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New style of remake: Steal, no credit

Or at least, that's how it appears at the moment.

You have the latest Jodie Foster film, The Brave One, which looks an awful lot like an old Charles Bronson film, namely Death Wish.

The setup and premise is a virtual carbon copy: Loving couple broken apart when one spouse is brutally killed. In the case of The Brave One, they're out for a walk and get mugged; in the case of Death Wish, it's a home invasion robbery. Foster's character is unsatisfied with the "progress" being unmade in finding her husband's killer, so she goes on the hunt herself, popping bad guys while seeking The bad guy. Bronson was more straight-forward; he just starts striking back at muggers and the like and by accident -- or so it seemed -- he does eventually kill his wife's killers.

Death Wish was raked over the critical coals as providing provocation for vigilantes. Since The Brave One has a more A-list director (Neil Jordan), plus stars Foster, it will probably get better treatment.

The point here, though, is that I don't see any credit being given to Brian Garfield, who wrote the novel Death Wish, or Wendell Mayes, the screenwriter. And it's not as if the similarities aren't obvious.

I was going to name The Invasion as another example, but then I jumped to the IMDB entry and, voila, my worries were unfounded. Jack Finney and Invasion of the Body Snatchers get full and proper credit.

Still wondering about Foster's film, though.

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