John Huston is credited with saying there was no sense in remaking a good movie, that one should only remake a bad movie so it will turn out better. One movie that shows the validity of that argument is Frank Oz’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which is a remake of Ralph Levy’s Bedtime Story (Dale Launer rewrote Paul Henning and Stanley Shapiro’s screenplay for the remake). Both versions of the movie involve con artists in a Mediterranean resort town. Lawrence Jameson (spelled Jamison in the remake; played by David Niven in the original and Michael Caine in the remake) goes after rich, high-cultured women (or those who think of themselves as such) by pretending to be a prince who needs money for his kingdom. Freddy Benson (played in the original by Marlon Brando, and in the remake by Steve Martin) plays for lower stakes, and is cruder; in the original, he pretends to be a soldier who is visiting the house his grandmother used to live in (which a beautiful woman happens to live in), while in the remake, he pretends to be raising money so his grandmother could have an operation. When the two of them cross paths (Freddy comes to the town Lawrence operates out of), Lawrence tries to get rid of Freddy, first by having him arrested, then, after Freddy figures out who Lawrence really is, pretending him to take him as a partner while actually trying to drive him away. Finally, they decide to decide a winner between their duel by betting on who can fleece Janet (Walker in the original, played by Shirley Jones, and Colgate in the remake, and played by Glenne Headly) of her money.
The difference in the two movies is one of tone and of trust. Levy plays everything much too arch in the original, and encourages his actors to play it as such; I’m normally a fan or Brando, but this definitely ranks as one of his weakest, and most smug, performances, as he clearly thinks himself above the material (which might very well be true), and Niven, who can be very good when he’s got the right material (as in Bachelor Mother) is also too arch here. Not only this, but Levy and cinematographer Clifford Stine seem to have no idea how to shoot the movie to make it come off as funny. It certainly doesn’t help Levy also sets the tone as similar to other so-called “sex comedies” of the era in being too coy. Finally, the ending of the original, where Janet, after finding out Lawrence had lied (the psychiatrist he’s pretending to be actually died), decides to marry Freddy, comes off as too smug.
Oz, on the other hand, plays the tone just right, pushing the envelope whenever possible (In a PG movie, of course) towards making Freddy and Lawrence live up to being scoundrels. He’s helped enormously by Launer’s screenplay; as he did in Ruthless People, he shows it’s funny to watch a smart movie about immoral people and the games they play against each other. That also goes towards the treatment of the woman character. Whereas Levy’s movie played Janet’s character in a coy way (which Jones, who had done good work in Oklahoma! and Elmer Gantry, can’t do much with), Headly plays Janet with a kind of innocence and vivaciousness, which is crucial to making her character, and the story, work. As far as the trust goes, Oz and Launer never telegraph the twists the movie takes, unlike the original, trusting we as the audience can figure it out, while at the same time playing fair. It helps as the dueling scoundrels, Caine is effortlessly charming, while showing a streak of hatred towards Freddy, and Martin (who also worked with Oz and Launer on the script, especially on the ending) does some of his best physical comedy scenes (as when he’s pretending to be Lawrence’s deranged brother Ruprecht) while also, again, not afraid to make Freddy a real scoundrel. They’re supported well by Anton Rodgers (as Inspector Andre, the corrupt police detective in league with Lawrence) and Ian McDiarmid (as Lawrence’s butler Arthur). Credit should also go to cinematographer Michael Ballhaus (best known for his work with Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Martin Scorsese), who gives the movie an elegant look and also knows hot to bring the comedy out, and composer Miles Goodman, who writes a light, airy score that sets the tone just right. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a great example, for me, of a remake superior to the original.