One More Time: Movie Remakes I Would Like to See

by runnerbird on 01 December 2011 in features, movies | comments
One More Time: Movie Remakes I Would Like to See

I know what you are thinking. I shouldn’t be encouraging Hollywood to make any more remakes. With the remake trend reaching an all out crescendo this year – was there any week that didn’t have a remake or reboot released into theaters – I know I probably shouldn’t talk of even more remakes. I don’t think remakes are the problem per se because, after all, if a story is good, it should be retold again and again (how many times has Shakespeare been rebooted and retold again?), but there should be a compelling reason to remake something and before you say it, making more money is NOT the compelling reason I am talking about.

The best remakes capture a particular moment with echoes of the original in the distance and keeping what was good about the original intact. For example, the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers made in 1958 reflected the paranoia of those early days of the Cold War, but it also was about the optimism that democracy and freedom would win the end. The 1978 remake still had the paranoia that made the original so good, but in a post-Vietnam era, it reflected the pessimism that, perhaps, the defeat of our way of life was inevitable.

Here is a list of ten films that I wouldn’t mind getting a remake. And, no, Dirty Dancing is nowhere on this list. What would be some of your picks for films you would like to see again … for the first time.

Nothing Sacred (1937) dir. William A. Wellman

The Premise: Wally Cook (Fredric March), a disgraced newspaper man, tries to get back in his editor’s good graces by delivering a sensationalized series of articles about small-town girl Hazel Flagg (Carol Lombard) who is dying of radium poisoning and her adventures living out her last days in New York City. The jaded metropolis embraces the dying girl as a symbol of heroic courage in the face of adversity and the circulation of Wally’s newspaper soars. But due to a misdiagnosis, it turns out Hazel is not dying at all and Wally, the newspaper and even New York City officials try to cover up Hazel’s true, healthy condition as she has become too big of a celebrity to risk exposing her as a fraud. Along the way, Hazel and Wally fall in love and now he must choose between true love and his newly revived career.

Why It Should Be Remade: If this script was written now, it would be considered cutting edge. Nothing Sacred is a sharp satire on the nature of fame and instant celebrity at the dawn of the global media age. With the invention of the internet, the 24/7 cable news cycle and proliferation of social media, the ability to create a buzz worthy story and turn a “nobody” into a news notable has never been easier. Now more than ever, we build up heroes just as quickly as we tear them down. I don’t think screenwriter Ben Hecht and director William A. Wellman could have imagined just how relevant their almost 75 year old film is now than it ever was. What makes Nothing Sacred work so well and makes it just as biting now than it was back then is that Wellman doesn’t hesitate to let everyone in this film have it. No one has pure motives here other than milking the cult of celebrity for everything it has.

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