Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: movie remakes

From: William Ahearn ( williamahearn@yahoo.com)
Date: 17 Feb 2008


--- Edward Pettit < epetti01@yahoo.com> wrote:

> But when a remake works it can be a very good thing.
> Remember that John Huston's The Maltese Falcon was
> the third attempt at filming Hammett's novel.
>
True. But there's remakes and then there are remakes. For example, is Friedkin's Sorcerer a remake of Clouzot's The Wages of Fear (both are excellent flicks) and more on topic, is Altman's Thieves Like Us a remake of Nicholas Ray's They Live By Night? Both are based on the Edward Anderson book. For my money, I'll take the Altman version. Having seen both recently, the Ray version is a beautifully shot and paced film of sentimental swill. The Altman version is closer to the sense of the book than Ray's lost and misunderstood teens in a dangerous heartland. I don't think Altman remade Ray's film, he re-shot Anderson's novel (in that peculiar Altman way).

William

Essays and Ramblings
<http://www.williamahearn.com>

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