Film remakes: do they ever succeed?

[Stavros]

Spike Lee has re-made Oldboy, a Korean classic from 2003 by Chan-Wook Park but has, as often happens with re-makes in English from foreign originals, changed the ending to suit American -or Spike Lee's tastes.

Carrie, an American re-make of a desperately trashy American film originally by Brian de Palma in 1976 has also had poor reviews.

Do remakes ever succeed in improving on, or being as good as the original? I can think of one but most seem poor; but I haven't done a thorough search so please offer your own...there are a lot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_remakes_A-M
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_remakes_N-Z

Failures:
Some Like it Hot ((Billy Wilder, 1959)
A re-make of the French film Fanfare d'Amour (1935) which was also re-made in German in 1951 as Fanfaren der Liebe -I haven't seen any of the two previous but it is hard to imagine a film as poor as this, not just because of the presence of the human Dumbo, Marilyn Monroe, which guarantees a disaster. Crucially, it is supposed to be comedy but doesn't raise a laugh. Wilder added the mob element to the story, as if that mattered.

Sliding Doors (199 eight)
A sort-of remake of Kiezlowski's Blind Chance (1981) which Agnieszka Holland described as having the philosophical depths and stylistic subtleties stripped away...the film was never going to get far with John Hanna, whose inability to act is embarrassing. The original is so good this version slides down the escalator to nowhere.

The Departed (Scorsese, 2006)
The original Hong Kong movie from 2002 has an edge that the Scorsese film lacks, as well as the nuances of life in Hong Kong that do not export well to Chicago. The script is poor, the acting mechanical. Not so much a departure as a pause without a conclusion.

Get Carter (2000)
A re-make of a British classic from 1971. The only reasonable response one can make to this is: no, no, no. Get Lost.

The Hitcher (2007)
The original 1986 film with Rutger Hauer cannot be bettered, simply because Hauer is one of the great creeps in cinema, and delightfully so in a spooky kind of way -like Christopher Walken's anarchist brother.

Meet me Half-way: partial successes
The Magificent Seven (John Sturges, 1960)
A remake of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954) and one of the most thrilling films ever made, with an awesome performance from Toshiro Mifune. Nevertheless, this American version does a good job of translating the drama even if it doesn't have the intensity of the original.

Successes
A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone 1964)
Although a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961) Leone translates the meaning while giving the film its own style -for some reason westerns manage re-makes better than other films, but I don't know why.

The Italian Job (2003)
An American remake of the British film with Michael Caine, this is at least as good as the British film, mainly because it doesn't have the loathsome Noel Coward to ruin it, as he ruins the British film. In fact at one time he threatened to ruin western civilization. Let's face it, who would you rather see in a film, Noel Coward or Charlize Theron? But nothing will ever replace the stunning conclusion to the British version.

[samanthasurprise]

The Maltese Falcon

[Prospero]

You will certainly raise a lot of hackles by selecting "Some Like It Hot" as one of the worst re-makes ever. This film is almost universally loved.

Equally I have met few people who did not find "The Magnificent Seven" a thrilling film - even if the "TheSeven Samurai was" an undisputed masterpiece.

I agree with the rest - though for me one of the worst remakes ever was "Sleuth" directed by Kenneth Branagh with Michael Caine taking the part originally played by Olivier and Jude Law playing the part originally performed by Caine. it was quite mind numbingly bad.

But sorry the remake of "The Italian Job" was dreadful - not a patch on the original.

But aside fro your astonishing distate for "Some like It Hot' I broadly agree with your judgements.

[SpoogeMonkey]

The Italian Job (2003)
An American remake of the British film with Michael Caine, this is at least as good as the British film, mainly because it doesn't have the loathsome Noel Coward to ruin it, as he ruins the British film. In fact at one time he threatened to ruin western civilization. Let's face it, who would you rather see in a film, Noel Coward or Charlize Theron? But nothing will ever replace the stunning conclusion to the British version.

what? are you for fucking real? The US Italian job was a decent film with no way in any relation to the British film of the same name, aside from the same name.

Noel Coward is legendary in the film.. Maybe you meant Benny Hill's part which is essentially a molester, and Im surprised its not been cut out and replaced with jar jar binks in latest releases.

As for this new Old boy film, I dont even have to watch it to know it will be shit.

[blackchubby38]

Are we talking financial success, critical success, or both?

The Departed remake takes place in Boston btw.

[EZWind]

Some Like It Hot.........c'mon man....if ya didn't get a chubby from Marilyn, ya gotta get at least a smile from the performances of Lemmon and Curtis. More to the point, if you haven't seen the originals you can't really say that it doesn't measure up now can ya

Magnificent Seven....okay, maybe not as intense as the original, but still pretty damn good. Great characters well portrayed by a terrific cast.

...you're pretty much spot on tho w/ your other examples.
....there's quite a few remakes of American films that failed miserably as well
...Adam Sandler's Longest Yard comes to mind first
...also Psycho

[GroobyKrissy]

Are you talking about reboots?

Most all [major] superhero (not talking Punisher or Flash) movies have done pretty decently... Spiderman, Superman, Batman, etc.

[GroobySteven]

Cape Fear - cracking re-make.
Red Dragon was quite decent also yet not as good as Manhunter.

... and to suggest that the US Italian Job was anything close to the original, is like suggesting Stallone's Get Carter, was even a shadow of the original.

[VictoriaVeil]

The US Version of the Italian job... I agree nothing like the original, but a good popcorn movie all the same.

[flabbybody]

if the remake takes an obscure film that no one saw it's not fair to classify it as as failure. I thought 1999 Sliding Doors was a new idea. How many folks can say they saw the original? (I may check it out now)
Your analysis seems to unfairly penalize big production films that are heavily marketed versus their lesser known originals. Big budget doesn't necessarily mean poor quality.