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Destry (1954) Reminds Us Remakes Sometimes Work
March 22, 2024
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A week ago the trailer dropped for a remake of The Crow and this week the Road House remake released. Both have reignited the discussion about what movies can be remade and which ones should be left alone. It’s practically a meme at this point that only bad movies with good concepts should get remakes, something which I’m not sure has ever happened. That could be about to change, as a new Red Sonja is in the works. The 1985 movie is as bad as you’ve heard, and a new version is finally exiting development hell.

Except it’s probably going to be just as bad in a different way.

We complain about remakes as if they're something new. What many people may not realize is that some of our favorite films are themselves remakes. Both The Wizard of Oz and The Ten Commandments, for example, are remakes of silent films. Many foreign films have been remade in English, with the location changed accordingly, and with good results.

It’s okay to remake a movie. Sometimes.

Generally, I'm of the opinion that the only time a remake is truly justified is when a new technology has been perfected. Silent movies remade as talkies? Sure. Black and white remade in color? Maybe, maybe not. When VR as an interactive, cinematic storytelling device is ready, I'll be ready for a remake of The Avengers.

No amount of rebooting will save the MCU until there’s new tech.

But Hollywood doesn't need a good reason to make a remake. Sometimes they just do it. Ironically, in the early days the studios often tasked the same director for the for project, or the director himself wanted to do it (Hitchock and DeMille being prime examples). Which I guess is better than George Lucas tinkering with Star Wars (Han shot first, btw). 

Such is the case with the movie I watched yesterday, Destry.

George Marshall had already done the Destry story in 1939 with James Stewart in Destry Rides Again, itself the second time Max Brand's novel had been adapted for the screen. So the next time you’re inclined to complain about the umpteenth Spider-Man movie, just remember this cowboy story you’ve never heard of got put to film three times. 

Side note: neither the '39 nor the '54 movies bear any resemblance to the novel.

According to Wikipedia, the 1954 version is almost a shot-for-shot remake of Marshall's first pass. At least we rarely see that done anymore, though I wish The Crow would at least acknowledge of the color palate of the original (which I’m sure will look amazing in the 4k restoration). But I digress. I've seen the Stewart version, but it's been so long I don't remember it. What makes the ‘54 movie different is that one, it's in color, and two, it's got Audie Murphy.

Like Brandon Lee, we lost him too soon.

Both Stewart and Murphy are, of course, screen legends and real-life war heroes. But they bring very different personalities to the role. Stewart is known for his aw shucks, folksy awkwardness. Murphy, on the other hand, has boyish charm. Yet similarly, Stewart and Murphy were also very capable of portraying men with iron backbones.

Sometimes in the same movie. Usually in the same movie.

The story is pleasantly complex for an oater. When a corrupt mayor helps out a corrupt businessman in his land grab scheme by killing the sheriff and electing the town drunk to take his place, the drunk outwits them. He calls in the son of legendary lawman Destry to be his deputy. As is often the case in these older films, the hero doesn’t arrive on the scene until the stage is set.

But why is it always a land grab with these guys?

Young Destry already has a reputation for taming wild towns, but is very unlike his father: he refuses to carry a gun. However, he is wise beyond his years and soon has the local saloon girl rethinking her life choices (“I’ll bet there’s a beautiful face under all that paint. Maybe wipe it off sometime and take a look.”) even as he works to expose the previous sheriff's murder and establish law and order.

And have no doubt, when the time comes he can handle a gun.

I think this telling of the Destry story will stick with me longer than the Stewart version (or the novel, if we're being honest). Murphy is charming as always, and the supporting cast is full of familiar faces. The music and action are paced well, combining toward the end in a way I'm sure Tarantino loves.

Of all the Murphy movies I've watched recently, this could take the number one spot.

Maybe remakes don’t always have to surpass the original. Maybe they can even get away with being shot for shot redos with the same director. If the only change is the actor, and he’s right for the role, I’m willing to give the movie a chance and hope that it will be good. The problem is that most remakes today think the improvement they can make isn’t with technique or performance, but in pushing an agenda. 

So that said, yes, I’ll be skipping The Crow and Red Sonja. But if someone wants to take a fourth stab at Destry, I’m interested.

 

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Girl-Power Isn't the Problem: Stop Treating Movies Like TV Pilots

Last weekend I was able to sneak off the theater for a screening of From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. Did I feel silly, telling the high school girl at the ticket counter, “One for Ballerina, and a small drink”? Well, not in the moment. 

I probably drank a liter of cherry vanilla Coke Zero, and that didn’t feel so great.

Plenty of box office analysts and Hollywood types are wracking their brains, trying to figure out why movies like Furiosa and Ballerina aren’t drawing huge crowds. Mad Max and John Wick are popular franchises, but apparently telling the stories of the women in those worlds isn’t working. Even if the movies are pretty good.

I’ve seen both, and they’re pretty good.

Some are arguing that no one will go near a movie that looks like it’s feminist girl-bossing. Others counter that movies like Alien and Kill Bill are female-led action films that were successful. Now, I’m not going to say that Ballerina is on par with those modern day classics. But I will say that, as a man watching the movie, it didn’t offend me. The movie never challenged me to confront any internalized misogyny. The small girl doesn’t take down John Wick in hand-to-hand combat.

Honestly, if you like franchise, whether you’re male or female, you should watch Ballerina.

