A-List: Five Best Movie Remakes
By J. Don Birnam
June 12, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
First, the rules of the game. I will only list a movie here if I have seen both the original and the remake - enough to make an actual comparison and evaluate whether the movie improved on or was at least as good as the original. I will only list a movie here if it is a true remake - even if there are major plot differences - as opposed to a franchise reboot a la Spider-Man. And I will artificially limit myself to five in order to make the exercise challenging and interesting.
That leads me to a second, food-for-thought observation that may seem obvious to some but likely not as intuitive to others: the number of movie remakes out there is quite voluminous, to say the least. In researching for the article, I ran across many movies that I did not even realize were remakes. The number got so large that I briefly considered switching the column to the worst movie remakes (trash is easier to sort) but there are so many remakes that one could list dozens of bad reinventions of classic films as well. I may still write a “worst movie remakes of all-time” column, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to mention that titles such as the Psycho and the King Kong (2005) remakes deserve a special place in the dustbin of movie history.
And here are some good movie remakes that didn’t make the list below. Because I haven’t seen the original, I will not list the Coen Brothers’ True Grit, Christopher Nolan’s brilliant thriller Insomnia, or the solid caper The Italian Job. All three of those are excellent movies, but I do not have a basis upon which to compare them. And not making the list because I liked other remakes better are two horror classics - Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - the originals are just too solid for any remake to be worthy for me. But, surprisingly, you will find a horror entry in the list of best movie remakes ever (and it’s not The Thing).
I also felt the need to mention Vanilla Sky as a runner-up, based on the Spanish original Abre Los Ojos. I’ve always felt ambivalent about the remake but really enjoy the movies side-by-side because you get to see Penelope Cruz playing both female roles. Alas, Tom Cruise’s psycho-sexual thriller does not make the list.
Because I enjoyed each of these remakes so much, I actually went back and watched the original films as well. That is surely the hallmark of an enjoyable undertaking.
Having had plenty of ado…
The Birdcage
Based on the French original La Cage Aux Folles, itself based on a French play of the same name, Mike Nichols’ fresh retake of this drag queen comedy classic deserves a spot on many “top” something lists, not just “top remakes.” The superb leading cast of the always hilarious Gene Hackman and Robin Williams are in turn supported by show-stopping performances by Hank Azaria, Nathan Lane, Christine Baranski, Dianne Wiest, and, yes, even Calista Flockhart. The plot is well known, but having a movie dealing squarely with LGBT issues be released by mainstream actors and a mainstream director in the mid-1990s was a pretty big deal in America. And one can always count on Mike Nichols, Best Director Oscar winner for one of the best movies of all-time (The Graduate), to breathe fresh air into a simple and tried concept.
The film is particularly well-suited for an American retelling, given the natural enmity on LGBT views between Republicans and Democrats in our national politics. The ability to play on those political stereotypes adds a level of humor and cleverness to the remake that you do not find in the original - where the fiancee’s parents are conservative without having a specific stereotypical affiliation to show for it.
Finally, note that it is no small accomplishment to get someone to laugh all over again at many of the jokes and basic plotline that by that point were very familiar to audiences. But the comedic talent of the remake’s cast delivers, along with Nichols’ perfect eye for comedic timing.
Ocean’s 11
What can I say? The 2001 remake of the lesser-known 1960s crime/adventure saga is a personal favorite movie of mine, and I could not resist including it on the list. The original is a solid flick - the plot is contrived enough for the 1960s, and stars five superstar Rat Packers, amongst them Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr., and makes for a perfectly entertaining and fast-paced movie, something that is not too common for that decade.
But the remake is oh-so-much-better. Not only does the star-studded cast of Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Matt Damon, amongst many, many others, do more than live up to the fame and cache of the original cast, the plot should probably win “most improved” from any remake to make this list.
As you know, the basic story centers around a ploy to rob three Las Vegas casinos at the same time by using, amongst other things, an artificially created power outage. (Spoilers follow.) But the similarities between the two movies’ stories end there.
In the original, the scam is fairly simple - turn off the electricity, take money into trash bins, have the garbage man take money. As you may know, the remake involves a much more imaginative (if far-fetched, but the original was itself far-fetched) contrivance of using several decoys, wrong-turns, and red-herrings. In the remake, the audience itself is fooled until almost the last minute, and is entertainingly kept-guessing at the different creative twists.
