Once was definitely enough

“King Kong” (1933) Never mind the remakes, the door hadn’t stopped swinging shut from King Kong before RKO released “Son of Kong” in the hopes of riding on it’s success. I have seen the original a number of times. Though I enjoy it as a piece of film making history, I was SO IMPRESSED by Peter Jackson’s remake, I can’t watch the original any more.

“The Thin Man” (1934) Characters taken from a single novel by Dashiell Hammett. Nick and Norah Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy) graced the screen 6 times. Although the THIN MAN is actually the character of focus in the original (a "thin man", missing after his girl friend is discovered dead), each following movie was title using “The Thin Man” (as in “After The Thin Man” and The Thin Man Goes Home”) it became the assumption that William Powell was in fact, THE Thin Man.

“Psycho” (1960) Based on the novel by Robert Bloch, Norman Bates is a fictional character patterned after Ed Gein, a serial killer in Wisconsin. Of course, Alfred Hitchcock’s filming original was so good that Gus Van Sant’s 1998 remake was a shot by shot recreation utilizing the same shooting script with little deviation from the original. Robert Bloch, wrote a sequel 1982 but the 1983 movie sequel was not an adaptation of his story.

“The Hustler” (1961) The story of “Fast Eddie” Felson a small time pool shark that longs for the big time only to find that the big time was more than he bargained for. Paul Newman would recreate the role for Martin Scorsese’s sequel which follows the hustler as he attempts to train a protege played by Tom Cruise. Not bad as sequels go.

“Shaft” (1971) Where Shaft may have been ground breaking, the sequels were no big deal. “Shaft’s Big Score” and “Shaft In Africa” just did not offer a lot.

“Superfly” (1972) Gordon Parks’ film account of a drug dealer attempting to leave the underworld business was meant to illustrate the negative aspects of the drug culture. “Superfly TNT” was a bomb.

“The Sting” (1973) One of the greatest con movies ever. Excellent cast. What could have gotten into a studio that would replace Paul Newman and Robert Redford, with Jackie Gleason and Mac Davis.

“American Graffiti” (1973) George Lucas’ coming-of-age film is all about 50s stereotypes (hot rods, letterman sweaters, drive-in diners) but is set in ’62. Almost as if the 50s were not quite over. “More American Graffiti” would follow much of the original cast as the real 60s come crashing down on them, with Viet Nam, the Kennedy Assassination and adulthood.

“The Exorcist” (1973) William Friedkin’s adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s novel was one of the greatest horror films of all-time, and would be followed by “The Exorcist 2: The Heretic” I’ve only seen it once and immediately put it into the “you got to me kidding me”category. Blatty actually wrote a sequel, LEGION that would later be adapted and directed by Blatty himself. A terrific story and great performances by George C. Scott, replacing the deceased Lee J. Cobb as Lt. Kinderman and Jason Miller returns as who we think is Father Karras. Wait, didn’t he die at the end of “The Exorcist”. Blatty’s film is a tightly woven story with some really creepy imagery that is the only worthy sequel for the original.

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975) The British Rock musical was a cult sensation becoming one of the most viewed midnight movie in history. The creative team of Jim Sharman, Lou Adler and Richard Hartley would follow up with “Shock Treatment” It flopped worse that the original which is really not a good thing (or is it???).

“Rocky” (1976) When it comes to boxing movies, “Rocky” is one of the best. The underdog gets his chance at the title. It’s a classic tale. I could even understand the reason for Rocky 2. But allowing it to continue for 3 more after that bordered on the side of caricature. I’m not really counting “Rocky Balboa”, since is actually paid to see it and kinda liked it as a chance of bringing it to a fitting end. Just, please, end it NOW.

“Saturday Night Fever” (1977) John Badham’s anthem for the disco age was followed much later as John Travolta’s Tony Manero leave the discotheque behind ant tries is luck at broadway. Sylvester Stallone directed “Staying Alive” in 1983, and though it was a financial success, it fell far short of the original in more ways than one.