In short, from a purely cinematic experience perspective, neither Furiosa nor Ballerina would be any better or worse with a male lead. Maybe that’s a hot take. But that’s mine, for whatever it’s worth. Well, okay, I wouldn’t watch a movie called Ballerina if it stared a dude. Nevertheless, I think you get my point. Petite women warriors aside, the plots and action are exactly as expected.

So what’s the deal?

Well, what no one seems to have noticed is that Ripley and The Bride weren’t replacing anyone. As we were watching their movies for the first time, we weren’t thinking about other characters for whom we already had a preference. Movies are more like TV than TV right now, and replacement characters have always been a hard sell, regardless of gender. We all remember Sam and Diane. Who still talks about Sam and Rebecca (even though Kirstie Alley won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the part)? I had to look up her name. 

No, they aren’t technically replacing them. It’s a spin-off, set in the same world.

Spin-offs tend to succeed when the characters are already well established (eg: Frasier). Furiosa and Ballerina are more like backdoor pilots, where new characters are dropped in for a single episode to sell us on the idea of a new show. This technique is very hit and miss on TV, and I can’t think of a single example of this working in a movie franchise. Film and television are very different mediums, and should be treated as such.

Still, if it doesn’t work on TV, it’s probably not gonna work at the movies. Not where new characters and spin-offs are concerned. 

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Going Back to 1995

Maybe I’m just getting old, but it doesn’t feel like we had the thriving and distinct pop culture of past generations. Has there been a look or stye, or feeling, that defines this moment? Everything seems to have stagnated for the last twenty years. And it’s not as if I don’t pay attention. 

It’s making me nostalgic. 

Consequently, for the rest of the year, I’m prioritizing movies from 1995, the year I was twelve. At that time, my family didn’t really go to the theater, and when we did rent VHS tapes, more often than it is was older Disney movies or entirely forgettable Christian titles. Now that I’ve grown tired of trying to keep up with new releases, not there’s much worth watching anyway, it feels like a good time to catch up on those 30 year old movies that have become ingrained in what’s left of our pop culture.

So over on Criticless, I made a list.

Some of these are movies I’ve seen before, but not in a long time. Others will be first time watches for me. There’s really no rhyme or reason to what I put on my list. It’s just movies that either interest me, or are currently in my collection, sadly unwatched. As things become available on streaming, I may add to the list. And if I don’t get to everything before the end of the year, no big deal.

Hopefully, they aren’t going anywhere. 

I’ll be posting some reviews and analysis as I go, so be sure to follow me here. 

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Ironheart and Superman: A Failure to Launch

Yesterday two trailers were released for upcoming superhero projects. First, we had Marvel's Ironheart, which Disney has been sitting on for years at this point. Apparently it follows Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a young black woman at MIT who is (was?) intended to take over for Tony Stark as Ironwhathaveyou. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, take a look.

I stopped paying too much attention to the MCU a long time ago, but apparently Riri was introduced in Wakanda Forever, and her fans have been clamoring for a standalone show ever since (/sarcasm). Watching the trailer, I can't help but notice how many times we're told she's smart and capable. Any suggestion that she can't do something is shot down immediately. We're supposed to believe that The System is against is her because she's poor, I guess, and doesn't have Tony Stark's advantages.

Remember Tony Stark? Sure, he was rich. But he was also a self-absorbed man-child who found himself in a cave in Afghanistan who had to engineer his own escape with scrap parts. Tony Stark, who had to learn about self-sacrifice and the consequences of his actions. Robert Downey Jr. make us like the guy, with his easy charm, even though we wanted to see him grow up. There was room for a character arc. No offence to Dominique, but she doesn't have the charm, and her character clearly has nowhere to go.

A few hours later, Warner Bros./DC released the trailer for James Gunn's Superman, the latest reboot of the iconic superhero. We've been waiting for a good Superman for a long time. Something to reunite the fans, the casually interested, and possibly the entire country. And to be honest, I don't think this is gonna do it. Take a look.

Before I go any further, I want to spin my theory on the interview scene, which is a little different from what I'm hearing from most anyone else. Notice how David Corenswet pitches his voice really high when he says, "Sure!" At this point in the movie, I don't think Lois (Rachel Brasnahan) knows that Clark is Superman, and thinks he's just playacting. But when Clark drops his voice, he's showing his cards a little bit. Then, when he completely loses his cool, he's just acting how Lois thinks Superman would respond. In context (the scene is reportedly ten minutes long!), it might be interesting. Out of context, in a trailer, it's a stupid decision.

Throughout the entire trailer we see Superman smacked around, knocked out, screaming out in self-defense, and made fun of for having a dog. There are some super-heroics, to be sure, but they're mitigated by the overwhelming amount of thrashing he takes. Unlike Riri, I guess he's got some room for growth. But it doesn't inspire me to see the movie. Some are defending this approach, suggesting that someone with such a clear cut understanding of right and wrong would be frustrated and confused by our complex, political climate. And I agree. But his moral compass and grace towards an unfair world should have been set before leaving Smallville and going out into the world.

So on the one hand, we've got a flawless female character. And on the other, we've got an immature Superman. Neither character is attractive, warts and all. Neither character is relatable or inspiring in the ways the filmmakers intended, as presented. Maybe the show and movie will be good. But someone else will have to let me know. Because right now, I'm not inspired to see either one.

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