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The recently remade movie, The Mechanic, was a much better film than the original. I agree that the remake of True Grit is better than the original but John Wayne is one actor I have a hard time watching.
Because nobody would bother to remake an original that was NOT good, so because the original was, by definition, Good, it is too unlikely that the remake will be equal to it..
Try to imagine someone deciding to remake "Ishtar" or "Gigli". Yes, the remake would have a good chance of being better, but so what?
My take: because "re-makers" are long on ego, short on talent, and even shorter on recognizing masterpieces that are best left alone as shining examples.
I'm thinking of two movies, in particular, that I really liked the original but couldn't stand the remake:
The Haunting
The Flight of the Phoenix
I suppose there are some exceptions, but I can't think of any.
1) The premise is flawed -- some remakes are indeed better than the original. For example, The Wizard Of Oz (1939 version). For another example, The Thing (1982)
That said...
2) Most remade movies were popular, and well done -- above average, anyway -- in the first place. It thus stands to reason that a remake, falling somewhere on the great-to-terrible movie curve, won't fall in the minority 'better' range.
3) Many remade movies are disliked for precisely one flaw -- not being the original. People fall in love with a movie and no different version can ever measure up in their eyes.
Two remakes that immediately come to my mind as being superior to thier originals are True Grit and also 3:10 to Yuma.
I am just the opposite. With True Grit, no one can top the John Wayne performance and I felt Jeff Bridges was an imitation and a poor one at that. The girl in the original True Grit was perfect, Kim Darby,so quirky.
Rooster Cogburn: "Fill your hands, you son of a b itch!"
Glenn Ford and Van Helflin were superb in their respective roles in "3:10 to Yuma". the camera work was amazing, better than HIgh Noon. Ford was so soft spoken but deadly. To me, Heflin was more the "any man" and not pretty....no, I love the original and I am a huge Russell Crowe fan.
Flight of the Phoenix, just watched the remake the other day and did not think it was a bad movie. It was just that the original was a classic.
Nothing could ever be better than the original "Twelve Angry Men". The camera work, again, contributed so much to the movie, along with the towering talents of the actors involved...Hank Fonda, Lee J Cobb, Martin Balsam.....
I loved the original Cape Fear. Robert Mitchum scared the heck out of me.
JMO
My take: because "re-makers" are long on ego, short on talent, and even shorter on recognizing masterpieces that are best left alone as shining examples. 08-03-2011 01:10 AM
My take: because "re-makers" are long on ego, short on talent, and even shorter on recognizing masterpieces that are best left alone as shining examples. 08-03-2011 01:10 AM
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Mechanic
