Foo - "BEST" book to movie translation ever

This is gonna be tough but some movies are better than the books that inspired them

I have read The 3 Bourne books. Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum. All three movies were better than the books. The book Bourne Ultimatum sucked completely and the movie was fantastic. It was completely rewritten but that made it even better.

Shawshank Redemption was a much better movie than short story, and The Green Mile movie actually did justice to the great book.

To Kill a Mockingbird.

A lot of the "feeling" couldn't be conveyed in the movie, but it was the best casting I've ever seen.

Peter Pan

Forest Gump. The movie is a complete rewrite. The book is a slapstick comedy, while the movie is a brilliant myth. And though the book is a really funny, the movie is genius.

Jaws. and Captain Blood.

Catch-22.
The Guns of Navarone.

Fletch was sorta close to the book - but Chevy Chase really played the part well. I love that movie.

A Bridge Too Far. gets my vote for the best because it does an excellent job of maintaining the historical accuracy of the battles, i.e., no translation. hollywood doesn't need to embellish history; real-life events are far more compelling than something a writer can make up

Richie Rich

10 Commandments w/ Charleston Heston.

Spider-man. Even Stan Lee himself said it was a great transition.

Beowulf

I would put spiderman down in the list of Worst personally :p The cartoon was a better adaptation of the book

The Exorcist. Both are excellent.

Silence of the Lambs

The book was excellent. The movie simplified some of the incidents in the book, but kept the core elements. Also, the casting was near perfect.

Charlie Brown "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!"

Spider-man. Even Stan Lee himself said it was a great transition.

Really, thats depressing. I hate the spider man movies. Mostly because of the lead actor. I also didn't like the story lines in the movie. I am an old comic book fan to the nines. I still have my collection at home in ontario waiting for my kids to be born someday.

Beowulf

I would put spiderman down in the list of Worst personally :p The cartoon was a better adaptation of the book

Agreed. Both generations of cartoons actually.

The Hunt for Red October was pretty much straight up and very enjoyable. Skinny, young Alec Baldwin was a much better Jack Ryan than Harrison Ford. It's been my wish that they would do a movie of Red Storm Rising. Back in the 80's when the story was relavant it would have been immpossible to make. Now with todays CGI techology, it could be done. But noone would care.

How about books based on movies???

As in the book "Aliens" by Allen Dean Foster, which is pretty close to the movie?

How about fanfic?!

a river runs through it.

Mystic River

L O T R

L O T R

teh suck

L O T R

Saddest perhaps, best no way. The films show very clearly that the production crew had talent. But cutting out Glorfindel and turning Arwen into Zena warior Princess was unforgivable. Middle Earth of the books was a land of magic and lore. Dreams and visions mattered.

Oh and Tolkein made evil repugnant. The beast the 9 rode were foul and stank. Not so the films, they wer black, sleek and cool.

That the films were in their own way impressive does not make them a good adaptation.

The Crucible movie was betterish.

L O T R

wrong thread. this is the "Best" adaptation thread. you want the "Worst" adaptation thread, found here:

http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=370551

Jaws. and Captain Blood.

JAWS FTW

Saddest perhaps, best no way. The films show very clearly that the production crew had talent. But cutting out Glorfindel and turning Arwen into Zena warior Princess was unforgivable. Middle Earth of the books was a land of magic and lore. Dreams and visions mattered.

Oh and Tolkein made evil repugnant. The beast the 9 rode were foul and stank. Not so the films, they wer black, sleek and cool.

That the films were in their own way impressive does not make them a good adaptation.

Agreed. The books are freaking awesome. The movies were great...I liked both but disliked the change in story line. But I excepted it as part of the required process to turn such a vast story into 3 shortish movies.

So to clarify, it was a poor adaption...I still liked the movies, but will always prefer the books.

I grew up with the Tolkien books, and loved the movies, as well. Some things work in one medium, and don't translate well to others, and some of the stuff that was fine for LOTR books would've gone over like a lead balloon onscreen, like all the ******** songs, and taking massive 2-year long breaks to hang out with elves at Rivendell, for example. Oh, and Tom Freaking Bombadil. I think the Peter Jackson movies were about as good as you could have done them, (although turning Legolas into Spiderman was kind of silly.) Elves are wicked cool, but not that cool.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. The book is a great story filled with descriptions of scents. Its a tough sense to convey on film, but it's done so well.

Fight Club. Who doesn't love this movie?

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. They fit what they could in the movie and Terry Gilliam is a master director.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. The book is a great story filled with descriptions of scents. Its a tough sense to convey on film, but it's done so well.

Fight Club. Who doesn't love this movie?

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. They fit what they could in the movie and Terry Gilliam is a master director.