“Halloween” (1978) John Carpenter’s original was followed by no less than 7 sequels following Michael Myers (not to be confused with Mike Myers) before the decision was made to cease and desist, and start working on remakes. Having seen the first remake directed by Rob Zombie, I am impressed. On a personal note, the first time I got to see “Halloween” it was on a black-and-white television. It was at least 10 years before I would see it in color and I thought that B&W made for a better film.

“Mad Max” (1979) For me, George Miller’s first installment in the Mad Max saga was a little less appealing than “The Road Warrior”. This one really drove home the feeling of total despair in a world where survival of the fittest, unmerciful bands of human monsters are looking for the gas required to keep going.

“Airplane!” (1980) This one ushered in the genre spoofing genre. Might be who we have to blame for “Meet The Spartans”

“The Evil Dead” (1982) Funny, I always thought Army of Darkness was the better of the three movies.

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984) Freddy Kruger has always appealed to me as a really cool movie monster, the whole “kill you in your dreams” thing was great. Like so many other monsters, the endless supply of sequels diminished the effect.

“Beverly Hills Cop” (1984) Eddie Murphy’s sassy Axel Foley was good. His timing was great for the character, but the interest was lost pretty quickly, making the sequels unmemorable. Another one of those that I don’t think lives up to the “must see” status.

“Ghostbusters” (1984) Not sure why the first one is so much better than the second in this case, short of the novelty of the idea. Convincing the characters that they can do it is as funny as convincing the city of New York. When the second one came along, there was no need to convince.

“Back to the Future” (1985) I always liked this one and find all three to be equally enjoyable. Like with “Lord Of The Rings” if I make plans to watch one, I will clear out the calendar to watch them all. See the interlacing of the scenes between Parts 1, 2, and 3 is a big part of the fun.

“The Naked Gun” (1988) The follow up to the “Police Squad” TV series, was responsible for two sequels, each as hilarious as the others. Surely there’s only so far the bumbling Lieutenant can go. Don’t call me Shirley!

“Die Hard” (1988) Though I have yet to see the fourth one, with the first three under my belt, I found the first one to be the best. After the first one, John McLane just seemed to be a super hero that is no affected by explosions, machine gun fire and other objects that would cause serious injury to those not choreographed to deal with crashes, falls and being shot through a cockpit in an ejector seat.

“Batman” (1989) Long before Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, Tim Burton created a Batman and Gotham City that was a fantastic version of the Caped Crusader by Michael Keaton (you got to be kidding me was my first reaction when he was picked, but he pulled it off quite well) and Jack Nicholson’s Joker that was inspiring. While Burton’s “Batman Returns” is on equal footing in the franchise as far as I’m concerned, the ones directed up by Joel Schumacher, though dazzling, fizzled out. Even Jim Carrey’s Riddler (still one of the best portrayal of a Batman villain in my book) could not save them as Bruce Wayne was portrayed by two different actors.

"Scream" (1996) Wes Craven’s film pokes fun at the genre that was his bread and butter, but continuing the franchise is really just poking fun at the audience.

“The Blair Witch Project” (1999) The last original, real independent hit of the 20th century. It is raw footage, with so little happening on camera while the audience reacts to the characters and situation rather then a visible horror. Giving the Blair Witch phenomenon a big Hollywood budget is kinda like giving Jack Kerouac a car and a gas card and expecting “On The Road” to be nearly as interesting as it was.

“The Matrix” (1999) After giving us one of the more fascinating special effects movies made for it’s time, the Wachowski Brothers followed up with more than my eyes and brain was able to follow. It took a few viewings for me to get the full gist of the story and it just exhausted me.

“Meet the Parents” (2000) After meeting the parents, “Meet the Fockers” wasn’t really necessary. But then I’m not sure I could really classify the original as a “must see” either. Can’t say I didn’t like it but c’mon. I liked “Tropic Thunder" but it has no place on this list either.