Best and Worst of the Firsts

[TarnishedPenny]

There are, IMHO, some originals which cannot be bettered and some, sadly, which cannot be done worse. So, two firsts.

First-and-Best: White Rabbit, Grace Slick with Jefferson Airplane. I will say confidently that nobody has even approached this version of the song. (I’m referring to the music, not the cheesy 1960s ‘filmography’.)

On the other hand, First-and-Worst, the 1978 animated version of Lord of the Rings. Anything – anything – had to be better.

Comments or other suggestions? Any categories.

 

[gunhilltrain]

"White Rabbit" figures in Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The way I remember it, Dr. Gonzo (Oscar Acosta) is listening to it while stoned in a hotel bathtub and Thompson throws a grapefruit at him. Don't ask me what all that means.

So now I've digressed without actually answering your question. Let me think about it. By the way, I'm one of those people who knows or cares little about Lord of the Rings. Sorry.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

First and Best: 'Le Moribond' by Jacques Brel. Adaptations of it ('Seasons in the Sun') never came close to the original. In general covers or adaptations of Brel tend to be very hit and miss (though Bowie's "Port of Amsterdam" is a notable exception).

 

[SimonDoom]

Those are good choices.

The Beatles' Yesterday is one of the most reproduced songs of all time, and there are actually many good versions, including particularly Ray Charles' version. But I still think the original sung by Paul McCartney is the best.

The original Dune, by David Lynch, was, I thought, one of the worst film adaptations of a good book I'd ever seen. The casting was bad, the effects were bad, the script was bad. I found it painful to watch. And I like David Lynch movies, most of the time. The TV miniseries and the recent film were much better.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Probably not going to win any friends with this, but First but Worst: 'All Along the Watchtower', mostly because, well Jimi Hendrix (if you google it, it even shows up as a Jimi Hendrix song). But also because I can't stand Dylan's voice. Don't get me wrong, the man is a phenomenal songwriter. But a shit singer.

 

[SimonDoom]

Probably not going to win any friends with this, but First but Worst: 'All Along the Watchtower', mostly because, well Jimi Hendrix (if you google it, it even shows up as a Jimi Hendrix song). But also because I can't stand Dylan's voice. Don't get me wrong, the man is a phenomenal songwriter. But a shit singer.

I'm in total agreement about this. Dylan's songs are so good they almost make up for the fact that he is not much of a singer. But when somebody else gets hold of them it can be impressive. Hendrix's version is much more powerful.

 

[ElectricBlue]

First and best = Dr Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Stanley Kubrick. His ownership of the movie no doubt means it will never be remade, although there is a reasonable case to argue it was almost a documentary.

Worst (I shall duck now, to avoid bricks), anything by Quentin Tarantino. For me, the most walked out of film director ever. I think I managed to sit through one of his movies, but I can't remember which one, but walked out of the others I spent good money on.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

<snip>

Worst (I shall duck now, to avoid bricks), anything by Quentin Tarantino. For me, the most walked out of film director ever. I think I managed to sit through one of his movies, but I can't remember which one, but walked out of the others I spent good money on.

While I disagree with you about Tarantino (I liked all of the movies from him that I saw, but didn't see all of his movies), I can see how one can not like his movies.

However, I don't see how those same stories could be improved upon in a remake. The stories themselves are much Tarantino as the way he tells them. So I can see 'worst', OK. But the 'First but Worst' implies that it could have been done better.

Oh and in terms of First & Best. 'Seven Samurai' by Kurosawa.

 

[SimonDoom]

First and best = Dr Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Stanley Kubrick. His ownership of the movie no doubt means it will never be remade, although there is a reasonable case to argue it was almost a documentary.

Worst (I shall duck now, to avoid bricks), anything by Quentin Tarantino. For me, the most walked out of film director ever. I think I managed to sit through one of his movies, but I can't remember which one, but walked out of the others I spent good money on.

Strangelove is an interesting choice. I can't imagine anyone even trying to remake it, so it didn't occur to me. I watched it with my son just the other day; he had never seen it. It's definitely one of my favorites.

His version of The Shining, on the other hand, is at the other end of the spectrum. I think it's an extremely powerful, effective movie, but it's totally different from King's novel, so it demanded to be remade.

I have lots of mixed feelings about Tarantino. I loved Pulp Fiction. I think most of his stuff since then has an unserious, jokey quality that I get tired of. I'd love to see Tarantino, with all that talent, make a serious movie, which I don't think he's ever done and I don't think he will do. In my view he absolutely ruined Once Upon A Time In Hollywood with the last 20 minutes. It was very good until then, and then it became a cliche Tarantino movie. Totally over the top and inappropriate, given the subject matter.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Genesis is the first and best book of the Old Testament.
Mark is the first and worst gospel of the New Testament - (first historically though even that's complicated).

(I don't know why that particularly stood out to me as I'm not religious, but I remember having that distinct impression when I sat down and read the whole thing at the age of about fourteen)

 

[SimonDoom]

Oh and in terms of First & Best. 'Seven Samurai' by Kurosawa.

Good choice! Much better than Magnificent Seven. But I thought "Fistful of Dollars" was a worthy remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo. I love the Spaghetti Westerns.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

<snip>

I have lots of mixed feelings about Tarantino. I loved Pulp Fiction. I think most of his stuff since then has an unserious, jokey quality that I get tired of. I'd love to see Tarantino, with all that talent, make a serious movie, which I don't think he's ever done and I don't think he will do. In my view he absolutely ruined Once Upon A Time In Hollywood with the last 20 minutes. It was very good until then, and then it became a cliche Tarantino movie. Totally over the top and inappropriate, given the subject matter.

Eh, 'The Hateful Eight' wasn't bad in that regard (in terms of not being very jokey).

 

[Duleigh]

Best first, that's easy, Bachman Turner Overdrive's debut album.
Worst first? Oh lord... It's a tie - any sitcom on NBC since News Radio. I have never seen such an ugly collection of unfunny garbage. Come on guys, watch a few episodes of Night Court or Cheers and get a clue.

 

[AlinaX]

The original Dune, by David Lynch, was, I thought, one of the worst film adaptations of a good book I'd ever seen. The casting was bad, the effects were bad, the script was bad. I found it painful to watch. And I like David Lynch movies, most of the time. The TV miniseries and the recent film were much better.

Lynch's film is an excellent adaptation of the first part of the book, and the end of the book too. The cast was amazing, and the effects weren't bad at all. The TV miniseries was much more faithful, and Alec Newman sold it; it's a shame that I haven't been so taken with him as an actor in other things. (Children of Dune, they changed the children from nine-year-olds to... sixteen-year-olds? Understandable, but it's interesting to see James McAvoy in an early role.)

The new Dune film, for all its stellar cast and incredible visuals, has made far less of an impact on me.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Good choice! Much better than Magnificent Seven. But I thought "Fistful of Dollars" was a worthy remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo. I love the Spaghetti Westerns.

Yep! Might be a little before your multiplex days, but did you see the two spaghetti Trinity movies with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer? Both a lot of fun.

 

[Djmac1031]

First and Best: Jaws.

If there was even a half decent Killer Shark movie BEFORE Jaws, I've certainly never heard of it.

And absolutely every one that's come after, including it's own sequels, has NEVER come close to it's brilliance. Not even with CGI help. Those sharks somehow manage to look MORE fake.

 

[ElectricBlue]

First and Best: Jaws.

If there was even a half decent Killer Shark movie BEFORE Jaws, I've certainly never heard of it.

And absolutely every one that's come after, including it's own sequels, has NEVER come close to it's brilliance. Not even with CGI help. Those sharks somehow manage to look MORE fake.

Hey, are you dissing Sharknado? That's an ace movie: sharks in tornados, what's not to like?

 

[SimonDoom]

First and Best: Jaws.

If there was even a half decent Killer Shark movie BEFORE Jaws, I've certainly never heard of it.

And absolutely every one that's come after, including it's own sequels, has NEVER come close to it's brilliance. Not even with CGI help. Those sharks somehow manage to look MORE fake.

This, along with Rocky, is one of the best choices for this question, because they're both examples of movies that kicked off a million copycats, none of which were as good.

Jaws: killer animal, that the politicians don't want to believe in or do anything about for sniveling, political reasons. Brave person takes on the quest to kill the killer animal. So many copycats. One of my favorites as a kid was the cheesy low budget TV movie Snow Beast, about a killer bigfoot at a ski resort. Jaws was an example of a movie in which the film-making ability transcended the genre. Not so much for most of the copycats.

Rocky: down on his luck athlete who gets his shot to prove himself and does. Rocky did it better than the rest but there were tons of copycats, some of them decent. Karate Kid, same idea, years later, with Arnold from Happy Days. Flashdance was basically female Rocky with leg warmers.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Flashdance was basically female Rocky with leg warmers.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Flashdance was basically female Rocky with leg warmers.

Now there's two movies I would never have conceptually joined together.

That's actually set up a very disturbing image in my mind. Redeemed, fortunately, by pics of Jennifer Beals today .

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Now there's two movies I would never have conceptually joined together.

That's actually set up a very disturbing image in my mind. Redeemed, fortunately, by pics of Jennifer Beals today .

Hot Damn. Another person that aged far more gracefully than I did.

 

[Duleigh]

Hot Damn. Another person that aged far more gracefully than I did.

There may be a Halloween story in her makeup secrets

 

[MrPixel]

While I'm not completely in a cave when it comes to popular media, it's not something I think about a lot, so I'm mostly going to have to take everybody's word for the analysis so far.

However, Beethoven's 1st Symphony was little more than a Mozart rehash and he really didn't hit his stride until his 3rd.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Worst of the firsts:

Not strictly the first performance (that was Tim Buckley on The Monkees, of all places), but the first version released on LP: Song to the Siren by, of all people, Pat Boone. It's not awful but it's completely eclipsed by This Mortal Coil's cover.

One I've ragged on before: "Lair of the White Worm", written in Bram Stoker's twilight years, maybe the single worst book I've ever read. Ken Russell made the right choice in turning it into comedy-horror.

Best of the firsts:

Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah". Imitated many times but never equalled; the Jeff Buckley version is nice enough but a bit too pretty for the song.

Lotte Lenya, "Mackie Messer". The covers as "Mack the Knife" are okay, but again a little too slick for me.

 

[lovecraft68]

First and best The Exorcist. The Grand daddy of all horror movies and the first of its kind. Its been imitated-mostly very poorly- for 50 years now and still has never been topped

First and worst The song dance monkey, the original is annoying AF, but for whatever reason most covers of it I've heard are better.