non-ecumenical ramblings

A nice surprise after watching a bad remake of Swept Away. This remake is so far superior to the original in every aspect, but to prove how bad the original was, just show anyone its 2 worst scenes:

1. Janet Leigh meets Frank Sinatra on a train chain smoking & acting weird so gives him her phone number. He stumbles out of the car into the exit portion of the train car - she follows & tells him her address & suggests he stops by sometime.
2. Laurence Harvey confessionally tells Sinatra about his girlfriend "she was lovely and i..i was lovely..and her father..he was lovely..and the weather was lovely..that summer everything was lovely". Just amazingly bad dialogue.

What stands out is how Condon is unable to write a believable plot. In Prizzi's Honor the female assassin is making $250,000/year and knows that the Charley Partanna will come after her to kill her & won't stop until he does if she rips off the mob, but then she rips off the mob anyway.

In this remake, outside of the base idea & rough outline, the film makers (Nancy Sinatra of all people) wisely reject much of the original and update the film making (great confessional scene with nifty coloured background) & time frame. Superior remakes aren't common, but they do exist and here's another fine entry to the sub-genre.