quite interesting, especially as a pre-Code flick. Satan Met a Lady is definitely the weakest of the three, but it does have Bette Davis!

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Originally posted by mark f:
The Bogie version is just about perfect, and almost scene-for-scene and word-for-word taken from the novel. The 1931 version is also very faithful to the source and quite interesting, especially as a pre-Code flick. Satan Met a Lady is definitely the weakest of the three, but it does have Bette Davis!

That's right, Bette Davis! How could I forget the bizarre ending where she is lead off to prison exchanging flirtatious remarks like she was rushing off to the ladies room.

Do you know the story about the Houston screenplay? Apparently he told his secretary to take the novel and just block it out in screenplay format while he was out of town. Jack Warner picked up the secretary’s work from Houston's desk, read it and told Houston "It's perfect--don't change a thing!"

The only changes from the novel were the deletion of Spade's Flitcraft story (about finding a missing man who had wandered off when a falling safe had just missed him) and the description of Spade himself, who was described as a blond bear or a blond Satan. Otherwise even the character descriptions sink up with the actors they used. It's the greatest remake by a long shot.

Worst: Definately....Psycho....The Vanishing close second. Waste o'film or even thought to try and duplicate those films.

Best: Cape Fear was over-the-top Scorsese but worth it to see him try that on for size.

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Furnace Is Fiery posted:

Worst: Definately....Psycho....The Vanishing close second. Waste o'film or even thought to try and duplicate those films.

Best: Cape Fear was over-the-top Scorsese but worth it to see him try that on for size.

I had forgotten about the remake of Psycho partly because I never saw it but I heard about it, a lot when it came out and I remember Vanishing. Sound like two good calls to me. Apparently the remake of Psycho was a clone of the first original down to the dialogue and play and play action. So why make it?

I'm going to get some s#@& for this, but I though that the new Planet of the Apes was better then the old one! In the new one, the ape civilization was portrayed as a working, social society, with towns, schools, and a government just like us. The old one lacked this intresting development.

The worst remake was When a Stranger Calls. Not much to explain about this one, just a downright lousy hunk o' junk.

I won't give you any @#$%, but I believe you have mischaracterized the first film. The ape society had all the elements you mentioned.

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badmovielover21 posted 17 June 2006:

I'm going to get some s#@& for this, but I though that the new Planet of the Apes was better then the old one! In the new one, the ape civilization was portrayed as a working, social society, with towns, schools, and a government just like us. The old one lacked this intresting development.

Like The Sixth Sense (1999), The Planet of the Apes (1968) based on Pierre Boulle's novel with a screenplay by Rod Serling (of the original Twilight Zone fame) and Michael Wilson had the amazing twist at the very end of the movie that remains a classic to this day. It would be almost impossible to out class such and ending because of its unexpected nature at the time the original movie came out. The Tim Burton 2001 remake wasn't able to duplicate the intensity and sheer shock of its ending that was somewhat predictable (just because of the movie endings that have already been made). In my mind one of the most controversial alterations made in the remake is having the native human population be able to talk unlike the original version making the whole eerie dynamic of alternate universes even more pronounced. The original in my mind was more focused on the essence of the sci fi movie drama for its portrayal of the fragility of the human astronauts and of humankind on the planet. The survival of the entire cast of humans in the original movie was always in doubt and in fact the sequel to the original movie Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) was one of the best sci fi sequels of all time because it highlighted the differences from the original and the ending was a biting social commentary at the time.

the best..king kong..the nutty professor-the worst..stagecoach.

Critics weren't given a preview screening of The Pink Panther(2006), which is always a sure indication that even the execs recognise it as pants.

I enjoyed Far From Heaven (2002), which is less a remake of a specific film than a genre hommage to the Douglas Sirk films of the 1950s.

I certainly enjoyed Far From Heaven, but yeah, it was something like a satirical homage to Imitation of Life, Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows and a few other Sirk flicks from the '50s. Did you know that Sirk made some good screwball comedies in the early '50s, let alone all the movies he made in the two previous decades?

Sinse my orginal post I have seen the "Pink Panther" and longed for Peter Sellers. As much as I like Steve Martin, this was too big a cultural character for him.

As of this weekend I have to add The Wicker Man.

I didn't see THE WICKER MAN remake, but it must have been a real clunker because it was dumped into theatres Labor Day weekend and the studio didn't even screen it for the critics so the review appeared Saturday instead of Friday.

And THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE remake crashed and burned. The original is real clunky and is valued only for its camp value today. I didn't see the remake, but it was a critical and box office bomb.

the thomas crown affair was a pretty bad remake.

oceans 11 wasnt to bad tho, not great, but not too bad

Gotta agree about THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR remake. I thought it was more mediocre than bad. To tell you the truth, I wasn't crazy about the original either. All those multiple frames make it feel dated.

I hated both OCEANS 11 & 12, but love, absolutely love, the original OCEANS 11. Sinatra, who sat out WWII safely on the sidelines, had his wet dream in the original OCEANS as he was able tofantasize and make his character a war hero.

