Angry Embassy: France
The Original: Claude Zizi’s La Totale! aka The Jackpot! (1991), a comedy about a businessman who’s really a secret agent. Trouble is, his bored housewife doesn’t know, and is thinking of straying.
The Makeover: James Cameron’s only foray into comedy...although you probably wouldn’t know it. Cameron reverses the original’s joke by replacing unassuming spy Thierry Lhermitte with superhuman Arnie Schwarzenegger, the world’s least likely office drone.
Oh, and he spends the GNP of a small nation on explosions. The action is so full-on the film’s ‘stop the affair’ mid-section feels like a bizarre aberration.
Moment You Know You’re Watching a Hollywood Movie: Villainous Salim Abu Aziz (Art Malik) is clinging to a missile on a Harrier jump-jet piloted by Schwarzenegger.
So, inevitably, Arnie hits the release button, utilising the bone dry wit that made him an action hero: “You’re fired!” Sir Alan, take note: this is how it should be done.
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Comments
Orbish
Jan 22nd 2010, 11:34
No Yojimbo/Fistful of Dollars/Last Man Standing?
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mitchsn
Jan 23rd 2010, 2:29
With the exception of 1 or 2, all the american remakes sucked a*s.
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sunnyrandall
Jan 25th 2010, 9:40
What about Haneke's Funny Games? Yeah, I know he directed both but . . . .
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jimclark54
Jan 25th 2010, 15:45
Seven Samurai -> Magnificent Seven -> Battle Beyond The Stars (writer: John Sayles, art director: James Cameron)
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Ihatethis
Jan 25th 2010, 18:33
La Femme Nikita = Point of No Return
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BaldMelon
Jan 25th 2010, 23:51
You forgot "Three Men and a Baby" and "Three Men and a Little lady" were originally French. Disney bought the North American distribution rights of the French sequel to cut down on competition. They also did the same thing for the Japanese version of "Shall We Dance". You can't even find it on DVD and it is a far superior film to the Richard Gere version. Oh, and shall we not forget the Jodie Foster/Richard Gere flop "Sommersby" is a watered down version of the French "The Return of Martin Guerre". Not to mention "La Femme Nikita"/"Point of No Return" and "Les Diaboluques"/"Diabolique", etc, etc...
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metalgatesolid
Jan 26th 2010, 20:26
The Grudge/Ring remakes where, I think we cn all agree, no where near as terrifying as the original versions. The biggest travesty in my eyes is Rec and Quarentine. Rec is amazing!!!
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tacroy
Feb 8th 2010, 14:03
Where is "The Invisable" on this list? It's a bad remake of the swedish movie "Den osynlige". And they even had to make a bad (and I mean really really bad) ending to it. They changed the whole outcome from the original one. Someone should be punished for that
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