FILM: Films as good as the book

[diebitter]

I've riffed this from another thread, but the tally so far was:

Exorcist
Silence of the Lambs
Field of Dreams (which actually was better than 'Shoeless Joe' the book IMO)
Hunt for Red October
Godfather I and II
Back to the future 2

I'd add:
Shawshank Redemption
Stand By Me (from the Body)
Misery
Jurassic Park
Fellowship of the Ring

[shant]

The fact that my suggestion of BTTF2 made it to this list has made me smile.

[TheCroShow]

Dude, Where's My Car

they changed the ending but it was pretty damn close to the book

[whiskeytown]

The Shipping News -

they ended up taking a daughter out of it but that's all....instead of having two daughters, they merged the two into one character -

RB

[TylerD]

Fight Club is better than the book.

[ChipWrecked]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

(Love the book, but the movie's great, and you don't have to wade through the "OMFG I've been electroshocked and now I think I'm inside a die and pissing myself" stuff)

[diebitter]

Catch 22
Green Mile
Sin City

[RollaJ]

The Running Man (I liked the movie better)
Ten Commandments (And thats saying a lot because that book is the only one known as "The Good Book") /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[dcasper70]

[ QUOTE ]
The Running Man

[/ QUOTE ]

you have got to be joking.
worst book to film that the world has ever seen

[private joker]

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005ATQB.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

http://drds.free.fr/films/images/thethinredline/thethinredline.gif

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00005A7TO.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[pearljam]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The Running Man

[/ QUOTE ]

you have got to be joking.
worst book to film that the world has ever seen

[/ QUOTE ]

[Paluka]

[ QUOTE ]

Catch 22


[/ QUOTE ]

This is simply not possible.

[imported_The Vibesman]

I've got to disagree on both "Shawshank Redemption" and "Misery", both movies were very good, but the books were much more realistic, especially Shawshank. Plus I really hated the casting of Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne, completely wrong, IMO.

I think "The Outsiders" is a better movie, the book's a bit stilted.

[whiskeytown]

actually, having both read and seen "Leaving Las Vegas" - I almost dare to say Nic Cage took it to a point where the movie was better then the book.

but I read the book afterwards

--------

The Graduate went the same way....and I really thought the movie was far supurb to the book when I read it...

RB

[ChipWrecked]

[ QUOTE ]

I think "The Outsiders" is a better movie, the book's a bit stilted.

[/ QUOTE ]

Meh. Of course the books's stilted. S.E. Hinton books are meant to be read when you are like 13.

I thought it was a travesty that they were filmed at all; except Rumble Fish which isn't a bad movie.

[BiffMan]

I've always thought The Princess Bride captured the essence of the book quite nicely. There's more meat to the book, but the movie captures it about as well as you could expect.

In a similar vein, Contact is a good example of streamlining a book to screenplay while not losing much information. The book's got more to it, but I didn't feel like the movie lost anything and was good and tight.

[LetYouDown]

Bridges Over Madison County. The movie was absolutely fabulous.

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (Jim Carrey version)

[MonkeeMan]

You got it right on the first try. Jurrasic Park the movie was so much better than the book because of the visual special effects.

One movie that could never top the book(s) but was done incredibly well was Lord of the Rings.

[MonkeeMan]

[ QUOTE ]
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

(Love the book, but the movie's great, and you don't have to wade through the "OMFG I've been electroshocked and now I think I'm inside a die and pissing myself" stuff)

[/ QUOTE ]

Disagree. I know Jack Nickleson won an AA for his portrayal of McMurphy, and I know the film won Best Picture too (as well as Director, Actress and Screenplay), but the book was still better...much better. Nicholson just didn't fit with my mental picture of Mac. I was much more in tune with Kirk Douglas, who had the part on Broadway. I also thought that the Chief perspective in the novel was great, and central to the plot.

[Spladle Master]

[ QUOTE ]
The Running Man (I liked the movie better)

[/ QUOTE ]

YSSCKY

[David04]

"[censored] My Dirty Shithole:The Movie"

Of course, they weren't faithful to that whole rimjob scene.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
Catch 22
Green Mile
Sin City

[/ QUOTE ]

Catch 22 was a pretty lousy movie. The critics were aligned with the public on this one -- they hated it and the public stayed away in droves.

By contrast, the book was easily one of the best American books of the last half century.

[Sykes]

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone.

Seriously, Book to movie almost exactly.

[swede123]

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By contrast, the book

[/ QUOTE ] is easily one of the best books ever.

FYP

Swede

[Roybert]

WRONG!

[Roybert]

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The Running Man

[/ QUOTE ]

The book was good - you should read it. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[ChromePony]

[ QUOTE ]
Hunt for Red October

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah it was a decent movie, but it leaves a ton out of the book...good perhaps but not as good.

[plaster8]

"Goodfellas"
(It's based on "Wise Guy" by Nicholas Pileggi, which isn't a bad book, but the movie is just too damn good.)

[HesseJam]

[ QUOTE ]
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Catch 22


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This is simply not possible.

[/ QUOTE ]

I also disagree. The film is good, no doubt. But it had to leave out a lot of good stuff.

[HesseJam]

A Clockwork Orange would have been my pick also for the best adaptation of a very good book ever.

Hitchcock is famous for turning cheap books/ scripts into gold.