+1 for fear and loathing
+1 for fight club read it/listen to it if you have to. it will add so much depth.

I want to run Jurassic park by you guys

I grew up with the Tolkien books, and loved the movies, as well. Some things work in one medium, and don't translate well to others, and some of the stuff that was fine for LOTR books would've gone over like a lead balloon onscreen, like all the ******** songs, and taking massive 2-year long breaks to hang out with elves at Rivendell, for example. Oh, and Tom Freaking Bombadil. I think the Peter Jackson movies were about as good as you could have done them, (although turning Legolas into Spiderman was kind of silly.) Elves are wicked cool, but not that cool.

+1, I thought the movies, particularly the extended cut DVD's were great. Some parts that I liked were left out sure, but to include everything would've made them 4-5 hrs long.

I want to run Jurassic park by you guys

I think that's one where the movie perhaps improved on the book. The book is a good yarn, but the movie stripped it down into a leaner, meaner piece. There were parts of the book where I seem to recall thinking "get on with it, already." That never happened with the movie.

Blade Runner.

Almost all of Stanley Kubrick's movies were based on books or short stories. So i guess you could say any Kubirk movie. Some notables

Paths of Glory - Based on an anti-war novel of the same name by Humphry Cobb.

Dr Strangelove - Loosely based on a novel called Red Alert by Peter George

2001: A Space Oddessy - Based on a short story called The Sentinal by Arthur C. Clark (who co-wrote the movie with Kubrick)

Barry Lyndon - Based on the novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackery

A Clockwork Orange - Based on the novel of the same title by Anthony Burgess

Full Metal Jacket - Based on the novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford

Almost all of Stanley Kubrick's movies were based on books or short stories. So i guess you could say any Kubirk movie. Some notables

Paths of Glory - Based on an anti-war novel of the same name by Humphry Cobb.

Dr Strangelove - Loosely based on a novel called Red Alert by Peter George

2001: A Space Oddessy - Based on a short story called The Sentinal by Arthur C. Clark (who co-wrote the movie with Kubrick)

Barry Lyndon - Based on the novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackery

A Clockwork Orange - Based on the novel of the same title by Anthony Burgess

Full Metal Jacket - Based on the novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford

have you read the novel length 2001 series

it is interesting
it fleshes out some of the concepts from the movie

have you read the novel length 2001 series

it is interesting
it fleshes out some of the concepts from the movie

Nope. But now that my library account late fees are finally taken care of i'll check it out. I know he did 2010 and 3001 too.

Shame 2010 wasnt as good as 2001 as a movie.

Oh yeah almost forgot another great book to movie. The book Hearts of Darkenss morphed into Apocolypse Now!. The directors cut version put back in some pretty cool scenes. Like the guys trading fuel for sex with the Playboy bunnies and the bit with the French ex-patriates.

i want to say there are four books in the series, but trust me you arent missing much i had to look it up. it is 2061 odyssey 3

it is about what happens in that trippy "MY GOD IT"S FULL OF STARS" sequence" for 50 pages and some other stuff

but trust me the time would have better been spent with porn

i want to say there are four books in the series, but trust me you arent missing much i had to look it up. it is 2061 odyssey 3

it is about what happens in that trippy "MY GOD IT"S FULL OF STARS" sequence" for 50 pages and some other stuff

but trust me the time would have better been spent with porn

I'm a big fan of Kubrick, and intellectually I see what he was trying to do and why it was groundbreaking, but you'd literally have to pay me and/or be a gorgeous female to get me to watch it with you. :)

Star Trek II -"The Wrath of Khan"

Except for the fake chest they gave Ricardo Monteblan.

This one stayed pretty true to the book and managed to carry all the major storylines from the book. Still my favorite movie from the Star Trek series.

Star Trek II -"The Wrath of Khan"

Except for the fake chest they gave Ricardo Monteblan.

This one stayed pretty true to the book and managed to carry all the major storylines from the book. Still my favorite movie from the Star Trek series.

Um, I think the book was based on the movie in this case?

Malcolm X

Harry Potter
and
Kill zone. I'm not actually sure thats been made into a movie though....

Um, I think the book was based on the movie in this case?


Sorry...but I read the book several years before the movie ever came out.;):)

Hopefully this one will make this category in a few years.

http://www6.comcast.net/entertainment/articles/movies/2007/12/18/Film.The.Hobbit.Jackson/

Sorry...but I read the book several years before the movie ever came out.;):)

it was part of a series wasn't it. Not part 2 but later on.

http://www.well.com/~sjroby/lcars/1982.html#tos7

I think thats the one. Its right around the same timeframe...