Mel Gibson to write/direct Wild Bunch remake!

[lrb1200]

If he keeps Arnold and Sylvester out of it I may give it a look.

 

[ChuckS1]

Agree 100%. Reminds me of when they recently tried to remake "Magnificent Seven"...it sucked. Why can't Hollywood create something new...a new classic...instead of trying to cash in on historical works of art?

You do know that "The Magnificent Seven" (the first one with Yul Brynner) was a remake of "The Seven Samauri", right? Hollywood just cashed in on a historical work of Japanese movie art and made it into a Western to appeal to an American audience. And did it rather commercially and comparatively poorly, to boot.

"The Three Amigos" was a better version of "The Magnificent Seven" than the Yul Brenner version.

 

[Kanewpadle]

I would be interested in a major part in the movie. I would want to be the guy that gets the girl and rides off into the sunset.

Sorry buddy. That part is already spoken for.

 

[Watchdog]

I couldn't agree more. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

You know what, Jack? Some people understand that concept. Others don't. And others never will.

 

[Kanewpadle]

I don't limit myself by passing judgment on a movie I haven't seen yet. Today's technology is amazing. Life is short. Try new things.

 

[sigp220.45]

If there is a re-make of The Wild Bunch, please use a Maxim machinegun, rather than a Browning 1917.

And 03 Springfields instead of WWII 03A3s.

I will definitely give it a chance. Nobody does violence like Mel.

Just off the top of my head, Cronenbergs "The Fly", Carpenter's "The Thing", Coen brother's "True Grit", and Soderbergh's "Ocean's 11" are all remakes that are better than the originals. As has been pointed out already the Steve McQueen "Magnificent Seven" is a remake, but I prefer the original in that case.

The worst thing about remakes is the mandatory attendance and the immediate destruction of all existing copies of the original.

 

[DWalt]

If there is a re-make of The Wild Bunch, please use a Maxim machinegun, rather than a Browning 1917.

Preferably a Maxim M1904 which would be period correct, and actually used by the U. S. Army. And, again, no M1903A3 Springfield.

Who would make the best General Mapache?

Seriously, I think there are several ways that the original could be improved upon with the right casting. I hope only that it won't morph into something so politically correct it is unwatchable.

One interesting fact about the original. I think it holds the records for the most quick cuts ever in a movie - thousands, and the most film ever shot for a single movie. Editing took more than six months. All done manually, before the computer age.

 

[Kiwi cop]

I remember when the remake of The Magnificent Seven came out a couple of years ago reading a review (L A Times rings a bell) that the film lacked social justice and that the characters were stereotypical white middle class etc.

This was despite Denzel Washington playing Sam Chisolm, a strong female lead in the Emma Cullen character and several latin actors set against a 19th century mining baron Bartholomew Bouge. (The social message: if your cause is just you can prevail).

I also recall some other pretty scathing reviews, and yet I enjoyed the movie enough to buy it on DVD (and watched it again last weekend). I ahve to admit that I saw the original many decades ago and it is a dim memory so I can't compare it with the original.

What prompted me was an online article stating categorically that there had never been a western made with an African American character playing the lead, instead of just a sidekick.

Not that I listen much to critics. If it is a movie they rave over I usually hate it. But if it is one they re down on it ends up in my DVD collection,

 

[Absalom]

I think folks here tend to use the term "remake" too loosely.

As far as "Tombstone" and "True Grit" are concerned, those are somewhat different cases.

"Tombstone" is another telling of a historical event, just like earlier films about the OK Corral. However accurate or inaccurate, just like there are more than a few movies about Custer and the LBH, those aren't really remakes. And "True Grit" is an adaptation of a novel; there are many classic novels that have been turned into movies multiple times, but I would not consider those movies remakes either.

As far as I'm concerned, only an original script can be subject to a remake. It's also the hardest to do well since the remake cannot try to offer a new interpretation of historical events or a literary source, but is tied to the original for better or worse.

The script for "The Wild Bunch" not only has no literary or historical source, it was actually co-written by the director, Sam Peckinpah. That's what I meant earlier by saying that this film is above all a Peckinpah vehicle.

