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Over the last two night the A & E Channel has presented a remade version of on of my favorite movies, The Andromeda Strain. I was eagerly anticipating this remake to see how they have made it in comparison to the original 1970's version that starred James Olson. Despite all the new whiz-bang computer stuff and CGI stuff, this version was lacking any of the tension and urgency I remember the original version had. This version had been stretched to four hours over two nights whereas the original was something like 2 1/2 hours. I remember reading the book years ago but did not remember all the little interpersonal relationships that were thrown into this version. Even the ending was very blasé. I walked away from the TV feeling as if I had wasted four hours.

The only remake I can think of that I have enjoyed is The Manchurian Candidate.

Can you think of one?

peacock2121 wrote:The only remake I can think of that I have enjoyed is The Manchurian Candidate.

Can you think of one?

One of my favorite remakes is The Thomas Crown Affair. Rene Russo was simply splendid.

Sir_Galahad wrote:Over the last two night the A & E Channel has presented a remade version of on of my favorite movies, The Andromeda Strain. I was eagerly anticipating this remake to see how they have made it in comparison to the original 1970's version that starred James Olson. Despite all the new whiz-bang computer stuff and CGI stuff, this version was lacking any of the tension and urgency I remember the original version had. This version had been stretched to four hours over two nights whereas the original was something like 2 1/2 hours. I remember reading the book years ago but did not remember all the little interpersonal relationships that were thrown into this version. Even the ending was very blasé. I walked away from the TV feeling as if I had wasted four hours.

elwing and I watched, more for historical reasons than because we were interested. Our first date was seeing the original movie, and I wondered how a remake would compare. We didn't bother to finish the first night.

Sir_Galahad wrote:

peacock2121 wrote:The only remake I can think of that I have enjoyed is The Manchurian Candidate.

Can you think of one?

One of my favorite remakes is The Thomas Crown Affair. Rene Russo was simply splendid.

I'll agree with that but the original was better.

I was looking through the guide on the digital cable last night, and got excited to see The Andromeda Strain, since I had loved the movie as a kid, and then I noticed it was a remake and passed on it. I hadn't realized it was a two-parter, so it was for the best.

It's funny how a 2-1/2 star movie can grab you like that. Westworld was the same way--I won't watch a remake.

peacock2121 wrote:The only remake I can think of that I have enjoyed is The Manchurian Candidate.

Can you think of one?

There are very few that I think are worthy (and frankly, I HATED the remake of "The Manchurian Candidate"). About the only one that comes to mind is "3:10 to Yuma" at least in terms of recent remakes.

A four hour miniseries is about three hours of television and one hour of commercials, so they padded the original by about one hour, and almost all of it was the usual "sinister government conspiracy" nonsense, with a lot of bizarre sci-fi "explanations" that didn't make a whole lot of sense.

I saw the original film when I was in college and movies played in one or two big theaters in town. It was a weekend and they oversold the theater, so people were sitting in the aisles (fire code enforcement was somewhat lax back then), and it was a very suspenseful finale.

I agree that most remakes don't work and many of them are of disastrously bad proportions. One that I am looking forward to for next wummer will be the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 directed by Tony Scott with Denzel Washington and John Travolta.

silverscreenselect wrote: I agree that most remakes don't work and many of them are of disastrously bad proportions. One that I am looking forward to for next wummer will be the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 directed by Tony Scott with Denzel Washington and John Travolta.

That's another one they better not mess up!


Bless you.

Another favorite remake that I had forgotten about was Hitch's own remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much. Despite the "glitsch" I much preferred the Doris Day / James Stewart version over his 1930's version. There was also a remake of Psycho in the late 90's but, the funny thing about that one was it was virtually a carbon copy of the original but with different actors. And, let's face it Anthony Perkins will always be Norman Bates.

The Harrison Ford/Julia Ormand remake of Sabrina had far less ook factor than Humphrey Bogart/Audrey Hepburn, IMO.


