MovieChat Forums > Rear Window (1998) Discussion > Remakes in general and re Rear Window

Remakes in general and re Rear Window

posted 17 years ago by davfried-1
19 replies | jump to latest

Maybe somebody could steer me to a remake that was better than the original... Lost Horizons? No. The King and I? No. There's just something about the original that caught most viewer's attention and made them believe it to be a real masterpiece and that's hard to overcome in a remake. Is it a parallel work in every way? I think that cannot be. Is it the identical story and scenes done in a new way? Maybe that could succeed but only with exactly the right cast and locations. Is it a somewhat new story done in the same way? Maybe.

I must've seen Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly do this story 8 or 10 times before seeing the attempt by Christopher Reeve and Daryl Hannah. I really didn't expect to see identicallity due to Reeve's physical condition but, subconciously, I was watching for how he compared to Stewart and, in my mind, it was just a jumble. That's not to say that he didn't do a simply great job in the role but, just that my expectations were not being met and, I believe that that unfullfilled expectation is what detracts from every remake.

Please let me hear from you if you believe a certain movie remake (not a series remake like Sherlock Holmes) is better than the original.

[–] dr_mario_rules 17 years ago

I liked the Remake of the Thing by John Carpenter...

[–] kid606 16 years ago

The remake of The Fly is certainly far better than the original (albeit almost completely different except for the central premise).

I think the thing is there are certain films (like, say, the original The Fly) which have lots of interesting ideas but don't quite turn out as well as they might have done. Those are the kind of films that should be remade. Hitchcock's films, almost without exception, are about as perfect as they could possibly be so by attempting to remake them you're only setting yourself up for a fall (see also: Gus Van Sant).

Bront 2 win!

http://soundclick.com/muddskipper

[–] Kananga_PromNight 16 years ago

Ben Hur?

[–] Poppa T 16 years ago

Cleopatra!

I guess technological advances sometimes do help to make a better film.

[–] pollyf-1 16 years ago

Sure, I can name three:

Man on Fire (Original, 1957, first remake 1987, Second remake, 2004)

Cape Fear (Original 1961, Remake 1991)

Little Shop of Horrors (Original 1960, Remake 1986)

[–] rambler37 16 years ago

Sorry Pollyf-1 but Man On Fire 1957 has nothing to do with the other two which were based on a book by A J Quinnell

Regards
Rambler37

[–] kid606 16 years ago

Heat is obviously better than LA Takedown.

Bront 2 win!

http://soundclick.com/muddskipper

[–] martini-29 15 years ago

Unfair to cite big budget remakes of low budget cult films. Cape Fear is debatable.

My vote goes to John Huston's The Maltese Falcon which was miles better than either of the first two versions, although neither previous version was close to being a classic.

I can't think of any generally-accepted classic which was remade successfully.

[–] oversplayer 15 years ago

I completely agree that John Huston's version of "The Maltese Falcon" is without a doubt the best remake ever. But I couldn't disagree more about "Cape Fear." The original is a magnificent combination of subtlety and the building up of suspense. And Robert Mitchum's Max Cady may well be the best performance of his career. Conversely, the remake is just putrid - crass, obnoxious, disgusting. The only aspects that are worthwhile are the cameos by Mitchum, Peck, and Martin Balsam. Plus, of course, any film deserves kudos for having Joe Don Baker in it, much less Joe Don's cousin, Fred Dalton Thompson.
One of my very favorite remakes (although the original was also extremely good)is Don Seigel's 1964 version of "The Killers" with John Cassavetes in the Burt Lancaster role, Angie Dickinson in the part played by Ava Gardner, and, in his last film, Ronald Reagan as the chief bad guy (originally played by Albert Dekker). However, the main advantage of the remake is the star: Lee Marvin as one of the two killers. Very possibly his best performance ever also. Not that the original killers weren't wonderful (William Conrad and Charles McGraw). But Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager? It started out as a TV movie but was rejected because of too much violence. (It's exceedingly tame by today's standards.)
Cape Fear? Ugh. Well, I guess it's the eye of the beholder....

[–] drjukebox 14 years ago

Whooaa! Another Joe Don Baker afficionado! :o)

[–] pjwoodall1 12 years ago

Buster Crabbe was once asked what he thought of Star Wars. "It's Flash Gordon on a bigger budget than I ever had."

[–] Black-Fandango 14 years ago

Nosferatu (original 1922, remake 1979)

You talk so much, and yet, you say so little.

[–] MaximSinclair 13 years ago

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre?
King Kong?
The Amityville Horror?

[–] pjwoodall1 12 years ago

Drag Me to Hell is funnier than Curse of The Demon. This is strange because I generally avoid remakes, sequels and prequels although my first screenplay was a variation on The Wages of Fear.

I recently found that The Man Who Haunted Himself with Roger Moore was a remake of an old Alfred Hitchcok show called The Case of Mr. Pelham starring Tom Ewell. It's about a man who finds his life is seeming being taken over by somebody who is his double. Very strange to find Roger Moore playing a role created by Tom Ewell.

I saw the Moore film years ago, btw, and remember nothing about it.

[–] boogles 12 years ago

I prefer the remake of Cape Fear. It seems to add more of shades of gray to the characters. I accept it get a little OTT towards the end, though.

Maltese Falcon remake is the best version.

The Departed is a worthy film, but not quite up to the original Infernal Affairs.

I watched the remake of Rear Window today. Pretty good, and I like the use of the high tech stuff. A different take on the original story, but not up to the original. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be(I have heard a lot of bad press about it).

Remake of Sleuth was interesting, but perhaps didn't come off as well.

Never Say Never Again, despite having a jokey style, I actually preferred to Thunderball. Thunderball had too much bloat in the script.

Generally, I am not a fan of the remakes, as I think that original ideas seem to work better, but there are a few remakes that work out, and sometimes surpass the original.

[–] deflemonflix 10 years ago

How about the wizard of oz which i believe had been made a number of times before the one most people know as the "original" from 1939. Fistful of dollars is also a remake of sorts it hard to argue anyone one could improve on a Kurosawa flick but its still a great movie. Then theres Hitchcock himself who wasn't above a remake either with the number 17 and the The Manxman.

While i'd agree most remakes may not turn out better than the original i'm sure nobody goes into it thinking. Hey i know, lets make a crap version of that film just to annoy people on the internet. What many remakes seem to do tho is introduce people to the original which they may otherwise never have watched. Then theres always that small chance that someone will disagree with the majority and actually prefer the remake. By all accounts Stephen King hates the Kubrick version of the shining and thinks the tv remake is the better adaptation of his book.

[–] vlad-taushanov 9 years ago

Ransom (1996) is a remake of Ransom! (1956). It's arguable which one's better.

The absolute greatest remake ever has to be Always (1989), a remake of A Guy Named Joe (1943) (and my favourite movie).

V.

[–] wataru-7 8 years ago

Brain de Palma's Scarface (1983)is in my opinion better than Howard Hawk's version (1932). Not that Hawk's movie is a bad movie, far from it, but De Palma's version seems to add a lot more to the story.

Everybody censors, including you.

[–] akalexis 8 years ago

The remake of Ocean's Eleven and the other Ocean's movies are much better than the original movie starring Dean Martin et al., that I watched. But that is the only example that I can think of, right off hand ...

I'm a woman, Mary. I can be as contrary as I choose. - The Dowager Countess (Downton Abbey)