I only clicked on it because I thought it was going to be something more interesting...
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
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I didn't think you had a problem with it.
There is always some fraction of the fan base who get mad about movie remakes/reboots/continuations that include a more ethnically diverse cast than previous installments. It's sad that some folks see that as shoehorning in diversity, rather than as an opportunity to be more inclusive to under-represented groups of people. Especially in the case of The Magnificent Seven, where it makes sense that a ragtag group of folks from various backgrounds would probably include people of different races too.
One example I will note is the film, 12 Angry Men. The original which most of us have seen, would probable think it cannot be improved upon. The remake, some years later, had a diverse cast which made it interesting but at times contrived. I didn't think it was very good but it wasn't because it included different groups of people. It was simply a bad remake.
The older I get, the better I was.
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
I'm not a fan of the movies about Dark Age Norse or British that include one member of the cast who would have to be from Equatorial Africa, an area with no history of seafaring peoples. Or the Thor movies, where one of the Norse gods is an Equatorial African. I know why it's done, but it's a healthy dollop of revisionism on the supposedly historical fantasy. As I said, not a fan.
I think the thing about Battle Beyond The Star is just that overall cast. Besides Richard Thomas, you also had George Peppard, John Saxon, Sybil Danning, and in possibly one of the greatest casting coups in all of Roger Corman's work as a producer, he had one of the actual stars of The Magnificent Seven, essentially playing the exact same character, in the form of Robert Vaughan! As a side note, Lost In Space escapee Marta Kristen was also in the movie, as was future Newhart star Julia Duffy, and Bill Paxton (who later gave us the classic line "Do you realize, it's snowing in my bedroom?!", in Weird Science) was apparently employed as a carpenter on the production.
And how can you not love a movie with a ship that looks like that?! Wait, you mean you never noticed that someone obviously based the look of John Boy's ship on a picture from a biology textbook?!
This talk of remakes has me wondering: which remakes were actually worth the trip? I'm sure I've seen a few over the years, but I can't think of any off the top of my head, beyond the Hammer Dracula and Frankenstein pictures from the late 50's and 60's.
I'm not sure the world really needed an American version of Solaris, much less one with George Clooney in it.
Your right about Robert Vaughn. Weird isn't it. And the Ship, there has to be a joke attached to that.
The older I get, the better I was.
I like Amy but I don't want to see that. There are certain things that I revere too much to want to see them sullied. 12AM would be one of those things.
What I meant was, the irony is that the producers wanted a more diverse cast but didn't include women.
Ron left the building. (he's on vacation)
A Christmas Carol was remade several times and many think, myself & Geezer included, that the '51 remake with Alastair Sim is the definitive version.
A Star is Born is an obvious one. Not sure if either of the two remakes are as good as the original but I remember all the girls that I went to school with loved the Streisand/Kristofferson version.
No Way Out from the late '80s, starring Kevin Costner, was a remake of an old Ray Milland film noir called The Big Clock. That's a good movie, Staun. Look for it on TCM.
The Postman Always Rings Twice with Jack Nicholson was a remake of an old '40s film noir that starred Lana Turner, I think. (I was right. I don't know why I doubt myself. lol)
Hitch remade his '30s movie, The Man Who Knew Too Much, in the '50s with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day. I didn't care for either one, really, but the 2nd one did well at the box office.
Pale Rider with Clint Eastwood was a reworking of Shane. Altho, I don't know if you could exactly call it a remake.
Little Shop of Horrors was remade into a musical with Rick Moranis and it did well. The original, with Jack Nicholson as the dental patient, is pretty funny.
Personally, I liked the remake of Solaris.
The Ring, with Naomi Watts, was a remake of the Japanese movie Ringu. I thought both were good.
Was The Incredible Hulk, with Edward Norton, a remake of Ang Lee's Hulk? I never saw Lee's version so I can't compare but the Norton version was watchable.
I'm done wracking my brain. Besides, I'm tired and hungry.
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
Yes, I know. I was being facetious when I invoked the Kurosawa original. I've never seen The Magnificent Seven, mainly because I'm generally not into westerns, though I would like to see it sometime.
I have seen Seven Samurai, which I thought was a pretty good picture. I need to see that, and some Kurosawa-san's other works again.
I actually have The Seven Samurai and still haven't seen it. I tried once but only got about 10 or 15 minutes into it. I have a problem with the Japanese acting style. Which is why I can't stand anime... Aeon Flux notwithstanding.
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
Perhaps it excludes women because the title is Twelve Angry MEN .
I have nothing against diversity , it is nessasary for a civilized society , but the fact remains , in real life there are as many instantces of homogenized groups as diverse groups . Good movies reflect real life . Forcing diversity for its own sake , in an unwarranted scenerio , just provides one more obstacle to the suspension of belief often required in movie viewing.
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