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Sir_Galahad wrote:Another favorite remake that I had forgotten about was Hitch's own remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much. Despite the "glitsch" I much preferred the Doris Day / James Stewart version over his 1930's version. There was also a remake of Psycho in the late 90's but, the funny thing about that one was it was virtually a carbon copy of the original but with different actors. And, let's face it Anthony Perkins will always be Norman Bates.

I have the old version of MWKTM, but haven't watched it for some reason. Maybe because I like Jimmy Stewart.

I haven't watched the remake of Psycho, probably because I'd be rooting for WhoeverplaysNorman to stab Anne Heche...

the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 directed by Tony Scott with Denzel Washington and John Travolta.

Yeah, but can anyone do as good a job of dissing the Japanese visitors as Walter Matthau?

Probably not!

Quality remakes:

The Departed
The Maltese Falcon
The Thing
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Philip Kaufman version)
Casino Royale (admittedly not a fair comparison)
A Star is Born (Garland/Mason version)
King Kong
Ocean's Eleven
Hairspray (also not a perfect comparison)
Cape Fear
Assault on Precinct 13 (guilty pleasure)
The Fly
War of the Worlds
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
No Way Out
The Italian Job
Heaven Can Wait
Dawn of the Dead
Freaky Friday
The Thomas Crown Affair

I totally LOVE Heaven Can Wait, and I think the remake of O11 is a better movie than the original, but the ending of the original suits my twisted tastes better than the ending of the remake.

KillerTomato wrote:

peacock2121 wrote:The only remake I can think of that I have enjoyed is The Manchurian Candidate.

Can you think of one?

There are very few that I think are worthy (and frankly, I HATED the remake of "The Manchurian Candidate"). About the only one that comes to mind is "3:10 to Yuma" at least in terms of recent remakes.

Yeah, but you didn't like The Postman, so what do you know?

I would quibble that "The Departed" belongs...I'd put translations of foreign films in a separate category. "king Kong" doesn't belong simply because both the '76 Jessica Lange/Jeff bridges debacle and the recent Peter Jackson version blew. Well, Jackson's less so, but it did basically suck.

OTOH, great calls on "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "Heaven Can Wait."

Other ones that sucked (a much longer list):

Get Carter
Sleuth
Alfie

Hmmm. I notice that all three of those have something in common...

"Psycho" also doesn't count, but if it did it would win the prize for "most pointless".

Oh and another bad one: "Poseidon".

I'm sure I'll think of more.

minimetoo26 wrote:I totally LOVE Heaven Can Wait,

This one had me till the ending. I've never seen the original, so I don't know if it was the same or not, but (spoiler inserted for anyone who hasn't seen it but wants to) ...

Spoiler

... IIRC, the original character played by Warren Beatty, the one Buck Henry allows to get killed by mistake, is worse than dead at the end. His soul or whatever disappears entirely! It's like he never existed! The quarterback he gets put into is still around, but it's no longer him. I remember seeing the movie in the theater and just boggling at what happened.

BTW, it has been years since I saw it, so if my memory of the ending is flawed, I'll accept correction and appropriate chastisement.

gsabc wrote:

minimetoo26 wrote:I totally LOVE Heaven Can Wait,

This one had me till the ending. I've never seen the original, so I don't know if it was the same or not, but (spoiler inserted for anyone who hasn't seen it but wants to) ...

Spoiler

... IIRC, the original character played by Warren Beatty, the one Buck Henry allows to get killed by mistake, is worse than dead at the end. His soul or whatever disappears entirely! It's like he never existed! The quarterback he gets put into is still around, but it's no longer him. I remember seeing the movie in the theater and just boggling at what happened.

BTW, it has been years since I saw it, so if my memory of the ending is flawed, I'll accept correction and appropriate chastisement.

It's been a number of years since I saw "Heaven Can Wait" but I think another interpretation of the ending is

Spoiler

Beatty's soul doesn't just disappear, it moves on to Heaven.

