AHC: Some of your favorite films premade into classics.

La Commencement (Inception)

France/USA, 1971
A United Artists / Les Productions Artistes Associés production

Directed by François Truffaut


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From the trailer narrative:

"In the near future of 1988, it is possible to use drugs in order to enable people to dream more lucidly than ever imagined possible, and a neural connector in order to share dreams....voluntarily - or involuntarily. When your dreams become accessible, invading your mind might become more valuable than invading your house... But be warned: you always know how to leave a house. Do you always know how to leave.....a dream?"

***

Both practizes are deemed illegal in most countries, and brought the American Dominic Cobb (Jack Nicholson), a master in the art of invading other people's minds, into conflict with the law. This forces him to live as an ex-pat in Paris.

There, he is contacted by a secret service contact (of an unnamed country) , played by Yves Montand, who promises him that all charges are pardoned and the return to his family in New Orleans ensured if he successfully invades the mind of an important figure, called "le Sénateur". Le Sénateur is known to soon defect to the Soviet Union. The plan is not to thwart this attempt, but to plant the idea of giving faulty, harmful information to the Cremlin into his mind.

Such an undertaking, "Le Commencement", translated as "Inception" into English, has only been theorized so far, even by Cobb. He is, however, ensured, that tests with chimpansees have proven that it is possible; but it takes someone like Cobb to successfully perform this to....respectively in.... a human mind.

Cobb knows, that he has to go not only into a light dream, but to the deepest levels of subconsciousness, 3 stages, and he needs to assemble a team to create and manipulate these dreams. His trusted friend and business-partner Joseph (Jean Rochefort), a so-called architect, a young hippie student named Ariadne (Miou-Miou) to whom he is introduced by his English drug-dealer (Michael Caine) and who joins the team as someone with the gift of communicating from inside of a dream to the outside world via sign-language, a manipulator, the eccentric Thomas (Pierre Richard), who has a knack for making a dreamer dream up what he is supposed to and a gunman, someone who knows the ways of violence and fear within a dream, the sometimes unreliable, sometimes genial Ludovic (Jean-Paul Belmondo).
Once "le Sénateur" (Phillippe Noiret) is taken into hospital after a staged car-accident on the French Riviera, the operation begins. The team, which has to leave one person behind on every level of a dream, and has to catch up with "le Sénateur" again on each level, encounters a threat not known to most, which is the memory of Dominic's suicidal wife Margot (Romy Schneider) who threatens to take people down into a realm called "Limbo", in which time is infinite and possibilities endless, but from which waking up is almost impossible. Margot appears on each level anew, sometimes violent, sometimes seductive - and the only person really knowing how to deal with her is also the one most endangered to fall for her siren's call. Dominic.

***

Le Commencement is, as Roger Ebert wrote "a box of wonders, of confusion and of pictures previously unseen...and then of some more confusion". A confusion, however, abated by the excellent performance of the cast. Especially Romy Schneider has unanimously been described as "hypnotic".

In Northern America, it is the one movie she is primarily associated with.

Truffaut not only used different settings in each level of the dreams, but also different optics. While reality is in standard 1970s colour, the first dream-level on a mountain-farm is a dialogue-free sequence in black and white, the second level is normal black and white (set an American metropolis), while the third level has a full technicolor palette (and is set in a jungle fortress). ***spoiler alert*** Once the limbo is entered, the characters see their world in the slightly blurred optics as if on a TV screen.

Apart from that, the movie is full of dream-like impossible and obviously illogical occurences- which nevertheless makes sense....after two or three viewings.


A complete flop outside of France, it is often held in high regards by critics and has achieved cult-film status among students and deconstructivists. Or, similar to "Space Oddysey" to be seen under influence.

In Northern America, it is the one movie Romy Schneider is primarily associated with.
 
