As movie lovers we’ve grown accustomed to collectively wincing every time we hear that a favourite classic is being remade. The same might be true for the upcoming The Magnificent Seven (2016), but let’s not forget that the original Magnificent Seven (1960) was too a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954). There’s no question that many remakes aren’t all too remarkable, but some (given the right direction and some updates) become great and sometimes greater films than the original. The original Magnificent Seven has been preserved and lauded as a classic for over a half-century, here are ten others remakes that have accomplished similar feats.
10 – A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Yojimbo (1961)
A spaghetti Western reimagining of Yojimbo and the first of the iconic Dollars Trilogy. Perhaps it’s fitting that the inspiration of what was to be a “new western” came from a man (Akira Kurosawa), who himself was inspired by the Golden Age Westerns of John Ford.
9 – Imitation of Life (1959)
Imitation of Life (1934)
It’s just as essential as its 1934 counterpart (both are listed in the National Film Registry). Douglas Sirk’s fascination with emotionally shallow, high-class yuppies is on full display. It’s the performances of Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner that really cement this version’s “classic” status.
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8 – 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
It’s given a baroque action-movie sensibility (in the best possible way) and it’s one of the few remakes that is compared to the original (some may say it even surpass it). There isn’t a hint of irony or revisionism here, 3:10 to Yuma is a remake that stays true to its origins.
7 – The Departed (2006)
Infernal Affairs (2002)
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Only Scorsese could direct a foreign-language remake and win the Oscar for Best Picture. The hyper-stylized moments, booming fanfares and piercing melodrama of the Hong Kong crime classic, Infernal Affairs (2002), are replaced with Boston-flavored social realism and black comedy.
6 – 13 Assassins (2011)
13 Assassins (1963)
Like The Magnificent Seven (2016), 13 Assassins is too the remake of a remake, both sharing their roots in Seven Samurai (1954). 13 Assassins is a bleak samurai actioner that stylistically and violently revamps the original, given the full—if somewhat constrained—Takashi Miike treatment.
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5 – The Driver (1978)
Le Samouraï (1967)
Despite its remarkable aesthetic differences, The Driver is indeed a remake to Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï (1967). The Driver is Los Angeles’ answer to Melville’s Parisian noir—replace the quiet hit man with a quiet getaway driver, the songstress with a card gambler and the two movies are virtually identical.
4 – Sorcerer (1977)
Wages of Fear (1953)
William Friedkin denies Sorcerer to be a remake but even he can’t brush off the gaping similarities in both movies’ premise. This was considered a failure upon release—not making half its money back—but upon critical reevaluation it’s considered an ambitious masterpiece of “New Hollywood.”
3 – Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979)
Nosferatu (1922)
It’s tough for a German to remake what is essentially one of the country’s proudest cinematic accomplishments. Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht did for New Hollywood in 1979, what F.W. Murnau did for German Expressionism 1922—both compounding a new literature in German cinema.
2 – The Fly (1986)
The Fly (1958)
David Cronenberg (in typical Cronenberg fashion) takes the horror element of scientific discovery and morphs the original story into less of a horror extravaganza, and more of a melodrama of pungent body horror and quiet romance. If you can move past the eye shuttering and gag reflexes, you’ll find that it’s strangely moving.
1 – The Thing (1982)
The Thing from Another World (1951)
The original Thing from Another World (1951) reflected a nationwide paranoia of Soviet invasion, the new one—while boasting a similar framework—seems to be more about human error (a more terrifying concept in the Reagan-era). The makeup, showing the thing’s unknowable cosmic horrors, is utterly sublime and (needless to say) timeless.
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