Top American Adaptations of Foreign Movies

Jodie Foster plays a woman who suspects a Confederate soldier (Richard Gere) returning to his home is not her husband. Rotten Tomatoes critics appreciated the chemistry between Gere and Foster but felt the movie stumbled as a “compelling mystery.” Critics hailed the original film, “The Return of Martin Guerre,” which stars Gérard Depardieu as a soldier returning from the Hundred Years’ War. The original holds a Rotten Tomatoes Freshness rating of 100%.

“Three Men and a Baby” was based on the Walt Disney 1985 comedy film “Three Men and a Cradle” and follows the sometimes hilarious experiences of three bachelors whose lives are thrown into chaos when an infant is left on their doorstep. Critics enjoyed it and it was a major hit, pulling in domestic box-office revenue of almost $168 million. Both it and the Disney version reprised the French film “Three Men and a Cradle” from 1985.

Michelle Williams plays the operator of a struggling orphanage in India who travels to New York to meet a potential benefactor (Julianne Moore). While in New York, she’s invited to a wedding where her past with the benefactor’s husband (Billy Crudup) complicates matters. “After the Wedding” is the English-language recreation of the original by Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier.

This redo of a Spanish film stars Tom Cruise as a narcissistic magazine publisher whose life is upended following a car accident involving a former lover. Though critics called the latter half of the movie a jumbled journey into sci-fi chaos, it grossed more than $203 million worldwide.

This is an erotic thriller starring Richard Gere as a man who suspects his wife (Diane Lane) is having an affair. When his suspicions are confirmed, he taps into rage he didn’t realize he possessed. The movie has only a 50% Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score, compared with 80% for the French original.

Keanu Reeves stars as a soldier returning from World War II whose strained relationship with his new wife is diverted by a beautiful traveler (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón). Circumstances force Reeves’s character to pose as her new husband for her tight-knit Mexican-American family, which leads to its own complications. Acting icons Anthony Quinn and Giancarlo Giannini also appeared in the film, a remake of the Italian movie “Four Steps in the Clouds.”

Robert Sheehan, Dev Patel, and Zoë Kravitz play young people institutionalized for various reasons who take a car from their institution and embark on a road trip to California. The German movie it is based on is about a young man with Tourette’s syndrome who travels to Italy with two other patients to fulfill his late mother’s last wish.

Queen Latifah portrays a woman with a terminal disease who empties out her life savings and goes to Europe to live it up. Among the cast members are LL Cool J as her longtime crush and French acting legend Gérard Depardieu as a famous chef. The original from 1950 stars Alec Guinness and enjoys a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score of 100%.

John C. Reilly plays a con man mentoring a younger man (Diego Luna) as they try to swindle a currency collector by selling him a counterfeit copy of a rare currency bill. Maggie Gyllenhaal appears as Reilly’s sister, who becomes their mark’s love interest. Critics said the reprise was very much like the Argentinean original.

Viewers are in for a major adrenal rush with “The Next Three Days.” Russell Crowe plays the husband of a woman (Elizabeth Banks) who is imprisoned for a murder she claims she didn’t commit. After three years in jail, she becomes suicidal, forcing Crowe to try and free her. Diane Kruger (“National Treasure,” “Inglourious Basterds”) plays the wrongfully sentenced woman in the French original, which has a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 81%.

Director Gore Verbinski’s haunting atmospheric moviemaking and an intense performance by Naomi Watts carried “The Ring,” a thriller about people who die after viewing a videotape. The Japanese film “Ringu” predated the American movie and featured a reporter and her ex-husband investigating a video rumored to kill the viewer seven days after watching it.

This road movie stars William Hurt as a con man released from prison who heads to Louisiana to reunite with his wife (Maria Bello) and meets two young people (Kristen Stewart and Eddie Redmayne) on the way. “The Yellow Handkerchief” is a reboot of a Japanese movie concerning three strangers on a road trip to Hokkaido.

“The Mirror Has Two Faces,” directed by Barbra Streisand, is about two middle-aged college professors (Streisand and Jeff Bridges) who start a romantic but non-physical relationship. That becomes complicated when the woman longs for more. The cast includes Lauren Bacall and George Segal. The original is about a woman bearing the psychological burden of being beautiful after cosmetic surgery.

