How about a remake?

A solid idea. I'm generally leery of remakes, but in this case I think it could be rather good. The grit and rawness (and skin...) that had to be taken out of the original for censorship reasons can go back in (i.e. the men are in shorts in that heat and the nurses get stuck cooking in full-length trousers. I wonder how long they would have waited to cut those damn things away?). It will take a top-notch cast and director to do it though, since the original was so good, so everyone involved had better bring their "A" game.

As for personnel, Branagh could be an excellent Anson, or maybe Johnny Depp (who is good at the kind of hyperactive nervousness central to Anson's character). Maybe Kate Winslett or Rachel Weisz as Sister Murdoch (surely the greatest fictitious nurse England ever sent to war). How about Daniel Craig or Hugh Jackman for Van der Poel? Robson Green, Jack Davenport or Kevin Whately for Tom Pugh? And Billie Piper as Sister Norton. You can fill in the rest, but they've all got to be sharp supporting players.

FRO

I'd rather not.

Nobody knows the book and would be even less likely to read it now. In the end it would just be another trans-Atlantic mash up of excessively well-publicised mega stars which would bore the pants off me and a lot of others.

Sorry to rain on your parade but I don't think there's anything wrong enough with the original that could be improved on in a remake. Remakes are just an excuse for a lack of imagination these days and they invariably disappoint.

I'm all for great movies, but truly think a remake would only be able to equal this, so making a remake here is fighting a losing battle, like trying to push a huge vehicle up a hill. I mean, who would try that?

It's the very simplicity that makes this a very effective war action-drama-adventure. The characters are what make this what it is. I don't see any way to improve on it overall. I didn't like the constant pushing uphill, but that's what the director wanted. He got what he wanted. A new director would probably make it even more of a trudgery, more than I would want to take while sitting with a popcorn and coke.



JFK blown away, what more do I have to say?

It would never work. The hero - and there will have to be a hero, would have to be American and probably black. The two nurses would be required to be lesbian lovers; I suppose they would manage to squeeze in an Englishman somewhere but he would have to play some kind of evil, aristocratic coward. Oh and it would have to be in 3-D!