 

[ladder13]

Peckinpah
Seems like there were some factual inaccuracies in The Wild Bunch, at least regarding period correct arms.

He was human like everyone else.
He apparently had some personal battles with drug and alcohol abuse. In addition he was constantly battling with producers and crew members on a number of his movie sets.

You can, as they say, read it here. Sam Peckinpah - Wikipedia

 

[Absalom]

Peckinpah
...
He was human like everyone else.
He apparently had some personal battles with drug and alcohol abuse. In addition he was constantly battling with producers and crew members on a number of his movie sets.
....

The two Peckinpah biographies I've read were titled "If they move, kill'em!" and "Bloody Sam".

Pretty much speaks for itself

 

[Watchdog]

Nobody does violence like Mel.

Oksana Grigorieva would undoubtedly agree with you.

 

[DWalt]

I have an original two-disc DVD set of "The Wild Bunch." On disc 2 there is background information about how the movie was made, sort of a "The Making of The Wild Bunch." It is very interesting, looks like some of it was maybe 8mm home movies taken by various people on the set. .

 

[jag312]

And now I hear that Steven Spielberg is re-making West Side Story. Will this nonsense ever end?

 

[ladder13]

The two Peckinpah biographies I've read were titled "If they move, kill'em!" and "Bloody Sam".

Pretty much speaks for itself

Peck and Paw?

 

[Watchdog]

The original was an "original" not so much because of the story, but the way Peckinpah told it and his directing methods. It is a Peckinpah film first and foremost, and a western second.

Definitely a Peckinpah film. For me, The Wild Bunch expands on a theme Peckinpah began exploring with Ride the High Country in 1962, seven years before he filmed The Wild Bunch. Aging outlaws/gunfighters looking to make a last big score before calling it quits.

I've mentioned this before somewhere. If you look at Joel McCrea's clothes and gunbelt, William Holden's are so similar, it's hard to tell them apart. But Joel McCrea doesn't have a mustache. Interestingly enough, William Holden balked at wearing a mustache, but Peckinpah was the boss, so Pike Bishop has a mustache.

Again, in my opinion, Ride the High Country and The Wild Bunch are simply two sides of the same coin. Both are classics in their own right.

The Wild Bunch, by the way, is one of the American Film Institute's Top 100 films.

No film made by Mel Gibson or with Mel Gibson in it is on the AFI's Top 100 Films list.

 

[500SNW]

One of my only criticisms of Peckinpah's work on "Wild Bunch" are what I call the "laughing scenes." Spread throughout the film there are like half a dozen scenes of group laughter and hilarity (which goes on and on and on)...surrounding events in the film which simply aren't funny. Not funny even by circa 1969 film audience standards I would assume. I could do without those scenes, but IMO the rest of the film is exemplary.

 

[Watchdog]

One of my only criticisms of Peckinpah's work on "Wild Bunch" are what I call the "laughing scenes." Spread throughout the film there are like half a dozen scenes of group laughter and hilarity (which goes on and on and on)...surrounding events in the film which simply aren't funny.

I'm seriously trying to think of a scene or scenes like that, but I'm drawing a blank. Can you give an example? For me, the laughter and/or hilarity is in context to the story line. It may not seem funny funny to us when we first see it, but I believe what some people might see as misplaced humour is vital to the overall moral or message of the film.

All that's just my opinion, of course.

 

[usmc2427765]

Hey guys, it will be another western and we have very few in the past. Give it a chance.

 

[DWalt]

One of my only criticisms of Peckinpah's work on "Wild Bunch" are what I call the "laughing scenes." Spread throughout the film there are like half a dozen scenes of group laughter and hilarity (which goes on and on and on)...surrounding events in the film which simply aren't funny. Not funny even by circa 1969 film audience standards I would assume. I could do without those scenes, but IMO the rest of the film is exemplary.

I mentioned earlier that there was room for improvement (at least in my opinion), the odd joviality scenes being some of them. There were numerous dialogues which seemed to be unnecessarily clumsy. I suppose Peckinpah wanted them that way.