NCMojo

I just saw Red Dragon for the first time last night, which I thought was a pretty decent flick. Of course, since I had read the book, I knew every damn thing that was going to happen all the way through, and this movie was extraordinarilly faithful to the Thomas Harris novel. (Which I've read, like, 23 times.)

That got me thinking about movies that were based on good books, and how some movies drastically rewrite the source material for better (Jurassic Park) and for worse (Sum of All Fears). And some movies stay true to the book, even if it makes for an unwatchable mess (Dune), while others stay the course and turn out to be extremely watchable (Harry Potter)

So what are some of your experiences where they took one of your favorite books and made it into a movie? How did it turn out, and how did you feel at the end?

sundog

Yeah, Jurassic Park was the first movie that pissed me off because it simplified the book so much. I had read the Crichton novel when it first came out so I had about a year of anticipation, of imagining all the new special effects and my favorite parts of the book. And when it finally came out I was dumbfounded. Where the hell were the characters? Where was the intrigue? The questions raised, examined and addressed by the book were given maybe 10 seconds worth of lip service and a kid's filmstrip. That was my first lesson in film adaptations: never expect the book to relate to the film.

Fortunately, subsequent illustrations of books into film came from Stanley Kubrick (whom I consider one of the best at adapting novels into films). I made a point to read Nabokov's Lolita before seeing the Kubrick film. I loved the book, one of the most effortless reads ever. Kubrick faced quite a challenge adapting Lolita's dubious content, so he took another direction, focusing much more on Humbert's malaise and Quilty's antagonism and slyly hinting at their relationship to Lolita. He also had three great performances from Mason, Sellers and Winters. And the movie is relatively faithful to the book, the adaptation credited to Nabokov, but undoubtedly handled and reformed by Kubrick (as was mostly the case with him. He was always revising his scripts).

And then there's A Clockwork Orange where Kubrick had to create a unique visual look to rival Burgess' Nadsat, which of course could never be fully realized in a movie. Kubrick considerably simplifies the plot, changes the relation of characters, and of course omitted the final chapter (which was omitted in the American publication. But he was in England at the time, so I find it hard to believe he was ignorant of its existence). By doing so, he turns the movie into his own exploration of his pet themes, such as dehumanization and cynicism towards social strata.

Another interesting adaptation I thought was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. By eliminating the Chief's narration from the book, Milos Forman and company only hint at the Native American angle. Instead they turn to Nicholson as McMurphy and Fletcher as Nurse Ratched. I liked the movie a lot, and also love the book.

bothanspy

Not that I would try to go toe-to-toe with you on Kubrick, but didn't he massacre the Shining?

Obviously, the Godfather is a fantastic adaptation. As is The Last Temptation of Christ by Kazantzakis (although I must admit, I'm not sure if I am following this book as well as I should).

Oh yeah, and since we are talking about Stephen King, I thought Misery was a fantastic adaptation.

Hiro11

A little book called "Lord of the Something or Other"...

waskydiver

Fight Club

Geofferson

Lonesome Dove

One of my favorite books was turned into a rather faithful mini-series (not quite a movie).

Several other books I enjoy have been turned into movies, it's too many to list.

sundog

I thought we were discussing movies based on GOOD books.

Actually, I enjoyed The Shining novel up to the third act. But the reason I wrote that Kubrick was so good at adapting books was that he never went with a strict novelization. He used them as a means to his own expression, twisting and turning them to create something unique in a filmic sense. Sometimes he was relatively faithful (Eyes Wide Shut/Traumnovelle) or not, but never constrained by the need to mimic the novel.

BuckeyeDawg

"The Firm" is an excellent book - AWFUL movie.

"A Time to Kill" is an excellent book and a pretty good movie.

Alien Redrum

The Green Mile, Shawshank, Misery (as noted above) and Stand By Me were all pretty good adaptions of King's work.

Out of Site was a pretty good adaption of Elmore Leonard's novel.

audrey

Agree that Kubrick excels at adaptations; he seems to possess that rare ability to capture literary style visually. Some adaptations not mentioned that I enjoy:

• A Boy And His Dog
• Adaptation
• All The President’s Men
• Blade Runner
• Fail Safe
• Tess
• The Big Sleep
• The French Lieutenant's Woman
• The World According to Garp

Daytrip

One Flew Over the Kuckoo's Nest
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Saxofonix

Regardless of the movie's status as a SciFi classic, I still insist that this is one of the worst movie adaptations of a (brilliant) novel. They skimmed the surface story, turning a rich narrative into a simplified SciFi thriller.

