TOP 5: REMAKES YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW WERE REMAKES

Welcome to our weekly Top 5. With all the complaints, and downright hatred for Hollywood with there never ending unloading of remakes, you might not even notice you are watching a remake. Here are some of the best films that you didn’t realise were remakes.

  1. MAJOR PAYNE (1995) / THE PRIVATE WAR OF MAJOR BENSON (1955)

While only a loosely based remake, the original is way to similar to not be included. Both have a ex military soldier teaching a rag tag bunch of students but the one thing that sets them apart is Damon Wayans. The voice, the anger, the way he treats the boys like complete crap. Classic. If you don’t remember I recommend giving it a second watch it still holds up.

  1. HOMEWARD BOUND: THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY / THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY

The 90’s brought on some of the best family comedies ever made. With movies like Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Mighty Ducks grabbing big numbers on Home Video, Disney was scrambling for another hit and with Beethoven making big numbers for Universal Disney looked to their back catalogue for the answer. The Incredible Journey is a narrated version of its remake Homeward Bound, Imagine Milo and Otis only with 2 dogs and cat and less kittens dying. Unfortunately I couldn’t find an original trailer so here is the remake

  1. THE DEPARTED (2006) / INFERNAL AFFAIRS (2002)

Some people regard The Departed as one of the best gangster movies ever made. Did you know it was a remake of a widely popular Hong Kong franchise, Infernal Affairs? In fact they are so similar you could pick up the sequels and basically continue on the story of The Departed. As to which is better, it can  only be a choice of if you like Sub Titles or you don’t. Both are great.

  1. 3 MEN AND A BABY (1987) / 3 HOMMES ET UN COUFFIN (1985)

Did you know that this had been made before?

“3 Hommes Et Un Couffin (3 Men and a Cradle)” is a 1985 French comedy. With the same premise and look to both films, it’s hard to see what remake director Leonard Nimoy actually crafted himself.  Both films even have the same jokes with looking after the baby, like literally the same jokes. The remake is hitting into the same territory as Psycho being as close to a shot for shot remake.

  1. TRUE LIES (1994) / LA TOTALE! (1991)

Honestly this one even shocked me. While James Cameron tends to rip off parts of other films like Fern Gully (Avatar) and old Outer Limits episodes (The Terminator) I had no idea that he actually ventured into remakes. True Lies is a straight remake of “La Totale! (The Total)” a 1991 French comedy. There is virtually no difference between the films. Every aspect is almost beat for beat, a Special Ops disguised as an Ordinary dad, run ins with Arms Dealers, a bumbling idiot as a partner and even his wife cheating on him with a Car Salesmen that pretends to be a Spy just Hollywoodised with more elaborate action sequences that can only be attributed to the great James Cameron.

La Totale is however the worse of the two, while it has a great plot, it’s killed with bad dialogue and terrible effects it’s no wonder why it was remade. Check out the trailer

 

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