Remakes

I heard a rumor that The Third Man is being remade with Leonardo DeCaprio. Roger Ebert wrote that he wanted to throw up when he heard the news. I myself am indifferent, feeling no particular sentiment towards the original. Don't get me wrong; The Third Man is a good film - a very good film. It has a terrific score that I won't soon forget, a memorable performance by Orson Welles, terrific shots of the city of Vienna, and the main character is a man named Holly (!). But the pace is too slow and it lacks the suspense that Orson Welles' other classics embrace. But just to give you an idea of how revered this film is in the movie world, check out this article from the Pioneer Press, which describes the various The Third Man tours available in Vienna.


The bigger topic here is remakes. Over the last 5 years, Hollywood has exploded with remakes. A couple of years ago, I felt that every movie made was a remake. Some examples that come immediately to mind: 3:10 to Yuma, Alfie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlotte's Web, Guess Who, King Kong, The Manchurian Candidate, Ocean's 11, The Producers, Posiedan, and so forth (I didn't even touch on horror movies which seem to be exclusively remakes these days).

I have mixed feelings about remakes. On the one hand, I revile them. First, many people go to movies not realizing the movie is a remake. Some of these remakes are so bad, it may discourage audiences from wactching the original film. The remake Guess Who and its original Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? are a good example. Second, far from being an homage to the original, many new versions are an insult to the halmarks of cinema. Again, Guess Who is an apt example. This is probably why Roger Ebert wanted to throw up when he heard about The Third Man.

But on the other hand, some remakes breathe new life into stories and improve on the long forgotten originals. I am thinking here of 3:10 to Yuma. Or they reimagine the characters in new and interesting ways (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

But I still have that nagging suspicioun that most remakes are simply a function of laziness. Writers can't come up with anything original so they recycle an old script, hoping audiences won't notice.

What do you think of remakes? Have you ever watched an original movie for the first time after watching the remake?