The Return of 'Remo Williams'??
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Deals, Sony, Remakes and Sequels
So, does anyone out there remember Remo Williams? Granted, he wasn't a household name like John McClane or Snake Plissken (I mean, he didn't even make Scott's list of '80s action heroes worth resurrecting), but for fans of that decade, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins is a camp classic. But don't worry, because even if you don't remember the original, you're about to get another chance to meet the wisecracking secret agent thanks to Columbia Pictures. The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Business Blog has confirmed that producer Charles Roven (The Dark Knight) and Steve Chasman (Transporter) are setting up a reboot of the Remo Williams/Destroyer franchise with Sony and Atlas Entertainment.The 1985 action-comedy originally starred Fred Ward as Sam Making, a street cop who is recruited into a secret government agency to take down an arms dealer and was based on the Destroyer series created by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir. But before Sam could get to work saving the world, there was the small matter of faking his own death, a quick name change, some reconstructive surgery, and training on a mystical Korean marital art by Master Chiun (as played by Joel Grey in some pretty ridiculous makeup). Charley and Vlas Parlapanides (War of Gods) have already been hired to write the new script, and even though Colombia partly controls the rights to the entire series of novels, the film is expected to be an origin story and center on the first book in the series.
Having seen the original, I have to ask: Is Remo WIlliams even worth a reboot? Well, I'll leave that to you, so sound off in the comments below or tell me what 80's action flick you'd like to see get an update instead...










Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-11-2009 @ 7:12PM
James said...
Bite your tongue! Remo Williams is a classic! It was the perfect combination of cheese and implausible students with a pitch perfect delivery. Although, to be honest, for many years I thought it was one of the greatest action film parodies I'd ever seen!
If someone could do it properly, I'd pay to see it in the theater. Which is more than I can say for a lot of stuff out/coming soon!
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7-11-2009 @ 8:00PM
Rich said...
I LOVE Remo Williams.
I am nervous because the whole Destroyer series was fun and kinda quirky. I hope they don't turn it into a mindless actionfest (transporter et al)
I would be up for a reboot. I don't anything they could do would ruin my love for the 1985 movie.
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7-13-2009 @ 12:12PM
skerns said...
Sorry. There are many ways that the current Hollywood 'brain trust' could screw up a Remo Williams 'reboot'.
I love Remo too (espcially Joel Grey, ridiculous make up and all), but I don't think that a solid, if B-picture needs a remake any more than all the A-list pics (Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, I Am Legend, War Of The Worlds, The Day The Earth Stood Still, and the rumored Wargames, Poltergeist, and Arthur) do.
I suspect that the remakes are because they're easy and they can attract the typical movie going audience (teenagers) that wouldn't have the patience to view some of these films in the original.
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7-11-2009 @ 10:35PM
Kevin said...
The Adventure Begins in 1985 was by far not the BEST from Hollywood movies but you know what it definitely struck a cord and is still one of the most remembered films from that era, don't forget that most movies that came from the '80's were well lets just say a bit on the overload side...anyone remember Howard the Duck?? I mean WTF? and lets not forget the green hero mutants of a half-shell, by far not the best to ever make it on to the big screen, but Remo had heart it had a great plot and most of all it had a cast of good actors to carry the movie. I've been waiting a long time for even a sequel to this movie, and if it is going to get a reboot by today's standards then I'm sure it will be a blockbuster for sure...I'll settle for a remake instead of a sequel any-day for Remo to make a comeback in the hearts of movie fans.
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7-12-2009 @ 4:27PM
DrewBlood said...
Yes! I love the score to Remo and I remember humming it then suddenly going into a medley of RemoWilliams/TheLastStarfighter and sure enough composer Craig Safan(sic?) did both! Gots to keep the score...going on itunes now to see if its there...doubtful.
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7-12-2009 @ 12:59AM
Lee said...
You move like pregnant yak... again!
I LOVE this movie. It's bad in all the best ways. Okay so we're all there.
If they just go the other way and do a straight action flick, it has as much potential as anything else. If they try to go campy again, they're gonna have to really nail it, so let's hope they don't.
Think Jackie Chan'll be available to play another wise-crackin' Asian sensei to a clumsy white guy? (Oh wait it's a clumsy black kid now. )
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7-12-2009 @ 10:53AM
Luis said...
Remake? How about a sequel. I remember Chi'un saying that it would take him 15 years to finish training Remo. So if the movie comes out in 2010 he would be off by ten years.
Last time I checked both Fred Ward and Joel Grey are still alive and kicking and in pretty decent shape too.
I also remember that Shane Black was interested in making a Remo William's film. With his sharp and quick-witted dialogue writing skills they should look to him to write the script.
Somehow I don't think a remake will entertain me as much as a true sequel could. I remember how bad the short-lived television series was.
