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Here we go again: The case for remakes
Is there merit to retelling a story that’s already been told? See how remakes have been used to modernise plotlines and erase biases.
Over the coming months, some very familiar stories will unfold on screen. Film and TV remakes of Top Gun, Dune, Clueless, Scream, The Great Gatsby, even The Chronicles of Narnia, The Rugrats and 101 Dalmatians are in the works.
Feeling shivers of trepidation? Most of these are certainly well-told tales, if not camp or cult gems. But retellings have a way of modernising tales for a new audience, scrubbing from them the racism and redundancy that can make viewers cringe as they binge. If it wasn’t for remakes we wouldn’t have:
Queer Eye: The beloved 2018 Netflix show (in pic) gets five gay men to give one in-need straight guy a makeover of his home, wardrobe, lifestyle and emotional makeup. It’s a big-hearted step up from the hit 2003 show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which helped bring LGBT culture into the mainstream, but largely stuck to dating and style advice.
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Scarface: This 1983 version (above) gave us Al Pacino in his breakout role as Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee who ends up becoming a Miami drug lord, and Michelle Pfeiffer as his cocaine-addicted wife, living a flashy but sad version of the American Dream. It’s the movie we remember more vividly than the 1932 original of the same name, set in the Prohibition Era. Nearly four decades later, the remake is being remade, with a contemporary twist.
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Ocean’s Eleven: Before George Clooney rounded up his band of suave gentleman thieves (and won his ex back), Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin and Cesar Romero played it cool as they performed the perfect heist, in 1960. Why do we remember the 2001 film (above)? For being light on its feet, one step ahead of the audience, and for giving us Andy Garcia, the casino owner who deserved to be robbed.
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The Wizard of Oz: There’s no place like home. And if the 1939 remake (in pic) hadn’t trundled down the yellow brick road, we’d have been stuck with two silent films and one clunky animated one. The remake’s effects, use of black-and-white and colour, and music still stand out today.
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The Departed: Sure, you loved Infernal Affairs, the 2002 Hong Kong gem that Martin Scorsese remade as The Departed. But the 2006-era tale of a dirty cop and a policeman undercover in a gang is set in gritty Boston. The drama stretches out tight, with Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson (above) and Leonardo DiCaprio making the most of the tense scenes.
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The Fly: Before Jeff Goldblum emerged from that teleportation pod as that hideous not-quite-a-monster monster in 1986 (above), The Fly was a stranger, ghastlier, 1958 B-grade horror film. Giving a good name to the buzzing practice of remakes, the ’80s version has better effects, better performances. And it views the man-fly transformation as a disease, rather than an act of villainy.
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Westworld: That HBO show about a Wild West theme park full of realistic robots designed to allow clients to play out their adventure (or darker) fantasies? Michael Crichton had already directed a film of the same name, based on his book, in 1973. It was well-received too. But the style and polish that came with modern filmmaking have made the TV show (above) the definitive version, telling the tale of sentient robots with sensitivity.
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The Invasion: Let’s sort out the timeline. First came the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (an insipid tale of aliens that deflate the bodies of humans and replace them with sinister clones). Then the 1978 do-over with Donald Sutherland and Leonard Nimoy doing the point-and-scream to identify the real folks from the pod people. Then came the perfectly moody Body Snatchers in 1993, which set the story on a military base. And finally Nicole Kidman in the watered-down The Invasion in 2007 (above), as she tries to save her family. Pick the intensity that suits you best.
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The Parent Trap: As far as everyone is concerned, there is only one version of this movie, the 1998 Disney release that made Lindsay Lohan (above) a breakout star at 12. The original 1961 film seems slow and forcibly cheery in comparison. Plus, no kid even gets her ears pierced!
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The Thing: In 1951, The Thing From Another World was really a thing — slimy, doddering and starring in a shallow story. The 1982 version (above) makes the horror personal. You don’t see the thing; you sense and imagine it, which is a lot worse. There’s also an ethical question — what makes us human, anyway?
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True Grit: Can a 2010 movie compete with one that starred John Wayne? The 1969 original about a lawman who finds an unlikely client in a teenaged girl seeking to avenge her father’s death was an out-and-out Western. The remake (above), which was nominated for 10 Oscars, is almost anti-Western, and a more dangerous adventure. It’s the one we’ll remember better.
