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Show ALC j January26. 1996 SES The More Memorable the Movie, the More Hollywood MessesWith It Continued from page 1 blanca Granted. Sydney no hurry to Pollack d Sabr took some serious con tatiay| ations er. He ctl Bogart character. played this time around by Harrison Ford And rather than try to seek out a Hep: burn lookalike, he went with rela Julia Ormond Legends “First Knight id ar makes his big: Linus’ brother This heavily “Sabrina” borrows more from Samuel Tavlor’s stage play. “Sabrina Fair.” The name comes from a poem about a mythical woman who rescues floundering men “Some ofmyfavoritefilms have been remakes, ‘His Girl Friday’for instance and‘The Maltese Falcon.' ButI think it works better to remake mediocrefilms than to remakeperfect films because there's rarely anything to add." Anita Monga, programdirector for the Castro Theatre, a San Francisco repertory house As programming director for the Castro Theatre. a San Francis co repertory house, Anita Monga is well versed in classic American film. She has no problem with re makes per se. Redoing a film can bring it back into the public con sciousness. attracting new audiences to the original, she says Some of my favorite films have been remakes. ‘His Girl Fri day’ for instance and ‘The Maltes« Falcon, But I think it works bet ter to remake mediocre films than Always.” to remake perfect films because = there's rarely anything to add Monga says She noted that somedirectors rework their own movies. That was the case with Leo McCarey who turned his Oscar-nominated Love Affair” into 1957's "An Af fair to Remember.” Then Warren Beatty and Annette Bening took a shot at it with last year's “Love Affair” Carl Reiner spun a varia tion of the story into “Sleepless in Seattle Maybe it’s just something that really inspired them,” says Monga. ‘Nobody thinks that people shouldn't be Hamlet.” redoing When you get a really good story, I really do think for a lot of directors they just want their chance at that material They loved it and they feel*they have something to add That's one viewpoint. A more cynical one is that producers are looking for sure bets in a capital intensive industry, or that screenwriters are in a collective stupor Joe Roth, chairman of the Walt Disney Motion Picture Group. commented on the trend to the New York Times. It's about mon aversion.” Roth said much to make movies that people An obvious remake: “Miracle on 34th Street. are worried about completely new ideas. So you try to remake mov- vesyou an audi les that have worked a sense of comfort th ina pre idea at movie with some re There apprehension around regarding make the : : and doubt ence once thought it was a good Some movies merely borrow heavily from those that went be fore. Woody Allen’s “Stardust Linus Larrabee (Harrison Ford) is taught to use his heart by Sabrina (Juli ia Ormond) in “Sabrina.” form. Welen tuto the ; YN ; EG all ‘Lolita’ r * : Memories’ is an obvious tribute to Fellini's “8 1/2 Then there are remakes based on foreign films. The French hit Cousin, Cousine” became *Cous: ins”; “La Femme Nikita” became Point of No Return Three Men and a Baby” and “My Father the Hero” are based on French at ind repulsive as James Ma screenplays. There are plenty of hacks in explicit Hollywood who hink it was a success one time, let's keep doing it, we have a surefire thing hat’s the whole e conside Sabr lirector Th Pollack. \ it's uM andformula, But w ic script and a go interesting remake is better t Gary Meyer. founde Landmark Theatre very mixed emotions” makes. “Just b make doesn’t mean of cha ; t a ; ; stuff coming out f th : it at € it It W a Sie it's am Steve Martin is daddy in “Father of the Bride II } } Cape Fear Danielle (Juliette Lewis), Leigh (Jessica Lange) in } ' |
