Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ucla-cs.ARPA
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwrba!cepu!ucla-cs!reiher
From: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: Buddy, buddy - WHAT A RIPOFF!
Message-ID: <4277@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 12-Mar-85 14:49:25 EST
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.4277
Posted: Tue Mar 12 14:49:25 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 15-Mar-85 05:31:07 EST
References: <168@ihlpm.UUCP>
Reply-To: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (Peter Reiher)
Distribution: net
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Lines: 50
Summary: 

In article <168@ihlpm.UUCP> cher@ihlpm.UUCP (Mike Cherepov) writes:
>---
>
>Yesterday I saw pieces of Buddy buddy on tv.
>The story is a very close copy of a French comedy
>made, I believe, in mid-70s.
>That made me wonder about copyright regulations.
>If the French crew, indeed, was the first to use the story -
>does the author of the script get paid?
>
Yes, the original screenwriter did receive some form of payment for use of
his story.  Probably also the producers of the original, probably not anyone
else associated with it.  I don't know the details, so I'm not sure if the
payment was a lump sum, royalties, or whatever.

>Also on the sad note: it is a pity that instead of
>release of an excellent foreign film the American
>public received a second-hand remake. Thus another
>question is about lack of wide foreign releases.
>What makes things like making Buddy profitable? Is it just public's
>need to see a momentous familiar name (like Lemmon)?

As I recollect it, "Buddy Buddy" flopped pretty big.  If it made money, it
certainly didn't make very much, despite the presence of Lemmon and Walter
Matthau, and despite Billy Wilder as director.  Remakes of foreign films have
been around for a long time, at least since sound came in.  (Actually, before,
but then they were viewed as little different from remakes of domestic movies.)
Sometimes they work out fairly well, like "The Magnificent Seven", which was
a decent remake of "The Seven Samurai".  Sometimes they aren't very good, but
make money anyway, like "The Woman in Red" and "The Toy".  Sometimes they flop,
like "Buddy Buddy" and "Blame it on Rio".  Ripping off French films is
particularly popular nowadays, since the French film industry makes the same
sort of entertainment films (usually on a smaller scale) as Hollywood.
Japanese samurai movies used to be made into the occasional Western (such as
"The Outrage", would you believe a Western version of "Rashomon" with Paul
Newman and Edward G. Robinson?), and Italian comedies get cannibalized once
in a while.  Other nations' films are ripped off much less frequently.  

Since the amount of money a film in a language other than English can make
in the US is strictly limited, Hollywood producers prefer to remake good
stories from foreign films to releasing the originals.  If your remake works
out OK, you can turn a handy profit of $20-30 million, or even more.  I
don't remember the exact figures, but I don't think that "La Cage Aux Folles",
the biggest grossing foreign language picture (in America) ever even *grossed*
that much.  Pure greed, as usual, is the motive.
-- 

        			Peter Reiher
        			reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
        			{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher