9 Remakes That Were More Influential Than The Original

Heat was a pet project for director Michael Mann, but after years of trying to get it funded to no avail, he threw in the towel and decided to make a TV pilot out of it. He chopped the epic script in half and renamed it L.A. Takedown. While not exactly awful, it plays like a cheap and cheerless prototype for the eventual movie; the lead actors are no Pacino or De Niro either.

When he finally got a chance to make it in the early nineties he seized it quickly and made an enduring modern classic. The acting is fantastic, the epic story gripping and the street gunfight is still unbeatable. The movie is considered Mann’s masterpiece with good reason, and its influence on the genre is still being felt.

Movies like The Town, Takers, Ronin, Way Of The Gun and even The Dark Knight were all heavily influenced by it. Pacino and De Niro tried – and failed – to recapture the magic with Righteous Kill, and Mann himself made similar thrillers like Miami Vice, Blackhat and Public Enemies.

Which other superior remakes belong on this list? Share your own suggestions below in the comments thread.