DVD Talk review of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)'
 

I read Bill Gibron's DVD review of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=17674 and... he said that "Up until recently, it was assumed that any book to film translation just wouldn't work. The list of duds far outweighs the occasionally shimmering successes (Harry Potter, and Silence of the Lambs, to name a couple)."

Bill, I'm going to assume that you didn't think about this before you wrote it, because you couldn't be more wrong. So many of the greatest movies are based on books that this is just an absurd idea.

The Godfather 1 & 2
Gone With the Wind
Jaws
The Wizard of Oz
Schindler's List
Psycho
Goodfellas
The Maltese Falcon
A Clockwork Orange
Ben-Hur
A Christmas Story
The Manchurian Candidate
Blade Runner
The Shawshank Redemption
Vertigo
L.A. Confidential
To Kill a Mockingbird
Apocalypse Now
Fight Club
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Dr. Strangelove
The Exorcist
All the President's Men
The Thin Man
Stand By Me
The Grapes of Wrath
The Night of the Hunter
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Double Indemnity
Forrest Gump
The African Queen
The Princess Bride
Cool Hand Luke
The Best Years of Our Lives
Strangers on a Train
The Big Sleep
The Bridge on the River Kwai
and so many more...

About half of all Best Picture Oscar winners are based on books.

Of course there are many lousy movies based on books; there are even more lousy movies that aren't. And some movies, good or bad, are more faithful to their source books than others. And many people will always be disappointed in film adaptations of their favorite books, even if the movies are great. However, anybody who ever assumed "that any book to film translation just wouldn't work" must have been out of his mind. Or he just hadn't thought about it.

Plus there are a ton of great movies BASED on books that may not use the same title as the book. "Die Hard" is but one example (based on the book "Nothing Lasts Forever").