A version of this list appears in my collection Everyone Else is Wrong (And You Know It): Criticism/Humor/Non-Fiction. Click the link to purchase the hardcover or paperback edition along with some of my other published work.
As we looked at the worst remakes two weeks ago, it seemed appropriate now to look at some of the finest. Just because these movies are listed doesn't mean they necessarily were better films than the original (King Kong) or that they are even great movies (Four Brothers), but that they capture something of the original and improve on certain aspects. Unlike in my book, I elaborate more fully below on why these 10 were chosen. Happy reading!
10. The Parent Trap–(1998)
One of the relatively few films that needed an update, this version of 1961's The Parent Trap brought the charming story to my generation (and in the sweetest, most well-made way). With a brilliant performance by Lindsay Lohan and equal magic from Dennis Quaid and the always marvelous Natasha Richardson (God rest her soul), Nancy Myers' movie is funny, touching, and endearing.
9. Angels in the Outfield–(1994)
Few now know the original 1951 film (apparently "Ike" Eisenhower's favorite movie), but Disney's remake is a wonderful kids' film with terrific performances from a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Christopher Lloyd, and Brenda Fricker (mostly known in this country as the pigeon lady from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York), Angels was one of my favorite movies growing up. Baseball's about the only sport I understand and I say it ranks with some of the great films about the sport (though low on the list given that we have The Natural and other such fare).
8. Death at a Funeral–(2010)
Dean Craig himself provided the American version of his British screenplay (a classic in its own right) and the result is probably one of Neil LaBute's best films (besides In the Company of Men and Possession). An all-African American cast (including Danny Glover, Chris Rock, and the underrated Regina Hall) recreates the madcap farce with aplomb.
7. Four Brothers–(2005)
In an unlikely remake of 1965's The Sons of Katie Elder, cowboys turn to gangsters in John Singleton's action-packed comedy (with a very funny early performance by Sofía Vergara) and, to make up for the "Worst Remake" double-punch, Mark Wahlberg (Planet of the Apes and The Truth about Charlie). While critically derided, the film was a modest success at the box office and is better than most people give it credit for.
6. Meet Joe Black–(1998)
Martin Brest was known for facile dramas with stellar casts, like Scent of a Woman, until he hit rock-bottom with Gigli (2003). To be fair, that film was taken from him in the editing room, but it still bore his name and he has not made a movie since. His take on the film and play Death Takes a Holiday is what every critic said it was (overlong, sometimes pretentious) and yet I find it deeply moving, especially with a perfect trifecta in the lead actors Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, and Claire Forlani (in her best work by far).
5. The Ten Commandments–(1956)
While actors struggled to make the leap from silent pictures to "talkies," most directors rode the wave just fine. Chief among them was Cecil B. DeMille. His 1923 original Ten Commandments was a spectacle for its time, but his color remake still speaks to audiences today. In my father and mother's hometowns, schools were closed so the kids could see it. There is some theology thrown in amongst pulp novels that filled in the story gaps to achieve its length. It also got away with explicitly (for the time) sexual behavior onscreen because it was a Biblical epic. Nevertheless, Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner make quite the duo and, for some, this film defines what an "epic" should be.
4. The Fly–(1986)
David Cronenberg is one of the world's finest directors with Videodrome, A History of Violence, and Eastern Promises among his credits. The Fly is a necessary remake. Taking its cue from the 1958 schlock film, itself an adaptation of a short story, it fits perfectly in Cronenberg's body-horror ouevre and gave Jeff Goldblum the star status he deserved. Later on, Howard Shore and David Henry Hwang would adapt the film as an opera which Cronenberg also directed.
3. Heat–(1995)
Few know Michael Mann's Heat is actually a film version of a television pilot he directed called L. A. Takedown (1989). While the series was not picked up, it did air as a television film in the late '80s. But, Heat is Mann's best film by a landslide. The genius of finally pairing Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro together onscreen, and with a marvelous supporting performance by Val Kilmer, the movie earns its length and is a masterpiece of film action.
2. King Kong–(2005)
Visually impressive, Peter Jackson's take on King Kong was certainly unnecessary. If I had to choose between this and Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack's 1933 original, I would pick the latter any day of the week. But, as reimagined for the 21st century, it uses the technology Jackson had perfected in his Lord of the Rings trilogy for tremendous action scenes. It is an inferior film to the original because what it simply does is drag out the plot and fill in all the backstory the original film simply infers. Personally, as a dramatist, I would rather enter a movie mid-scene than at the dawn of time. Jackson repeated the same error when he adapted Tolkien's The Hobbit into three overblown and overlong movies.
1. The Departed–(2006)
A remake of the Hong Kong action film Internal Affairs, Martin Scorcese's The Departed is one of the best films of the century thus far. Each and every actor is at their effervescent best and there are enough twists and turns to keep you reeling in your seat and your head spinning like a top. While many argued it took the Academy too long to give Scorcese a Best Director Oscar with this one, it was more deserving for it than all of his films excepting Goodfellas. Yeah, I'll fight you on that.
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