"Flight of the Phoenix" remake -- looks like it's in trouble

11/24/04

[pabianice]

This film -- a remake of the 1965 classic with James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Hardy Krueger, etc., etc. -- was set to release before Halloween with no promotion. Then Thanksgiving. Now Christmas. Still no promotion. Aside from the hopelessness of remaking a matchless film, looks like even the studio is geting cold feet. The trailer looks like a bad rock video. Characters have been "updated for relevancy."

Expect this one to go direct ---> video.

[discostu]

Cool, last time I checked it was only out on tape. In the que, though I'll probably buy it at some point. The previews for the remake were just sad and pathetic.

[mnehring]

It looks like this Christmas may be a good season for movies. They are also re-making Webber's version of Phantom of the Opera.

[1Old Pro]

Why remake a classic, if it ain't broke, don't fix it....just show it again and again. What a fabulous movie.

[llevrok]

So are these re-makes of old films or social statements of current times?

Leave the classics alone. Create new ones (if they can)

[1Old Pro]

The remake also changes the plot line to make it about an evil oil company that goes around the world throwing people out of work and raping the environment for profit.

LOL, should have expected that. You can bet that the plot line doesn't include prayer.

[jaydubya2]

I just watched the promo. Yes they filled it with more actions, explosions, and they added a women to the cast probably so they could get some nudey shots in. I might go and see it just because I loved the original! I wonder how they'll portray the two who get murdered by the towel heads?
I'm sure I come out of it disappointed. Nobody can top Jimmy Stewart's performance!

[newzjunkey]

You only need to watch the trailer to know how bad it is.

[fastattacksailor]

One of my fav lines:

"You told Towns he was behaving as if stupidity was a virtue. If he's making it into a virtue, YOU'RE MAKING IT INTO A BLOODY SCIENCE!" ---Lew Moran (Richard Attenborough)

Watching Dorfie going ballistic when model planes were referrered to as 'toys' was a good one too----great reaction!

[Charles Martel]

I loved that movie! As a former model airplane hobbyist, I loved the line "But the principles are the same!"

I love the original film, too. The fact that the (model) airplane designer was German, a few years after WWII, was a pivotal element of the movie. The others distrusted him. I just don't see how the remake can capture that, unless it is done as a '50s period piece. To toss an anvil to this already-sinking production, some numbskull cast Giovanni Ribisi as the aircraft designer. IMO, the only bit of good acting to his credit was his death scene in Saving Private Ryan.

[joesnuffy]

She will also have to be the great grand daughter of a 'Cherokee Chief"

[pabianice]

MORAN: "What's the matter, Frank? Have you no curiosity left? Don't you want to know how it feels to fly a toy airplane?" (... hysterical laughter...)

[Petronski]

Thank God "Sticky Fingaz" made the cast.

[colorado tanker]

Hollywood died in the 1960's. There are no more Stewarts, Grants or Hepburns. They've lost their mass audience. All they can do well is make shoot-em-ups for teenage boys and chick flicks for teenage girls.

[FreedomCalls]

Re-makes as a rule bite.

I think that "Father of the Bride" with Steve Martin made in 1991 is better than the 1950 Spencer Tracy version.

[Freepdonia]

The original "Ocean's 11", while fun, wasn't really a good movie, so a remake made sense. But "Flight of the Phoenix" was a terrific movie with a great cast, so it doesn't really make sense to update it. CGI can't improve upon the original.

BTW, the best part of FOTF was when when Hardy Kruger mentions his actual occupation to Jimmy Stewart. Just watch Jimmy's reaction. Priceless.

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[labowski]

One thing no one has mentioned. Remember in the original a couple of the guys were killed by Arab nomads, well guess what? In the remake they are "drug runners", go figure..........

[ihatemyalarmclock]

There was no reason to remake this film. I remember seeing this movie as a kid and back then thought it was a great adventure movie.

You and me both. Watching it again years later, it occurred to me that "Flight" is one of the few that succeeds without any "love interest" (unless you count a dying character's hallucination of a belly dancer.)

That movie changed forever the way I look at a glass of water.

[FreedomCalls]

Yes they filled it with more actions, explosions,

The original was quite infamous in its time for the fact that Paul Mantz, the stunt pilot, was killed while filming the scene of the plane taking off. Life magazine did a spread of pictures of the filming in the desert.

[Hank Rearden]

Thank God "Sticky Fingaz" made the cast.

Yeah, I caught that too - so what's with all the whining about "no big starz" in the cast?

With Fingaz on board, we're talking blockbuster. Fo sho', homie.