Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9407020015
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON MILLER KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The pay TV network correctly assumed viewers would read a lot more into the 1958 story if it was laced with modern feminist sensibilities and female viewers could watch a giant Daryl Hannah achieve the kind of payback most of them only dream about after enduring years of neglect or abuse from their men.
It was an inspired idea. In homes with HBO, the remake blew away all the other networks in the ratings and touched off what may be the newest TV trend: Remakes of cheap ``drive-in'' movies in the spirit of the 1990s.
HBO's pay-TV rival, Showtime, was quick to jump on the trend. Next month it launches a new series of made-for-cable movies under the umbrella title ``Rebel Highway,'' all derived from schlock 1950s teen flicks. The first of 10 remakes from Showtime is ``Roadracers,'' based on a 1959 American-International turkey. It premieres July 22.
``Roadracers'' was directed by Robert Rodriguez, the acclaimed young director of ``El Mariachi,'' and stars David Arquette, Jason Wiles and Salma Hayak, who are at least as memorable as the original stars - Joel Lawrence, Sally Fraser and Mason Alan Dinehart Jr.
Studio archivists all over Hollywood are now believed to be rummaging for similar ideas to pitch the networks. Naturally, they want to do cheap remakes of movies they already own but never figured anyone would want to see twice.
Just to help out, I'm offering this list of actual vintage movies that seem ideal for bargain-basement remakes with new relevance for the 1990s:
1. ``Secret Service of the Air'' (1939)
This was the first of four Warner Bros. cheapies starring Ronald Reagan as Brass Bancroft, pilot-turned-government agent. In this one, the future president stops the smuggling of illegal aliens across the Mexican border by air. This dovetails nicely with the current furor over Mexican immigration, but humanitarians probably should be spared the scene in which the flying smugglers pull a switch that opens the floor of their plane and dumps the illegal aliens - without parachutes - when federal authorities close in.
2. ``Glen or Glenda'' (1953)
This early film by the notorious Ed Wood Jr., whose life story will be released as a movie this year, was one of the first to deal head-on with transvestism. Producer-director Wood, using the assumed name Daniel Davis, played the sexually ambiguous hero who wants to wear his fiancee's clothes. This is now a hot topic and tailor-made for Jaye Davidson, the androgynous Oscar-nominee from ``The Crying Game.''
3. ``Nabonga'' (1944)
This jungle cheapie is about a mysterious ``white witch'' (Julie London) raised by a kindly gorilla in darkest Africa. The remake should capitalize on our current environmental concerns, making the heroine a Dian Fossey-style naturalist, who puts on her ``white witch'' act to scare poachers away from her gorilla pals.
4. ``Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki'' (1955)
Country music was a minority taste when this entry in the Ozark comedy series from Universal was made, but it's now red hot. This oldie would be perfect remade as a musical starring Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton as Ma and Pa Kettle. Garth Brooks could play their oldest son and maybe there would be some work for all those kid actors stranded in Hawaii since ABC canceled ``Byrds of Paradise.''
5. ``I Was a Teenage Werewolf'' (1957)
A remake of the campus horror movie that gave the late Michael Landon his first starring role is long overdue. However, I'd make lycanthropy a sexually transmitted disease to make this more meaningful for today's teens. To star: Michael Landon Jr., who hasn't done much since NBC's 1993 ``Bonanza'' revival. And now that she's out of ``Beverly Hills, 90210,'' Shannen Doherty would be nice as the student who first sees the teen werewolf hanging upside down in the gym.
6. ``Chandu the Magician'' (1932)
Edmund Lowe was the suave spiritualist-magician of radio fame in this creaky thriller set in mysterious Egypt, but Vegas-style magic is the rage today and the obvious choice top star would be David Copperfield, who could save the network a million or two in labor charges by making all the sets disappear as soon as they're used. Hasn't he already made the pyramids vanish?
7. ``Reefer Madness'' (1936)
This laughably somber ``educational'' drama, which warned young Americans about the evils of pot smoking, would be the perfect movie remake for MTV. How about re-casting all the key roles with famous celebrity ``hopheads'' who have cleaned up their act? Starting, of course, with the original Hollywood reefer madman, Robert Mitchum.
by CNB