There is such a thing as a good remake.

Best remakes:

The Magnificant 7 - Not that the Seven Samurai isn't a classic, but this is an inspired, entertaining and classic remake.

Ocean's 11 - A great example of someone taking a piece of absolute dreck and remaking it into a classic. Good job Soderbergh!

The Fly - The original, with its cheesy low budget effects is fun, but the remake with Jeff Goldblum is harrowing.

A Star is Born - In 1937 William Wellman directed Janet Gaynor and Frederic March in the tale of two actors who fall in love. Not bad, but then in 1954, George Cukor directed Judy Garland in her greatest performance.

His Girl Friday - Remake of The Front Page, taking parts originally cast for 2 guys and making them former husband and wife. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell make an ideal couple.

Honorable mentions:

The Postman Always Rings Twice
Gaslight
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Heaven Can Wait
The Thing
Imitation of Life - Claudette Colbert vs
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Vanishing
Dawn of the Dead

Worst remakes:

A Star is Born - Streisand and Kristofferson play the Garland and Mason parts but its set in the world of Seventies California rock. It's unspeakable.

Planet of the Apes - It looked like Tim Burton was bankrupt as a filmmaker when this cheap-looking and inexplicable remake of the silly (but kind of great) Charlton Heston film.

You've Got Mail - Nora Ephron remakes The Shop Around the Corner. Instead of being set against the backdrop of depression-era Hungary, she sets it in an affluent social circle in late-nineties New York City. Didn't she get that part of the power of the original is the wolf at the door of the poor workers played by Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan? It's not just about mixed up letters, Nora. Call me and I'll explain.

Who's That Girl? - A take on the wonderful Bringing Up Baby. In short, they cast Madonna in the Katharine Hepburn part. Shame on them!

Red Dragon - First of all, Manhunter wasn't that old. Second, Brian Cox was a better Hannibal Lecter.

Dishonorable mentions:

The Haunting
Sabrina
My Man Godfrey

Please, please never remake:

Jaws - You can't get more perfect timing and tension.

Gone with the Wind - The racial politics will never work again. It's only excuse is the time it was made. Plus, no one can be Clark and Vivian.

Some Like it Hot - Again, the gender politics don't really work anymore.

The Godfather - It's just perfect. Period.

Dr. Strangelove - Even if you redid the movie with the same exact screenplay, Kubrick's beautiful vision and Peter Sellars insanity cannot be matched.

You forgot two:

The Pink Panther

Insomnia

Miami Vice was horrible, I dont know how you could not like Crash and like Miami Vice, it was horrible, predictable and lacked a plot.

Can you identify a film for me. Probably British, set on a tropical island. A young man comes to the island, reads to the dictator, tries to get away but is kept there. The dictator convinces the young mans friends who come looking for him that he is dead. The film ends with the young man condemed to stay of the island and read to the dictator for the rest of his life.

Say it years ago at the Uptown. No idea of its title.

Dick Carson

What about the literal remake of "Psycho" as one of the worst?

That Psycho remake was a disaster. I completely agree.

Dick, I have no idea what that movie is...I'll ask a couple of my friends to see they can identify it.

I think you whiffed on two facts on the remake show.

Best remake of all time: Maltese Falcon. Yes, it was a remake. In fact, it was the second remake. The original was also called The Maltese Falcon. The first remake went by a different name, which I can't recall. They were both so bad no one remembers them. I happened to see the I-won't-take-the-fall-for-you speech from the first. Let's say it suffers by comparison.

You also mentioned that they've remade Rebecca as a miniseries but not as a feature movie. Wrong again. The remake was called The Screaming Skull. As you might be able to guess, it was a horror version. It was so bad it ended up on Mystery Science Theater 3000. About the only thing to recommend it was that they changed the ending, so the plot twist was a little bit of a surprise. But by the time you get to the ending, you just don't care.

The Thomas Crown Affair remake was excellent--Pierce Bronan and Renee Russo. I know it's tough to top Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway in the original but I felt they did an excellent job.

One movie that begs a remake is "The Day the Earth Stood Still." I think in the hands of the right director it could be marvelous.

I know it's been re-made for Broadway and TV, but never, ever remake the film 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. Audrey Hepburn is the definitive Holly Golightly.