Top 10 Remakes That Got It Right
With a new take on 'Total Recall' out Friday, we round up cinema's best do-overs
Rate This Image
Rank 4 | Avg. 6.6
Top 5 Images In This Gallery
-
1 -
2 -
3 -
4 -
5
10. "No Way Out" (Roger Donaldson, 1987)
Remake of: "The Big Clock" (John Farrow, 1948)
As good a demonstration as any of the virtues of using B-movies as the foundation for better B-movies, Roger Donaldson’s cracking military thriller relocates John Farrow’s domestic 1948 noir – itself more faithfully based on a Kenneth Fearing novel – to the wholly new context of Cold War-era US naval law. Perhaps the more essential update, however, is the degree of steam permitted by 1980s censors: Kevin Costner and Sean Young, both in their movie-star prime, sex up material that was always asking for it.
Photo Credit: Orion Pictures Corporation
Comments
Option 1
Comment instantly as a guest GuestOption 2
Option 3
Login or create a HitFix account Login Signupbillygilmore77
August 1, 2012 at 1:01AM EST Reply to CommentNo Scarface?
W.brimley
August 2, 2012 at 7:05AM EST Reply to CommentNo 'John Carpenter's The Thing'?
A.Negm That was a prequel to the first 'The Thing' :)
November 24, 2012 at 9:34PM ESTSpooky Uh no the Thing was a remake of The Thing from Another world. Which I think the original poster was referring to.
November 27, 2012 at 1:16AM ESTBane
August 3, 2012 at 5:04AM EST Reply to CommentThe Fly remake was a horrible movie. It was terrible. The original was way better.
Leroy Jenkins
August 6, 2012 at 9:56PM EST Reply to CommentYou lost me at psycho
Carlos Same here
February 11, 2013 at 11:43AM ESTSvenPek
August 28, 2012 at 8:37AM EST Reply to CommentThis list was... Bad... Top 10 worst top 10 lists of remakes of all time! THIS ^
Joe Zakko
September 27, 2012 at 12:12AM EST Reply to Commentuhhhhh...huston's the maltese falcon?
LeslieVernon1981
October 7, 2012 at 6:06AM EST Reply to CommentYou're missing a few of the greatest remakes: The Thing, Insomnia, A Fistful of Dollars, 13 Assassins, and Funny Games US. You had a few good calls like the Fly but really Psycho is total drivel.
JGun
November 16, 2012 at 4:18PM EST Reply to CommentAnother good one is Body Heat, a remake of Double Indemnity
Lost Earthling
November 17, 2012 at 5:55PM EST Reply to CommentNo Reservoir Dogs
Jordan Uuuuuuummmmmm what???? That was a complete original movie, I think your confusing it with something else.
March 23, 2013 at 4:15PM ESTJuan José Torres
November 19, 2012 at 1:14PM EST Reply to CommentSoderbergh "got it right" with Solaris. Yeah, sure. He got it so right, that he pissed Lem himself to the extent that the writer had to write an article publicly complaining about Soderberg's treatment of the source material.
SeaDogg Couldn't agree more.....Soderbergh's Solaris is appaling...absolutely woeful, and demonstrated that he hadn't an utter clue what the book was about. Every major theme in the novel was inverted leaving us with a pure turd.....
March 2, 2013 at 6:59AM ESTI disliked it first time I watched it, and then having reread the novel, watched it again and it was the worst piece of hocum scifi ccrap ever made....
Tuckerscreator
November 21, 2012 at 1:37AM EST Reply to CommentWish you had included Peter Jackson's King Kong. It understood that Kong was the real hero, and thus with Andy Serkis' performance made him one of the most lifelike special effects characters since ET.
Derick
November 21, 2012 at 3:23AM EST Reply to CommentDeparted anybody?
Ways2BWicked
December 13, 2012 at 12:32AM EST Reply to CommentThe Psycho remake??? Really?!?
Tony Koonts
December 19, 2012 at 12:44AM EST Reply to CommentThe rest of this list OK but Solaris is one of the worst remakes I have ever seen in my Life and this is the 1st time I have ever heard anyone say it was anything but CRAP.
SeaDogg Agree completely...Soderbergh couldn't have done a worse job at insulting one of the greatest ever SF novels....
March 2, 2013 at 7:00AM ESTDeeeeeee
December 31, 2012 at 3:17AM EST Reply to CommentOkay. I just added Psycho to my Netflix streaming que .... :) Thank you Hitflix ..
Matt S
January 1, 2013 at 8:17PM EST Reply to CommentThe Huston/Bogart Maltese Falcon was not simply a re-make, it was the third version of the film. The Garland Wizard of Oz was like the 4 or so version of the story. Those are pretty impressive re-makes.
Andrei
February 19, 2013 at 8:08PM EST Reply to CommentA few remakes that I thought "got it right":
- A Fistful Of Dollars
- The Magnificent Seven (though not better than Seven Samurai)
- 3:10 To Yuma
- The Departed
Frank Mondana
March 1, 2013 at 8:08PM EST Reply to CommentSomebody put way too much thought into apologizing for Psycho.
The problem was that it was a shot for shot remake with nothing altered. It was nothing more than an incredibly expensive and round about way to colorize the original film.
Billy Bob
March 3, 2013 at 4:12PM EST Reply to CommentIs "Titanic" being a remake of "A Night To Remember" not good enough?
j
March 21, 2013 at 10:02PM EST Reply to CommentCape Fear? Seriously? That remake was absolutely horrible
Jordan
March 23, 2013 at 4:19PM EST Reply to CommentWhat about True Grit?!?!?!
Leanne
April 14, 2013 at 4:45PM EST Reply to CommentThe Manchurian Candidate is missing?!? Yet another fantastic Meryl Streep performance, great support from Denzel and the rest of the cast with a horrifically frightening message about government and politics! Manages to be better than the original which was also brilliant