Which classic movies should NOT be remade?

[Irishmom2]

Godfather l and II.

Agreed!

Now if they could just unmake III.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Godfather l and II.

If anyone dares touch those, terrorists will be born.

 

[randomuser]

Caged (1950)

a stark, black and white dramatic expose of the problems of the Women’s Penal System as it existed.

The sensational NAME of the movie probably makes audiences think of it as a sexy exploitation film. NOT so.

One of the best displays of female acting talents in the history of film

imdb.com/title/tt0042296/fullcredits/

Eleanor Parker - stars as 19 year old Marie Allen, in jail as an accessory to a gas station robbery (in which tried keep her young husband from being beaten to death. Unsuccessfully).

In the top five female performances of all time IMO.

Also starring a pantheon of the top female character actresses including: Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby, Betty Garde, Jan Sterling, Hope Emerson (in perhaps the best female villainous role ever … without gratuitous bloodshed establishing the villainy), and the inimitable Jane Darwell.

youtube.com/watch?v=SO0GxT29mfg&index=1&list=PL0LNeEVVNboxTNJUeIX2sbgvkZQg3_5Zs

It’s not that something similar MIGHT not be done today as an avenue of showcasing outstanding female actors of all ages in a serious (non-cheesecaky) prison movie – it’s just that THIS was done so well.

Caged is airing on Turner Classic Movies as I type this.

Better than “I Want To Live!” with Susan Hayward? That’s the benchmark against which I’d measure “Caged.” And Angela Lansbury in the original “Machurian Candidate,” that’s the textbook female villainy role bar none. Mary Tyler Moore in “Ordinary People” is a distant second.

 

[louisak]

Sullivan’s Travels. Not very well known, although it regularly appears in film critics’ lists of great movies. I think it’s one of the best films I’ve ever seen - it’s so rich and works on so many levels.

 

[louisak]

Better than “I Want To Live!” with Susan Hayward? That’s the benchmark against which I’d measure “Caged.” And Angela Lansbury in the original “Machurian Candidate,” that’s the textbook female villainy role bar none. Mary Tyler Moore in “Ordinary People” is a distant second.

I saw Ordinary People many years ago. My recollection is that Moore’s character wasn’t a villain, just emotionally repressed.

 

[CaptFun]

Better than “I Want To Live!” with Susan Hayward? That’s the benchmark against which I’d measure “Caged.” And Angela Lansbury in the original “Machurian Candidate,” that’s the textbook female villainy role bar none. Mary Tyler Moore in “Ordinary People” is a distant second.

Those are all great films. Maybe it’d be comparing apples to oranges in a way.

Since you included a ? in your post … I heartily recommend Caged. Although part of why I liked it so much was I was expecting NOTHING … and began watching it with a bit of annoyance at it being in black and white. < It was in an American Studies class I was using to fill out my “upper division units not in my major” part of my grad requirements.

Susan Hayward was quite brilliant in “I Want To Live” — but (I risk spoiling Caged here) the journey of young Marie Allen from unlucky innocent into a bitter sure to re-offend criminal made by the system … gave the movie some extra bite.

I do remember “A Clockwork Orange” (for all its horror and gratuitous violence) had a subplot concerning an attempted solution of criminal violence in the experiments conducted upon “Alex”. < What happens to Marie in Caged is kind of the mirror reverse - as bad to the bone “Alex” is converted to a level of harmlessness by “the system” whereas Marie … a bad luck babe in the woods who clings to what innocence she can while surrounded by hard cases … bit by bit is abandoned by an impotent system and becomes almost a polar opposite person by the end of the movie.

I did enjoy your recounting some good movies and female prison roles though – and I’ll even add Olivia de Havilland’s performance in The Snake Pit as in that superior class.

But I have never quite seen a performance like Eleanor Parker’s in Caged. Tear your heart out vulnerability, innocence and confusion … and a slow horror genre Jekyll to Hyde transformation by the end of the flick. WHAT a meaty role for a versatile actress. And Parker nailed it. :coolinoff::sad_yes::clapping:

google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Caged+1950+cast&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 < cast of Caged 1950

 

[randomuser]

and I’ll even add Olivia de Havilland’s performance in The Snake Pit as in that superior class.

The Snake Pit is easily one of my Top 10’s of all time - not sure why the Leonard Maltin Video Guides say it’s nobody’s favorite movie – I love The Snake Pit – and yes, ‘superior’ definitely applies. It was just on TCM this week. Good call.

 

[Nelka]

Westerns.