Variety reports that Eminem is planning to star in a big-screen, "contemporary" version of the classic western HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL, which starred Richard Boone as Paladin, a roaming gunfighter-for-hire.
Concept
will be updated to contemporary times and see Eminem playing a bounty
hunter. Setting could be Eminem’s hometown of Detroit, but those
details have yet to be worked out.[Eminem’s manager Paul] Rosenberg told Daily Variety
that the vehicle will be revamped from the original, with some
characters based loosely on ones from the series as well as nods to
certain story points.
Oh. My. God. This might be even worse than Rutger Hauer’s "contemporary" version of WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE. I can’t wait to see the Dixie Chicks in a "contemporary" version of BONANZA.
I’m struggling to spot any one element in which the proposed version at all resembles the show it purports to be based on.
If they merely fancy the title, why not be honest about it?
Britain’s Sky TV is remaking THE PRISONER in a similar manner.
And Dolly Parton as the distaff version of Ben!
But seriously, I remember reading once that John Travolta was attached to a remake of HGWT, but staying true to the original.
Now that, I could see.
Some things are not even worth thinking of the correct profanity to use at the moment……
Okay, I tried to be good, really I did. But I have to confess all that is running through my mind at the moment is the classic line from Joseph Wambaugh: “What the f*** were you SMOKING when you thought of this?!?!?!?!”
I’m with Stephen on this one…if you’re going to change the locale, change the time period, and change the character so completely, why not just call it a whole new story? Especially since the original HGWT is so far removed in time from the consciousness of the average movie-goer that the name recognition factor will be pretty small.
Hollywood is weird, man.
So let me get this straight. Palladin was a college-educated epicurian, West Point-grad cassanova, Civil War vet who lived at a fancy San Francisco hotel and made black clothes chic way before Coco Chanel.
Can’t wait to see what a loser rapper in a Motel 8 does with THAT legacy.
The burning question is: Who gets to play “Hey Boy” and “Hey Girl” to Eminem’s misogynistic bigot?
Gawd. Is there ONE functioning original brain cell left in Hollywood?
Ok, so I’ve never seen the original. But even I am left scratching my head over this one.
Richard Boone was, and played, a gentleman. And also a knight, hence the name. I rarely missed an episode of that fine western show.
What Richard said, ten fold.
Perhaps the greatest thing about HGWT is the fact that Paladin questioned not only his clients, but himself on more than one occassion. I distinctly remember one episode that struck me hard, even at the age of 8 or so. Paladin had been hired as a “second” in a duel in New Orleans. When he got there, he found he was to face the other “second”, a *very* young man who was eager to make his own rep as a gunfighter. Paladin did everything he could to call it off, offering to refund money already, debating, arguing, etc. None of it worked. Of course, Paladin won…but when he turned on the fine “gentlemen” of New Orleans in a rage for having been forced to kill the younger man….wow, I remember it clearly.
A contemporary version of HGWT. Wasn’t that THE EQUALIZER? Or THE A-TEAM? Minus the epicurean angle, the intelligence, the honor, etc.
Is this what’s happening to film? All the new ideas are gone, and we’re left with remake after rewrite after re-do. I’m sick and tired of spending $10 to see the same stuff. How about a remake of BEN HUR, updated and set in East Lansing? The chariot race scene could be redone with Camaros squealing around a K-Mart parking lot. Yeah!
I’m afraid they have run out of ideas or are just getting too lazy to bother with using more fresh storylines. They recently named a writer to pen a remake of “The Seven Samurai”, now I’m just waiting for them to make a move in on Casablanca.
(Wait! How about Eminem IN Casablanca! Genius!)
Even more interesting is that Eminem is going to help with the SOUNDTRACK according to MSN.com.
Now *that’s* going to be interesting….
A remake of THE SEVEN SAMURAI?
Please no. Please. Please.