@Renovatio said:

I think it's time for a remake. Either a direct remake or an homage. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.

Thoughts?

Starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling! Directed by Michael Bay!

This is one of my top 25 films of all time. Breathtaking suspense and action directed by the master!

I feel any reboot will be lame and pale by comparison.

@DRDMovieMusings said:

Y'all are going to hate me. Just watched this last night. Here's my take on it...Meh!

Each director is has a particular skill. For me, Hitchcock's grand contribution to movie-making was his eye - his screenplay, angles, what he did with light, wide shots...it's arguable that, to this day, there's no match.

But, story-wise, I too often get to the end of a movie thinking "what just happened?"

There are so many "WTF" moments in this film pushed at the audience to force a story that should not have been there.

I didn't quite get enough backstory to understand how this guy, on one hand, could be sooo concerned about "mother", and then just ditch her when the chase was on - for all he knows, she was taken hostage. We NEVER hear him wonder or worry about dear old mom again. Really?

A guy throws a knife into another man's back in, of all places, the UN, and NOBODY sees him? Not one person from behind him to say "that guy didn't do it, this guy did."

And what does our man do? Get his finger prints all over the knife, instead of stepping back and looking in the direction from where the knife must have come.

And, after the man falls dead, the alleged perp is, who poses for a pretty picture, murder weapon in hand, then manages to just run out the front door with a nifty helicopter view angle showing not one security guard giving chase?

Seems to me that, if the FBI wanted the bad guys, getting the black-gloved knife thrower on murder would have been a fine place to start, then offer him a deal to roll over on the head honcho.

The plane crash into the truck scene, I can't even.

The list goes on and on and on...

Yes, visually, from NYC to Chicago to the wide open vistas of the midwest then to the rugged Mt. Rushmore - stunning. But, story-wise, hardly compelling to warrant another watching.

I will quickly concede, had I gone into a movie theatre in 1959 to see this, within that socio-historic milieu, I might have come out thinking "that was a lot of fun". But, given all the movie making we've enjoyed since then, how I see movies now, after all that has been done, has changed. There are classics that still stand up, for me, after all this time, so I know I am not just dismissing an old movie out of hand (Double Indemnity 1944 is still among my all time favourites. The Apartment 1960, The Seven Year Itch '55, Sabrina '54 also, and it's not just because I'm a Billy Wilder fan; Breakfast at Tiffany's '61 is also still fun; etc.)

Now, a remake? Heck, yes! Please!

Clooney (our modern Clark Gable, actually) is the man to play Thornhill. 10 years ago, I'd have said Michael Douglass (NBNW has a The Game desperation feel to it...)

It must be set in the late 50s...we need more establishment of what kind of business man he is - barking orders at a secretary isn't sufficient (think of how they established Pierce Brosnan's Thomas Crown Affair with the own the building comment at the elevator, and the business deal, and how he surveys his kingdom from his spacious office through lots of big windows).

Director's gotta be David Fincher. He does well with screenplay (even on TV, how they shoot House of Cards is utterly gorgeous, the opening credits alone are among the most sumptuous ever), and he's got some edge. This film thrives on suspense, but needs a real edge to remain compelling.

That's where I am at this point.

Just watched it too, i totally agree with you on the writing but don't blame hitchcock for that since he isn't the one who wrote it. Also, it was the 50's so it's normal that the action scene with the plane explosion looks cheap 60 years later.

@Renovatio said:

@lantzn said:

Who would you like to see direct it or star in it?

Good question...

I'd like to see someone with a vision make their own interpretation of it... maybe one of the better horror/thriller directors like Karyn Kusama, Alexander Aja or someone who will not just copy Hitchcock (what's the point? The original is classic), but rather make their own movie that is inspired by the older one... but please give them final cut (or something close to it)... otherwise, a big director who has the weight to not have it turn into a garbage cash grab...

I think John Hamm would be great it in. They'd have to overcome the whole Don Draper thing.... or just go with it!

South by Southeast

@Renovatio said:

@lantzn said:

Who would you like to see direct it or star in it?

Good question...

I'd like to see someone with a vision make their own interpretation of it... maybe one of the better horror/thriller directors like Karyn Kusama, Alexander Aja or someone who will not just copy Hitchcock (what's the point? The original is classic), but rather make their own movie that is inspired by the older one... but please give them final cut (or something close to it)... otherwise, a big director who has the weight to not have it turn into a garbage cash grab...

I think John Hamm would be great it in. They'd have to overcome the whole Don Draper thing.... or just go with it!

While I voted Clooney, I agree with you that John Hamm looks the part, too. And, to be fair, I'm not entirely worried about the whole Don Draper thing, there are a lot of actors still working who are essentially the same character type in role after role. A brand is hard to overcome (John Malkovich doesn't seem to land a lot of leading roles in rom-coms, right? Nor does Tom Hanks blow shit up very often, although he was believable in Road to Perdition and does have the chops, still I don't expect him doing a Die Hard chapter) and not a deal breaker.

