Crossing the Ocean

Ten Hollywood Remakes Worth Watching

By Sara Michelle Fetters

With Walter Salles’ highly anticipated remake of “Ringu” auteur Hideo Nakata’s fright flick “Dark Water” hitting theaters tomorrow, it only seems natural to look back at Hollywood’s obsession with remaking highly popular and successful foreign films. Whether it will be any good or not, your guess is as good as mine, but with pedigree as strong as the one behind its making my hopes are unusually high.

Why unusual? Let’s just say Tinseltown’s track record when it comes to remaking foreign successes isn’t very high. For every decent one (last year’s remake of the French film “L’Appatement” “Wicker Park” is a fine example) there are at least a half-dozen disappointments (“Taxi,” “My Father the Hero,” “Last Man Standing,” “Three Fugitives,” “Father’s Day,” “Point of No Return”). With all this in mind, I still thought it might be fun to point out ten American remakes worth applauding. And while they aren’t all necessarily the greatest motion pictures ever made (although one or two of them just might be), they’re still highly worthwhile for a variety of reasons.

At the very least, maybe they’ll give you something different to consider while wandering through the shelves of your local video stores or compiling your list at Netflix. And, as long it keeps you away from “Ring Two,” what’s wrong with that?

The Film: “Sorcerer” (1977, available on Universal DVD)

The Director: William Friedkin (“The Exorcist,” “The French Connection”)

The Original: “Wages of Fear” (Henri-Georges Clouzot, France, 1955, available on Criterion DVD)

While Friedkin’s take on a classic considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made doesn’t remotely compare to the original, it’s still a daring a visionary visual extravaganza worthy of a second look. Sure, this journey into the heart of a South American jungle is a flawed and more than a bit ungainly, Friedkin still manages to stage sequences of such awesome majesty almost all else can be forgiven.

Fun Fact: Friedkin originally cast Steve McQueen in the film but the star dropped out when the director wouldn’t cast Ali McGraw in the picture.

The Film: “The Magnificent Seven” (1960, available on MGM DVD)

The Director: John Sturges (“The Great Escape,” “Bad Day at Black Rock”)

The Original: “The Seven Samurai” (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1954, available on Criterion DVD)

Sturges’ pulsating remake of the Kurosawa epic is every bit as good as its rep. Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen lead one of the greatest Western ensembles ever assembled on the adventure of a lifetime. Easily one of the best horse operas ever made.

Fun Fact: Kurosawa was inspired to make samurai epics from watching classic American Westerns by his idols Howard Hawks and John Ford.

The Film: “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” (1986, available on Touchstone DVD)

The Director: Paul Mazursky (“Enemies, a Love Story,” “Moscow on the Hudson”)

The Original: “Boudu Saved from Drowning” (Jean Renoir, France, 1932, available on Criterion DVD Aug. 23, 2005)

Writer-director Mazursky brilliantly updates Renoir’s classic into the consumerist 1980’s California with surrealistic aplomb. The star-studded trio; Nick Nolte, Richard Dreyfuss, Bette Midler; at the film’s core give some of their best comedic performances while the director stages set pieces right up there with best offered in the entire decade.

Fun Fact: This was the first smash in a series of them during Midler’s short ‘80’s career resurgence, culminating in her ultimate tearjerker “Beaches” in 1988.

The Film: “Victor/Victoria” (1982, available on Warner DVD)

The Director: Blake Edwards (“The Pink Panther,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”

The Original: “Viktor und Viktoria” (Reinhold Schünzel, Germany, 1933, unavailable on DVD)

In a career of triumphs and classics, this phenomenal musical-comedy ranks as one of the finest in writer-director Edwards’ entire oeuvre. One of the funniest and absolutely profoundly silly entertainments a person could ever hope to see, this gender bending comedy of mistaken identities and sexual misunderstanding is a total smash on nearly every level. Julie Andrews and particularly James Garner have never been better, while erstwhile chameleon Robert Preston steals the show as a foppish confidant and best friend.

Fun Fact: Tom Selleck was Edwards’ original choice to play the Garner role of King Marchand but was unable to accept because of “Magnum, P.I.” These same commitments to the CBS television show cost him the part of Indiana Jones, too.

