Remakes

Is there a film that you think is perfect in its original form and should never be remade? (From LJ’s Writer’s Block.)

There are many films that should never be remade because it was their originality that made them great. When a film is released plays a huge part of how well it will do and how popular it will become. A film which captures a specific moment in time wouldn’t do as well if remade because what made it popular and great has been lost. I think perhaps some movie producers forget that when they do remakes.
All they see is “Oh that film made in 1952 did really well and people still love it. Lets remake it for today’s audience.” *facepalm*
It won’t work.
It would be like trying to remake classic Film Noir now, it would fail so badly. You could have a brilliant script, fantastic cast and it still wouldn’t work. Why?
Film Noir captured a feeling and attitude which has been lost now. It’s faded away. We can still watch those movies and love them but a remake wouldn’t/couldn’t work.
Hmm, gone on a mini rant there, I should probably name some movies now…

Firstly let me say that I don’t think any movie is perfect. I can’t recall many films which I’ve watched where something couldn’t have been changed to make it better in my opinion. Whether that be casting, editing, script or whatever, I think there is always wiggle room. That’s because making a movie is about compromise.
Very very very rarely do the makers get everything they want to make the film they want. Things get in the way, things like cast members, budget, the weather, technology, etc. … you get the idea. So they have to compromise and do the best they can with what they have.
Most of the time what they turn out is brilliant, perhaps better than they imagined, but is it perfect? No. Nothing is perfect. Life isn’t perfect so how can a movie be? People aren’t perfect so how can they make something perfect?

The wording of this question is wrong then for me. So I’ll answer the question of: is there a film which shouldn’t be remade?
Yes, lots.
Examples that I can think of just off the top of my head are: Jaws, Casablanca and Citizen Kane.
(There are of course many more.)

Also worth mentioning are films which were damn good (not using the word perfect) and should have been left the hell alone.
Star Wars. Brilliant film. Just as close to perfect as you can get really in terms of cast, direction, feel and story. It came out at the perfect time as well, nothing like this had really been seen before.
Then you get a second one. OK… not as good as the first but it added to the story and it was good.
Then a third one joined in and this was good too. Still not as good as the first but better than the second.
Then came the prequels and Star Wars was ruined forever. These prequels to me are like lazy remakes. Producers like how much money the original has made and want to cash in without remaking it.

Halloween did this too. They milked an awesome film for all it was worth until finally the original  was remade and it sucked.

I’m sure people have their own examples and I didn’t intend to go off on a bit of a rant about the movies but there you go. I did and you read it. Sorry. 😉