A True Ripoff that we liked...
I just watched "MacKenna's Gold" on cable. And guess what? I just discovered that Universal's new "The Mummy" is an incredibly identical clone/remake of that old 1969 movie!
The similarities are so many and so striking I don't know if I can even mention them all. MacKenna's Gold is about a search in the desert for a hidden/invisible/possibly magical place with a huge vein of gold 5 yards wide. The Mummy is the search for the same, except the gold has been fashioned. One person knows where it is and leads a greedy party thru the desert. Two factions fight all along the way - both versions. The location magically appears at daybreak in both versions. A curse causes it to tumble down in both versions when they try to get the gold. One of the greediest members (in both versions) loads up a pack horse with tons of gold, only to be killed, thus leaving a gold-laden animal unknown to anyone. Two guys and one girl escape the curse in both versions, while everyone else dies. Finally, in a stunningly identical finale, our heroes mount their animal (horse or camel) and ride off into the desert toward home -- and as they do, the camera shows the back of the animal with the glimmer of gold peeking out of its saddlebags -- they're gonna be rich after all!
Now that's an example of a "ripoff", and even then you really don't mind cause The Mummy is a really great movie all on its own.
Just thought I'd mention it... if you wanna bit of deja vu, catch MacKenna's Gold on cable this month...
