Why do Americans insist on remaking great forgein films

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The latest hack job is Vanilla Sky

― anthonyeaston, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Either because they can't or won't read subtitles? Its not just foriegn fils but even classic american films get the make over. I think they just see it as an easy way of making money, take a sucessful film and make it over, sure fire way of getting your money back and making a profit. Which is, after all, what hollywood is all about.

― Ed, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The original, Abre los Ojos is frickin' great. So what other foreign films has Hollywood hacked? La Femme Nikita...

― bnw, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

wings of desire.

― nancy b., Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Mon pere, ce hero. Orifinal cast saying line in english this time

― Ed, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hi :) Could it be that the making of films can be made on foreign soil less expensivly?

― Gale Deslongchamps, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

la femme nikita is rubbish: skinny chiXoR heft big gun big woop!!

(tho the remake is far worse)

waterworld was a remake of a brilliant french film called palagache

― mark s, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hi :) Could it be that the making of films can be made on foreign would be less expensive to buy and I think it gives new countries a chance to show their works of art.

― Gale Deslongchamps, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'Breathless', 'Three Men and a Baby', 'Three Fugitives'...

― Andrew L, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Gale, I think you are missing Anthony's point. He is refering to the not uncommon Hollywood practice of taking an existing successful foreign language film and hen remaking it in English with US stars and often a lack of understanding for what made the original tick.

I'm not so scathing (though many of the remakes aren't as good) - in the end having decent source material is what counts. A film isn't a book and whilst I enjoy many foreign language films I am aware that I am reading a film - missing out on a well crafted script and much of the cinematography. A good question might be why don't they remake badly made foreign films which had good storylines?

We don't moan about books in translation, do we?

― Pete, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Seven Samurai > Magnificent Seven

― Justyn Dillingham, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

a. The majority of 'merkin filmakers have no creativity whatsoever, and will shamelessly remake/remodel any idea they come across. Why else would there be a Scooby Doo movie? b. It's sad, but a lot of Americans simply will not go see a movie if there are subtitles. Though sometimes I wish I were more like this, because this would mean my eyes and ears would not have been assaulted with the twee candyfloss that is Amelie.Which, by the way, I have no doubt in my mind will be remade in the US as a Meg Ryan or Sandra Bullock star turn.

― Nicole, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

More bad movies should get remade. Like Batman III. You could get a good movie out of that.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What about remakes that aren't "hack jobs"? I personally haven't seen Vanilla Sky (has anyone reading this? It's not out yet...), though I doubt I'll like it since Penelope Bloody Cruz is in it, but I haven't heard much negative about it. The Birdcage is better than La Cage aux Folles in my opinion. Wings of Desire is much better than City of Angels, but I don't think Wings of Desire is that great to begin with - the ending is shite. And I'd rather watch Star Wars than Seven Samarai, whether or not that means I'm uncultured.

― Ally, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

A: Because foreigners insist on making films in foreign languages and without Tom Cruise in them.

― fritz, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Becuz Scooby Doo is funny! Aroooo! Go slacker-humor, go go slacker-humor. (does little it's yr. birthday dance)

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The problem with Americans remaking foreign films is that what they choose to remake is usually some artsy piece of nonsense. The new thing, rather than redoing bad films, is remaking blatantly mediocre films. Ocean's 11 = best remake ever? It does everything the original didn't, while still failing to do anything at all, all while being blatantly, almost forcibly, enjoyable AND making the original seem better just by its very presence. The film's running joke is its very lack of punchlines. It's probably the best (most satisfying) example of a director who knows he's the best in the world and can do anything he wants. I'd like to see Soderbergh redo something foreign.

― Otis Wheeler, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeah, Wheeler knows his shit, Ocean's 11 = the best movie ever. That thing was fantastic. You ended up laughing even though nothing funny was going on. And that ending with the dramatic music while Andy Garcia looks over his fallen empire, classic. The original is terrible, it should have less Frank Sinatra and more George Clooney. The only problem with the new Ocean's 11 is Julia Roberts, why was she even there? She was in it for like 10 seconds, which was thankful anyhow because she kept making that awful face she pulls, the flarey nostril horse thing. I think Soderbergh should remake The Posideon Adventure. I'm serious though, Ocean's 11 was fanfuckingtastic.

― Ally, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"The Vanishing" is my favorite example of this just because of its emotional bowdlerization of a harrowing ending. Would that Sandra Bullock have really disappeared without a trace in 1993.

― Benjamin, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

OH! Wheeler, did you SEE the preview for Time Machine?! We have got to see that thing, it looks amazing. It was like Guy Pearce got stuck in a Duran Duran video! Except that torture windmill wasn't there. And Samantha Mumba is his costar! Take that, career!

― Ally, Monday, 10 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

three years pass...

What was the point in remaking the Grudge for goodness sake? Great film, but the American version is almost a carbon copy of the original.

