The Fascination of Classic Movie Remakes
Classic movies are hard to beat, but in a few instances you can find some modern day movies that are even better than the original. Of course, it all depends on the individual viewer on what is classic to them and what is not, but it can and has been done with a lot of success from Hollywood. Action packed and science fiction has some of the best remakes on the silver screen.
To some people the original just cannot be beat, but Hollywood cranks out some pretty outstanding movies. A lot of the action packed earlier films from the classic time of Hollywood, are improved on because of special affects technology. Then again classics are adopted socially by including minorities, and women in some of the lead roles of movies from the past. The fascination with remakes with people is to see what has been changed, and to wonder if it can be done better today.
There have been hundreds of movies remade from the early 1920s to today in the 21st century. It bears true that not all of the remakes were any better than the original, and most are lying somewhere in a dusty Hollywood vault, and decaying with time. However, there are a few that have gained a lot of popularity and critical acclaim, and need to be noted as a few outstanding remakes today.
“The Thing” in 1951 left people a little scared from the theaters just like “The Blob” did later in 1958. “The Thing” was based on a short story in the early 1950s, but in the 1982 remake it was a cult hit. Starring Kurt Russell and a group of scientists that are running from a monster that can change forms, it is not as campy in dialogue, and the monster is much more believable in form because of neat special effects. The movie never slows down, and the audience does not loose interest in the dialogue. “The Thing” remake is more up to date and fast paced.
As with classics, the remakes of them depend a lot on the lead actor to make them better. It does not all necessarily depend just on special effects. One of the best actors around, and usually not placed as a lead role in many films, or even seen as a ladies man, is Jeff Goldblum. He brings to the screen a human factor that the original did not, compassion for his character’s helplessness. The dialogue is touching and sensitive, and leaves the audience with sadness. Also, in “The Fly” unbelievable special effects of transforming Goldblum into a fly, when an experiment has gone wrong, make the movie a true classic remake too.
In 2001 “Ocean’s Eleven” was a very popular hit with American audiences. It was remade from the 1960 film that starred the “Rat Pack” of Frank Sinatra., and the gang that was frequently invited to the White House for dinner by President Kennedy. It did not hurt the gang’s status that his brother in law was actor Peter Lawford either. The remake followed the same story line of robbing casinos, but George Clooney does a much better job as an intriguing heist man, and mature women find him extremely sexy, and very classy. The movie keeps the light humor as the original, but uses new technology to rob and thieve their way into cash, with slick style.
It is true that a lot of movie remakes are horrible, and can never match the quality of the first run, but some of them are outstanding. The best thing about a movie remake is that if it is done right, it introduces old movies with great storylines to a new and younger audience. Until the movie “Oceans Eleven” came out, a lot of people never realized that it was based on an older movie from the early 1960s, even some people today do not know.
No matter when a movie was made and then remade, it is tempting to find fault with both. The whole point of seeing a movie, whether it is classic or not, is to find a few moments of entertainment and relaxation, and remakes of movies give an opportunity to find something new in old classics that bring us to a time and place of when life was simpler, and fun was a movie screen away.
