Now, I'm not saying that remakes never work- after all, one of my favourite movies is a remake. 1940's His Girl Friday was originally a 1928 play called The Front Page which in 1931 became a movie by the same name. In my opinion, His Girl Friday is the superior of the two films. But as is so often the case, Hollywood can't leave perfection alone if they think there's a buck to be squeezed out of it, so then we get horrific "remakes" like 1988's Switching Channels, starring Burt Reynolds and Kathleen Turner in place of Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Aaah- my eyes! My eyes!
Of course, no one in Hollywood is asking for my opinion, but if they did, I'd tell them to leave classic movies alone. Someone already made them and they're great. If I went to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, I wouldn't want to be shown a cheap- or expensive- knock off; I'd want to see the real McCoy. Same thing with films. If I want to see His Girl Friday, I'll watch it. I have no desire to see Burt Reynolds waggling his mustache at Kathleen Turner in the repulsive remake. And if the people making movies today can't come up with original ideas and must remake older movies, why not focus on films that weren't well done the first time around, which would benefit from a retelling?
O.K., so I've probably ranted on about this subject for far too long. In any case, the remake of The Magnificent Seven is being made whether I approve or not. I shall try to keep and open mind about it, but I can't help but have my doubts about the whole thing. Time will tell, I suppose.