The List

The List: 25 Best Movie Remakes of All Time, Part I

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With the recent news of such films as The Evil Dead, Conan the Barbarian, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Battle Royale, Friday the 13th, The Last House on the Left, TRON, Clash of the Titans, Akira, The Birds, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Warriors, Escape from New York, Metropolis, Straw Dogs, 1984, The Dirty Dozen, Footloose, Dune, The Thing (again), Near Dark, and Fame being given the remake treatment (among many, many others), and the looming release of December’s The Day the Earth Stood Still, a list ranking the 25 best remakes of all time seemed a perfect fit for our third entry in The List. Today we’ll cover nos. 25-11 and next week we’ll finish with the ten best remakes in movie history and five such films that just missed the cut.


25. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)

This remade version of John S. Robertson’s 1920 film of the same name is perhaps the best adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 120-year-old novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to ever hit the screen.


24. The Italian Job (2003)

A loose remake of the popular 1969 British caper (which starred a young Michael Caine), this recent actioner is a compact source of adrenaline that generated quite a fan base with its gritty, ultra-cool style and A-list cast (which includes Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, and Donald Sutherland, to name a few).


23. The Bourne Identity (2002)

This action-packed thrill-ride wowed audiences and was received well by critical masses, too. It’s a remake of the 1988 same-titled television miniseries (which starred Richard Chamberlain in the title role) and the second, far superior, adaptation of Robert Ludlum’s introductory novel in a series of three.


22. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Remaking the 1971 cult classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (which starred Gene Wilder as Mr. Wonka) was certainly no easy task. However, with master storyteller Tim Burton directing, and luminous actor Johnny Depp in front of the camera (as Wonka), this 2005 blockbuster—which adopted the original title of the Roald Dahl book off of which it is based—was a great success, and a very worthy remake.


21. Moulin Rouge! (2001)

This remake of John Huston’s 1952 Best Picture nominee marked the fifth film to be titled Moulin Rouge—the first three were musicals released in 1928, 1934 and 1940—and far succeeded its predecessor with eight Oscar nominations (including Best Picture) and two wins (Huston’s version was nominated for two Oscars and won none).


20. The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

This fantastic version of Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale of revenge is one of 14 movie and television adaptations, but most closely a remake of the 1934 film, which most consider the novel’s truest visual depiction (as I do).


19. The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

In 1968, United Artists released a daring classic: Norman Jewison’s The Thomas Crown Affair, which starred Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. 31-years later, after MGM acquired United Artists, they released this remake, a film that stars Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo in roles that captivated multiplexes with eroticism equal to that of the original.


18. 3:10 to Yuma (2007)

A remade version of the ’57 Glen Ford-starring picture of the same name, this adrenaline-fueled Western puts superstars Christian Bale and Russell Crowe against each other and tacks on an extra 25 minutes to its adaptation, stylishly retelling a model story for a modern audience, while tastefully appeasing Hollywood’s demand for action.


17. Scent of a Woman (1992)

This two-and-a-half-hour remake of the 1974 Italian film by Dino Risi is a very-well-done drama that is equally compelling and funny and stars Chris O’Donnell, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Al Pacino, the last of whom won a Best Actor Oscar for his role as blind, retired Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade.


16. An Affair to Remember (1957)

Leo McCarey directed, wrote and produced this remake of his own 1939 film Love Affair, which was nominated for six Academy Awards in 1940, including Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. This version, which stars Carey Grant and Deborah Kerr (in roles originally played by Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne), was nominated for four Oscars, and was again remade into a 1994 film called Love Affair, which included the last on-screen performance by Katharine Hepburn.


15. House of Wax (1953)

One of the first movies to be presented in 3-D, this horror remake of the 1933 silent film Mystery of the Wax Museum stars Vincent Price and Charles Bronson and is directed by André De Toth, who had previously been nominated for an Oscar in 1951 for his work writing a Western called The Gunfighter.


14. The Ring (2002)

This terrifying American remake of the now-ten-year-old Japanese horror classic Ringu is directed by Gore Verbinski and features great performances by both Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson as two adults battling a cursed child named Samara (played by Daveigh Chase in a role reminiscent of—though not nearly as scary as—Linda Blair’s in The Exorcist).


13. Victor/Victoria (1982)

This Oscar-winning musical comedy, a remake of the ’33 German film Viktor und Viktoria, again showcased the extraordinary vocal capacity of The Sound of Music star Julie Andrews, was directed by renowned filmmaker Blake Edwards (of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the Peter Sellers-starring Pink Panther series), and put a spotlight on transvestism—something somewhat iconic in the early ’80s.


12. Nosferatu the Vampyre (Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht) (1979)

This German remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 classic silent picture Nosferatu is directed with meticulousness by spectacular filmmaker Werner Herzog, and productively recreates the suspense and fright of the original. Klaus Kinsi is magnificent as Count Dracula in a role equally as eerie as that off of which it is based, Max Shreck’s turn as Graf Orlok.


11. Ben-Hur (1959)

This classic remake of the 1925 Fred Niblo-directed movie of the same name won a record 11 Oscars at the 1960 Academy Awards—its record would be matched by Titanic in 1998 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2004—and starred Charlton Heston as the title character, a role previously played by Ramon Novarro. Karl Tunberg received the film’s twelfth Academy Award nomination for his adapted screenplay of Lew Wallace’s century-old novel, which ended up Ben-Hur’s only nomination to go home defeated in its category.


Satisfied with Part I? If not, let us know why. And tune back in next Wednesday for the ten best movie remakes ever (and a few worth mention that didn’t make the top 25).

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