10 Hollywood Remakes Of Foreign Language Movies That Actually Didn't Suck

Wait, Hollywood's not always wrong? Who knew!

By Kate Decker /

Hollywood has many frustrating habits, one of the most frequent being its obsession with remaking great foreign films.

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There are so many awful attempts at this, like Spike Lee's remake of Oldboy or Rupert Sanders' remake of Ghost in the Shell. Hollywood just loves a piece of that successful film-making pie, even if it means failing to replicate the success of a foreign masterpiece.

But occasionally, something along the way goes extremely right, or at least is nowhere near the disappointment you expected it to be. Sometimes these remakes are so fantastic and successful that general audiences aren't even aware that it originated elsewhere.

10. The Scent Of A Woman

This juggernaut of a film clocking in at 156 minutes long is actually a remake of a 103 minute long Italian film of the same name from 1974.

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Considering the reputation most Hollywood remakes of foreign films tend to get in this day and age, it's refreshing to be reminded of a remake that spurred not only a Best Actor win for star Al Pacino, but also garnered nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Considering the original was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 1976 Academy Awards and lead actor Vittorio Gassman won several Italian awards for the role Pacino played, it's positively poetic that a remake would reach an equally high quality.

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