As many of you probably know, I am not a fan of Steven Spielberg, to put it mildly. Still, I think that this (http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000071/news#ni0563242) is a good thing, not only for the anti-Spielberg elements, but also for those of us who hate the endless parade of remakes and rip-offs of classic movies that Hollywood has inflicted upon the movie-going public in recent years.

I can't believe that Spielberg would be so cocky as to try to create a blatant rip off of such a well known classic as Rear Window without even bothering to check with the person who wrote the original story. Hopefully, he'll end up forking over a big, fat check to Cornell Woolrich's estate, all well deserved, IMHO.

Maybe in the future, producers considering doing a remake of a classic movie will at least try to contact and get some input from the people who created the original film. I think that the talented people who created the original at least deserve the courtesy of being asked permission before their work is duplicated.

Hitchcock was a master of film, using shadows with the black and white instead of using color. Spielberg is good but he can't match Hitchcock with mystery. IMHO.

Hopefully they get it figured out.

Good on them! I'm so sick of these hacks making bad remakes of classics!

Just goes to show that between the whole modern hollywood lot they probably have one active synapse.

Hitchcock was a master of film, using shadows with the black and white instead of using color. Spielberg is good but he can't match Hitchcock with mystery. IMHO.

I agree completely, ShortGrub. Hitchcock's "Notorious" is an excellent example. I love the boom shot from the top of the room as it spirals down to the single key clutched in Ingrid Bergman's hand. Great shot and a wonderful black & white film.

I have to say, whilst I agree with the way
some directors and film companies make more poor remakes.
I would have thought Spielberg had enough brains
and advisors to check things before he made a remake?
I do like alot of Spielberg's movies,and he has made some classic timeless films,
and ones that will live in in movie history for evermore.
Millions of people love them, and he's made millions out of them,
so I suppose he kinda got something right??

Rear Window is one of my all time favorite movies, I won't watch any remake of it

99% of all remakes do not attain the quality of the original!

If you were to come even close to doing a remake right the actors would need to be older because they did not count on special effects to cover their short comings, but their natural character ability was their real talent. The older movies that would be redone would have actors that acted with natural character talent.

I was surprised when I saw the article that Spielberg had been that silly to leave himself open tolitigation.

When you think of all the films Spielberg has done and genres he has covered the one glaring omission in his CV is a western.

Will he ever make one??

99% of all remakes do not attain the quality of the original!

Believe it or not, I've actually seen one or two remakes that I thought were better than the original, though this 70-year-old memory can't remember the exact titles offhand. Let me give it some thought and I'll get back to you.

I thought the remake of "3:10 To Yuma" was as good, if not better, than the original.

I remember one remake that was definitely worse than the original though and that was Tom Selleck's version of "Monte Walsh".

Believe it or not, I've actually seen one or two remakes that I thought were better than the original, though this 70-year-old memory can't remember the exact titles offhand. Let me give it some thought and I'll get back to you.

I can think of three remakes than I liked better than the original(s).

I liked "Red Dragon" better than "Manhunter".

I liked "The Magnificent Seven" better than "Seven Samurai"

I've seen all of the films about Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the gunfight at OK corral. I liked "Tombstone" as well or better than the three that preceded it and much better than "Wyatt Earp".

Another movie I liked more than any of the several that came before and after it that dealt with the Titanic disaster was 1958's "A Night To Remember"

Another movie I liked more than any of the several that came before and after it that dealt with the Titanic disaster was 1958's "A Night To Remember"


I agree the 1958 version was much better than that mush filled poor excuse of a movie Titanic. Titanic, a perfect example of special effects winning Oscars for actors who are only flashy or eye candy but not talented.

I agree the 1958 version was much better than that mush filled poor excuse of a movie Titanic. Titanic, a perfect example of special effects winning Oscars for actors who are only flashy or eye candy but not talented.

Not only that but for some unknown reason, I just never have cared for this (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000138/) person.

Other remakes worth considering are Maltese Falcon which was the third or fourth attempt of making a film out of the book.

Although, I grew up with Jerry Lewis's The Nutty Professor and as a child and thought it was funny it now looks flat compared to Eddie Murphy's movie which is way more funnier.

Peter Jackson's King Kong and it easily tops the 1976 movie. It is unfair to compare it to 1933 movie and both versions in my opinion are classics.

Hammers Dracula easily beats the original Bela Lugosi Dracula.

