Non-remake remakes
The LA Times has a fun slideshow on what they call “non-remake remakes” or in other words movie ripoffs. The examples they cite are:
Disturbia (2007) / Rear Window (1954)
Surviving the Game (1994) / The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
Apocalypse Now (1979) / Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
The Magnificent Seven (1960) / Seven Samurai (1954)
No Way Out (1987) / The Big Clock (1948)
Body Heat (1981) / Double Indemnity (1944)
Body Double (1984) / Rear Window-Vertigo-Dial M for Murder
Assault on Precinct 13 (2007) / Rio Bravo (1959)
William Shakespeare deserves special credit in the ‘homage’ circuit, spawning a number of movies including:
Ten Things I Hate About You (1999)
Kiss Me Kate (1953)
West Side Story (1961)
Throne of Blood (1957)
Looking at the LA Times list, it appears the most egregious example of homage extremis is The Magnificent Seven — there are even lines of dialogue lifted from Kurosawa’s masterpiece.
Of course, Hollywood has always been about recycling stories — in some ways, it’s what it does best. Here are some other examples to add to the list:
“A man who wins a lottery takes a vacation with the girl who gave him half her ticket.”
Has to be It Could Happen to You, the 1994 rom-com starring Nicholas Cage and Bridget Fonda, right?
Wrong. This is the log-line to a French movie Bonne Chance, released back in 1935.
“A shopgirl finds an abandoned baby and is thought to be its mother.”
Sounds like the 1987 comedy Baby Boom, starring Diane Keaton.
Nope. It’s the log-line of a 1939 RKO release Bachelor Mother starring Ginger Rogers.
“In order to stay in America, a European refugee arranges a strictly platonic marriage with an American.”
That’s got to be the 1990 rom-com Green Card starring Gerard Depardieu and Andie MacDowell.
Sorry. That is the high concept behind the 1941 MGM movie Come Live With Me.
As we have discussed before ‘similar but different’ rules the way Hollywood studios think. Oftentimes the movies just happen to be more similar than different.
Can you think of any other examples of non-remake remakes?