As a general rule, I loathe the idea of some studio doing a remake of a film especially if that original film is a good one. However, every once in a while a remake is made that completely surprises me and makes me eat humble pie. The ones that come first to my mind are,

The late 70's remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" with Donald Sutherland.

The 1982 remake of "The Thing".

The 1980's remake of "The Blob".

The 1980's remake of "The Fly".

Cape Fear. I know there's others, but I can't think of them right now.

Cheers!

Rick...

Ah jeez, who can forget that (in)famous scene with DeNiro and Juliette Lewis?

I though the remake of 'The Postman always Rings Twice' was tremendous.

Not that I've seen the original, or remember much about the story of the remake, but I certainly remember Jessica Lange.

i don't know but i guess the list is small enough to be counted on one hand really..

The Fly and The Thing are great examples.

--The Count of Monte Cristo in 2004 is one of my most favorite movies.
--The 1940 version of the Mark of Zorro was a remake of an earlier version. Tyrone Power IS Zorro.
--The 1939 version of The Hound of the Baskervilles with Basil Rathbone was the 2nd or 3rd movie of that book.
--1992 version of Last of the Mohicans with Daniel Day Lewis
--The Italian Job. The original is way too campy and not very good.
--Casino Royale...I shouldn't even have to defend that one. LOL
--Gone in 60 Seconds
--Vanishing Point...this is cutting it close. Jason Priestly almost makes this unviewable, but Viggo does a great job and the story is less 70's drug induced and has a plot.
--Lord of the Rings...was animated in the 70's, the Jackson trilogy was obviously incredible
--Speaking of Jessica Lange, that 70's King Kong was my favorite with her and Jeff Bridges.
--The Cannonball Run, a better version of Cannonball! Still cheesy, but also still better. I think, been a long time since I've seen the 80's version and even longer for the other.
--Tarzan with Bo Derek

I didn't include these since I have not seen the originals in either case but both of these films are brilliant.

It barely makes it, but I thought the 80s remake of "Lord of the Flies" was better than the original. I think it's the cinematography that pushes it for me. The typhoon scene was superlatively shot and edited.


edit: You're not suggesting 75s King Kong was better than the 33 original are you, Raw?

edit2: Oh man. Bo Derek was the hottie of the late 70s. The movie Tarzan came to the theatre and about ten of my friends and I made a night out of it. We made it in plenty of time to ensure we got a row so we could sit together. The crowd starts coming in and instead of all of us going back out for refreshments my friend Bob and I decide to go and bring them back for everyone. The line took about twenty minutes and we wondered if we'd make it back before the movie started - never mind the previews.

So Bob and I each have two trays of drinks, popcorn, candy, and napkins. We could barely open the door to the auditorium our hands and arms were so filled. We open the doors and it's pitch black. We can't see our friends and then just as our eyes begin to adjust the Metro Goldwyn Mayer lion comes on.

Frustrated and not wanting to interrupt anyone trying to locate the aisle and slide in I kind of yell to a friend Dana, "Hey, Dana. Give a yell We can't see the seats."

All of a sudden as if on Que the MGM lion lets out a Tarzan yell. That's it. The whole auditorium side splits in laughter. I think everyone laughed through the first scene or two. They may have even laughed as hard at that as they laughed at the Bo Derek body painting scene.

Silly memory.... but fun none the less.

The Bourne Identity with Matt Damon > the 1988 version starring Richard Chamberlain.

There's an even better mini-series with Gerard Depardieu.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167565/

The 1988 remake of D.O.A with Dennis Quaid, The 1950 version was a bit naff and corney.

The 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead, the 1968 version is a cult classic but its a bit low budget and besides Patricia Tallman looked great with short hair in the remake.

Oh yeah. I had completely forgotten that Chamberlain was the original Jason Bourne.

..and looking at this evening's TV movies, we have the 'The Thomas Crown Affair'. I reckon the remake was better than the first one....

I still prefer the '75 Zorro with Alain Delon, but that's a remake too.

The Last Remake of Beau Geste. OK It's a parody, but it's more memorable.

101 Dalmatians. Glen Close was excellently cast as Cruella.

Clash of the Titans. Back then stop-motion was an art and difficult to mix with live action, but now it has lost it's place and CGI has taken it's place.

Heat.

Much prefer Clint Eastwoods remake of Shane, Pale Rider to the original and much prefer Bruce Willis in the remake of Fistfull of Dollars, Last Man Standing, likewise

Doesn't always hold true, the original "Man Hunter" with Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecter was a far better movie that the remake,Dragon??with Anthony Hopkins in the part.

3:10 to Yuma

Scarface.

S!

Definitely. Both are great movies. They both can pass as date movies too.

Didn't work for me. I showed "Last of the Mohicans" one time to my girlfriend and she ended up falling asleep on the couch!

The Bounty with Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson is more accurate and better than all the other versions, IMO.