But then again I'm still waiting on a Buckaroo Banzai sequel.
P.S. Dodging bullets? They beat "The Matrix" to that concept by 15 years. Now imaging a new movie employing similar effects.
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7-14-2009 @ 8:26AM
Maria Stahl said...
Hear, hear! When I saw the movie I thought at the end, "Great! I'm gonna love this series!" and then I found out... there was no series. Waaaah.
9-28-2009 @ 2:39PM
Hulk2008 said...
Hey, Luis, You are right on !! A remake of Remo and a remake of Banzai would both be terriffic. And not only Joel Grey and Fred Ward are still around .... Wilford Brimley is still pushing his oats (and diabetes materials). Peter Weller still shows up in films occasionally, Jeff Goldblum is on a TV series and it's been way too long since ellen Barkin or John Lithgow have been in a flick.
The best part of Remo was the "training" sessions and the odd relationship he had with Chiun. The book series is great but the movie allowed Grey and Ward's wry humor to really be showcased. With so many of us "getting older", Chiun could give us some real life lessons too (sure wish I could tiptoe across wet cement at his age).
And the end of Banzai sure left the door (time warp) open for Dr. Worfin to have escaped the explosion - and it would be a blast for Christopher Lloyd to John Lithgow in that crazy back-and-forth again. Our dimension needs a shot of John Bigbootee !!
7-12-2009 @ 2:14PM
Robert in SF said...
I loved the original books, as my parents introduced me to them when they were originally being published. Hell I bet we even still have boxes and boxes of them somewhere in the junk room.
The books were more social satire and action/sex sequences than straight action/hero books. There was a ton of commentary through the eyes of Remo on politics, business, race relations, crime, big-business, and current events. Some of it clearly not PC in nature.
BTW, Remo was never a "secret agent" as he worked for an agency that didn't even exist! Not the CIA, not the NSA, or the UN, or the FBI, or DoD. It was him and Mr. Smith as the chief. Chiun was his hired trainer, but stayed on as his "little father".
I would love to see the franchise rebooted, and with a clear tongue-in-cheek, funny-cynical Remo character, true to the books. However the tone and general plot of the actual first book is all wrong for that. The character really evolved quickly to focus less on action and more on "fun" during the action. Other-Fans, go easy on me, as I don't know how to articulate it well. Ask most any book-fan and they would say adapt a script from after the 5th books or so....
Anyway, hope they do it right...Ryan Reynolds will probably get the part...he's tough and a smart-ass, like Remo. :/
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7-14-2009 @ 5:15PM
LATTY said...
Yippee, I remember Remo from my childhood and i'll have to admit I watched it about 15 times and loved it everytime.
Pretty sure if I watched it now it would be naff so i'm excited about a remake. My only hope is that they do it justice and not ruin an old classic!
LATTY
http://www.wastedspaces.net
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7-17-2009 @ 11:39AM
Donna said...
I'm a fan of the book series, and while there were a few things The Adventure Begins got right (byplay between Remo and Chiun, Joel Gray nailed Chiun pretty well), there was much that was not.
The Destroyer isn't a straight action/adventure series. Neither is it camp. It's a combination of wise ass humor and fierce political incorrectness. And of course, action scenes.
But if the script writers are basing their script on the first book, Created, the Destroyer, they're not going to see any of what makes the series fun. It was written as a straight men's adventure. And a lot of what makes the characters who they are simply isn't present.
I have no idea if the script writers are willing to check out the Destroyer more thoroughly than just reading the first book. I would recommend in particular any of the first 35 books, as these are more pure Murphy and Sapir.
Also, Jim Mullaney (the latest ghost writer) wrote an excellent book based on Created called End of the Beginning. It's not a rewrite, but it tells a story wrapped around the incidents in Created, one where the characters and the back story are both firmly in place.
It's too bad the movie people don't check out some of the Destroyer sites. Of course, they can't please everyone and they shouldn't try. But going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/House-of-Sinanju/ or Warren Murphy's forum, http://www.warrenmurphy.com/forum/index.php might give them a good idea of the spirit of the series.
Destroyer Club's forums (http://www.destroyerclub.com/) had a huge number of posts, but unfortunately we're just starting over after losing the old Dclub. Building it up again will take time, but we hope the old members will find us again and that we'll get a whole bunch of new fans now that the movie is a go.
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7-17-2009 @ 1:13PM
Donna said...
If anyone wants to check out Warren Murphy's thoughts about the movie, check out Crimespree's blog here: http://www.crimespreecinema.com/2009/07/destroyer-creator-warren-murphy-offers.html.
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7-17-2009 @ 1:14PM
Kalina said...
That was one of my favorite movies in college. I hope the remake is even better! Who is going to play the Master Chiun character? We need someone small... like Jaye Davidson.
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