The Film: True Lies (1994, available on 20th Century Fox DVD)

The Director: James Cameron (“The Terminator,” “Titanic”)

The Original: “La Totale!” (Claude Zidi, France, 1991, unavailable on DVD)

Before he became the self-proclaimed king of the world and promptly disappeared, Cameron was once the best director of intelligent action epics bar-none. While this Schwarzenegger slug-fest ranks as one of his lesser efforts, the final hour should be required viewing for all directors looking to make their own big budget action spectacular. While having almost nothing to do with the little-seen French original, Jaime Lee Curtis is beyond fantastic making something brilliant out of stunningly degrading role.

Fun Fact: Why yes, that is “Buffy” babe Eliza Dushku as Schwarzenegger and Curtis’ plane surfing daughter.

The Film: Insomnia” (2002, available on Warner DVD)

The Director: Christopher Nolan (“Memento,” “Batman Begins”)

The Original: “Insomnia” (Erik Skjoldbjærg, Norway, 1997, available on Criterion DVD)

As good as “Memento” was, conventional wisdom was that Nolan was facing an uphill battle trying to remake Skjoldbjærg’s phenomenal daylight noir. In this case, conventional wisdom was wrong as this Al Pacino-Robin Williams showdown proved to be one of 2002’s best and most startlingly realized motion pictures.

Fun Fact: The vehicle that Hilary Swank uses at the beginning of the film does not have a front license plate. Alaska state law requires both front and rear license plates.

The Film: “The Birdcage” (1996, available on MGM DVD)

The Director: Mike Nichols (“The Graduate,” “Closer”)

The Original: “La Cage aux Folles” (Edouard Molinaro, France, 1978, available on MGM DVD)

Not the greatest or most politically correct comedy (but who needs political correctness in a comedy?) ever made, but certainly one of the flat-out funniest director Nichols has ever put his talented fingers on. I actually find this version to be an improvement on the ’78 French original, easily one of the most overrated foreign comedies I’ve ever seen.

Fun Fact: Robin Williams was originally cast as Albert, but he wanted a change from flamboyant characters and asked to be cast as Armand.

The Film: “Vanilla Sky” (2001, available on Paramount DVD)

The Director: Cameron Crowe (“Say Anything,” “Say Anything”)

The Original: “Abre los Ojos” (Alejandro Amenábar, Spain, 1997, available on Artisan DVD)

Brilliant, surrealistic existential mystery-thriller is a decided change of pace for writer-director Crowe. No matter, this is still one of his and star Tom Cruise’s finest hours, both putting themselves so far out on a limb it’s impossible to at least not be a wee bit impressed. Not for all tastes, and definitely a love it/hate it masterwork, but for those that like to have their brain jumbled into tiny pieces this is definitely worth a look.

Fun Fact: That’s Cameron Diaz singing the annoyingly perky song played during the movie’s fateful car crash.

The Film: “12 Monkeys” (1995, available on Universal DVD)

The Director: Terry Gilliam (“Time Bandits,” “Brazil”)

The Original: “La Jetée” (Chris Marker, France, 1962, available on the “Short 2 – Dreams” DVD)

Gilliam is known for bending a person’s mind into tiny itsy bitsy pieces, but he really outdoes himself with this sci-fi potboiler starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe and a completely unhinged (and Oscar-nominated) Brad Pitt. Taking Marker’s brilliant short film and transforming it into something mythically transcendental, this is a movie that requires multiple viewings to truly appreciate.

Fun Fact: “12 Monkeys” in many respects is a complicated and astonishingly thorough homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece “Vertigo.”

The Film: “A Fistful of Dollars” (1964, available on MGM DVD)

The Director: Sergio Leone (“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” “Once Upon a Time in America”)

The Original: “Yojimbo” (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1961, available on Criterion DVD)

Technically, this is neither a Hollywood release nor a credited remake of the seminal Kurosawa classic. No matter, Leone’s first Spaghetti Western launched a genre and sent star Clint Eastwood into the stratosphere. It is impossible not to talk about remakes of any sort without looking at this, “Fistful of Dollars” maybe the single most important one in regards to cinematic history. Sounds like hyperbole, and maybe it is, but I don’t think so, and over four decades later it stands as tall now as it ever did during the 1960’s.

Fun Fact: Eastwood’s career-making role was first offered to both Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson who turned it down. They would make up for this mistake four years later starring in Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West.”

Article Posted: 7.07.05

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