Cugalabanza Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Recent movie threads got me thinking. People usually say that the movie doesn't live up to the book. But there are quite a few exceptions. Here are some I can think of... The Collector Slaughterhouse Five Rebecca Jesus' Son American Psycho Carrie The Dead Zone The 25th Hour 1984 What are your favorite movies adapted from novels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WVUFootball29 Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Lord of The Rings by far and away. Jurassic Park Independence Day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 I don't want to be the Thread Police, but I think posters should have to have read the book first, before they saw the movie, or put an asterisk by it. If you see the movie first, you have so many ideas in your head because of what you saw about the characters and locations and everything else that it completely distorts (for better or worse, it doesn't matter) the experience you would have had coming to the book fresh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Christ Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 I don't want to be the Thread Police, but I think posters should have to have read the book first, before they saw the movie, or put an asterisk by it. If you see the movie first, you have so many ideas in your head because of what you saw about the characters and locations and everything else that it completely distorts (for better or worse, it doesn't matter) the experience you would have had coming to the book fresh. then don't some people might not have read the (book) before the movie if they didn't enjoy with movie. Sometimes people need to get a grasp or concept of what its about. Thats like saying a kid nowadays isn't allowed to like elvis or the beatles because they didn't like them when they weren't famous. I love to read......love to watch movies.......some got me to watch the movies and some got me to read the books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 then don't some people might not have read the (book) before the movie if they didn't enjoy with movie. Sometimes people need to get a grasp or concept of what its about. Thats like saying a kid nowadays isn't allowed to like elvis or the beatles because they didn't like them when they weren't famous. I love to read......love to watch movies.......some got me to watch the movies and some got me to read the books. I wasn't commenting on whether it is better or worse (which is why I said "for better or worse, it doesn't matter"), or whether one should or shouldn't read the book first. Sometimes watching the movie first can be better, or you never would have heard of the book if you didn't see the movie. I just thought the list would be littered with films that people who thought a certain book was better than it was (or different than it was) because they saw the film first and pictured in their head what these characters were like. It's impossible to read The Godfather without having certain images in your head. The book reads completely different to anyone that has seen the film first than it does to anyone who hasn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennesseeboy Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Moby Dick. John Huston realized that you have to be respectful of the story but you have to adapt the novel to fit the film environment. The Once and Future King was another good one as was Dr. Zhivago (David Lean). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acantha Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Fight Club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steely Dan Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Jurassic Park and Mother Night. I'm leaning towards adding Breakfast of Champions but I don't think it rises to great status. The problem with movies from books is that it's very difficult to take a 300 page book and boil it down to an hour and a half. Most of them royally suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Quint Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Sleepers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Fischer Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Good books/movie I read/saw: Found a list: American Psycho Catch 22 A Clockwork Orange The Day of the Triffids Devil in a Blue Dress The English Patient Fight Club Get Shorty The Godfather The Hound of the Baskervilles Jaws LA Confidential Lolita Lord of the Flies The Maltese Falcon One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The Outsiders Rebecca The Spy Who Came in From the Cold The Talented Mr Ripley To Kill a Mockingbird****** (My Favorite book/movie) Others off the top of my head: Almost all the Raymond Chandler/Daishell Hammett books/movies The Thin Man, etc The James Cain books/movies: Double Indemnity, Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce Graham Greene: The Third Man Many other vintage crime novels The Natural Henry V, Halmet, Julius Caesar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cugalabanza Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 Good books/movie I read/saw: Found a list: American Psycho Catch 22 A Clockwork Orange The Day of the Triffids Devil in a Blue Dress The English Patient Fight Club Get Shorty The Godfather The Hound of the Baskervilles Jaws LA Confidential Lolita Lord of the Flies The Maltese Falcon One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The Outsiders Rebecca The Spy Who Came in From the Cold The Talented Mr Ripley To Kill a Mockingbird****** (My Favorite book/movie) Others off the top of my head: Almost all the Raymond Chandler/Daishell Hammett books/movies The Thin Man, etc The James Cain books/movies: Double Indemnity, Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce Graham Greene: The Third Man Many other vintage crime novels The Natural Henry V, Halmet, Julius Caesar Good stuff! I never checked out the Thin Man stuff, but I'm curious. I can't believe I left One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, To Kill a Mockingbird and Lolita off my list. (Lolita is actually my favorite Kubrick movie, but it doesn't get mentioned very often). The Third Man is one of my all-time favorite movies, but I did not read the book. Catch-22--I loved the book but the movie not so much. Honorable mentions: - Short Cuts (not from a novel, but a collection of Raymond Carver's stories). - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (from Edward Albee's play) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Good stuff! I never checked out the Thin Man stuff, but I'm curious. I can't believe I left One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, To Kill a Mockingbird and Lolita off my list. (Lolita is actually my favorite Kubrick movie, but it doesn't get mentioned very often). The Third Man is one of my all-time favorite movies, but I did not read the book. Catch-22--I loved the book but the movie not so much. Honorable mentions: - Short Cuts (not from a novel, but a collection of Raymond Carver's stories). - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (from Edward Albee's play) IMO, ones like Cuckoo's Nest and Lolita are really hard to say because they are both fabulous books and fabulous movies. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, obviously, but most filmmakers much prefer to think of their films as completely different medium than the book, and not supposed to be looked at as a version of the novel in moving pictures and dialogue. IIRC, the dialogue for the film Virginia Woolf is very much like if not pretty much verbatim from the play. And most of the power of that film is simply the great cutting dialogue and explosive performance of the four leads, especially Burton and Taylor. Not sure I would count that as much of an adaptation, that was almost a filmed play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damj Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Of Mice and Men Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOBILLS78 Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 "No Country For Old Men" was better as a movie than a book. And the book is outstanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 If anyone says "Starship Troopers", I will stuff them in an oil drum and dump them in a landfill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VABills Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Grapes of Wrath Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcali Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Good books/movie I read/saw: Found a list: American Psycho Catch 22 A Clockwork Orange The Day of the Triffids Devil in a Blue Dress The English Patient Fight Club Get Shorty The Godfather The Hound of the Baskervilles Jaws LA Confidential Lolita Lord of the Flies The Maltese Falcon One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The Outsiders Rebecca The Spy Who Came in From the Cold The Talented Mr Ripley To Kill a Mockingbird****** (My Favorite book/movie) Others off the top of my head: Almost all the Raymond Chandler/Daishell Hammett books/movies The Thin Man, etc The James Cain books/movies: Double Indemnity, Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce Graham Greene: The Third Man Many other vintage crime novels The Natural Henry V, Halmet, Julius Caesar get shorty. hound, cuckoos nest,kill a mockingboard----saw/read them all---all excellent in both Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deep2evans Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 One Flew and The Shining were the first to come to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damj Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 If anyone says "Starship Troopers", I will stuff them in an oil drum and dump them in a landfill. Starship Troopers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acantha Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 If anyone says "Starship Troopers", I will stuff them in an oil drum and dump them in a landfill. Is the book that good/different? I like the movie, in a cheesy, B, Sci-Fi sorta way. But the way it's filmed (with the whole news report thing), I can see it being different and annoying to someone who has read the book. I don't normally read much Sci-Fi, but I might check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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