They remade "Flight of the Phoenix"?!?

Giles Habibula · Post by **Giles Habibula** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 1:46 am

Is Hollywood so hard-up that they are now remaking old mediocre movies?

I saw the original on TCM a couple years ago (with Jimmy Stewart), and while it was an okay movie, I certainly don't think it warranted a remake. A plane crashes in the desert and the next two hours are spent painfully watching them try to get the plane to fly again. Does that even qualify as a plot?

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 4:50 am

I too,was barely able to sit thru the first one.A remake?How about instead they don't make it back from the first one and crash again and have to make a land speeder out of the remains?

Teggy · Post by **Teggy** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 9:06 am

But those are the best movies to re-make. A movie that is "ok", but with some tweaking could be great. I haven't seen the original, but it sounds like it has potential. Although I don't know what's up with the Mad Max-like gang in the commercial.

Re-make movies that could use improvement - better than remaking Psycho or another classic that doesn't have anything wrong with it to begin with.

Hrdina · Post by **Hrdina** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 9:07 am

dbt1949 wrote:I too,was barely able to sit thru the first one.A remake?How about instead they don't make it back from the first one and crash again and have to make a land speeder out of the remains?

Maybe when they crash again they can land on Gilligan's Island. Hilarity ensues as they try to make a new airplane from palm trees and coconuts.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:12 am

I liked the original for being a psychological drama about group dynamics. The remake looks like typical Hollywood action garbage, at least from the promo I saw. If that's accurate, I'll pass.

Koz · Post by **Koz** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:19 am

I also enjoyed the first one. I saw it during German history class as a sort of Hollywoodized version of the culture conflicts between the Germans and other Europeans and Americans. I'm sure most of that will be bypassed in a modern remake.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:45 am

As far as I can tell from the trailer, they crash just outside of Thunderdome and are chased by Mad Max's enemies.

The first trailer I saw i couldn't even tell what era it was supposed to be. The second, I only knew because they said something like, "They're on their way home from Iraq..."

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:10 pm

Read "Flight of the Condor" instead.

Papageno · Post by **Papageno** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:11 pm

I liked the old film a lot, actually. It is more of a psychological drama, though.

WAW · Post by **WAW** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:58 pm

I always thought it was cool they really build and flew that plane. It killed the stunt pliot.

And the talent in the first movie was first rate.

Giles Habibula · Post by **Giles Habibula** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:34 pm

WAW wrote:I always thought it was cool they really build and flew that plane. It killed the stunt pliot. And the talent in the first movie was first rate.

I had no idea.
May have to rent it and see it again. It's been a while.

GungHo · Post by **GungHo** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 7:15 pm

The book is pretty decent....

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 7:46 pm

So is this the version where a group of people crash in the desert and are attacked by sandpeople but one of survivors is the sandpeople's Messiah so after taking some hallocinogens and a big orgy the sandpeople take them through the desert on sandworms to visit this old hermit called "Ben" who can help them take the secret plans they were smuggling to the rebels but on the way to the local town they had to fight Nazis searching for the Ark of the Covenant but luckily The Scorpion King showed up to rescue them.

And the part of Lawrence of Arabia is played by Jude Law.

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 9:19 pm

Ironrod wrote:I liked the original for being a psychological drama about group dynamics. The remake looks like typical Hollywood action garbage, at least from the promo I saw. If that's accurate, I'll pass.

Yeah, same here. I just saw the original a few months ago either on AMC or TCM and thought it was pretty good.

Grifman

Peacedog · Post by **Peacedog** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 10:12 pm

But those are the best movies to re-make. A movie that is "ok", but with some tweaking could be great.

See: John Carpenter's The Thing.

Octopus Overlords

They remade "Flight of the Phoenix"?!?

They remade "Flight of the Phoenix"?!?

Read Flight of the Condor instead