Interestingly (or not, a buddy of mine and I were discussing this just the other day. We both agreed that Blazing Saddles would never get made today. We also put these films on our short list:
Patton - Probably a lot of griping about the depiction of Arabs in the film.
Better Off Dead - a comedy about a kid who keeps trying to kill himself? I can hear the protests now.
Harold and Maude - similar reasons to BoD
Most of Sam Peckinpah’s flicks - I seriously doubt any of Peckinpah’s greats could be made today in their original form. I know there was a lame remake of Straw Dogs a while back, but I cannot imagine the feminist crowd would sit still for the fact that women don’t get spared from violence in a Peckinpah film. There would be a certain irony there, of course, as Peckinpah never used violence gratuitously in any of his films. Unlike many modern films that are far more violent.
BTW, speaking of Blazing Saddles. The late Alex Karras (i.e. “Mongo”) was considered for a part some years earlier in The Godfather. Not as Lucca Brazzi, or Clemenza (both of which would have been a good fit, I think), but in the part of Carlo, Talia Shire’s weasely husband.
All I can say is, they would have to reshoot that entire street fight between Sonny and Carlo. James Caan is pretty tough, but he *ain’t* whuppin’ Mongo!
“Two dollars!!!”
"Pretty strong meat there from Sam *sniff* Peckinpah
That list could be extended considerably, especially with a lot of the groundbreaking, experimental films of the 1970s.
Barbarella. (Though there is rumor of a remake, there is no way they could reproduce the naughtiness and wit of the original.)
Zardoz. Underneath the weirdness of Sean Connery in a diaper, there was some real science fiction within.
THX-1138. Wonderfully dehumanized, nightmarish socialist sci-fi society.
A Clockwork Orange. A modernized version of this would hit too close to home in Britain. Imagine a Pakistani Muslim Alex being brainwashed to become a secular Labourite?
The President’s Analyst. A remarkably prescient movie of intrusive, voyeuristic government.
The Naked Prey. Not a snowball’s chance in Hell of this ever being remade.