MR. DEEDS & OTHER REMAKES YOU CAN LIVE WITHOUT
Most classic movie fans will probably admit that Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) isn't exactly a comic masterpiece but nobody expected Sony Pictures to retool it as an Adam Sandler vehicle entitled simply, Mr. Deeds. The basic premise is essentially the same as the original - a naive, good-natured country boy by the name of Longfellow Deeds inherits a fortune from a relative and moves to the big city where various sharpies try to take advantage of him. But whereas the Capra version was corny but sweet-natured, the remake by Steven Brill (he also helmed Sandler's Little Nicky (2000) has been revived up with a non-stop stream of violent sight gags and body crunching physical slapstick. Just watching the trailer will make your head hurt. There is also an official web site for Mr. Deeds at http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/mrdeeds/ which features a "whack the foot" game which should give you some idea of the film's target audience. If you loved Dudley Do-Right (2000) with Brendan Fraser, you'll probably love this too. By the way, Mr. Deeds isn't the first time that Sandler has ripped off somebody else's movie without acknowledging it. Did anyone notice that his 1998 comedy The Waterboy was practically a scene for scene remake of Harold Lloyd's The Freshman (1925)?.
The fact that Hollywood continues to cannibalize its past for original ideas is nothing new and seeing Mr. Deeds Goes to Town recycled for Mr. Sandler isn't as bad as some of the other projects rumored to be in the works. For example, Steven Soderberg's much-delayed remake of Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris (1972), a moody, dreamlike tale about a disastrous space mission that is set in an unspecified future. It's hard to imagine a more wrong-headed project. Despite the fact that the film has been attached to Soderberg's name (as director) with George Clooney heading the cast, it's hard to get excited about an English language remark of Tarkovsky's poetic meditation on the human race. Another "why bother?" idea is director Neil LaBute's rumored remake of The Wicker Man (1973), a suspense thriller about a pagan cult which was written by Anthony Schaffer and directed by Robin Hardy. Of course, a lot of people never got to see the original Wicker Man (1973) during its initial American release (in a drastically edited version) so LuBute's version might seem like a fantastic new idea to many.
More blasphemous is the possible remake of The Manchurian Candidate (1962), John Frankenheimer's witty, super-paranoid thriller about political assassins that prefigured John F. Kennedy's murder. Tina Sinatra, daughter of Frank (who starred in the film), now controls the rights (which her father passed on to her) and is rumored to have greenlighted a remake. Equally cringe-inducing is a possible remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) from filmmaker Michael Bay. That's right, the guy who directed Armageddon (1998) and Pearl Harbor (2001). Variety reported that Chainsaw's original director, Tobe Hooper, and screenwriter Kim Henkel are working on a first draft rewrite.
By Jeff Stafford
MURDEROUS MAIDS - The Mad Sisters of Le Mans
In 1933, the French public was shocked and fascinated by a brutal double murder committed by two sisters in the provincial town of Le Mans. Christine and Lea Papin, who were working as servants, attacked and killed their employer, Madame Lancelin, and her daughter, during a power outage in the house. Even the police were shocked by the extreme violence of the crime; the victims' bodies had been horribly mutilated and their eyes clawed out. When Christine and Lea were brought to trial, their case was highly publicized and created further controversy when it was discovered that the two sisters were lovers. This infamous incident is now the subject of a new film, Murderous Maids (2001), directed by Jean-Pierre Denis.
For years, the Lancelin murders have held a strange fascination for the French, particularly those in the arts. Jean Genet wrote The Maids in 1947 and based his play on the Le Mans case (It was later made into a film in 1974 starring Glenda Jackson and Susannah York). More significant are the number of films inspired by Christine and Lea Papin. First, there was Les Abysses (1963), directed by Nico Papatakis; then, A Judgment in Stone (aka The Housekeeper) appeared in 1986 starring Rita Tushingham and Jackie Burroughs (It was a Canadian film directed by Ousama Rawi). More recent versions include Sister, My Sister (1993), Nancy Meckler's version of the Wendy Kesselman play that emphasized the sexual politics (Joely Richardson and Jodi May played Christine and Lea, respectively) and Claude Chabrol's Le Ceremonie (1995) starring Sandrine Bonnaire and Isabelle Huppert; it presents the tragedy as a class struggle between the upper class bourgeoisie and the working class.