Paul Mazursky’s comedy of manners stars Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler as an affluent but quarrelsome couple who find a homeless man (Nick Nolte) on their property and help him. This is a redo of a 1932 French film directed by Jean Renoir, who never tired of poking fun at the bourgeoisie. Renoir’s classic has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.

In this horror film, the Parkers, a reclusive family wedded to ancient customs, find their secret lives threatened when the death of the family matriarch forces daughters Iris and Rose to take on special responsibilities. This was an early-career film for Julia Garner, who went on to appear in such series as “The Americans,” “Ozark,” and “Inventing Anna.” The Mexican original film focuses on the son of the deceased patriarch who’s tasked with finding human flesh for his cannibal family.

Bryan Cranston plays a wealthy quadriplegic who hires a parolee (Kevin Hart) to help him reconnect with his ex-wife and son. In the process, an unlikely friendship develops in this life-affirming film. Critics liked the chemistry between Cranston and Hart but were less impressed by the movie than audiences, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

This horror film stars Dakota Fanning as an American dancer who goes to Berlin in the 1970s to audition for a place in a world-famous dance company. She replaces the lead dancer, who suffers a breakdown and accuses the company’s female managers of witchcraft. The Italian original stars Jessica Harper (who also appears in the reprise) as the aspiring student, and marked the final screen appearance of 1940s star Joan Bennett. It holds a 94% Rotten Tomatoes Freshness score.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire play brothers Tommy and Sam Cahill. Tommy is a drifter and Sam is a Marine. When Sam is presumed dead in Afghanistan, Tommy commits to looking after Sam’s family. He becomes close to Sam’s wife, Grace (Natalie Portman), and when Sam unexpectedly returns home, family life becomes complicated. Connie Nielsen stars in the Danish movie that was released in 2004 and holds a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 89%.

Critics liked the low-key tone of “Prince Avalanche,” a story about two road-crew workers away from home and crossing swords with each other and the women in their lives. The original was praised for the performances of the lead characters ands the film’s evocation of the 1980s.

Sebastián Lelio wrote and directed this rom-com about a divorcée who cuts loose on the dance floors of L.A. clubs and eventually finds herself in an unexpected romance. Critics hailed the performance of Julianne Moore in the title role; Rotten Tomatoes audiences were not so enamored of the film, rating it only at 47%, compared to 65% for the original.

“The Last American Virgin” is a rom-com about three high school students on a quest to lose their virginity. The film had echoes of teen raunch flicks like “Porky’s,” though critics said its more downbeat ending set the film apart from other contemporary teen fare. The movie is best known for its 1980s pop soundtrack. The Israeli version of the teen right-of-passage story was set in the 1950s.

A strong cast led by Nicolas Cage, Meg Ryan, and TV series veterans Andre Braugher and Dennis Franz is featured in this rom-com. Cage plays an angel who becomes visible to humans as they near their demise. He opts to take human form when he meets a distraught heart surgeon (Ryan). The film’s German predecessor was shot in black and white by director Wim Wenders. It stars Bruno Ganz, with a cameo by American actor Peter Falk, and scored 98% among Rotten Tomatoes critics.

In 1965, three Mossad agents went to East Berlin to apprehend a Nazi war criminal who performed medical experiments on concentration camp prisoners during World War II. They claim they’ve killed him, but in actuality he escapes. Thirty years later, a man claiming to be the Nazi has reappeared, and the agents must return to Berlin to finish the mission and avoid the disgrace of failing in the first place.

“Return to Paradise” is about three friends (Vince Vaughn, David Conrad, Joaquin Phoenix)

vacationing in Malaysia. Two return to New York to continue their careers while the third remains behind. The two who returned learn their friend has been arrested for drug activity they were all involved in and faces the death penalty. They are left with the decision of whether to return to Malaysia and share the penalty or let their friend die alone.

In this Michael Bay-directed white-knuckle ride, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays a man desperate to pay his wife’s soaring medical bills. He turns to his adoptive brother (Jake Gyllenhaal), a career criminal who offers him the chance to help him pull off a major heist in L.A. Things go wrong and they hijack an ambulance containing a badly wounded cop, leading to a manic chase through the streets of Los Angeles.