Meanwhile, I was thinking about Jackie Earle Haley, who was the ringer in the original BAD NEWS BEARS and who is very good in LITTLE CHILDREN. I had an epiphany when I realized that Richard Linklater remade BAD NEWS BEARS a summer or two ago. I've seen the original on video a couple of times and while not a great film by any stretch, it is so politically incorrect. Walter Matthau is a howl as he drinks and drives among other things. I didn't see the remake.

And speaking of Haley, he was also in the recent remake of ALL THE KING'S MEN, which received some of the worst reviews of the year. He was about the only one who came about from that abomination unscathed. With KING'S and LITTLE CHILDREN, Haley is having a career renaissance. The KING'S remake was a real troubled production, sitting on the shelf for over a year as director Steve Zaillian tried to salvage something, but I guess it just didn't work. They said Sean Penn & Jude Law, in particular, were badly miscast in the remake.

A few others that come to mind.

FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX. Robert Aldrich's somewhat clunky version is at least watchable and Jimmy Stewart is in it so that automatically makes it worth a view, but the remake, which Dennis Quaid, among others was in, sank like a stone when it was released a year or two ago. I didn't see it.

RASHOMON/OUTRAGE. The original, which put Kurosawa on the map, is a certified classic and the title even entered into our vocabulary. Hollywood, in the sixties, remade it starring Paul Newman. The remake isn't bad, though nowhere near the classic the original is.

PSYCHO. C'mon. What was Gus Van Sant thinking of with his shot-for-shot remake? A stunt. And poor Vince Vaughn. How could anyone compare with Tony Perkins original Norman Bates? In fact, Perkins was typecast after that. In every movie he was subsequently in, I didn't see Tony Perkins, I saw Norman Bates.

BRIEF ENCOUNTER. The David Lean original is indeed a classic, but the made-for-tv remake in the 1970s starring Burton & Loren is not anywhere near as good as the original, but is certainly watchable.

PLANET OF THE APES. The original is a classic. Even the wooden Charlton Heston couldn't ruin it. I'm not a Tim Burton fan, but the remake, starring Mark Wahlberg, was bloody awful.

CHARADE/THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE. I'm not a huge fan of the Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn original, but with those two how can you go wrong? What was Jonathan Demme thinking when he tried to remake it? It was originally slated to star Will Smith and pair him with the lovely Thandie Newton, but Smith dropped out and Demme recast with Mark Wahlberg and the film was just bloody awful. A mistake.

THE RING. I saw the original J Horror and thought it was a stinker. I saw the American remake starring Naomi Watts and I thought that was a stinker as well. J Horror is not my thing.

STAGECOACH. Another one where you say, you have got to be kidding? The original is a certified classic and the mid 1960s remake that starred Glen Campbell and an over-the-hill Bing Crosby was mediocre at best.

LOVE AFFAIR/AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER/LOVE AFFAIR. I didn't like any of these movies. The original, 1930s version, paired Charles Boyer & Irene Dunne; the first remake paired Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr and was retitled as AATR; the third version, paired real life lovers Warren Beatty & Annette Bening and featured Kate Hepburn, with her shaking head, in the role played by Marie Ouspenska (sic) in the original. The Beatty version was real, real bad and a box office bomb. Serves him right.

OPEN YOUR EYES/VANILLA SKY. This is a rare example of a succesful original and a successful remake. OPEN YOUR EYES is a Spanish Film that did get a limited release in the U.S., but I don't think it received the attention it should have. EYES director Alejandro Amenabar went on to direct THE OTHERS with Nicole Kidman.

Cameron Crowe remade EYES as VANILLA SKY with mega-star Tom Cruise starring.

I thought both were good movies.

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ChrisFromAstoria Posted 17 October 2006 09:54 PM

OPEN YOUR EYES/VANILLA SKY. This is a rare example of a succesful original and a successful remake. OPEN YOUR EYES is a Spanish Film that did get a limited release in the U.S., but I don't think it received the attention it should have. EYES director Alejandro Amenabar went on to direct THE OTHERS with Nicole Kidman.

Cameron Crowe remade EYES as VANILLA SKY with mega-star Tom Cruise starring.

It's been a while since I saw both films, Eyes actually I so picked up after Vanilla Sky. I would have to say that I agree with your assessment. Both movie versions were intense and provided that twisting emotional impact - a credit for Tom Cruise, especially. Perhaps it had something to do with his co-star who had the opportunity to be in BOTH films.

I don't know why this popped up into my head, but back in the 80s' there was a Hollywood remake of BREATHLESS.

The original, Jean Luc Godard film is rightly considered a classic and a seminal movie with Jean Paul Belmondo & American ex pat Jean Seberg.

I remember liking the Jim McBride remake when I caught it on its original theatrical release, which starred Richard Gere, then white hot off AN OFFICER & A GENTLEMAN. I watched it again a number of years ago on video and it didn't hold up as well.

Valerie Kaprinsky, a French beauty, was the female lead in the remake, but she quickly disappeared from the big screen, at least on this side of the Atlantic.