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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.

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