Many a movie has been an adaptation of a novel or short story. No doubt a lot of people will conclude the viewing experience, and walk away with the idea that the book was better, and the movie didn’t fully capture the feel or the essence that the book provides. In many cases, this can be true.
Now to the Twixer’s comments above, it’s hard for me to think of a movie that was WAY better than the book, but I can think of a few movies that were on par, if not a little better.
No Country for Old Men – 2007
McCarthy’s books are not for everyone. He has a unique writing style where he ignores most conventions of modern English, absent of proper punctuation, commas, etc. But, he does write a good story. I read the book and watched the film, and I have to say, damn fine stuff. Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, and Javier Bardem were all great in it, and the film is a great adaptation, if not a little better, than the book.
Jurassic Park – 1993
I like Crichton’s books, and I enjoyed reading Jurassic Park when I did (after I saw the movie), but I have to say the movie is better. Maybe it’s because of the otherworldly special effects and great filmmaking, but the movie really knocked it out of the park.
The Shawshank Redemption – 1994
Honestly, you could put a whole host of movies made from Stephen King books here, including The Shining, It, and The Long Walk. Something about King’s long-windedness doesn’t appeal to me, even though the stories are good. Taking out all the superfluous details from a story and capturing the best parts drives it home, so kudos to King on the tale, but kudos to the filmmakers for making it a more palatable and enjoyable experience.
The Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter
I lumped these together for the same reason as Shawshank, mainly because I don’t have enough time to read thousands of pages of books and the kids told me that the films were better than the books, anyway. Except for Lord of the Rings, which they neither read nor watched…but when I was younger and later older I did my level best to read Tolkien and, man, I just couldn’t do it.
Some others I thought of off the top of my head:
- Band of Brothers (more of a tie, the book is amazing and the series doesn’t include all the details, but the series is amazing)
- Jaws
- The Godfather
- Goodfellas
- One Battle After Another – based on Pinchon’s Vineland, they say, and if that’s the case, the movie is hands-down better.
So how about you…what movie or TV adaptation do you prefer over the book?
I doubt that there’s a Kubrick movie that doesn’t belong here. Nearly all of his movies were adaptations and the book becomes pretty much irrelevant after he’s done.
I read No Country after seeing the movie. I was surprised at how different they were. I do have to give the movie the nod though.
Yeah, that’s about the only one I could think of. 2001 (which I consider one of the greatest movies ever made) is based on a short story by Alister Clark, so yeah, this was much better. Other than that, and maybe Steven King, I can’t think of a movie better than the book.
ARTHUR C. Clark, dammit. Getting old sucks.
Pretty sure that Clarke and Kubrick collaborated on the movie and that the book was written at the same time as the movie was being developed.
There was an earlier Clark short story called “The Sentinel” (1948) that inspired it first. That’s what I was referring to.
You’re correct that Clark wrote a longer book while Kubrick made the movie. I’ve never really seen that book as the movie stands alone in my mind.
This book details the making of the movie. Excellent read if you’re a movie nerd, plus it’s $1.99 on Kindle.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35297381-space-odyssey
They are making a movie for Clarks novella Rendezvous with Rama. Dennis Villeneuve is supposed to direct.
Hadn’t seen that thanks for sharing. Hopefully that’s as good as the book. The entire Rama series was a good read.
I’ll add Deliverance. I wouldn’t say the movie is better, but definitely on par with the book.
To me they are just very different. I love the movie and the book but they are almost two different things.
Squeal like a piggy!
Enjoyed both. Loved the raw “Southerness” of the movie. Always marveled at James Dickey’s fine home across from the governor on West Paces.
It was a children’s book bitd, but Old Yeller the movie was much better than the book, at least that’s how I felt back then.
100%. I read Old Yeller a long time ago. I was an adult, that might be the reason, but I thought the book was terrible. It read like a news report. The movie was great, but I couldn’t watch it more than once.
Not better but the True Grit remake with Jeff Bridges was on par with Charles Portia’ book. And as much as I love John Wayne the remake was better than the original. For starters the girl who played Mattie was much easier to root for.
Portis.
I really liked the remake and it got me to read the book, which I loved. I consider the two movies pretty much separate movies and I like them both, but in their own ways.
BTW, I was driving up through Arkansas a couple of months ago and found myself in Yell County.
“A writ of replevin!”
“Keep your seat, trash.”
Jaws
One of the greatest movies ever made! The author actually helped write the screenplay, which is strange since the movie deviates from the book so much.
I went through the pain-in-the-ass it is to switch computers so I could comment here. I disagree with your Jurassic Park assessment. It is in amazing movie, but should not even carry the name of the book. The book focuses heavily on chaos theory and moral dilemmas set in the back drop of reviving dinosaurs. The movie focused on dinosaurs and mentioned chaos theory as a throw-away line. Again, great movie, but it totally missed most of the nuances of the book. When the movie came out, I was pissed.
