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`Acute anxiety' sidelines White Stripes Sunnyvale police shoot, kill one person, arrest two near schools Protesters allowed to remain in trees (From the last 12 hours) Los Gatos woman severely injured in crash San Jose father: why didn't wife try to stop son's killing Crash near Mount Pleasant High School kills one teenager Cupertino council wants to solve cell phone problems in trouble spots Public defender: 6-year-old boy's death ended a life of brutal abuse Marine from San Jose killed in Iraq Take a gander at how the Western was remade . . .
and remade . . .
and . . .
By Mark de la Vina, MEDIANEWS STAFF Article Launched: 09/07/2007 08:45:13 AM PDT AT A TIME when everything short of an Alka-Seltzer commercial is remade into a feature film, it's a wonder Hollywood hasn't reworked more old Westerns. Today, the little-known 1957 horse opera "3:10 to Yuma" gets the star treatment when its remake, featuring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, opens in movie theaters. The original film, based on a short story by Elmore Leonard, might not seem as likely a candidate for resurrection as other, better-known Westerns, but surprisingly few redos even make it out of the Tinseltown corral.
Here are some of the Westerns that have been remade or at least provided inspiration for later films: - "Stagecoach" (1939) The movie that made John Wayne a star was also the first film that director John Ford shot in Monument Valley. What to know: Ann-Margret, Bing Crosby and Van Heflin, who had the Christian Bale role in the original "3:10 to Yuma," are chased by Apaches just like in the original. Fun fact: Crosby's cinematic swan song featured theme music by upcoming "Dancing With the Stars" hoofer Wayne Newton.
- "High Noon" (1952) Gary Cooper is left alone to face a gang of outlaws in perhaps the greatest Western ever. What to know: Ted Turner's superstation TBS again tries to craft a great Western for the small screen. Fun fact: Michael Madsen, who plays the heavy in the remake, is no Lee Van Cleef.
Advertisement - "Rio Bravo" (1959) John Wayne teams with a drunken sheriff (Dean Martin) and a sharpshooting teen heartthrob (Ricky Nelson). What to know: "Assault" director John Carpenter, who went on to make "Halloween," used the name John T. Chance, borrowed from Wayne's "Bravo" character, as a pseudonym for his work as the film editor.
Hawke and Laurence Fishburne. - "Fistful of Dollars" (1964) Clint Eastwood is the Man With No Name, a stranger who pits two warring clans against one another. What to know: "Dollars" director Sergio Leone remade Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" into the legendary spaghetti Western; "Last Man" director Walter Hill drew from the same source material for his gangster film that starred Bruce Willis.
Fun fact: "Dollars" made the cigar-sucking, poncho-donning Eastwood into a star, while "Last Man" underperformed at the box office. - "High Plains Drifter" (1973) Clint Eastwood plays a nameless stranger enlisted by a town to ward off a gang of outlaws. What to know: Both films star the future mayor of Carmel as a vaguely familiar stranger who stands up to save some simple folk.
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