 


 
Anybody up for another dose of Jack Ryan premake goodness? :D

The Sum Of All Fears(1969)

StarringL
James Franciscus as Jack Ryan
Curt Jurgens as Marko Ramius
Cecil Kellaway as Admiral James Greer
Sidney Poitier as Jeffrey Pelt
David Janssen as John Clark
Simon Oakland as Bart Mancuso
John Houseman as the President
Max von Sydow as Admiral Yuri Padorin

Directed By:
Kirk Douglas

This third installment of the Jack Ryan movie saga marked Curt Jurgens' return to the series as Marko Ramius. It was also Kirk Douglas' directorial debut for the Ryan franchise; film trivia buffs will note that Kirk's son Michael Douglas, then 25, has a short uncredited cameo in this movie as a Naval Reserve cadet. While the fear of nuclear holocaust wasn't as intense when Sum came out as it had been at the time Hunt For Red October came out, it still weighed heavily on the American collective consciousness. This time, however, the nuclear menace in the storyline comes not from the Soviet Union but from China, where a fanatical PLA general has seized power after the assassination of Mao Zedong and is threatening to obliterate New York City if America doesn't immediately withdraw all of its military forces from the Pacific. Ramius, now living in the Rockies under an assumed identity, is compelled to join forces with his old adversary Padorin when it turns out another Chinese nuclear warhead is poised to strike Moscow unless the Soviet's agree to all of China's territorial demands along the U.S.S.R.-China border.

Interestingly enough, Michael Douglas has recently expressed interest in producing a reboot of Sum as a cable TV miniseries. With a boxed set of the entire Ryan film collection coming out on Blu-Ray next year in honor of the 55-year anniversary of Red October's release, momentum is also building for an update of that film set against the backdrop of ongoing tensions with the Putin government in Russia.
 
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From a "No Hitler" TL (PoD 1932)

Strib Langsam (Die Hard) - 1936
Directed - Fritz Lang

Following the more family friendly dream film Hannele Ascending (1934), Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou returned to the familiar city of M and Testement of Dr Mabuse, where Wily Lohmann would make one last appearance. In this film, it seems that terrorists are waging a campaign of attacks across the city, only to be revealed as criminals looking to carry out the heist of the century...
 
Now for a change of pace, taking an old-time flick and updating it...

Safety Last(2007)

Jack Black stars as a nuclear power plant technician who's unlucky in love-- and just about everything else --who finds his life turned upside down when he gets recruited by the Pentagon to join a crisis management team that's racing against time to avert a reactor meltdown aboard the Navy's newest submarine. While working with the team he gets the hots for the sub's security chief(Courteney Cox), and when evidence turns up the reactor malfunction may have been caused by sabotage they team up to prove the sub's XO(Kevin Spacey) was the culprit.
 
JUDGE DREDD (1983)
"He's Judge, Jury... AND EXECUTIONER!"
Produced by Roger Corman
Directed by Joe Dante
Screenplay by George Miller (from a treatment by John Wagner & Alan Grant)

In the nuclear hell of 2099, the crime-ridden Mega-City One is ruled by the fearsome Judges: police with the power of instant justice! Toughest of all of them is Judge Joe Dredd (Michael Ironside), more machine than man. The unfortunate Cadet Judge Giant (Forest Whitaker) is stuck with Dredd as his examiner when the two of them encounter a drug deal in poverty-ridden Geoffrey Howe Block. Now they have to fight their way out, pursued by brutal drug lord Mama (Dee Wallace)...

TRIVIA

* The film was a big break for both Ironside and Whitaker, who were cast due to Corman enjoying Scanners and Ridgemont High respectively. Both men were headhunted for The Terminator on the strength of Dredd, which Ironside turned down - "I was already playing the Terminator!" as he jokingly told SFX in 1997 - while Whitaker won the role of Kyle Reese. This left him absent from the 1984 sequel, Judge Death, and meant Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson (Phoebe Cates) supplanted Giant as the sidekick from then on. (Whitaker reappeared as Chief Judge Silver in Darren Aronofsky's reboot Dredd: Year One in 2001)

* Paul Verhoeven made the move from the Netherlands to Britain after seeing the film. "The satire was brilliant, nothing like what you saw in Hollywood's usual fare. I wanted to know why and that led me to the original comics and that led to Nemesis." (Thrillpowered Overload! by David Bishop) While Nemesis The Warlock barely broke even - but is now a cult hit - it opened the door for Flesh and Blood, Basic Instinct, and his remake of It Happened Here.

* Early treatments had monkey mobster Don Ugglioni and the Ape Gang as the bad guys. Corman advised that to be changed to a human villain and toned down some of the absurdism.