(disclaimer: Chrichton is one of my all-time favorite authors and Jurassic Park is one of my favorite books)
Totally agree. The book is a page turner. The original movie was excellent, but it still doesn’t do Crichton’s creation justice.
You sir are totally correct. Jurassic Park is a great movie. The book by Micheal Crichton is even better. It’s an amazing read by an all time great author.
Jaws the movie is better than the book. The book has Brody’s wife having an affair with the marine biologist.
I would add 2001 Space Odyssey since Arthur Clarke wrote both the book and the screenplay I wont.
The Player – Robert Altman’s movie is better, and Peter Tolkien wrote both I believe (traveling now, will look it up later).
Having been a Librarian for over 20 years, I used movie adaptations to drive book circulation. Especially for adult new readers. One thing I always suggest and use personally is a mindset separating the movie from the book and putting them into two separate spaces.
The closest adaptation win for me would be CBS getting Lonesome Dove into a mini-series. I know I could pick it apart especially where (Spoiler Alert) Newt has several internal dialogues that wouldn’t really translate on screen but I thought it was presented well, was long enough to get most of the material in without gaps and the actors cared. Re-watch it with a Shiner Bock – you’re welcome.
Second would be from Russia with Love, the movie really broke the book down and created one of the more “Maximum Bond” outings. Wait until it gets cooler and get a can of Old Rasputin Nitro to savour.
Finally, and this will generate push back – the Denzel Washington Man on Fire adaptation. Full disclosure: I haven’t watched the new mini series, I’ve been waiting to re-read the book first. Completely updated for a modern audience with a shift in locations that makes sense. Also, Denzel is great as a burnt out veteran. Hard likker and handguns = no bueno in the community. That being said, I’ll be part of the problem, pour yourself a gameday stiffy with a big ice rock and make it something Barreled in Bond where that 100 proof that gives you a little hug.
All my libation pairings work for movie and/or book. Also, cigars would go well although Shiner Bock might be light so think about Old Forrester Rye and a cigar for Lonesome Dove.
All three libation recommendations available at 5 Points Bottle shop.
Apologies, to those wanting kale smoothie/rom com recommendations.
Agreed. They are two different art forms and they shouldn’t be the same.
Arguments about, as an example, whether The Shining adheres closely enough to the novel are silly and miss the point.
For Kubrick, the original novel is just a structure from which to build a story with several different layers going on that have nothing to do with the book.
I do anticipate that if they ever make Blood Meridian into a movie, I’ll hate it….
Not sure it can be done on film with live actors. No one could do Judge Holden justice imho.
Funny you bring up Blood Meridian because I’ve never finished it and I’ve wanted to position it versus Lonesome Dove for best western novel. Blood Meridian is beloved in the veteran community but I haven’t gotten there and the debates about it being adapted for the screen get in depth and heated.
Blood Meridian ain’t a western in any real sense, save for the setting.
The setting is there as a background to explore the two most prominent and competing views on existentialism:
One in which empathy is considered a weakness vs. one in which empathy is an expression of our innate humanity.
Nietzsche vs Augustine.
Lol, 15 years ago I woulda begged you to lead a. book group on this
Thank you for your service!
I’ve read several of the Bond books. FRWL was great and the movie tried to keep up with it. The Casino Royale reboot with Daniel Craig did an admirable job of trying to stick to the book while also modernizing the story. I wish a producer would make one of the books a period piece Bond movie.
Yeah, they’ve had some of the newer licensed authors to period stories and I’ve liked them. A period remake or one of those stories could be great. Ironically, my favorite Fleming book was Moonraker and I despise the movie.
P.S. I’ve been known to drive my friends crazy with the theory The Rock is a Bond Flick, lol
I probably need to try Ian Fleming again as an adult rather than reading Bond as a younger guy. I thought the one book I read (I don’t remember which one) was tedious, and I didn’t really like Fleming’s writing style.
You may be the funniest librarian I’ve ever “known”. You tickle the shit outta me a few times a week.
Totally disagree on the Harry Potter movies. Yes, I respond to some stuff here with clips from movies, but that’s not an endorsement of the movies over the books. I’m reading them from start to finish for the 3rd time. There are so many things in the books that don’t appear in the movies that provide context to the story.
The HP series is probably more suited to a multi-season series that is coming on HBO MAX. Each book will be a season (guessing the last book will be 2 seasons), and JKR has said the scripts are much more closely aligned to the books.
Shawshank is definitely better than King’s original novella (which isn’t bad but it’s written from a very different perspective).
Forrest Gump. The book & the movie had almost nothing in common. Plus the book sucked royally, just awful to read. It was like the author, can’t remember the name, was drunk & stoned while writing.
I read the same author’s book about Vietnam & it was terrible.
I agree with Shawshank and add the Green Mile from Stephen King. Lonesome Dove is definitely one for me. I think the movie was just as good and maybe a bit better (I know it’s technically a mini series, but still).
