While I wasn't a fan of the remake of
The Day the Earth Stood Still, I can't say I'm very fond of the original either. I find it deathly dull and the socio-political message pretty obvious. It might have worked as an hour-long episode of
The Outer Limits or
The Twilight Zone but not as a feature film. I suppose, if forced to choose, I would watch the original before I would watch the remake again. (The nuclear elements of the original hang together better than the eco-guilt trip of the remake.) But still, I don't think the remake is such a travesty as others suggest because the original was never that good to begin with.
Sabrina. IMO, the only thing that the 1954 original really has going for it is Audrey Hepburn. She is truly a radiant screen presence. However, the rest of the film doesn't seem particularly well thought out and Hepburn has no chemistry with Humphrey Bogart. (Despite Hepburn's best efforts to seem in love with him, Bogart just looks uncomfortable, like he can't shake the idea that he's just way too old for her.) The 1995 remake puts things together much better. True, Julia Ormond is no Audrey Hepburn. However, the romance between Ormond & Harrison Ford develops much more naturally. Ford convey's his character's conflicted feelings in a much more relatable way. Plus, whereas William Holden didn't have much to do in the original other than be a 3rd wheel, Greg Kinnear gives the character a much more satisfying arc.
Amen. I've been saying this for years. If the behind-the-scenes gossip is to believe, Hepburn already had a strike against her in Bogie's book because he wanted Lauren Bacall to play Sabrina, and for whatever reason he hated Holden's guts.
I also felt that Hepburn's transformation from childish, pre-Paris Sabrina to more grown-up (if not older & wiser) post-Paris Sabrina was totally unconvincing. After Paris, Ormond's Sabrina not only has a new hairstyle and wardrobe, but her whole attitude changes as well.
To some degree, you have a point. However, Ormond strains my suspension of disbelief at the beginning when she tries to play young Sabrina at the beginning. I think she's supposed to be barely 18, yet Ormond was 30 at the time and certainly looks it. This works in her favor later in the film because the age difference between Ormond & Ford looks much more subdued than the May-December contrast between Hepburn & Bogart. However, at the beginning, the waifish, 25 year old Hepburn has no trouble playing a convincing teenager.
Another improvement in the remake is the removal of Sabrina's early suicide attempt. While Hepburn plays the scene beautifully with an extra helping of plucky naivete, it kinda feels out of place. You don't usually see comedic suicide attempts in breezy romantic comedies.
As for behind the scenes drama, from what I've heard, Bogart was pretty miserable for most of the shoot. He wasn't the 1st choice to play Linus Larabee. (Not that that's anything new for him. Most of his most famous roles were parts that were turned down by George Raft & Edward G. Robinson.) He thought William Holden was an insufferable pretty boy. He thought that the production crew at Paramount were a bunch of fey twits compared to the relatively macho atmosphere at Warner Bros.
I'm offended that the 2007 Halloween movie even exists. I've read that it supposedly takes away all the mystery and mystique from Michael Myers by explaining his childhood trauma in excruciating detail and that's appalling to me.
I've never quite understood that criticism. While the Myers family in the remake isn't exactly the most functional family you've ever met, I don't think anything we see on screen there can account for the startling evil that Michael perpetrates.