* Judge Dredd was a financial success for both New World and publishers IPC, but neither Wagner or Grant, nor Dredd artist Carlos Ezquerra, saw any royalties. This sparked a revolt in the UK comic industry over pay and conditions, with IPC, Marvel UK, and Quality Communications agreeing to creator co-ownership and royalties in 1985. (This would impact on the US industry when Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons published their blockbuster Watchmen through Eclipse rather than DC)



Technically this should count since the series was made into films IOTL too. I really hope this isn't too silly.

"Messengers from Space" (1974)

GLORIOUS
 
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The Bodyguard (1976)

Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Steve McQueen and Diana Ross.

Proving he could handle big-budget action, Spielberg chose Lawrence Kasdan's first script to to demonstrate his grasp of drama (and also to successfully get star McQueen interested in headlining Close Encounters..)

The film was a hit, grossing over a million in a week, nearly reaching Jaw's total. McQueen and Ross were lauded for their chemistry in a paced, struggling romance as danger lurks in every corner. Spielberg would be hailed for his directing, although some got a laugh of how the killer emulated Bruce the shark. And Diana Ross' cover of the Dolly Parton song "I will always love you" would scale the charts for months to come.

McQueen would win Best Actor, and after another lead role for Spielberg, the star would head to the Philippines after George Lucas cast him in the lead for the ill-fated Apocalypse Now...

The Night Stalker (1961)
Directed by Jun Fukuda, starring Kenji Sahara, Jun Tazaki, Mie Hama, and Jerry Ito

Kobayashi (Sahara) is a hard nosed, down on his luck reporter and a pain in his editor's (Tazaki) backside. Kobayashi investigates a number of local murders that all share one important fact: the corpses are drained completely of blood. The local police and the American occupation forces hinder and help Kobayashi to their convenience, and the reporter realizes the killer is a vampire. At the end, Kobayashi and an American agent trap the vampire (Jerry Ito) and destroy it just as MPs break in. Kobayashi's story is buried, the police take credit for ending the murders, and under the threat of a murder charge, is exiled from Okinawa. He returns to his apartment to find his girlfriend (Mie Hama) missing without a trace...

Unlike the famous Godzilla movies Toho was renowned for, the Night Stalker
was not an immediate success would not arrive in America until the VHS era. After that, it became a cult classic and would receive a Criterion release in 2004 after the successful premiere of The Godzilla.
 
THE AVENGERS (1997)

Directed by Joel Schumacher
Screenplay by Akiva Goldsman and Schumacher

World War Two's greatest superhero, Captain America (George Clooney), wakes up to find the sinister Red Skull is trying to turn America's disgruntled youth into a new Third Reich. He gathers a group of louche present day heroes - high-tech merc War Machine (Eddie Murphy), fashionista Wasp (Alicia Silverstone), and former supervillain Hawkeye (Jonathan Frakes) - to save the nation.

TRIVIA

* Notoriously rushed into production - both to beat the fourth Batman and to ensure an attempted adaption of the Avengers TV show couldn't claim trademark - the film won the 1997 Razzies for Worst Screenplay. Goldsman and Schumacher both blamed Fox's demands for the screenplay, while Fox insiders have accused Schumacher of arrogance after Batman Forever's success. (Avengers Disassembled by Sean Howe)

* With the loss of Schumacher and Goldman, Batman and Robin was delayed until 1998. Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio rewrote the original Goldsman treatment - which would have had three villains - to focus on Mister Freeze (Patrick Stewart) and dropped Batgirl in favour of Oracle, the character's contemporary take in the comics. "We said at the time it was about diversity and disabled people being heroes, but actually we'd rewatched Hackers," Rossio told SFX.
 
As noted earlier, i don't keep track of the actors and actress and such but I have another concept:

Transformers: The Movie (1946)

With radio becoming very popular, there had been a dramatization of "War of the Worlds," but a sci-fi loving producer decided to pump millions into creating a movie.

However, because of the rapid mechanization of everything, to create something different than just people in alien costumes, he decides to create vehicles, military and otherwise. Though his idea is put on the back burner by World War Two, the war's aftermath makes the concept even more successful. He does to the top animators and gets the go-ahead to create a movie where Earth weapons come alive and do the fighting against an evil race of military weapons disguised as robots.

The movie is a big hit as veterans enjoy the idea that someday, the weapons of war they used will someday end up being the ones to fight war themselves - and the fact regular cars, trucks, etc., especially Optimist Prime, a big rig "drafted" into combat and making the ultimate sacrifice - is also a big seller, as it's reminiscent of how all the people in the U.S. worked together because there was a war to be won. Fears of what pwoer robots could have over people is brushed aside, but hints of how such thigns will become more a part of movies is also hinted at here as some technology is seen as being potentially out of control.
 
KINGSMAN - The Secret Service
Great Britain, 1983
Directed by John Boorman
Harry Hart / "Galahad" Michael Caine
Gary "Eggsy" Unwin Colin Firth
Richmond Valentine Robert Redford
"Merlin" Christopher Lee
Chester / "Arthur" Alec Guiness
Roxy / "Lancelot" Miranda Richardson
Charlie Ralph Fiennes
Gazelle Helen Mirren

"Kingsman" turned out to be the most profitable British production of the cinematic year of 1983. While some critics accused it of having no focus, the feeling that "it had everything" was what made it so popular with a wider audience.

It was as much a celebration of traditional Britishness as a critical view at the first years of the Thatcher-era. It had comedic elements, especially when it spoofed the 007-tradition by taking it serious; but its action was impeccably filmed and breathtaking, especially the chase above, across and below Valentine's holdout for a showdown which involved a huge oil-platform on the North Sea...and two helicopters.

Kingsman also had a lasting impact due to its casting decisions. Needless to say that it started the career of superstar Colin Firth who since then efforlessly switched between action, high-brow literature-adaptations and romcom. To a lesser degree, the same is true about Ralph Fiennes and Miranda Richardson who debuted on the big screen here.

It also allowed Robert Redford to fully subvert his image and allowed him to play several iconic villain roles later on after he excelled as the celebrity-fond Oil-billionaire with an extreme understanding of the Club of Rome's predictions.
Fondly looking back on Kingsman should also Christopher Lee whose role as the dry and witty technical expert Merlin allowed him to break out of typecasting.

As these were the 1980s, it spawned two lesser sequels in 1986 and 1988, none of them directed by Boorman. In 2014, a reboot appeared with the peculiar idea of casting the now middle-aged Firth as Galahad and aged Caine in Alec Guiness' role.
 
Ida Lupino writes and directs My Brilliant Career (1951, based on the novel by Miles Franklin), setting it on a Wyoming ranch rather than in the Australian bush. The Catholic Church is not amused by the idea of an iconoclastic young woman rejecting marriage (that is, without becoming a nun), but the producers had pressured Lupino to add a bit of dialogue that leaves open the possibility that Sybylla Melvyn (played by Marilyn Monroe) might agree to marriage at a later time (the final shot, when Sybylla's train pulls out of the station headed for Chicago, and she looks out the window with tears in her eyes and the camera freezes, became iconic--much to Lupino's surprise). Essentially, the censors and the church did not have grounds to argue their objections strongly. The film was a breakout role for Monroe, who went on to star in several more films directed by Lupino. Monroe would be inspired by Lupino to become a director herself and was the first woman to win the Academy Award for best director (1991, "The Woman in the High Castle," based on a novel by Phillip K. Dick with screenplay by Arthur Miller). In accepting the award, Monroe, in an emotional speech, paid tribute to Lupino as the "great pioneer" of women in film and referred to her as "mother" (the nickname Lupino used for herself while on a set in her directorial role).
 
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Driftless

Donor
A loosely based remake on the 1938 "B"movie classic "Mr Moto's Last Warning" series.

Mr. Moto: The Last Warning (2001)

The action-adventure tale (with strong cultural and racial overtones) is set in 1937 Shanghai. Interpol* agent Mr. Kentaro Moto is working to stop a well connected ring of smugglers of valuable chinese archaeological artifacts.

Mr Moto is an urbane gentleman educated both in his native Japan and England. He is fluent in Japanese, English, Mandarin, and German. He is also a master of Jiu-jitsu, Judo, and Kenjutsu.

