We are all familiar with the term “remake” when applied to movies. Heck, we live in an age of cinema where that seems to be all they make anymore! Sometimes, though, remakes will slip under the radar. They don’t advertise themselves as such and, because of clever changes to the story, we virtually have no idea this movie already existed.
Max Level Geek got to thinking about this, and we decided to compile a list. So here it is, 5 remakes we think you’ve probably never heard of:
Adam Sandler’s 2002 film, about the owner of a small town pizzeria who inherits a large sum of money, is actually a remake of a Frank Capra film: 1936’s Mr. Deeds Goes To Town.
Unfortunately for us, there’s no Crazy Eyes equivalent in the Capra film.
The Matt Damon led The Bourne Identity (2002), about a CIA operative who losses his memory and tries to uncover his past, was a remake of another Bourne Identity. This far less popular one was made in 1988. Both were adaptations of Robert Ludlum’s novel of the same name.
Everyone who lived through the 90’s remembers this psycho-sexy drama about two siblings who play a game of seduction with their classmates. But what you might not have known, however, is that this movie is just a modern adaptation of a French novel that came out in 1782 titled Les Liaisons dangereuses (or The Danger Liaisons).
There were even 3 films that came before Cruel Intentions: Les Liaisons dangereuses (1959), Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and Milos Forman’s Valmont(1989).
“How could this 1998 film about e-mailing pen-pal lovers be a remake?” you might ask. Well, take away the use of electronic mail and its really a very straightforward love story at its core. The store Meg Ryan’s character owns is even the name of the film it remade: 1940’s The Shop Around The Corner.
This 1939 film, based on the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), had already been adapted numerous times. In fact, there were even 3 films released before the one we recognize as the true classic today.
As you can see, remakes aren’t always that bad after all. Sure, there’s plenty we’d rather never happened. But if you catch yourself condemning the very act of remaking something, just ask yourself, what if there were no remakes? We wouldn’t have the classic Wizard of Oz. Or David Cronenberg’s The Fly. John Carpenter’s The Thing. Or one of my personal favorites, The Bourne trilogy. One can hardly comprehend the butterfly effect that would ensue if there were no remakes. How different would our lives be?
And with that, we leave you with Tom Hanks from You’ve Got Mail, to (romantically) ponder this very notion – “what if?”:
