Remaking classics

The Coen brothers have remade an almost perfect bit of work in the English comedy-crime movie “The Ladykillers� (“The United States of Coen,� March 28). To a real movie buff, this is akin to remaking “Citizen Kane.� This is not creative. This is a bad idea. But no flunky underling is going to tell Mr. Hanks or Messrs. Coen that the original movie was a bit of genius and that maybe they should honor creative people by not going for a sure thing and taking a chance on an original script.

These remakes are creepy. Peter Sellers was a comic genius and this movie was one of his best. It didn’t need to be remade. Filmmakers can go ahead and remake these perfect movie gems, but someone has to tell them what an insult it is to the lovers of the original pieces. In certain cases, it’s like repainting the Mona Lisa. It just doesn’t need to be done and it should be left alone.

Clancy O’Hara

Torrance