However, the two remakes that would top my list would be Hollow Man which is a remake of The Invisible Man and Brendan Frazer The Mummy which both blow away the originals.

From reading all these posts, it's amazing how many remakes Speilberg has made, without me knowing!

STEVEN SPEILBERG IS NOT A TALENTLESS HACK.

He had nothing to do with Disturbia. He is not listed as a producer or executive producer. It was made by Dreamworks, a company he is one of the owners of.

Disturbia is not a remake of Rear Window but it does share plot points.

Odd they waited a year and a half to sue.

Rear Window was remade as a TV movie with Christopher Reeve some years ago.

I have to say, whilst I agree with the way
some directors and film companies make more poor remakes.
I would have thought Spielberg had enough brains
and advisors to check things before he made a remake?
I do like alot of Spielberg's movies,and he has made some classic timeless films,
and ones that will live in in movie history for evermore.
Millions of people love them, and he's made millions out of them,
so I suppose he kinda got something right??

I go by my original post,
wish I could make millions being a talentless hack!

From reading all these posts, it's amazing how many remakes Speilberg has made, without me knowing!

Nice way to gets us back on topic EE. :thumbs_up:

There are one or two remakes that I thought were much better than the originals-such as: The Four Feathers-I liked the remake much better than the original. Samething goes for the more recent version that came out a few yeards ago called: The Count Of Monte Christo-the one that had Richard Harris in it shortly before he passed away.

As for remakes that I loathe, these include any remake of Stagecoach and Titanic.

Speaking of the Titanic movies, has anybody here seen the 1943 German made movie of the same name? This one was fun to watch because you KNEW it was going to be full of propaganda.

Now, as for my favorite Titanic movie-I pick the 1953 version of Titanic because it is a fictional story based around the real event. Also, I thouhgt the Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Wagner and Richard Basehart-all were absolutely fantastic in that movie. A Night To Remember is a favorite Titanic movie of mine as well and that it is my favorite version which is far more accurate than any of the other versions I have seen. As for the movie which had Leonard DiCaprio in it-I liked this one the least of all. Even Raise the Titanic is much better than the DiCaprio version.

I've not seen Disturbia. I am a big fan of Rear Window, and also of James Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Raymond Burr. Nobody can match Alfred Hitchcock, though some have tried. Nothing can replace those people in today's market. As for Spielberg, I don't agree with him personally, but I do like some of his films. If I am to judge a person on his politics then I may as well not ever watch anything on TV or Video.

Is it me or are the movies going through a remake? There is nothing original out there!

Cheers :cool:

Is it me or are the movies going through a remake? There is nothing original out there! . . .Cheers :cool:

I think you're right, we've probably seen every original idea for a movie, not once, but in varying degrees, many times. . . . Movies are like history, . . ." they're bound to repeat themselves"

Chester :newyear:

Hi All

Interesting post! Not sure why you want to call Spielberg "talentless" except that one man's meat comes to mind?

As said by Keith many of his films are now classics and will stand the test of time whether we like it or not. (ET, Back to the future, Jurassic Park etc)

And lets not forget he is a BIG JW fan so he cannot be that bad surely?

(I bough the transformers DVD on the strength of JW voice over! And actually its an OK movie.)

I do agree that there are not so many remakes that can hold a candle to the original BUT judging by my own grown up children and their friends, unless some of these are remade the "younger generations" will never know of them. My children and their friends say "Not watching that cos its black and white"!

So there goes a generation who have written off countless classics.

So how about a compromise? We oldies can rightly maintain the original is best and accept that the remake at least makes the "youngsters" aware of these excellent movies. You never know once they see a half decent remake of say rear window maybe they will want to see the original and get switched on to Hitchcock.

Meanwhile we can all exercise our right not to view any remake we want and continue to view the original to our hearts desire.

I do agree that there are not so many remakes that can hold a candle to the original BUT judging by my own grown up children and their friends, unless some of these are remade the "younger generations" will never know of them. My children and their friends say "Not watching that cos its black and white"!
Excellent points, Elly! And who knows? Maybe after seeing a remake and being told it's one, some might be interested enough to overcome the 'obstacle' of black and white to watch the 'original.'

Just between you and me :wink_smile:, his affiliation with the Back to the Future movies gains him some big points with us. We never seem to get tired of watching those films!!