For Murderous Maids (2001), director Denis has chosen to focus closely on the true facts in the case, making it the most faithful film recreation yet of the Papin sisters' relationship and subsequent crime. In a New York Times article by Leslie Camhi, Denis was quoted as saying, "It's a story that touches upon our deepest, darkest impulses. These two women were presented as monsters in the press of the day. Well, I wanted to follow the path from monsters back to human beings." He also added, "During the trial, there were massive demonstrations of people from all social classes, calling for the death of the Papin sisters. Well, recently they were listed in a poll as among the best-known celebrities in the region. Le Mans is known for its 24-hour car race, its rillettes [a kind of meat spread] and the Papin sisters. History had digested their crime and made it a part of the patrimony."
Although the film is currently in limited release in the U.S., it is receiving excellent critical notices. J. Hoberman of The Village Voice wrote: "Revolution for the hell of it? The Papin sisters, who provided no motive for their homicidal mania, let alone its gruesome details of eye-gouging, corpse-mutilating brutality, did seem to embody a particularly extreme vision of class warfare, albeit in a realm beyond articulation. (Afterward, the women dutifully cleaned their
implements and took to their bed.) Director Jean-Pierre Denis, returning to filmmaking after 12 years as a customs inspector, reconstructs what he can of the sisters' background, locating them in an oppressive context of household drudgery and authoritarian abuse, while suggesting that their liberation fantasy was a dream of impossible symbiosis....Murderous Maids dramatizes, but it doesn't explain. The inference in this genuinely unnerving movie is that nothing can."
For more information about Murderous Maids and to see if it is playing at a theatre in your area, visit RIALTO PICTURES.
By Jeff Stafford
Mr. Deeds
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Steven Brill
Adam Sandler
Winona Ryder
John Turturro
Allen Covert
Peter Gallagher
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When Deeds inherits controlling interest in a media corporation from his deceased uncle, he's quickly besieged by opportunists gunning for their piece of the pie. When Babe, a television tabloid reporter posing as an innocent smalltown girl, is sent to do an expose on Deeds, she instead feels herself falling in love.
Director
Steven Brill
Cast
Adam Sandler
Winona Ryder
John Turturro
Allen Covert
Peter Gallagher
Steve Buscemi
Tyler Roche
Dion Anderson
Peter Dante
Alex Buck
Margie Loomis
Tom Mcnulty
Scott Thompson Baker
Carter Edwards
Steele Hunter
John Mcenroe
Randolph Leroi
Chloe Hult
Gabriel Williams
John Oates
Earl Schuman
Sylvia Kauders
Dianne Crawford
Elizabeth Owens
Gina Gallego
Gideon Jacobs
Toshi Toda
Walter Williamson
James Donaruma
Blake Clark
Jeremy Chu
Steven Golebiowski
J.b. Smoove
Billy St. John
Alfred Dennis
Jennifer Kelly Tisdale
Marijan Zoric
Jared Harris
John Kirk
Roark Critchlow
Harve Presnell
