Yep, the same thing happened with True Grit; the new version is a fine movie, with a first rate cast (Hailee Steinfeld was outstanding, and much better than Kim Darby in the original IMO). Even Jeff Bridges was excellent, and beyond that I am a fan of that actor. But..... the original starred John Wayne and for me, and I think a LOT of other people, he still does and always will simply own that role. I am not even all that big a fan of John Wayne but hey, he IS John Wayne and more importantly, he thought he was John Wayne and manages to convey that to the audience that he is John Wayne (the persona) I think. We saw the re-make in a theater and my wife had never seen the original so shortly after seeing the new one, I grabbed the original and had her watch it. She is not a John Wayne fan at all but also found him much more impressive and imposing in that role. And so it goes with Charlton Heston and Moses I think. Now I liked the Will Smith version of I Am Legend much better than Heston's version (The Omega Man but the same movie) but even when watching Heston in that movie, I am sort of, kind of waiting for him to grab a long staff and straighten out all them there Zombie people.
Heston owns the Moses role IMO. And probably Ben Hur too. I mean if you had leprosy, who would YOU want to visit you besides Heston?
But Exodus is very, very different and really not compatible at all to Heston's version. Not even close. So it can stand alone as a movie without clashing directly into the earlier version.... a good choice by Ridley Scott IMO. In fact, the new version, Exodus, is almost as different from the 1956 version as Dragnet the series, and Dragnet the movie were (I do not think Jack Webb ever referred to anyone as 'The virgin [put name here] like Dan Ackroyd did with 'The virgin Connie Swail
)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtKUyfkBA2w)
Brian
Maybe I should give it a chance, then. I had decided I wanted no part in a "remake" of something so great and classic. I mean, what's next, a remake of Spartacus? The Wizard of Oz? (And yes, I did watch and like "The Wiz", but that really was something entirely different)