Pants

Andromeda Strain is one of the most identical book to screen comparisons I can offer. The movie changes the gender of one character from a man to a woman, but other than that they are word for word and scene for scene the same. The film even copies some of the graphics and illustrations that are in the book.

Rocky_Stallone

Yeah, I agree. I read the book two times and seen the movie 3 times. I would have to agree that both the movie and the book stayed faithful.

Other GREAT movies that were adapted from a book:

-The Count of Monte Cristo
(great movie, great book)
-A Beautiful Mind
(I haven't read the book but I love the movie dearly, I just didn't like how the movie changed John Nash's personal life, in John Nash's real life, he was an alcoholic and a bi-sexual, but in the movie they totally changed the real life character)
-Patriot Games and Hunt for the Red October
(I've read both books and saw both movies. These are my two favorites in the Jack Ryan series. Patriot Games is the best book that Tom Clancy had ever written though. I love Tom Clancy, I've read a lot of his books)
-The Last of the Mohicans
(Michael Mann did a amazing job adapted this movie from the book, I too read both the book and saw the movie hundreds of times)

Daytripper

"Amityville Horror" (read it when I was a kid). Great book (at the time). Terrible terrible movie.

"High Fidelity", great book. Botched movie (why did they have to Americanize it!??)

"About a Boy", great book. Fantastic movie.

Pants

While I loved High Fidelity, after seeing About a Boy I too wish they'd left it in London.

Mutley Hyde

Well, they did better there than they did with The Running Man. King's novella reads like Blade Runner looks; grimy, urban central grit, street fightin' man stuff - granted, I actually like the glossy media driven extravaganza take on The Running Man, but it certainly does not reflect the feel of the book.

Another example of the same effect is Logan's Run. While I love the movie - truly, it's one of my all time favorites - it's very different logistically from the book, which was a terrific quick read.

Angel Heart - from William Hjortsberg's Falling Angel; excellent movie, excellent book.

Moby Dick - there's no way in hell you can make a "good" film adaptation of Melville's book without making a 6 hour epic full of excessive interior dialogue/narration that would in effect kill the film anyway. It just can't be done, but having said that, I still really like the old Gregory Peck movie for what it was - a good "buddy actioner". (The recent Hallmark production was crap for acting)

Hannibal - Certainly not as good a film as SOTL, but I think it did capture the Florence scenes well. I also am one of the persuasion that the film ending was much more believable than the book ending. For once, I fully welcomed the creative license taken by the film production.

Silence of the Lambs - Great book, great movie. I actually read half the book, watched the movie, read the other half. That was a pretty interesting experience. Not sure it's one I'll purposely duplicate in the future though.

Hellraiser - Good attempt at adapting some pretty far out stuff from Barker's The Hellbound Heart. Great novella.

The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers - I'm currently reading Dumas's The Three Musketeers for the first time, so I personally can't compare, but I've heard the movies are travesties... I don't give a rip - the book is great so far, five chapters in, but I have always absolutley loved the two movies. They've been favorites since childhood, and the new dvd set rocks.

Name of the Rose - Pretty much the same thoughts here as I have for Moby Dick. Really well done movie, even if it lacks the depth found in the book.

And now, some comics...

Spider-man, The X-Men - I personally feel both movies caught the essence, the feel of the original comics very well, even if the look was somewhat updated in The X-Men.

Dr. Mordred - You can't tell me the movie wasn't modeled after Dr. Strange comics. A fun '80s flick, very much in the spirit of Strange. I wish this were out on dvd.

Mutley Hyde

Oh man, I loved that book! I also actually dig the movie too though . Both the book and movie gave me serious nightmares. Very few things do, but these definitely did. I think the Night Gallery did too... I know - I guess hoaky film and T.V. scare me.

Pants

Could someone please tell me how the novel Hanibal ended? Put it in spoilers.

Mutley Hyde

Pants,

Philip Reuben

Bridget Jones's Diary is a great film based on a great book. The only real way in which the movie is inferior to the book is that the book is a lot longer, which meant I was laughing for that much longer

Interview With the Vampire and Queen of the Damned are both great movies for very different reasons, and seeing them has made me want to read the books, but I have yet to get round to it. I've heard IWTV was a lot more faithful to the book that QOTD was to the two books it was based on... and having seen them, I really, really don't find that hard to believe ^^;

Pants

Mutley Hyde- But what happens? Do they fall in love and get married? Does the brain scene happen as in the film?

muggins

I always thought they did a good job on the animated "The Last Unicorn," which stayed rather faithful to the book.

Mutley Hyde

Tch, you should take your own advice and use spoilers.

But to answer,

Pants

I don't see how it can be a spoiler if I don't know what the f*** I'm talking about.