Once Again, With Feeling: Three Movies Ready for a Remake
Hollywood may be a little slap-happy with remakes, reboots and adaptations recently, but I don't think that remakes are bad in and of themselves, just the material major studios decide to give an update. There's no earthly reason why Alvin and the Chipmunks had to happen and I think we can officially leave the few but impressive works of Jane Austen out of our cinemas for a little while given how there's been a screen adaptation of at least one of her books made every single decade since the 1930's. I'm of the opinion that the only movies we really ought to remake are the ones that didn't quite get it right the first time but could be really excellent in different hands. Here are three classics that are long overdue for a facelift.
The Misfits- John Huston, 1961
This film almost doesn't qualify, given its pedigree and beautifully heartbreaking script, but John Huston's minor masterpiece The Misfits ends in a tonal train wreck that has few peers in the history of cinema. After a disaffected, melancholy run, the movie suffers from the most egregious tacked-on happy ending possible, the obvious work of meddling studio executives who just couldn't let the story's message of outdated gender roles and human misery win out. The Misfits has the unique distinction of being the last movie in which both Clark Gable and Marylin Monroe appeared and it may just be their best. Gable plays an obsolete cowboy and Monroe a wandering divorcee. One part road movie and one part cynical anti-love story, The Misfits would benefit from an update that tackles the same themes of unwanted change and inevitability, minus the incomprehensible decision to force its leads into a pointless happily-ever-after.
Breakfast at Tiffany's- Blake Edwards, 1961
The same year that The Misfits hit theaters, Audrey Hepburn captivated audiences as Holly Golightly, the alluring curiosity from the screen adaptation of Truman Capote's singular novel Breakfast at Tiffany's. Though Hepburn's performance is unimpeachable, the shockingly unfaithful screenplay drags Capote's compelling story through a gauntlet of kitsch and general bad taste. The movie is full of racial stereotypes, a romance that never even came close to happening in the book and a completely different ending. The adaptation took an affecting novel about secrets and dissatisfaction and turned it into a lighthearted popcorn flick. Since there is no shortage of captivating actresses on the scene today and modern audiences would be a lot more receptive to a direct page-to-screen take, I'd say we're about primed for a much-needed revision of Capote's excellent book.
The Grand Illusion- Jean Renoir, 1937
Strictly speaking, this French classic wasn't poorly made, it was just poorly timed. La Grande Illusion may be one of the first truly anti-war films, but its World War I setting and dismissive attitude toward bigotry was almost instantly irrelevant since it hit theaters just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. It's the story of two Allied deserters who tire of the lies perpetuated by their leaders that keep them in a pointless conflict. As tragically meaningless as WWI was, the fight for Europe that followed had a much clearer sense of purpose that all but erased the once-poignant commentary of The Grand Illusion. If we today are lucky, the many unnecessary wars currently in motion won't result in a bigger, more important war and some savvy director can remake The Grand Illusion in a modern setting.
