Bad film remakes

I watched Dr Doolityle recently (Robert Downey Junior), with my GC. It was really awful. A terrible script, hammy acting, a stupid storyline, and nothing whatsoever like the original (Rex Harrison), which had a certain charm about it.

Even the irritating Eddy Murphy was better, as Professor Clump, in the other re-make.

And Peter Ustinov was a splendid Hercule Poirot!

Margaret Rutherford was a splendid Miss Marple.

Has anyone seen Knights of the Bronx with Ted Jansen, brilliant film. I'd love to see it again. Re-make or original.

I know it was a series and not a film but the BBC’s remake of War of the Worlds was truly one of the worst remakes ever shown. Truly dire.

The Film Jesus of Nazareth and putting John Wayne at the Roman Centurian.

Dreadful

Channel 5 once did a telling of the Easter Story and put James Nesbit as Pontius Pilate. Imagine that - Pontious Pilate with a Northern Ireland Accent

The tv version of Jane Austen’s Emma from 1972 was so well cast that it’s never been bettered imo. Clunky sets and very 70s make up, but the characters were played to perfection

I hated remakes of Agatha Christie stories with Albert Finney and Peter Ustinov as Poirot.

They are fine actors but were totally miscast and their accents were cringeworthy.

The remake I enjoyed was "The Thomas Crown Affair". I loved Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway in the original but found Piers Brosnan and Renee Rousso excellent too.

I only like the black and white Dickens films--originals, Alec Guinness.

Eloethan, I agree that The Shop Around The Corner is an enchanting film. It ought to be shown every Christmas.

I absolutely hated You've Got Mail. I didn't think it had a smidgeon of charm, and I couldn't see anything romantic in a big business swallowing up someone's treasured little shop.

And Tom Hanks is okay but he's no Jimmy Stewart.

They have remade 'A Star is Born' numerous times but nothing comes close to the original Judy Garland version.

vickya

Ok thanks to the mention here I found the Sofia Loren/Richard Burton Brief Encounter on You Tube and watched that this afternoon. I liked it much better than the other version. Don't like Trevor Howard or Celia Johnson so disliked that version anyway, but the Burton/Loren version was much sexier and not boring like the other

But don’t you see vickya, ‘Brief Encounter’ is not meant to be sexy! It’s all about loyalty, putting up with your rather dull but worthy husband instead of leaping into bed with the first dashing hospital doctor who just happens to be around to whisk a bit of grit out of your eye as you sip your cup of tea in the railway station refreshment room......

Can you tell I’m a fan of the original?

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Ok thanks to the mention here I found the Sofia Loren/Richard Burton Brief Encounter on You Tube and watched that this afternoon. I liked it much better than the other version. Don't like Trevor Howard or Celia Johnson so disliked that version anyway, but the Burton/Loren version was much sexier and not boring like the other

I enjoyed 'The Wicked Lady' at the cinema with my Mother; Margaret Lockwood was a fiesty highway robber, and years later when I saw a remake was on TV we sat down with our twelve year old daughter to watch. Oh dear. The old fashioned equivalent of handbag fights over men, with bare breasts everwhere, very long drawn out sex scenes (and I choose my words advisedly). We hastily switched off and foud a video in the cupboard that seemed rather more like family viewing.

One of my favourites (which isn't shown that often but sometimes at Christmas) is the black and white film The Shop Around the Corner with James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. It was more recently re-made as You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. I thought it was quite a good re-make but didn't have the wonderful acting and charm of the original.

The recent remake of "The Women" is truly dire. However, the 1955 musical remake starring June Allyson and Joan Collins is one of my guilty pleasures.

I so agree about the Eagle of the Ninth; the film was a travesty, even worse than the 2016 Swallows and Amazons.

Have to agree about the Winona Ryder version of Little Women. The latest film version wasn't awful but kept changing from past to present. Confusing for those not familiar with the book.
I have loved the book The Eagle of the Ninth from my early teens, and hated the Channing Tatum film which left characters out and messed with the story. It was so disappointing. I recently found out that the BBC had serialised it in the 70s and it's now available on DVD. For all some of the clunky TV type scenes and terrible wigs it was faithful to the book and had a much better script and better done on a tiny fraction of the movie budget. . Channing Tatum was dreadful as Marcus Flavius Aquila. So miscast.
I love the Timothy Dalton version of Jane Eyre, but he is far too good looking to play Mr. Rochester. I put that to the back of my mind and lapped it up anyway.
I hope they never remake Zulu. If they do I shan't watch.

I saw the original version of The Wicker Man when I was young and thought it was silly, but it grew upon me over the years, particularly Christopher Lee as the Lord of Summerisle. The remake, starring Nicholas Cage, was absolutely dire. Words cannot describe how bad it was.

My favourite version of Little Women had Winona Ryder as Jo and Claire Danes as Beth. We took our younger DD to see it, when she was in her early teens, and all snivelled a bit at Beth's death (including my DH, although he denies it.) I always felt that it was disappointing that Jo doesn't marry Laurie (played here by Christian Bale) but could understand it in this adaptation. The Professor was Gabriel Byrne and I would have snapped him up too!

How about the Peter O'Toole/Petula Clark version of Mr. Chips? I really enjoyed that one.

I'm glad I started this thread! There have been some films mentioned that I didn't know about and done I had forgotten about. And it's always nice to hear others points of view.

So agree Chewie his voice , his smile, all of him ⭐️

And who, todays pool of actors, could possibly play Gregory Peck Annie? No one to match his quiet authority; his cool good looks or his charisma. <<swoon>>

The thought of a remake of Gone With The Wind, To
Kill A Mocking Bird, or Casablanca ? No, no, no.

Who could say ‘we will always have Paris’ like Bogart , sing
‘As Time Goes By’ like Dooley Wilson

GillT57 I am with you all the way on Rebecca, my favourite film of all time. Even though I know the ending, I never get tired of watching it. I even like the music at the start and that wonderful line “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderlay again”. I didn’t bother watching the tv version with Joanna David as nothing in my opinion will ever beat the Hitchcock version. As they say if it ain’t broke ......