groundbreaking remakes

djz

can anyone think of any remakes that are very different to the original in terms of say narrative structure, like the story could be the same but the way of telling it is different, so using flashbacks for examples or using the perspective of another character to tell the story, or remakes that concentrate more on the emotions of the characters or the location rather than the plot

also remakes that maybe took a traditional film and made it more experimental, or remakes that are in a different genre than the original

i can only think of remakes that are just updates of the original or remakes of european films that are made in america but nothing completely groundbreaking so just wondering if you came across anything

cheers

Otacon

'The Thing' was the first to come to my mind. A completely different film compared to the original and all the better for it.

Skerries

Dawn of the Dead is a good one i think as well
even though it is still based in a zombie infested shopping mall, the idea of fast zombies and a better fleshed out cast distinguishes it

krudler

I'd agree with DOTD, Romero fanboys have a massive hardon for the original but its dated horribly, the effects are laughable and the acting is atrocious in it. The message is still relevant and its a classic of the the genre but its definitely overrated. The remake isnt spectacular by any means but its a good movie in its own right, and the opening scene is fantastic.

bnt

The remake / re-imagining debate has been going on for a while e.g. Kermode (BBC) has been wrestling with films like the 2010 True Grit: while the Coens claimed to be going back to the source book - and it shows in the strong portrayal of Maddie - Jeff Bridges did seem to be channelling John Wayne from the 1969 film.

When the source material is strong, it seems to offer more scope for re-imagining rather than remakes. Shakespeare is a case in point: compare the various versions of Romeo & Juliet, from George Cukor (1936) to Baz Luhrmann (1996). Kurosawa made Ran, a heavily adapted version of Shakespeare's King Lear (which has been filmed before). Before that, The Magnificent Seven was a cowboy remake of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, which was in turn heavily inspired by cowboy films.

But the daddy of all re-imagined remakes has to be Scarface (1983, with Al Pacino): the essential story from the 1932 original is there, but just about everything around it has changed. The original had quite the bodycount too - I'm not going to try to decide which was higher ... :eek:

LittleBook

djz wrote: »

also remakes that maybe took a traditional film and made it more experimental, or remakes that are in a different genre than the original

How about the other way around? Terry Gilliam took an experimental short film made up entirely of still photos called La jetée and turned it into 12 Monkeys.

bnt wrote: »

the Coens claimed to be going back to the source book - and it shows in the strong portrayal of Maddie - Jeff Bridges did seem to be channelling John Wayne from the 1969 film. When the source material is strong, it seems to offer more scope for re-imagining rather than remakes.

Personally I would distinguish between a re-make of a film and two (or three!) films being made about the same book, I guess we have to take the film-makers word for that ... what they say is actually their source material.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is not a re-make or a sequel of Bad Lieutenant ... but try telling that to Abel Ferrara. :pac:

The Thing could just as easily be a re-telling of the story "Who Goes There?" as a re-make of The Thing From Another World.

I haven't read "Casino Royale" so I can't tell which film (if either) is an adaptation of the book and both are vastly different both in story and genre.

And while we're on the Coens, how about their re-make of The Ladykillers ... transported from 1950s London to present day Mississippi.

bnt wrote: »

The Magnificent Seven was a cowboy remake of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, which was in turn heavily inspired by cowboy films.

No-one can tell me that A Bug's Life is not a re-make of The Magnificent Seven

Nolanger

djz wrote: »

can anyone think of any remakes that are very different to the original in terms of say narrative structure, like the story could be the same but the way of telling it is different

Some famous musicals were based on earlier films which were different e.g. I am a camera/Cabaret and Philadelphia story/High society.

indough

outland is a science fiction reimagining of high noon

assault on precinct 13 is a sort of reimagined lovechild of night of the living dead and rio bravo

neither of them are what i would consider groundbreaking but they fit your other criteria

also, rio bravo itself was a reimagining and response to issues raised in high noon

Kess73

The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Hitchcock remade his own film twenty odd years later, changed quite a bit of the plot and came up with a better film.



Mr & Mrs Smith was a remake as well, but not of the Hitchcock folm of the same name. The Brangelina film was a remake of a pretty weak tv series from the mid to late 1990's. The film made the leads husband and wife and unaware of what the other does for a living, whereas in the tv series they were not married and worked for the same firm.