His investigation leads him to suspect connections with a British consular official, a Chinese warlord, and an American Aviatrix. Unfornately for Mr. Moto, his un-intentional involvement with the clash between the Chinese & Japanese forces at the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, leaves Moto with all powers-that-be (Japanese, Chinese, & British) being viewed as a problem to be terminated.

The denouement has the case resolved; but with the genuinely honorable Moto as persona-non-grata with his homeland, and an outsider elsewhere, with WW2 on the horizon.

Mr. Kentaro Moto - Jet Li
Connie Porter - Robin Wright
Sir Harry Flashton - Cary Elwes
Colonel Narata - Sammo Hung
General Chan - Masashi Odate

*Interpol is the modern shorthand term for the original "International Criminal Police Organization"
 
Next on the "contemporary reworks of classic films" docket.....

The Natural(2012)

Starring:

Chris Pine as Roy Hobbs
Lee Ermey as Pop Fisher
Oliver Platt as Max Mercy
Emma Stone as Iris Gaines
Morgan Freeman as Red Blow
Vin Diesel as Bump Bailey
Scarlett Johansen as Memo Paris
Ben Kingsley as The Judge

Directed By:

Richard Linklater

Updating Bernard Malamud's novel for the "Moneyball" era, The Natural tells the story of a former college baseball standout who quit the game as the result of a family tragedy but returns to the game when a veteran pro scout recognizes him from one of his old NCAA playoff highlight videos and offers him a contract to play outfield for the struggling Los Angeles Crusaders. Once he's signed to a pro contract he has to fight not only his own personal demons but also a skeptical sports blogger who thinks Hobbs can't handle the pressures of the big leagues.
 
Peter Cushing as George Ickes, head of NERV

Pfft, why didn't I think of Christopher Lee for this role? Some of his other roles are similar to what this might have been, he had worked with Francis before and he even looks... ahem, looked the part.

Anyhow, I had one of those "nothing serious to do" days today and, well, this was the result. A third-rate photo manipulation of how I'd imagine Rosemary Dexter looking in her role. Rei's on the left for comparison (and because I was too lazy to cut her off this pic after sending it to my friend through Facebook.) The idea of getting Photoshop is starting to look more and more appealing...

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shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
"Frank", 1975. Directed by George Lucas.

An off-beat comedy that follows the bizarre summer in the life of John (Mark Hamill), a young Californian office drone who dreams of becoming a famous musician. Meeting Donald (Harrison Ford), the manager of a band called the 'Sonorians' who invites him to a Jam, John soon becomes embroiled in the manic adventures of the mysterious and constantly made-up clad Englishman, Frank (David Bowie), the violent Clare (Carrie Fisher), and their adventures across America to record an album and discover themselves.

Starring:
John~~Mark Hamill, the bands new keyboardist
Frank~~David Bowie, the lead Singer noted for his heavy make up
Donald~~Harrison Ford, the bands manager
Clara~~Carrie Fisher, a Minimoog player
Betty~~Carol Kaye, the bassist
Nick~~Ringo Starr, the bands drummer

Noted for it's original soundtrack and pioneering use of synthesizer, as well as it's all star cast, the movie was a success and ushered in what became known as the 'Band Film', as well as jump starting George Lucas' career, although controversy remains over the extent of Lucas' involvement with what was seen on screen. Controversially was not nominated for best sound track.
 
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So, I'm finally going to be posting my 1966 Batman film. I have an awesome cast and crew... but I can't figure out who to cast as Sal Maroni? Does anyone have any suggestions? This is a serious noir adaptation with French New Wave influences so remember that it is taking the place of the campy TV series.
 
Ok, I'm about halfway through the plot outline and sent it to Hornla for some criticism. But I figured I'd give a sneak peek to everyone.... figured this would generate some buzz.

The Batman(1966)
Directed by Arthur Penn
Written by David Newman and Robert Benton
Cinematography by Burnett Guffey
Music Composed by John Williams
A Warner Brothers Production

Starring:
Steve McQueen as Bruce Wayne/The Batman
Anthony Hopkins as Oswald "The Penguin" Cobblepot
Warren Beatty as District Attorney Harvey Dent
Gene Hackman as Detective James Gordon
Robert De Niro as Salvatore "The Boss" Maroni
Mia Farrow as Vicky Vale
Alec Guinness as Alfred Pennyworth
 
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