A movie that I actually would like to see remade is The Razor's Edge. The only version I've seen was the Bill Murray version in the'80's. I've read the Maugham book and think it's a great story, but Bill Murray was so hopelessly miscast in it that it really detracted.

kroxquo wrote:A movie that I actually would like to see remade is The Razor's Edge. The only version I've seen was the Bill Murray version in the'80's. I've read the Maugham book and think it's a great story, but Bill Murray was so hopelessly miscast in it that it really detracted.

The problem was that Bill Murray wrote the script too. He would only do Ghostbusters if the studio would finance The Razor's Edge first.

gsabc wrote:

minimetoo26 wrote:I totally LOVE Heaven Can Wait,

This one had me till the ending. I've never seen the original, so I don't know if it was the same or not, but (spoiler inserted for anyone who hasn't seen it but wants to) ...

Spoiler

... IIRC, the original character played by Warren Beatty, the one Buck Henry allows to get killed by mistake, is worse than dead at the end. His soul or whatever disappears entirely! It's like he never existed! The quarterback he gets put into is still around, but it's no longer him. I remember seeing the movie in the theater and just boggling at what happened.

BTW, it has been years since I saw it, so if my memory of the ending is flawed, I'll accept correction and appropriate chastisement.

I'm slightly dissatisfied with the ending on some level, but overall I find the movie so...charming. Maybe it's the actors, but something about the whole atmosphere is sweet. I tend to like older movies because they have actual plots and dialogues and stuff other than explosions to hold your interest. How un-American of me, I know...

minimetoo26 wrote:

gsabc wrote:

minimetoo26 wrote:I totally LOVE Heaven Can Wait,

This one had me till the ending. I've never seen the original, so I don't know if it was the same or not, but (spoiler inserted for anyone who hasn't seen it but wants to) ...

Spoiler

... IIRC, the original character played by Warren Beatty, the one Buck Henry allows to get killed by mistake, is worse than dead at the end. His soul or whatever disappears entirely! It's like he never existed! The quarterback he gets put into is still around, but it's no longer him. I remember seeing the movie in the theater and just boggling at what happened.

BTW, it has been years since I saw it, so if my memory of the ending is flawed, I'll accept correction and appropriate chastisement.

I'm slightly dissatisfied with the ending on some level, but overall I find the movie so...charming. Maybe it's the actors, but something about the whole atmosphere is sweet. I tend to like older movies because they have actual plots and dialogues and stuff other than explosions to hold your interest. How un-American of me, I know...

////////
You got something against explosions? What are you, some fucking liberal pinko commie? I'm reporting you to the DHS....

minimetoo26 wrote:

gsabc wrote:

minimetoo26 wrote:I totally LOVE Heaven Can Wait,

This one had me till the ending. I've never seen the original, so I don't know if it was the same or not, but (spoiler inserted for anyone who hasn't seen it but wants to) ...

Spoiler

... IIRC, the original character played by Warren Beatty, the one Buck Henry allows to get killed by mistake, is worse than dead at the end. His soul or whatever disappears entirely! It's like he never existed! The quarterback he gets put into is still around, but it's no longer him. I remember seeing the movie in the theater and just boggling at what happened.

BTW, it has been years since I saw it, so if my memory of the ending is flawed, I'll accept correction and appropriate chastisement.

I'm slightly dissatisfied with the ending on some level, but overall I find the movie so...charming. Maybe it's the actors, but something about the whole atmosphere is sweet.

I liked the movie, too, right up to the ending. Again, IIRC,

Spoiler

there is no mention of "moving on" or anything like that. The QB comes back to his body and becomes his old self with no recall of Julie Christie and what had occurred between them, and the Warren Beatty "persona" just goes away.

Here's the Wikipedia plot synopsis. Note the last line. Joe/Warren Beatty is just GONE!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_Can ... 1978_film)