As most of these posts show, the thread title expresses one person's opinion . . . and you know what they say about opinions . . . they're like noses - everybody's got one! :shades_smile:

As far as making the occasional poor movie . . . I realize saying this might get me kicked off some John Wayne message boards, but even our beloved Duke made a couple of stinkers during his career (which we have amply discussed elsewhere on this message board previously).

Just my two cents worth!

Chester :newyear:

Chester,
I have to agree with you 100% .And I've the saying about opinions before ,too. The only thing was I heard Clint Eastwood say it and he didn't
use the word noses.
I like hearing different opinions on things .I guess I just don't like hearing them stated as fact.

Director Steven Spielberg and his DreamWorks movie studio Tuesday won the dismissal of a copyright infringement lawsuit that claimed their 2007 thriller "Disturbia" stole the plot of Alfred Hitchcock's film "Rear Window".

The Sheldon Abend Revocable Turst, which owns the rights to the 1942 Cornell Woolrich short story "Rear Window", sued Spielberg, DreamWorks and distributors Paramount Pictures in 2008.

Lawyers for the Trust left by the late Hollywood producer Abend claimed Hitchcock had properly obtained the right to turn the Woolrich story into his 1954 classic "Rear Window". But DreamWorks had not received such permission when making "Disturbia."

Both movies are murder mysteries featuring a man staring from his window at a neighbor.

A New York federal judge ruled Tuesday that although there were some similarities between the 1942 book, the Hitchcock movie and "Disturbia", none of them were actionable under U.S. copyright law.

"The main plots are similar only at a high, unprotectible level of generality," New York District Court judge Laura Taylor Swan wrote in her ruling that dismissed the complaint.

"Where 'Disturbia' is rife with sub-plots, the short story has none. The setting and mood of the short story are static and tense, whereas the setting and mood of 'Disturbia' are more dynamic and peppered with humor and teen romance," the judge added.

"Disturbia", which starred Shia LaBeouf, made $117 million at worldwide box offices.

http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment/movies/2010/09/21/15432676.html

I would say it is a fair judgement. The two movies are very different. A case of ambulance chasing for monetary gain.

I have to agree with May2...Speilberg is not a talentless hack. He calls The Searchers the GREATEST movie of all time, and watches it before he films each and every pictue he makes, just to remind himself how a perfect picture is made...

I can't for the life of me fathom how ANYONE can find fault with someone who does THAT!?!?!?!

Just a BIT off topic, but I need some help...Doe anyone know anything about John Wayne saying that he hated riding horse?!?! In the Munn book, he supposedly said (regarding being a real life rancher) in chapter 26, page 298, that "I still hate riding horses, and go by truck everywhere I can."

I don't have access to the book, and I have no idea as to the CONTEXT of the quote. Please help!!

I have to agree with May2...Speilberg is not a talentless hack. He calls The Searchers the GREATEST movie of all time, and watches it before he films each and every pictue he makes, just to remind himself how a perfect picture is made...

I can't for the life of me fathom how ANYONE can find fault with someone who does THAT!?!?!?!

Just a BIT off topic, but I need some help...Doe anyone know anything about John Wayne saying that he hated riding horse?!?! In the Munn book, he supposedly said (regarding being a real life rancher) in chapter 26, page 298, that "I still hate riding horses, and go by truck everywhere I can."

I don't have access to the book, and I have no idea as to the CONTEXT of the quote. Please help!!

I still go by original post concerning this,
and I agree with you totally.

I have to say, whilst I agree with the way
some directors and film companies make more poor remakes.
I would have thought Spielberg had enough brains
and advisors to check things before he made a remake?
I do like alot of Spielberg's movies,and he has made some classic timeless films,
and ones that will live in in movie history for evermore.
Millions of people love them, and he's made millions out of them,
so I suppose he kinda got something right??

As to your question about Duke and horses,
I also read the same and will have to think about where I saw it.
I think your question is worthy of a seperate thread and have made it so!

Thank you, kind scribe!! I KNEW I could count on someone of your vast well-readness to assist me!!

I agree the 1958 version was much better than that mush filled poor excuse of a movie Titanic. Titanic, a perfect example of special effects winning Oscars for actors who are only flashy or eye candy but not talented.


The 1953 version of (Titanic) was a great movie even if not very factual. I also love A Night To Remember. I like Titanic better because it has Richard Basehart, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Wagner and Clifton Webb in it.