The most recent movie on our list is an underdog story that stars Woody Harrelson as a former minor-league basketball coach who, after a series of transgressions, is ordered by the court to manage a team of players with physical and intellectual disabilities. The Spanish original, released in 2018, stars Javier Gutiérrez, and holds an 83% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

“True Lies,” a comedy/thriller stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a secret agent who is worried his wife (Jamie Lee Curtis) is having an affair with a used-car salesman, was directed by James Cameron, based on the French film “La Totale!” “True Lies” was a massive hit, pulling in almost $379 million at the box office.

Released 44 years after the original, the reimagined “The Italian Job” takes place largely in Los Angeles, where a crook (Edward Norton) has fled to after turning on his team following a heist of gold in Venice. The reboot is long on charismatic starpower with Mark Wahlberg, Jason Statham, Mos Def, and Charlize Theron out to recover the gold. The original stars Michael Caine and Noël Coward, and is remembered for its Quincy Jones score and the chase scene through Turin in mini-Coopers. The redo brought the cars back in a chase scene through L.A. tunnels.

The Israeli version of this film was about a teacher who is trying to protect a gifted young poet and lays claim to some of his work as her own. It was remade four years later in the U.S. with star Maggie Gyllenhaal, who goes to extraordinary lengths to protect the poet’s talent. Gyllenhaal’s performance was hailed by critics.

“Puzzle” is a story of self-discovery about a repressed suburban woman (Kelly Macdonald) who discovers she has a talent for assembling jigsaw puzzles. She partners with a man for a puzzle tournament in Atlantic City and experiences independence, views herself in a different light, and tries to fit pieces of her own life together.

Sled dogs are the real stars of this film about loyalty between humans and canines. In the frozen expanse of Antarctica, an accident and increasingly dangerous weather conditions force an American scientific team to abandon their mission and their sled dogs, who must try to survive the frigid landscape. The Japanese original takes place in 1958, with a team of Japanese scientists seeking the dogs they had left behind a year earlier.

This is a splashy Bob Fosse-directed musical (his first film) that stars the multi-talented Shirley MacLaine as an ever-hopeful performer at a rundown dance hall looking for, and finding, love. It’s based on the Federico Fellini movie “Nights of Cabiria,” released in 1957 and stars Giulietta Masina. It holds a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critics score.

Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham collaborated on this actioner set in Los Angeles, about an armored-car driver with incredible self-defense skills who seeks vengeance on those who killed his son. The film grossed more than $103 million worldwide. In the French original released 17 years earlier, a disturbed man is hired as a security guard for an armored-truck company.

Directed by acclaimed Swedish director Lasse Hallström, the movie is about a college professor (Richard Gere) who forms a friendship with a dog he finds on a train platform. Many critics found the storyline bland though they appreciated the connection between human and canine. Its Japanese predecessor, “Hachikō Monogatari,” was based on a true story about a dog’s loyalty to its human friend even after the man passes away.

The Mike Nichols-helmed farce “The Birdcage” stars Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as gay parents of a son who plans to marry the daughter of a conservative couple. A favorite of both critics and audiences, the remake of “La Cage aux Folles” had box-office revenue of more than $185 million worldwide. Its French/Italian predecessor holds a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score.

If you like your vampire movies sensitive, with a heavy helping of gore, “Let Me In” is for you. Kodi Smit-McPhee plays a bullied kid whose lone friend is a girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) who only comes out at night. He begins to suspect something is wrong when her caretaker disappears and a string of murders ensues.

Tom Hanks plays Otto, a widower who, despondent over the death of his wife, keeps trying to kill himself. When new neighbors move in next door, Otto forms an unlikely bond with the expectant mother Marisol (Mariana Treviño). Its Swedish predecessor by seven years stars Rolf Lassgård as a widowed pensioner with a short temper who’s obsessed with enforcing block association rules.

