REMAKING HOLLYWOOD: From Bad To Worse

While many people seem to shudder at the thought of remakes, they have been a common thing in film history. Even in the early days of cinema, when there were fewer films than there are today, films were often remade.

Heck, even two of the greatest filmmakers, Howard Hawks and Frank Capra, remade their own films. Hawks directed A BALL OF FIRE and, only seven years later, remade the film as A SONG IS BORN. Frank Capra not only remade his own LADY FOR A DAY as A POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES, but also remade BROADWAY BILL as RIDING HIGH. RIDING HIGH even included footage of the original film. It kind of makes you wish that George Lucas would just make new films instead of tinkering with the old.

There are two remakes that have always bothered me.



The first is THE VANISHING.

In 1993, director George Sluizer took his brilliant 1988 Dutch film and remade it for a US audience. He had a good cast for the remake, Jeff Bridges, Kiefer Sutherland, and Sandra Bullock. I thought it would turn out ok. In fact, I was there first show on opening day.

I was wrong.

The original film was known for its ending. In the remake, Sluizer completely changed it. He dumbed it down for Hollywood. What was a powerful and shocking finale is predictable and depressing in it’s lack of originality.

We haven’t heard much from Sluizer in recent years. This film is probably the reason. Fans of the original saw him as a sell out, and the resulting film wasn't that big of a hit to make the changes seem worth it.

The other remake is a bit more recent.


In 2003, LOVE DON’T COST A THING was released. This was a remake of The Moviezzz Blog favorite CAN’T BUY ME LOVE from 1987. I didn’t see the remake theatrically, but since Roger Ebert loved it (and seemed to hate the original) I was curious to see it.

According to the screenwriter of LDCAT, he just downloaded the original CBML screenplay (giving the original screenwriter a co-writing credit) and made a few changes.

The changes he made completely ruined the film.

There is one scene early in CBML where Cindy Mancini is watching TV with her friends. She is watching her now at college boyfriend discuss what he misses most at home. All of her friends begin to think that he will mention Cindy.

He doesn’t, and instead mentions missing the hydro massage machine in the high school locker room.

Cindy’s friends are devastated. Yet Cindy, showing that she really is their leader, tells them that it is nothing. Her boyfriend is busy, she doesn’t expect him to mention her, and she is fine with it. That works for her friends and they leave.

Cindy goes to follow them. She picks up the coat she always wears, her boyfriend’s varsity jacket, looks at it, and puts it back down. She WAS hurt by what happened, but didn’t want to show it.

What happens in the remake?

The boyfriend doesn’t mention Cindy, so Cindy and all her friends start yelling together at the screen. There is no subtlety. There is no deeper meaning to the scene. It is just played for laughs.

As for the rest of the film, it is just as bad. Just the titles can tell you the difference. The original is named after a Beatles song, and the remake is named for a J. Lo song.

Roger Ebert has never been more wrong.

This post is part of the Large Association of Movie Blog's Remake Blogathon.