Some Very Good Foreign-Made Films And Their Worthy US-Made Remakes

Submitted by BuckGS71 on Wed, 06/27/2001 - 03:22
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  • "The Wages of Fear" (1955), remade as "Sorcerer" (1977): "Wages" ranks as one of the most suspenseful films ever made, right up there with anything Hitchcock made. "Sorcerer" is also extremely suspenseful. Both films work because of their unflinching look at man in times of extreme desperation, as the men in these films are asked to drive a truckload of highly-explosive nitroglycerine through the remote jungles of Central America.
  • "The Seven Samurai" (1954), remade as "The Magnificent Seven" (1960): Both films are simple tales of not-so-honorable people doing honorable deeds for those in need (the samurai were professional soldiers who more often than not acted as mercenaries; the "heroes" in "Mag7" were indeed mercenaries) for no reward at all. They also work as old-fashioned good vs. evil tales. "Samurai" is more philosophical about the relationship between good vs. evil, "Mag7" works as a slam-bang, action-packed western (which I think has earned it unfair criticism).
  • "The Hidden Fortress" (1958), remade as "Star Wars" (1977): Okay, so maybe this one's a bit of a stretch, but if you substitute "Fortress"'s bickering soldiers for C-3PO and R2-D2, the young farmboy for Luke Skywalker, and the princess-in-distress for Princess Leia, you can then see why George Lucas calls this Akira Kurosawa film the inspiration for "Star Wars".
Author Comments: 

Have I forgotten any? Feel free to suggest more to this list, and I'll include them.