...
>>>>
>>>>Why the hell have they done a remake of the cult classic "The Wicker Man", with a US island instead of a remote Hebridean, Nick Cage for Edward Woodward? I mean, what can you better in this film (even the Brit Ekland writhing dance song that was repro'd beautifully by the Sneaker Pimps)?
>>>>
>>>>I agree. I can think of several good novels that deserve being made into a film, but they just keep remaking old classics. OTOH, IMHO the newer "Cape Fear" (talking of Robert Mitchum) was better than the old, but, say, "The Four Feathers" was, what, 7 times made into a major film (so I'm told, though I've only seen 2 of them) and the book is dull as dishwater, I think I've seen 3 versions of "The Alamo". It's as if the movie moguls think there's no more storied to convert.
>>>
>>>I agree wholeheartedly about 'Wicker Man'. When I heard it was being remade with Nicholas Cage (who I don't hate or anything), my heart dropped.
>>
>>And you've seen the original? I seem to remember seeing a US comedy film where the grab-him-and-burn-him scene was lampooned. Can't think what it was (or was it a UK TV series where they definitely did that I'm thinking of?)
>
>Don't know about any lampoon, but yes, I saw the original with Woodward and Ekland. Powerful, unsettling movie. Superb. I also remember Woodward from "Breaker Morant", another terrific movie.

RThat was the one about a British army cop, and in the cells, wasn't it? Yes, a good film.

>Maybe they'll remake that one with say, Rowan Atkinson taking Woodward's role.

No, Mel Gibson, surely.

>He also had a TV series called 'The Equalizer' which I felt was an unfortunate choice for him.

I recall that well. Answer his ads in the newspaper and you're guaranteed safety from your persecutor. If only he really existed. I seem to recall that the opening sequence disturbed me, in which he's seen approaching a warehouse or something, with his shadow cast on the doors/walls - yet the shadow got bigger ads he got closer. It works the other way round in reality.

He got that part, I think, after his UK TV series "Callan" where he was a low-budget, unromantic sort of secret agent (a far cry from the Bond movies). He was rock hard, lived in sleezy dives and got all the dirty jobs.

>
>>>
>>>As for Cape Fear, that's only because nobody is as coldly evil as Robert DeNiro. Although, when Mitchum played Powell in 'Night of the Hunter', that is about as evilly sinister as it gets.
>>>
>>>And I'm still waiting for a remake of Citizen Kane starring Steve Martin as Kane. Or 'Maltese Falcon' starring Gary Coleman (as Sam, not as the falcon).
...