Fight Club. The book drags along too slowly (especially if you’re reading it in Edward Norton’s monotone narrator voice). The movie is an all time classic.
Many would argue that the Godfather was a better movie than book. I loved both, but the book had a subplot about Sonny’s mistress (if memory serves?) that was dull.
Hannibal. The book totally sucked. Just a bunch of boring psychobabble, trying to explain Hannibal Lector and then having a stupid, unrealistic ending.
The movie wasn’t great either (I didn’t like changing actresses from The Silence of the Lambs, which was Jodie Foster’s decision – can’t say I blame her after reading the book), but at least the movie cut out the boring crap and had a more realistic and better ending. It was very upsetting after reading Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, which were both great and waiting 11 years after TSOTL book to get the hot garbage that is “Hannibal”. I might even watch the movie again some day, but I’ll never read the book again or read anything that came out after it (Hannibal Rising).
I will have to add that the TV show “Hannibal” was really good, but each season was not as good as the previous season (it lasted 3 seasons). Like the books “Red Dragon” and “The Silence of the Lambs”, the show was so disturbing that you couldn’t quite make yourself NOT watch it.
To this day I will not go near fava beans!
Everything about “The Silence of the Lambs” was awesome, the script and the acting were excellent. I saw that movie 1st and then read the book. The movie made me enjoy the book more as I now had the mental image of what I was reading. Then I read “Red Dragon” and it was just as good as TSOTL and then watched “Manhunter”, which was the 1st movie based on RD. It was pretty good, but left too much stuff out. I liked the RD movie better since it had Anthony Hopkins in it, but William Peterson as Will Graham was awesome. The Hannibal book almost killed my enjoyment of the entire franchise until the Hannibal TV show came out. I wish it would get picked back up so that I’d have something else to watch besides college football.
Thomas Harris made so much money off Silence of the Lambs that Hannibal is more of a travelogue of Europe. Silence of the Lambs the book scared the hell out of me when I was 12. I had real high hopes for the sequel.
TV adaption of 1980 UGA football was 100 times better than any book I’ve seen. How the authors scripted that season on a weekly basis left me wanting more….(The radio presentation thoroughly enhance the TV adaption)…GO DAWGS!!
I preferred the live performances. I managed to catch 10 of their shows that year. Just sublime, especially the actor that played “#34”.
A River Runs Through It
An oldie, but the movie matches the book: Twelve O’Clock High
I know it’s YA, but I loved the movie “The Outsiders” when I watched it back in the day. I then read the book which wasn’t near as good.
I enjoyed reading SE Hinton’s “The Outsiders” several years after seeing the movie, which happens to be one of my favorites from my youth.
Another better than book option is “Stand by Me”, adapted from a Stephen King novel. Don’t care for King for other reasons, but I absolutely loved that movie as a teenager.
I also enjoyed the book The Outsiders, but the movie was one of the top 2 that I have seen in my life. Can’t tell you exactly why, but I loved it.
I know it was a series and not a single movie, but Band of Brothers stayed pretty faithful to the book.
On a separate note, if I go see a movie and then read the book, I cannot get the characters voice from the movie out of my head while I’m reading. I read the Larry McMurtry books and I could not get “Gus” and “Woodrow’s” voice out of my head every time they had dialogue in the book. Come to think of it, I had a hard time seeing Robert Duvall after that and not seeing and hearing Captain Augustus McCrae of the Texas Rangers.
Like Band of Brothers, The Pacific did a great job; especially by using Sledge’s With the Old Breed and Leckie’s Helmet for my Pillow as source material for the mini-series. Folks can argue that the books end up being much more vivid and darker but it’s one of those times the story for a wider audience outweighs the books and the readings can actually supplement the show if someone wants to research further. Between rewatching the Pacific, Dan Carlin’s Supernova in the East series and reading Sledge’s book it was some dark material to consume.
The difference is that Band of Brothers was made pre 911 and the Pacific was made after how ever many years of the GWOT. There may also be a difference in that Ambrose wrote Band of Brothers as kind of an oral history because he interviewed so many of the Easy Company guys whereas Pacific was in part based on two books written by Marines not too terribly long after their experiences in the Pacific.
To. Kill a Mockingbird. Great book, great movie
The Hustler & Color of Money. Both of Walter Tevis’s books are great but Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felton can’t be beat.
I tend to agree with your point about King’s books being too long (though I do still slog through them occasionally), that’s why I’ve taken to reading his short story collections and novellas. He puts both out fairly regularly and that format kind of forces him to get to the point quicker.
King is still really good. It is a really long book and can be very silly but Under the Dome is great. I also think that 11/22/1963 is King’s best and I think it is less than 20 years old. I agree about his short story collections.
My all time favorite writer is probably Ross Thomas, There was a tv show some years ago based on one of his books but it was not memorable except that it had Rosario Dawson in it.
Look him up. PINES has all of his books and they are all entertaining with great dialog. I think that “Chinaman’s Chance” is the best of them but they are all really great for genre fiction with well developed characters.