Everything old is new again. Vintage clothing, furniture and hairstyles recently had a re-emergence and old TV shows turn into movies and find new fans. Or old TV shows are remade with the hope it will bring a new generation to one of their parents’ favorites.
There seems to be a TV remake trend with the latest being the 1968-1980 classic cop drama Hawaii Five-0. I’m excited about this one and can’t wait to hear, “Book em, Danno!”
There have been so many doomed-upon conception remakes of popular television shows of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s that I often cringe. How can you possibly make old new again?
The remake trend has been prevalent on the big screen with the hope to recapture older audiences who grew up on classic TV with the lure of seeing one of the shows they grew up with on the big screen.
I will admit that a remake of a popular television series brings nostalgic feelings to old fans; I guess that’s why so many sequels are being made. Why bring something new to the table when we can just recycle the old?
One of the remakes I did enjoy was the film version of “The Untouchables.”
The original version ran from 1959-1963 and starred Robert Stack as Elliot Ness.
Kevin Costner played Federal Agent Ness in the movie version, with Robert De Niro as Al Capone and Sean Connery as the cop who taught Kevin Costner’s character how to beat the mob. This version was successful at the box office and won many awards.
Not all remakes have been successful on the big screen. One of my beloved long running television shows that began when I was 6-years-old was “The Beverly Hillbillies.”
This film did no justice to the classic show and was an unsuccessful attempt to recreate the silly delight of Jed and his family. I was in high school when this show finally ended, but the theme song remains popular to this day.
One of my favorite adaptations of a TV show was “The Fugitive,” a suspenseful chase film starring Harrison Ford as Doctor Richard Kimble. The original Doctor-on-the-run was played by David Janssen in the series that ran from 1963-67.
“Maverick” with Mel Gibson and James Garner proved a winner as a remake, with Garner who in the original was the title character played the father of Maverick in the remake.
“Mission Impossible” was very successful with Tom Cruise as the head of a covert espionage unit that Peter Graves headed in the original. Even though this version had a lot of action and Tom Cruise did his own stunts, many die-hard “Mission Impossible” fans were not happy that the Phelps character turned traitor.
“I Spy” should have been a good remake. It had a good premise about spies and a pretty good cast with Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson.
Unfortunately, the actors just couldn’t compare with the original duo of Bill Cosby and Robert Culp, or the witty, original scripts of the NBC series.
And that brings us back to “Hawaii Five-O.” The original followed Jack Lord as Detective Steve McGarrett- head of an elite police unit who’d fight their most dangerous criminals in a tropical paradise.
And lets not forget the car, the black Mercury Marquis Brougham that is being brought back in the new version when the son of McGarrett finds the car in storage.
The son of the original Detective McGarrett takes over the role of his dad as the top cop of the unit and restores the old car.
The theme music along with the phrase we all still use today, “Book em, Dano!” will hopefully bring back a bit of the nostalgia we oldsters — that is, anuone over 40 –seem to crave.