Christopher Nolan directed this thriller about a Los Angeles detective (Al Pacino) sent to an Alaskan town in the region of the midnight sun to investigate the murder of a teenage girl, where he is tormented by a suspect (Robin Williams) who tests the boundaries of his sanity. The Norwegian film that “Insomnia” is based on placed the detectives in the midnight sun region of Norway where the stress of an accidental shooting of one detective by another and the ever-present sun wreak havoc on the detective (Stellan Skarsgård) chasing the killer.

Roy Scheider, who collaborated with director William Friedkin in “The French Connection,” partnered with the moviemaker to make “Sorcerer,” a story about four desperate men trying to transport unstable explosives through a politically unstable Latin American country. European stars Yves Montand and Peter Van Eyck star in the original.

This comedy/drama stars Cary Grant as a college professor and physician whose unorthodox but effective methods make him popular among students and patients. A teaching rival (Hume Cronyn) tries to use the professor’s connection to an unwed pregnant student against him. In the German original released one year prior, the antagonist of Doctor Praetorious was played by Erich Ponto, whom classic-film buffs might remember as Dr. Winkel in “The Third Man.”

In 1956, Alfred Hitchcock directed this remake of a movie he had first made in England 22 years earlier, using international locales and the star power of James Stewart and Doris Day. They play a couple on vacation in Morocco who witness the death of a man who reveals an assassination plot to them with his dying breath. Their son is kidnapped to keep their silence and the two race against time to find him. Hitchcock’s original stars Peter Lorre and has an almost identical Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score – 89% vs. the remake’s 87%.

Paul Henreid directed “Now, Voyager” co-star Bette Davis in this film about revenge. Davis plays identical twin sisters Margaret and Edith Philips, who haven’t spoken in about 20 years, since Margaret convinced the man Edith loved into marrying her instead. After Margaret’s husband dies, Edith reunites with her twin only to kill her and steal her identity. But a shocking secret is revealed when she meets Margaret’s lover, Tony (Peter Lawford). Roberto Gavaldón wrote and directed the original from Mexico, with Dolores Del Rio playing the twin sisters.

A galaxy of stars appeared in John Sturges’ homage to Akira Kurosawa’s epic drama “Shichinin no Samurai” – “The Seven Samurai” – which holds a 100% rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics. Instead of Japan, the setting is rural Mexico, where seven American guns for hire are tasked with protecting a village from bandits. In addition to Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson, the cast included James Coburn. Robert Vaughn, and Eli Wallach.

This thriller directed by George Cukor stars Charles Boyer as a schemer who tries to drive his new wife (Oscar-winner Ingrid Bergman) mad by making noises in the attic no one else seems to hear, dimming gaslights, and making items in the house go missing. The British original, starring Diana Wynyard and Anton Walbrook, enjoys a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score of 100%.

This grim dystopian film follows a convict (Bruce Willis) sent back in time to get information about the man-made virus that has wiped out most of humankind. The basis of “12 Monkeys” is Chris Marker’s 28-minute “La Jetée,” constructed mostly of still photographs, about people researching time travel after World War III has destroyed Paris.

Al Pacino’s sole Oscar star turn came for his performance as a retired blind Army officer who develops a bond with the prep school boy who is caring for him over the Thanksgiving holiday. The movie grossed more than $134 million worldwide. Vittorio Gassman plays the Pacino role in the original from Italy.

“CODA” (an acronym for “Child of Deaf Parents”) won the 2022 best picture Oscar for its portrayal of a young woman torn between pursuing a music career and remaining with her family.

“Scarlet Street” stars Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett in the Fritz Lang-directed movie about unrequited love and deceit. It is one of American remakes on this list that holds a 100% Tomatometer rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics. The original, “La Chienne,” was from another iconic European filmmaker, Jean Renoir, and also has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes Freshness rating.

Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning take on Irish mobsters in Boston who infiltrate law enforcement is a reprise of the honored Hong Kong thriller “Infernal Affairs.” The reboot also stars Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, and Alec Baldwin. It grossed more than $291 million worldwide.

Called the greatest comedy ever made by BBC Culture in 2017, “Some Like It Hot” stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon as Prohibition-era musicians forced to crossdress after witnessing the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. The Billy Wilder-directed classic is a recast of a 1935 French comedy whose plot does not include gangsters.