Dear Mr. Reeve,
I'm glad you can't see this message board. You died so soon, far to soon, and I wish you were still with us. That said, I'm still glad you can't see this board.
Mr. Reeve, I know that you, as an actor (and one of the best) saw the shallow, petty nature of many in the film business. You saw the howling for remakes of popular films. You, yourself, were in a remake of a classic film. I don't know why you decided to do it - maybe to prove to yourself that you could still act - but I forgive you for it, even though the original film was a Hitchcock classic, and your remake sank like a stone.
Now, Mr. Reeve, there are those who would prostitute yet another film, and one of yours. You see, some people out there have this belief that a film has to be "modern" to be good. If a film is 50 years old, 30 years old, maybe even 5 years old, it's just no good. The film has to be trashed, its fond memories blighted, turned inside-out, and all for monetary gain. Rather than living with the never-to-be forgotten moments of a favorite film, the world is filled with those who would kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. A film can't stand on its own merit, you see. It has to be remade, reremade, rereremade, over and over, until everyone is sick of the story. Originality is dead.
This board is living proof of the old adage: Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
My apologies, Mr. Reeve. I had no idea so many people out there were willing to say that your performance, and the performances and work of all the other people in the film, were not up to scratch, and that the fine job you all did should be obliterated because they don't want to view anything "old".
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BringBackWriting
17 years ago
Your post is a petty smear job and tasteless to boot. That's not what this thread is about. Those of us that want a re-make do so BECAUSE WE LIKED THE ORIGINAL. However that story can be improved. The filming could be better. Actors in their prime KNOWN by todays college crowd used.
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naillon-2
17 years ago
So, simply because the actors aren't necessarily known by today's college crowd, it should be remade? I think you should change your username. You're not interested in writing; you're interested in remaking movies that have nothing wrong with them. I'm interested in seeing each generation have its OWN classic movies, not sad, pathetic, wastes of time that take the ideas of a previous generation and make multi-million dollar blockbusters out of them with people who can't act (such as the infamous Knightley).
This push to remake classic movies is also a push to deny our collective cultural heritage. We have the movies of today BECAUSE of the movies of yesterday. Pretending that movies of the past don't exist is purely idiotic. People who truly love film are going to seek out the marvelous films of yesteryear. People who don't love film are just going to plop down and watch whatever is on the screen. It makes me sick to think that the good films that were made in the past should be remade when the films, as they are, stand on their own and make their own statement.
It's not only disrespectful to those who made the original films, it places unfair pressure on those in the remakes; they feel that they have to live up to the work done by the cast/crew of the original, and they aren't given their OWN vehicles with which to make an impact, a film that is truly theirs and not a cheap ripoff of something real.
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