Movies that are tied to their time and should not be remade
 

I was discussing this topic with a friend last night, and we were talking about Footloose with Zac Efron (and I realize there is a thread for that movie up...no need to link here.) Footloose was definately a movie of it's time period, and they would either have to completely change the story (at which point it would no longer be "Footloose") or make it a period piece (which would be pointless) or otherwise it just won't work. Not that I think it has a chance to work at all, but hey...the HSM crowd will probably flock to it and totally take a dump on the memory of the first Footloose

But there are other movies that just cannot be remade, or should not be remade. I guess there's always a chance some jackass will think they can do a remake...

We discussed:

The Day the Earth Stood Still, a movie tied to the 50's and the beginning of the cold war in a powerful way. Remaking it today just wouldn't be the same.

Blazing Saddles. Do your really think they could remake Blazing Saddles today?

Breakfast Club and Ferris Buller's Day Off. God help us if somebody tries to remake either one or both of those.

The Graduate.

I am sure we discussed others, but those are the ones that stick out in my mind the most...

So, what are your choices? What movies were remade that were tied to their time period and the remake failed miserably? And any examples where the original was a product of its time but the remake managed to improve on the original or give a fresh take on the idea?

You'll get to find out soon!

I think Footloose shouldn't be remade on the grounds that it's falls out o the range of "prime potential" for a remake. Remakes should be based on films that had a lot of promise but couldn't deliver, either because of technological/budgetary limitations and/or a failure of execution. There are exceptions, of course (the masterpiece Seven Samurai translated into the classic Western Magnificent Seven), but generally you should shoot for bad, but salvageable. Footloose is just absurd, but then I suppose Zac Efron could get tweens in seats.

What movies are tied to their time period?

Jaws- If Spielberg had made it today it would be terrible because the limitations of the time forced him to film from the shark's perspective rather than show it at every turn. That's what made it so terrifying.

Psycho- We already saw how the remake turned out. In the age of cell phones and cell tracking, they could have found Marion before she even reached the hotel.

Dr. Strangelove: The threat of nuclear war isn't nearly as pervasive as the threat of terrorist cells, so they'd have to retool it to the point it wouldn't work at all, or make it a heavy-handed look at the US leveling entire countries to eradicate pockets of enemies.

Casablanca [/thread]

Good call. Of course, if they remade it, it would have to be a straight remake; you couldn't really place it in the modern world (relocate to the Middle East, maybe Saudi Arabia? Wouldn't work IMO), and there's no point going back to WWII since WWII stories these days that turn out to have romance plots (Pearl Harbor, Miracle at St. Anna, Atonement- yes, Atonement) are terrible because they try to balance the two.

Or they could place it in a post apocalyptic world where Rick is now a stripper/bounty hunter.

Cowboy Bebop?

Modern Times. Depression, prohibition, fear of industrialization, and an innocent relationship between a man and a 13-year old girl.

From Russia With Love.

http://www.5yaks.com/barbwire.jpg

Any of the 70's post-Watergate paranoia films.

The 39 Steps.

Remade twice, both flops.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Jason Bourne series simply wouldn't even be able to take place even in the 90's.

Agreed. Plus the fact that the shark kept breaking down reduced the amount of time you actually saw the shark. It was a series of problems that actually made the film better. Today they'd have a CGI shark in every scene.

Another is Smokey And The Bandit. The second highest grossing movie of 1977. The comedy and the chemistry couldn't even be repeated by the same folks who brought us the first one. It was the perfect storm of people, in a cool car not many had seen yet, and the height of the CB craze. The Farrelly brothers could try it but they'd end up with some bodily fluid in the hair jokes.

As much as I don't see a need for a remake of either of these films, I also don't think they're particularly "tied to their time." The archetypes as characters in The Breakfast Club are pretty timeless and universal, and would apply to high-school today, which is why the film is still popular.

Likewise, Ferris Bueller is a kind of wish-fulfillment character, and could apply to kids today as well. I've always felt that "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" was a successful early 90s TV version of that film. A remake set in this decade would work fine, but there really isn't a need since the original is still extremely popular.

King Kong

The '78 version was not good and Peter Jackson's version was well-made but ultimately a failure (bloated storyline and casting problems). At least Jackson had the sense to set it in the '30s.

Easy Rider.

End of story.

Red Dawn

Wolverines!!!

Hard Day's Night

This is exactly what I thought of.

Urban Cowboy

I guess that's why they filmed the original Bourne Identity in 1988.

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner/Guess Who?

Brilliant film in the 60s dealing with interracial relations in families turned into...

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And now we have Barack. I don't think it would've been remade today.

And should be remade again, this time sticking closer to the original novel. Then followed with an adaptation of Greenmantle and the other Hannay novels.