NO!

I'm with the stop remaking movies already crowd. Besides every James Bond film is a bit of a homage to NBN. It's like taking whatever song was popular in 1959and having whatever music act is popular today rerecord it. It will just be a lame novelty and forgotten. Didn't work for Charlie's Angels

It’s nigh impossible to remake North by Northwest in today’s cinema environment. The resulting film would be far inferior. Audiences now just want flash and action. They don’t really care about character development or good dialogue or quality craftsmanship / filmmaking. Just look at all the remakes or reboots lately. How many are better than the original? Name one right now! If you can, I’ll give it a chance and check it out.... but I’m not optimistic....

No need for a remake or recast. Soon we could probably get a sequel starring Grant himself. :-(

@Renovatio said:

I think it's time for a remake. Either a direct remake or an homage. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.

Thoughts?

No remake. The original stands alone as a unique moment in film and world history. Although everyone acted well in it there were too many famous faces in it even among bit players. Still the best and most unique movie. Cannot be remade.

)A sort of similarly plotted film was done with the 1982 Gene Wilder film 'Hanky Panky' ( with an airplane scene inside a plane subbing for the cropduster scene in NBN). But the later film was far from actually being a remake. )

@DRDMovieMusings said:

The plane crash into the truck scene, I can't even.

The remake has already been made. Vincent Gallo plays Cary Grant

Quite a thrashing they gave that scene, and rightly so 😂 (in Hitch's defense, I'm sure he meant it to be mind blowingly absurd).

North By Northwest remake

NO

@catmydogs said:

It’s nigh impossible to remake North by Northwest in today’s cinema environment. The resulting film would be far inferior. Audiences now just want flash and action. They don’t really care about character development or good dialogue or quality craftsmanship / filmmaking. Just look at all the remakes or reboots lately. How many are better than the original? Name one right now! If you can, I’ll give it a chance and check it out.... but I’m not optimistic....

In my opinion...

• Ocean's Eleven (2001) is better than Ocean's Eleven (1960) - while the original ending twist is among the greatest kicks in the head ever!, 2001 has much much more going for it in every way
• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) is better than Bedtime Story (1964) - David Niven was good in the original, but Brando is just...weird; meanwhile, Caine, Martin and Headly are splendid, and the ending twist can't be beat!
• The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) is among my favourites. I've started The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) but it was boring, couldn't finish it. Of course, I said that about original Ocean's Eleven, and, after sitting through it, was glad I did, so perhaps such would also be the case here.

So, there's potentially three, just off the top of my head. Remakes are a gamble, no doubt; but then, so is any movie production. I'm often intrigued by any attempt to take on the legacy of a great movie, and keen to see how remakes approach the source material and do it justice while, where possible, taking it in a fresh direction; when they do both, it's movie magic. When they don't, it seems particularly lazy. So, you'll either get a home run or a strike out.

Again, with so much I could criticize about NbNW, I'd be intrigued to see an attempt at a modern interpretation - for me, having not loved the original, it'd hard to do worse! But, for those who love it, I can appreciate that odds are low it could be done justice a 2nd time around.

Sadly (for me), I see no such project in the offing, so we may be left with what it was as is, and to speculate on what could have been.

@DRDMovieMusings said:

• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) is better than Bedtime Story (1964) - David Niven was good in the original, but Brando is just...weird; meanwhile, Caine, Martin and Headly are splendid, and the ending twist can't be beat!

I agree. May I go to the bathroom?

I would also emphatically add Soderbergh’s remake of Solaris. He took a pretentious windbag of a movie and gave it real psychological depth (thanks of course to Clooney’s & Jeremy Davies’ fantastic performances).

Also Three’s Company was way better than the original. John Ritter ‘nuff said

And Jimi Hendrix’s version of Hey Joe.

@rooprect said:

@DRDMovieMusings said:

• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) is better than Bedtime Story (1964) - David Niven was good in the original, but Brando is just...weird; meanwhile, Caine, Martin and Headly are splendid, and the ending twist can't be beat!

I agree. May I go to the bathroom?

I would also emphatically add Soderbergh’s remake of Solaris. He took a pretentious windbag of a movie and gave it real psychological depth (thanks of course to Clooney’s & Jeremy Davies’ fantastic performances).

Also Three’s Company was way better than the original. John Ritter ‘nuff said

And Jimi Hendrix’s version of Hey Joe.

Three’s Company can’t count, that’s a tv show. But yeah, JohnRitter! :)

Never saw the originals for Ocean’s 11 or Thomas Crown, so can’t comment there, but I think Solaris is a decent choice. I liked the Clooney film, too.