Best remake

[cemaphonic]

Ok, we've done sequels, and novel->movie recently. How about some good remakes? I'm going to go ahead and preempt "The Maltese Falcon" as the canonical answer.

Genre changes are kosher, as are remakes that are drawing from the original source material, rather than necessarily from a specific other movie version.

Movies like "Star Wars" or "Miller's Crossing" that have extended homages or parallels to older movies, but aren't straight remakes don't count.

To start, I'll go with Kurosawa's samurai version of Macbeth, "Throne of Blood."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8IMZZularQ&feature=related
(those are real arrows BTW!)

[Bucky]

1. I wouldn't call it best, but "Ocean's 11" is a vast improvement over the Sinatra version

Probably the very best remake is the 1939 version of "The Wizard of Oz", although it was more a retreatment of the book rather than a remake of the 1925 movie

[cemaphonic]

2. oh yeah, good call on both.

I forgot that The Wizard of Oz was a remake - that's probably even more the canonical answer than The Maltese Falcon then.

[Hissyspit]

3. Throne of Blood is amazing.

[leeroysphitz]

4. 2004's Dawn Of The Dead.

Not better than the original but one HELL of a good Zombie flick. Top notch actually...

IMHO.

[pokerfan]

5. The Day The Earth Stood Still

(Not really.)

I would say Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) with Marlon Brando is better than the original Clark Gable version.