When Threemakes are a Bad Idea

In before twooffour's fourmakes thread.

I was actually going to bring up I Am Legend and its three film adaptions in the "remakes" thread, but things were so bogged down in there it didn't seem to fit into any of the discussion that was going on.

The basic point I was going to make was, can you really consider those remakes of each other? Or are all three independent attempts at adapting the short story to the screen?

Each adaption takes a few details from the book, and tosses the rest out.

The Last Man on Earth was by far the most accurate to the source, but it changed the vampires to zombies.

The Omega Man kept only the premise of the immune protagonist in a world filled with infected night walkers, this time they still kept their mental state intact, but could no longer walk in sunlight and nonsensically got the uncontrollably urge to join a cult. Although the movie is one of my all time favorites simply because it uses the line "honky paradise", which may be the greatest line ever captured on film. If you watched The Last Man on Earth followed by The Omega Man, you might not even realize they were related beyond the single lone protagonist angle.

I Am Legend took the lonely isolation aspect of the source material and ran with it. I felt it did rather well with this, but left out just about anything else that tied it to the source (other than keeping its title, while completely botching the significance of that title). The CG infected just came off as extremely silly.

RedFive said:

Threemake:  When a movie has been remade a third time.

Gojira (1954), Godzilla (1998), Godzilla (2014)

The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971), I Am Legend (2007)

Yojimbo (1961), A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Last Man Standing (1996)

King Kong (1933), King Kong (1976), King Kong (2005)

I rather like "Last Man Standing."

Don't forget "The Maltese Falcon" (with Bogart) is the third remake of that particular novel.

I'd hesitate to call the US "Godzilla" a remake. I'd just call it 'another big monster movie that bought the rights to a recognizable title.'

PSYCHO_DAYV said:

OOPS, I THOUGHT THIS WAS THE "WHEN THREESOMES ARE A BAD IDEA" THREAD.  MY BAD.

Ha-ha, that showed up in my three thread just last week.

theprequelsrule said:

I have to believe the new Godzilla will be better than the '98 film.

it depends on whose making it.  If it is being made by another than Toho, I don't think it will work.

TheBoost said:

Don't forget "The Maltese Falcon" (with Bogart) is the third remake of that particular novel.

I've seen all three, Bogart's the best. 

CP3S said:

I Am Legend took the lonely isolation aspect of the source material and ran with it. I felt it did rather well with this, but left out just about anything else that tied it to the source (other than keeping its title, while completely botching the significance of that title). The CG infected just came off as extremely silly.

Yeah, can't help but feel that at some point during the pitch for I Am Legend somebody said, "It's like Cast Away, but in the city!"

theprequelsrule said:

A Fistful of Dollars is overrated, but Last Man Standing was absolute shit.

Being a HUGE Clint Eastwood fan, I loved A Fistful of Dollars, but the best of the "dollars trilogy" will always be For A Few Dollars More to me. I never could watch Last Man Standing through to the end though, I always lost interest somewhere about 20 mins in.

PSYCHO_DAYV said:

OOPS, I THOUGHT THIS WAS THE "WHEN THREESOMES ARE A BAD IDEA" THREAD.  MY BAD.

I also had to take a second look!

I think I read somewhere that a remake for the Cronenberg The Fly remake is in the works.

RedFive said:

Yojimbo (1961), A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Last Man Standing (1996)

So "Last Man Standing" is a remake of "Yojimbo," which had an uncredited remake in "Fistful" and is itself an uncredited adaption of the novel "Red Harvest" which has to be unique in all novels as having three adaptations, none of them official.

I hope someday "Red Harvest" gets made and everyone says "This movie is a rip of of 'Last Man Standing!'"

EDIT

Even kookier, but I haven't seen it, supposedly Yojimbo was also remade as The Warrior and the Sorceress with David Carradine.

timdiggerm said:

Seven Samurai (1954), The Magnificent Seven (1960), A Bug's Life (1998)

I haven't seen the original, but it's considered a classic. I've seen the other two, and they're both excellent, though obviously A Bug's Life is a bit different in tone.

"Bugs Life" seems more of a riff on "The Three Amigos," which is itself plainly poking a bit of fun at "Magnificent Seven." 

TheBoost said:

timdiggerm said:

Seven Samurai (1954), The Magnificent Seven (1960), A Bug's Life (1998)

I haven't seen the original, but it's considered a classic. I've seen the other two, and they're both excellent, though obviously A Bug's Life is a bit different in tone.

"Bugs Life" seems more of a riff on "The Three Amigos," which is itself plainly poking a bit of fun at "Magnificent Seven." 

This is the second time on this page a movie was brought up here that was just recently brought up in my three thread.

Can I ignore the Nicole Kidman film and say all the Body Snatchers films have something to offer, pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaase?

greenpenguino said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

I think I read somewhere that a remake for the Cronenberg The Fly remake is in the works.

Why? 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'