Few things rile a genuine cinephile’s feathers like the news of a remake, because the irony is, if a movie is good enough to be worth remaking, it’s probably good enough to stand on its own. And heaven knows that we’ve all been burned by lousy remakes in the past, and over and over again, like The Wicker Man, The Haunting, Clash of the Titans, All the King’s Men, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, the list goes on and on and on.
But lately, Hollywood has been leaning towards a different sort of remake. It’s hardly new that American filmmakers would try to remake movies from other countries but in the last few weeks we’ve already had announcements about a U.S. version of the new, Oscar-nominated German comedy Toni Erdmann as well as a new director for the English-language remake of the acclaimed Indonesian action thriller The Raid. We’ve also got an American remake of the Japanese classic Ghost in the Shell coming out next month.
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In an increasingly global marketplace, American remakes of foreign language films probably seem unnecessary, or even condescending. It’s easy to access many of the original films via online stores and streaming services, and it arguably speaks ill of American audiences to suggest that they can’t handle the daunting task of reading subtitles. Complaints about American remakes of foreign language films are rampant, and not without some cause. Did you ever see the American versions of Diabolique, The Vanishing, Mirrors or Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla? They’re not good.
But just because some American remakes of foreign language films are awful doesn’t mean they all are. In fact there is a very long tradition of translating material from other countries and cultures into funny, scary, exciting and deeply moving English-language milieus. So if you’re still fuming about The Raid or Toni Erdmann or Ghost in the Shell, take a look at these great movies and try to remember that it’s POSSIBLE to do this the right way.
I mean, there’s no guarantee, but it’s POSSIBLE, right…?
21 Great American Remakes of Foreign Language Films:
Top Photos: Warner Bros. / Warner Bros. / RKO Radio Pictures
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
21 Great American Remakes of Foreign Language Films
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The Departed (2006)
Martin Scorsese's acclaimed remake of the Andrew Lau and Alan Mao's 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs was the film that finally, after decades of snubbing, earned the master filmmaker an Academy Award for Best Director.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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The Ring (2002)
Gore Verbinski's visually stunning remake of the Japanese supernatural thriller Ringu was a box office hit that spawned a long series of "J-Horror" American remakes.
Photo: Dreamworks
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Insomnia (2002)
Robin Williams gave one of his best performances as a serial killer tormenting Al Pacino's sleep deprived detective in Christopher Nolan's remake of the 1997 Norwegian thriller, also called Insomnia.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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Unfaithful (2002)
Adrian Lyne's impossibly sexy infidelity thriller Unfaithful was based on Claude Chabrol's 1969 thriller La Femme infidèle ("The Unfaithful Wife").
Photo: 20th Century Fox
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The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Anthony Minghella's Oscar-nominated adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel, about a con artist who takes over the life of a man he seemingly idolizes, was also a remake of René Clément's 1960 Franco/Italian production, Purple Noon.
Photo: Miramax
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The Birdcage (1996)
Another Robin Williams classic, in which the comedian plays a gay nightclub owner who pretends to be straight for his son's conservative politician future in-laws. Mike Nichols' hit comedy was a remake of the 1978 Franco-Italian comedy La Cage aux Folles.
Photo: United Artists
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The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)
Barbra Streisand remade the 1958 French drama Le Miroir à deux faces into a witty and award-winning romance, starring Streisand herself as a woman whose sexy makeover threatens to ruin her marriage to a man who loves her for her mind.
Photo: TriStar Pictures
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12 Monkeys (1995)
Terry Gilliam's twisted, twisting and utterly delirious time travel thriller was a remake of Chris Marker's classic experimental sci-fi short from 1962, La Jetée.
Photo: Universal Pictures
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A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
Keanu Reeves plays a married man who agrees to impersonate a pregnant woman's husband in Alfonso Arau's gorgeous, wistful, romantic remake of the 1942 Italian dramedy Four Steps in the Clouds.
Photo: 20th Century Fox
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Scent of a Woman (1992)
Al Pacino finally got his one and only Oscar for playing a blind, retired Army officer whose eccentricities make life difficult for his new, young assistant. It's a remake of Dino Risi's 1974 comedy Profumo di donna (which translates to "Scent of a Woman").
Photo: Universal Pictures
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Beauty and the Beast (1991)
It's a tale as old as time, but Disney's adaptation of the classic fairy tale borrows so heavily from Jean Cocteau's influential 1946 French version La Belle et la Bête - from the house full of living objects to very existence of a rival love interest - that we're calling it: Disney's version is functionally, at least, a remake.
Photo: Walt Disney
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Quick Change (1990)
Bill Murray stepped behind the camera for this hilarious cult comedy, about a team of successful bank robbers and the twists of fate that constantly prevent them from making a getaway. It's based on a Jay Cronley novel that was originally adapted into the French comedy Hold-Up in 1985, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Kim Cattrall.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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Three Men and a Baby (1987)
The highest grossing film of 1987 was a remake of the 1985 French comedy Trois hommes et un couffin ("Three Men and a Cradle"), about a trio of bachelors who wind up taking care of an infant. Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek's "Mr. Spock," directed the American version.
Photo: Buena Vista Pictures
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Victor/Victoria (1982)
Blake Edwards' Oscar-winning musical-comedy stars Julie Andrews as a woman pretending to be a male female-impersonator. It was a remake of the 1933 German musical comedy Viktor und Viktoria.
Photo: MGM/UA
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Sorcerer (1977)
It took a while for William Friedkin's remake of Henri-Georges Clouzot's The Wages of Fear to be considered a classic in its own right. Like the 1953 Franco-Italian original, it's a suspenseful tale about a group of desperate men driving trucks full of nitroglycerin over treacherous terrain.
Photo: Universal Pictures
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The Last House on the Left (1972)
Wes Craven's first horror thriller was a trailblazing and violent revenge story that impressed American audiences and set the stage for Craven's future classics like The Hills Have Eyes and A Nightmare on Elm Street. It's also a remake of Ingmar Bergman's 1960 Swedish classic The Virgin Spring.
Photo: Hallmark Releasing
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The Parent Trap (1961)
Everyone knows the story of two identical twins, separated at birth, who scheme to reunite their divorced parents. But before Disney got around to making The Parent Trap the story had already been turned into a feature film three times. The first was a 1950 West German comedy called Das doppelte Lottchen ("Two Times Lotte").
Photo: Walt Disney
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The Magnificent Seven (1960)
The all-star western blockbuster The Magnificent Seven was an ambitious remake of the groundbreaking Japanese action-drama Seven Samurai, directed by Akira Kurosawa in 1954. (The latest American remake, starring Denzel Washington, is pretty good too.)
Photo: United Artists
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Some Like It Hot (1959)
Billy Wilder's cross-dressing comedy is frequently hailed as one of the funniest comedies ever made, if not THE funniest comedy ever made. The film was a remake of Richard Pottier's 1935 French comedy Fanfare d'amour ("Fanfare of Love").
Photo: United Artists
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Scarlet Street (1945)
Fritz Lang's tense and disturbing film noir Scarlet Street stars Edward G. Robinson as a mild-mannered painter who gets scammed by his would-be mistress. It's a remake of the 1931 drama La Chienne ("The Bitch"), directed by Jean Renoir.
Photo: Universal Pictures
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Top Hat (1935)
The legendary Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance their hearts out in Top Hat, one of the most celebrated movies ever made. But before that the story had already been told in Skandal in Budapest, a German comedy from 1933.
Photo: RKO Radio Pictures