Perhaps most important, in the remake the thieves actually get away with the heist without stupidly losing the money later during a cremation of one of their own (as occurs in the original). The original suffers greatly from that fundamental plot flaw - that the ring of criminals, brilliant enough to pull off this elaborate Vegas heist under everyone’s noses, was too stupid to realize they shouldn’t leave the money in a coffin headed for cremation.
The remake fixes that plot failure and then some, and of course spawned lesser-quality sequels that, while tainting the brilliance of the original remake a bit, are at least a testament to its popularity amongst audiences and critics alike.
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1956 classic starring Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day is famously a remake of the master’s own 1934 version of the crime/spy thriller. Of all the entries on this list, however, this is the remake that most clearly blows the original out of the water. Hitchcock noted that while the original is the work of a “talented amateur,” he viewed the remake as the work of a “professional.” He was right.
Although the famously recognizable face of Peter Lorre graces the original movie with his villainous turn, who can deny Jimmy Stewart in a Hitchcock film alongside Doris Day? And while the classic scene of Day’s character stopping the assassination of the foreign leader during the concert with a shrill scream remained mostly intact, Hitchcock was predictably savvy enough to know where to remove and extend plot points to increase tension and make for a more enjoyable film.
The biggest change, of course, is that the Stewart/Day couple rescue their son (in the original a daughter) at the embassy of the minister, as opposed to from the cultish church, with the help of Day’s performance of the Oscar-winning melody, “Que Sera, Sera.” Not only is her beautiful rendition now a classic, it is a strong leitmotif through the movie - a touch of memorability that the original does not have. So too are Hitchcock’s in-your-face close-ups, which by 1956 he had mastered to create appearances of violence and struggle.
This movie should be seen by all Hitchcock - nay, all film lovers in its own right, but it is noteworthy for being a revisit of the same film by the same director, which provides subtle insights into how Hitchcock’s views and methods have evolved and improved in the 20-some years between the two versions.
The Departed
Better known as the movie that finally yielded Martin Scorsese his criminally overdue Oscar for Best Director and Picture, many may not know that the soon-to-be classic Boston police drama is a remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs.
Scorsese had very big shoes to fill - the Hong Kong original boasts a tightly spun narrative and what I understand is a star-studded cast, and performed exceptionally well in China. But the American Master delivered and then some.
(Spoiler warning.)
Perhaps the most brilliant touch that Scorsese added to the plot is the last-scene assassination of the mob mole, Matt Damon’s character, an additional touch of violence and darkness that does not exist in the original but that completes the cycle of betrayal and conveys Scorsese’s view of the inherit corruptions in the system. Some complained that the killing of the bad guy in the last scene somehow softened the ending for American audiences, and perhaps that is true, but it also added a uniquely Scorsese touch to the film.
I also enjoyed the combination of the two female characters in Infernal Affairs into a single psychologist, played by a subtle Vera Farmiga, in The Departed. As both DiCaprio and Damon’s character have an affair with her, the levels of complexity and psychological tension are increased manifold.
I would place the Departed as amongst Scorsese’s top three movies of all time - and that is saying a lot for the director of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas. The original is absolutely worth seeing, but the remake knocks it out of the park.
The Ring
I expect to get some flak for making this my favorite/best remake of all time. After all, horror classics such as The Fly, the Thing or Cape Fear have remakes that surpass their originals by miles. Indeed, the horror genre is so replete with remakes that one could make a list of those all in their own right.
But the 2002 Gore Verbinski take on the Japanese 1998 horror film Ringu makes my list because few movies have chilled me or haunted as much as The Ring have in the last two decades. Mind you, the original movie is mind-blowing in its own right, and it deserves a place in horror movie lore. But the remake is, in my view, inarguably better for two reasons.
First, the explanation behind the tape’s sinister past is slightly more mundane, and therefore infinitely more frightening, in the Naomi Watts remake than in the Japanese original, where supernatural powers are the only real explanation for the curse. Second, some of the imagery and scenery of the remake - the image of the horse falling overboard comes to mind - make the film more powerful psychologically and more pleasing aesthetically - not to mention more sinister.
To this, add that Verbinski was smart enough to preserve intact the basic plot twist about the horror of having to make copies of the tape to ensure survival (changing that point would have been disastrous in my view), and you have one of the best horror movies, and certainly one of the best remakes, of all-time.