Remakes: The Eternal Controversy Coming To A Road House Near You
“Nobody ever wins a fight.”
You may recognize that line from the 1989 cult classic Road House, starring Patrick Swayze as Dalton, the violent-only-when-necessary “cooler” hired to clean up an out-of-control bar in Missouri. Or, you might recognize it from the trailer of Amazon MGM Studios most highly-anticipated upcoming release, the Jake Gyllenhaal action movie… er… Road House.
Described as a “reimagining” of the 1989 film, the new version relocates the action to the Florida Keys and provides the star with a different backstory as a former MMA fighter. Footage of Gyllenhaal’s Dalton cockily slapping an opponent at a UFC weigh-in made the rounds after the scenes were filmed at an actual UFC event. Reactions were… mixed (though many people were too distracted by the actor’s ripped physique to notice what he was saying or doing). Some were eager to see Gyllenhaal step into the role and bemoaned the fact that a release was still months off. Others had a less enthusiastic reaction. “That’s not MY Dalton!” was one of my personal favorites.
To Remake, or Not to Remake?
Remakes are a highly polarizing fact of life in Hollywood—with some excited to see the fun or fear recreated, and others railing about “ruining the original” and how Hollywood has no new ideas. But somewhere between the cries of “it’s just a rehash!” and whines that “it’s not faithful to the original!”, the endless debate—often begun pre-release, and repeated ad nauseum—can obscure what may be exceptional filmmaking. Whether you are for remakes, against them, or take them on a case-by-case basis, you’d be advised to make your peace with their existence—remakes are not new (the first was in 1896!), and they are not going away.
Some Arbitrary Remake Categories the Author Finds Convenient for Narrowing Her Focus
Turns out, Wikipedia has already done a lot of the research on movie remakes for me. On this fascinating rabbit-hole of a page, they attempt to list every movie remake since the inception of motion picture copyright in 1903. And there are a LOT. Too many to be able to discuss coherently here. So I’m taking the easy way out and focusing on one narrow category—that which 2024’s Road House falls under.
Okay, flavors of remake… there are:
English-language adaptations of foreign films - such as Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia (2002), based on the 1997 Norwegian film of the same name
Multiple adaptations of novels or other discrete literature - e.g., the 1989 and 2023 iterations of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary
New explorations of previously-existing characters - the many takes on Spider-Man, for example
Live-action remakes of animated films - I won’t insult your intelligence by saying something like The Little Mermaid (1989) and The Little Mermaid (2023). Or, apparently, I will.
And, lastly…
Re-creations of original films, using the same character(s) and following the same basic story
These are the movies most often accused of being a money grab that adds nothing to the world of film—just a way for lazy and risk-averse studio heads to make a quick buck by recycling old material. This is the type I will focus on here, inexplicably arguing with an unseen and very vocal imaginary “filmbro.”
“These Remakes are Just for Profit!”
Okay, there is some truth to that. Remakes of popular films have name recognition and essentially, a built-in audience. A bad remake will likely draw decent crowds, while even a good original idea may struggle to. Case in point: The 2015 remake of Point Break made over $133 million worldwide, despite lukewarm audience reception and abysmal critic scores. Sicario on the other hand, an original story with a stacked cast and a phenomenal up-and-coming director—a film that would go on to receive three Academy Award nominations—made only $85 million in that same year. In short, remakes may not garner much respect, but even so, are less of a gamble.
“So You’re Saying All Remakes Are Bad…”
Clearly all of these films are awful, soulless, recycled stories, useful only for lining the studios’ pockets, to be avoided by any self-respecting cinephile… right? Wrong!—and quit putting words in my mouth.
If there were no remakes, we would never have been terrorized by Robert De Niro’s Max Cady in the wildly successful and critically acclaimed Cape Fear (1991). We’d never have had a chance to say hello to Al Pacino’s little friend in the 1983 Scarface. We wouldn’t have gotten all the shapeshifting terror of one of the highest-rated horror movies of all time in John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982). And we wouldn’t have been moved to tears by Judy Garland, or Barbara Streisand, or Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born (1954), A Star Is Born (1976), or A Star Is Born (2018), all of them being remakes of the 1937 original film, A Star Is Born. (Yes, I did just make you read that four times because I thought it was funny.)
So, remakes aren’t ALL bad.
“But But But,” *whining* “YES THEY ARE ALL BAD!”
Anti-remake moviegoers are often more vocal than pro-remake moviegoers, and I observed a lot of moaning upon announcement of the Road House project, AND at every article or Tweet thereafter mentioning it. Some common refrains…
“Hollywood has no original ideas!”
This one is not specific to Road House. Remakes are, by definition, recycled material. But even those that keep close to the blueprint of a formerly-original story find ways to put their own spin on things. Sometimes in subtle ways, such as the 2017 version of 1990’s Flatliners, which imbued the med students with enhanced cognitive abilities after bringing them back from the dead. And sometimes in more overt ways, as in 2018’s Ocean’s 8 pivoting to a female cast of characters versus the male-led casts in the 1960 and 2001 Ocean’s Eleven films. Anyway… *sidestepping any potential discussion on “wokeness”*
As I did not have the good fortune of attending the Road House premiere at the kickoff of SXSW 2024, I can’t comment on how this feature differentiates itself from the 1989 Patrick Swayze classic, but from the reviews I have read, it does so, and skillfully.
I also find it necessary to emphasize what anyone in the film industry already knows well—there are TONS of original ideas in Hollywood! It is literally overflowing with them! Since 2005 The Black List annual survey has highlighted some of the best unproduced feature scripts, and it is certainly not alone in the mission of championing unique stories. It’s not a dearth of original ideas that results in a dearth of original films (if you can even argue that there is such… more likely, these whining filmbros/filmgals are just not looking hard enough, or in the right places). If anything, the problem is a deficiency of intestinal fortitude on behalf of film executives. Plainly said, rarely do they have the GUTS to put their money where their artistic ideals should be, and stand behind these extremely original, exceptional scripts.
