While I still feel remakes are evidence of intellectual sloth I will grudgingly acknowledge that you do indeed have a point.
The one instance of a worthwhile remake I can think of isn't really a remake at all, rather an adaptation, since it was a movie made from a book. Three Days of the Condor, while not a great film was fairly taut and compelling as thrillers go. The book from which it was taken (Six Days of the Condor by James Grady) was an abomination of horrible writing, one-dimensional characters, and some of the most embarrassingly amateurish dialog you've ever read. I will concede that in this one instance the adaptation was orders of magnitude better than the original, and thus worthy of having been made.
Of course it had to be one of the only movies I can think of that featured the Star sporting a Doxa....
Regards, T Bone
Even a broken watch shows correct time once or twice a day. I ought to know, I have a few!