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 24 December 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

The upcoming disaster I am dreading is Elling, which is pretty charming in its original Norwegian form, but will no doubt become just another "star plays retard" film when Kevin Spacey is finished with it.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 24 December 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Ha. That reminds me of the Mr. Show sketch with the method actor played by David Cross who lobotomized himself for one of his roles.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Friday, 24 December 2004 17:44 (twenty-one years ago)

A: Because foreigners insist on making films in foreign languages and without Tom Cruise in them.

OTM

Is this a serious question? They remake them for money on the theory that the original was a good film and that 90+% of Americans won't have seen it.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 24 December 2004 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)

What was the point in remaking the Grudge for goodness sake? Great film, but the American version is almost a carbon copy of the original.

because the average teen/young-adult isn't about to run out to a local arty-videostore and rent some jap film. they'll go see sarah michelle gellar though.

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 24 December 2004 18:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know about that, though. It seems that all the teens are into the whole Japanime culture thing. I doubt that they'd be into Ichikawa, for example, but Japanese horror is one of the big "in" genres right now.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Friday, 24 December 2004 19:11 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't see what the big mystery is. most people don't want to watch a movie with subtitles, and more important, they want to see their favorite stars. so, a good (or bankable) story from a foreign film gets remade. big deal. i don't see why people get so angry about this; it's not like the existence of the remake means that the original no longer exists. if anything, it will bring a bit more attention to the original. and sometimes the remakes are pretty good.

or, what phil-two said.

why does anthony insist on misspelling all his thread titles?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 24 December 2004 19:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Fair enough. But consider this- if there were no Vanilla Sky then you could just tell people about an interesting movie you had seen called Abre los ojos. Now you sound like a garden variety score-pointing wannabe when you see "you know, the original was much better."

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 24 December 2004 19:49 (twenty-one years ago)

score-pointing=point-scoring

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 24 December 2004 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Better question: what's the big deal about subtitles to begin with?

Also - why do we feel the need to see a crappy film with people we've heard of instead of an interesting sounding film with unknowns?

― Girolamo Savonarola, Friday, 24 December 2004 20:20 (twenty-one years ago)

"Better question: what's the big deal about subtitles to begin with?"

the same people who insist on buying the FULL SCREEN version of a movie on DVD.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 24 December 2004 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

subtitles is pretty annoying for anime when youre trying to look at the pretty pictures but then your eyes start hurting from shifting back and forth real fast between the words and the action

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 24 December 2004 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

but then again, the english voiceovers for the miyazaki films were pretty awful too. claire danes, james vanderbeek? UGH

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 24 December 2004 21:02 (twenty-one years ago)

For the record, I very very very rarely feel like I'm missing the visual content of the films if there are subtitles. Even in animation - I guess you just need to learn to read quickly. Seriously, though, there's usually enough of a gap to be able to take in what you need.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Friday, 24 December 2004 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

It is all about making some cash. I'm sure many of the foreign filmmakers don't have a problem with the remakes, as it gives them cash, exposure and some clout if the project makes some dough.

Christopher Nolan's version of Insomnia is as good as the original, if not maybe a bit better, so there are exceptions.

I'm sure John Woo is glad that Tarentino 'covered' his style over and over in his movies. Woo's American films have not been nearly as good, but I am sure he likes the cash.

It suprises me that there are not more remakes. There are so many old films that could make some cash if made well in a modern style. I think of a movie like 'Key Largo' and figure if it was cast right and shot right, it could definitely make a bunch of money today, as the plot and setting works as well now as it did in the 40s.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Friday, 24 December 2004 22:24 (twenty-one years ago)

it IS kind of infuriating for no logical reason. still i am not against it in principle, and i imagine that sometimes some good comes out of it (magnificent seven -> seven samurai etc)

(except that was in reverse but you know what i mean.)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 25 December 2004 03:16 (twenty-one years ago)

well kurosawa learned a lot from westerns, that's for sure

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 25 December 2004 06:22 (twenty-one years ago)

every man should!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 25 December 2004 06:26 (twenty-one years ago)

happy christmas canadian jewboy!

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 25 December 2004 06:27 (twenty-one years ago)

my favorite bit of advice from a western: "you should never apologize, it's a sign of weakness"

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 25 December 2004 06:27 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah you too you midwestern... moses...? (xp)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 25 December 2004 06:28 (twenty-one years ago)

QUIZ TIME

ten dollars if you tell me what film that's from!

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 25 December 2004 06:36 (twenty-one years ago)

John Wayne, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

merry christma$!

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Saturday, 25 December 2004 07:45 (twenty-one years ago)

The two remakes that I did like were Twelve Monkeys and Solaris. In both cases the original was unimpeachably arty, in the first case the concise original (La Jetee) was fleshed out to feature length, in the second the longeurs of the original were condensed to make it a more pop version. I would say that these films bear the same relationship to the originals that the film of The English Patient has to the novel, it presents a different angle on the material, at least somewhat more in line with mainstream storytelling, without cheapening it.

― Ken L (Ken L), Sunday, 26 December 2004 04:19 (twenty-one years ago)

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