Frank Weller
Andy Kreiss
George Wallace
Buddy Bolton
Aloma Wright
Ken Forsgren
Sid Ganis
Reverend Al Sharpton
Robert Frank Telfer
Derek Hughes
Maurice G Smith
Susan Bjurman
Frank Montella
Dru Homer
Bruce French
Irena Davidoff
Tim Herlihy
Tony Church
Kevin Grady
William Brady
Ked Mcfarlane Jimenez
Karen Nation
Ramesh Pandey
Angelito Bautista
Lauren Mieske
Erick Avari
Henry Hayward
Brandon Molale
Conchata Ferrell
Florence Anglin
Crew
Jordan Alport
Perry Andelin
Pete Anthony
Pete Anthony
Marcy Arnold
Marlene Arvan
Kathleen Backel
Eliazar Barraza
Eric J Bates
Steve Berens
Lark Bernini
Bryan Bonwell
Felipe Borrero
Felipe Borrero
Bob Bottin
Gary Bourgeois
Carla Bowen
Ralph Brandofino
Steven Brill
J. C. Brotherhood
John J Buckman
Brian Bulinski
Joseph M Caracciolo
Joseph M Caracciolo
Stephen Carter
Teddy Castellucci
Maya Choldin
Jack Chouchanian
Peter Collister
Kevin M Conlin
Tom Costain
Allen Covert
Kevin Cross
Wende Crowley
Donald K Davidson
Darrin Deloach
Victor Denicola
Michael Dilbeck
James Donaruma
David Dreishpoon
Susan Dudeck
Corina Duran
Paul Eliopoulos
Glen Engels
Deborah C Evans
Paula Fairfield
Jon Farmer
John Feinblatt
Mary Fleming
Lauri Gaffin
Lauri Gaffin
Sid Ganis
Karyn Gatt
J.j. George
Jack Giarraputo
Michael Giarraputo
Cindy Glass
Jason Gourson
Jeff Gourson
Hans Graffunder
David J. Grant
David J. Grant
Scott Gregoire
Demetrius Griffin
Robert Griffon
Stuart Grusin
Richard Guinness
Vincent Guisetti
Jeremy Hays
Mo Henry
Tim Herlihy
Al Hobbs
Anthony Hoffman
Peter A Hollocker
Dru Homer
Laurie A Hoover
Terry Hubbard-legorreta
Steele Hunter
Katherine James
Drake Jenevein
Orada Jusatayanond
Pamela Nedd Kahn
Marissa Kamin
Nancy Karlin
Clarence Budington Kelland
Jeannie H Kelly
Shane D Kelly
Steve Kornacki
Toussaint Kotright
Tom Landi
Dawn Line
Jonathan Loughran
Carol Lupo
Ellen Lutter
Sean Madaras
Jon Mallard
Gary Marcus
Judit Maull
Stephen Mccabe
John Mcdonnell
Robert Mcgavin
Peter Mercurio
Tom Mgrdichian
Roseann Milano
Carla Murray
Roger Mussenden
John Naveira
Scott James Nifong
Jim Nugent
Bruce Nyznik
Murphy Occhino
John Orlebeck
Greg Orloff
Anthony Ortiz
Ann Pala
Jubal Palmer
Ron Petagna
Jeena M Phelps
David Presley
K B Pugliese
Cheryl Quarantiello Schnitzler
Thomas Real
Christopher Regan
Leslie Rider
Kyle Rochlin
Tyler T. Romary
Beth A Rubino
Carl Rydlund
Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Jackie Sandler
Leon S Sanginiti
Andrew Saxe
Mandy Schwartz
John Scott
Julie Shack
Heidi Shulman
Alan Shultz
Alex Siskin
Andrew Slyder
Billy J Smith
Gregg Smrz
Stuart Spohn
Margot Therre
Nanxy Tong-heater
Elizabeth Torres
Derek Vanderhorst
Gabe Veltri
Elmo Weber
Adam Weisinger
Laura Weiss
Michele Wernick
Carla White
Nadine Wilson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Articles
Remake - Mr. Deeds
Remake - Mr. Deeds
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Summer June 28, 2002
Released in United States on Video October 22, 2002
Remake of "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (USA/1936) directed by Frank Capra.
Released in United States Summer June 28, 2002
Released in United States on Video October 22, 2002