“Just watch the original!”
Absolutely! Please do watch the original. In almost all cases, they ROCK! That’s why they’re being reincarnated! A remake doesn’t erase the original, nor does it detract from it in any way. If Swayze is the only person you want to imagine as Dalton, then no problem! Pop that coveted physical media into your player and fire that bad boy up. Watch it ‘til the disc shatters! But, if there was something in Dalton’s backstory you always wondered about, or if you’re curious to see how the exceptional actor who brought life to a twisted, capitalistic sociopath in Nightcrawler reimagines the character, you can now explore that.
There’s another thing that remakes can do, in service of (rather than detracting from) the original: they can direct younger audiences to discover a classic. Unfortunately, there are a lot of burgeoning movie fans who shy away from films whose birth predates their own by too great a margin. I know, because -*spoken in hushed tones*- I used to be one of them. I even have a bad remake to thank for steering me to one of Patrick Swayze’s other reinterpreted films: Red Dawn (1984). I’d heard of it, but hadn’t taken the leap to sit down and watch it until the announcement of a remake starring Chris Hemsworth. “Hey,” I thought, “that dude’s hot, and that story sounds kinda cool. But I should probably check out the original first…” *Cue the triumphant vocals of the Hallelujah Chorus.* Red Dawn (2012) was… not good. I liked it, but it was not good. But y’know what was kinda good? The 1984 one.
It’s worth noting that a LOT of Patrick Swayze films have been subjected to modern re-creations. Red Dawn (1984/2012), Point Break (1991/2015), Dirty Dancing (1987/2017), now Road House (1989/2024), and even rumors of an upcoming Ghost (1990/?). Maybe it’s Swayze’s charisma and his ability to make bad-bad into good-bad, and Hollywood’s endless attempts to recapture that magic. Maybe it’s because 80s kids are some of the most nostalgic adults (though 90s kids may be giving them a run for their money). Maybe it’s the bountiful creativity of the stories that Swayze lent his hand to—ripe for modernization, reimaginings, and yes, cash grabs. Whatever the reason, Road House joins a sizable and somewhat notorious group of movies.
“What?! Another one? We don’t NEED another [insert movie title here]!!”
O…kay…? True. We don’t need any remakes. We also don’t NEED any movies at all! Movies are art meant to enrich our lives, and each of the creatives—writer, director, cinematographer, production designer, actor (and all the other invaluable roles that my pea brain is neglecting presently)—are simply seizing the opportunity to make each project their own; answering an insatiable hunger to bring their vision and experience to their work, to deliver to the viewers something that will delight them, move them, and even possibly, change them forever. Are the achievements of all these phenomenally talented people invalidated because their toils are on a story that’s been done before? I think not.
“I don’t care what you say, movie-talking lady! Remakes CHEAPEN the original! They are but pale comparisons, destined for mediocrity—watered-down, uninspired repackagings of great films, vomited onto the screen to satisfy the ten second attention span of a tech generation who can’t summon enough brainpower to follow a new story for a measly 90 minutes, in service of nothing but the almighty dollar! I don’t care if it IS Doug Liman, director of box office smash Mr. & Mrs. Smith and unique sci-fi fan favorite Edge of Tomorrow; helming the Oscar-nominated actor known for immersing himself in every role and with hardly a bad film credit to his name, Jake Gyllenhaal; and actual martial arts powerhouse Conor McGregor, the first UFC fighter to hold championships in two weight classes simultaneously! Road House (2024) is an ABOMINATION, and it will NOT be getting an arguably-useless digital ‘view’ from my Amazon Prime Membership account*!”
*Which is another discussion, for another essay… 🙄
Oh my! That’s quite the laundry list of disdain, imaginary-film-snob-lurking-in-the-dark-recesses-of-my-brain! Maybe you (…I? …the voices in my head?) should grab some Xanax, Prozac, legalized weed, or a nice stiff whisky and calm yourself. I, too, love the 1989 Road House. How can one not? In addition to Swayze you’ve got Sam Elliott, The Jeff Healey Band, and a monster truck driving through a glass showroom to crush a row of brand new cars! You’d have to be crazy not to love—and yes, possibly feel a little protective over—such a gem. But I’ll just say this… are you really going to go to your death defending as sacrosanct a movie where a guy literally gets his throat ripped out, and another is trapped under a taxidermized polar bear during the final climax fight?
I’m not actually claiming those as shortcomings—they’re part and parcel of the movie’s charm! And I am excited to see what unique new charm (and humor, and action, and sexiness, and wit, and… and… and…) Doug Liman’s Road House has to offer. And based on reviews from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian, and Empire, this “reimagining” has many charms. While no one could ever beat Patrick Swayze’s portrayal of the ultra-suave, Zen “cooler,” Jake Gyllenhaal may be the only actor even suited to try—because he was never trying to outdo Patrick Swayze. Gyllenhaal remembers the man fondly from their work together on his breakout film, Donnie Darko. “He and I were friends,” the star said of the late actor. “His energy is unmatched. But bringing the great spirit that he brought to that [character]… I hope I could even get close.”
As much as I’d like to think I’ve put the eternal “remake” controversy to bed, I’m neither that stupid nor that naïve. Remakes have existed as long as motion pictures have, and I wager people have been arguing that long too. But for any good argument, you must first have all the facts. Is 2024’s Road House a clever reimagining of a beloved classic? Or unpalatable swill churned out to appease an ever-voracious money making beast? Give it a watch, then you can be the judge.
Road House is being released on Prime Video on March 21st.
