Movies vs Books

hammered · Feb 11, 2011

I don't know if this has been asked before on here, but here goes:-

1.) What movie have you seen is as good or better than the the book.

2.) What movie have you seen isn't as good as the book.

3.) What movie have you seen was in no way related to the book the title was taken from.

4.) What movie have you seen was as good/interesting as the book, but different

I'll post my choices if this thread gets some replies :laughing7:

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hammered

spartacus53 · Feb 11, 2011

I love the topic there "tough guy" :laughing7:

This is not one that can be answered quickly, so I'll reply tomorrow when both brain cells have kicked in :icon_thumleft:

hammered · Feb 11, 2011

spartacus53 said:
I love the topic there "tough guy"

This is not one that can be answered quickly, so I'll reply tomorrow when both brain cells have kicked in

In truth spartacus old mate, the reason I didn't post my choices is I lost my other brain cell. I think it rolled under the couch, I'll look tomorrow :tongue3:

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hammered

PS the remaining one is getting lonely :laughing7:

spartacus53 · Feb 12, 2011

OK, after a good deal of thought I'll start with the following. I'll be happy to add to the list as I think of others.

The hardest part about putting a book to film is finding a happy medium with the reader's imagination.

Movies as good as the book... maybe slightly less, certainly none better than the book.

1- One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest
2- The Exorcist
3- All the early Bond films from Ian Fleming were as close to the book.

Movies that were not as good as the book.

1- Sahara - In this case I leave it to bad casting for the role of Al Giordino, not even close to the spirit of the character.

Wait there is one that will fit better than the book. :tongue3:

1- The Shinning :icon_thumleft:

The end in the movie is different from the book. Although King is a great writer, his endings are sometimes a little too vague.
2- Goodfellas - The movie hit the book 100%

hammered · Feb 13, 2011

Spartacus, I agree with you regarding the ability to match a film to a persons imagination. Some good films have come from short stories and some bad films have come from big novels. I did struggle to read "The Heart of Darkness" and although "Apocalypse Now" was a great film ,it was different to the book. "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" was a better book than film. One of my favourite authors is Iain Banks, the first book of his that I read was "The Crow Road", who couldn't fail to want to read a book that starts "The day my Grandmother exploded", and the film, although low budget, was every bit as good as the book, both were great. Tom Clancy has written some good books, but the films have been disappointing.
Dune was a great book but a bad film, maybe the wrong director :dontknow:

, I like David Lynch, he has directed some great films but I don't think he was the right man for Dune, Ridley Scott would have been better. Like you, I will make a proper list in the next day or so, I have to unpack some books and compare them to my DVD collection to refresh my recollection, thanks for your input though mate :icon_thumleft:

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hammered

PS considering what you have done and what you have lived through spartacus, you are the tough guy, not me :wink:

spartacus53 · Feb 15, 2011

I can tell you that I would love to see the author John Saul have some of his stories put to film. I find him a better story teller than Steven King.

hammered · Feb 15, 2011

spartacus53 said:
I can tell you that I would love to see the author John Saul have some of his stories put to film. I find him a better story teller than Steven King.

I am always looking for new reading material so I'll give John Saul a try, thanks spartacus :icon_thumleft:

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hammered

Culinary Caveman · Feb 21, 2011

I'm gonna have to mull this one over to give you a better answer but off the top of my head I'm thinking- Shooter w/ Mark Wahlberg was hardly recognizable with the book and maybe that's the reason for the change of the title.
Legends of the Fall was a pretty good representation and I enjoyed both the short story and the movie.
And I can't think of a movie that's been better than the book right now so I'm going to go get the afore mentioned thinking cap now. CC

spartacus53 · Feb 22, 2011

Culinary Caveman, I know what you mean.. I'm still working on this. Some I have read the book, and not seen the movie, and also visa versa :icon_scratch:

Shooter was a goof flick though. I have to admit I like Mark Wahlberg as an actor. He's been good in every drama I've seen him in :icon_thumleft:

One thing I am certain of, I doubt that anyone will find a movie better than the book.

hammered · Feb 22, 2011

Culinary Caveman said:
I'm gonna have to mull this one over to give you a better answer but off the top of my head I'm thinking- Shooter w/ Mark Wahlberg was hardly recognizable with the book and maybe that's the reason for the change of the title.
Legends of the Fall was a pretty good representation and I enjoyed both the short story and the movie.
And I can't think of a movie that's been better than the book right now so I'm going to go get the afore mentioned thinking cap now. CC

spartacus53 said:
Culinary Caveman, I know what you mean.. I'm still working on this. Some I have read the book, and not seen the movie, and also visa versa Shooter was a goof flick though. I have to admit I like Mark Wahlberg as an actor. He's been good in every drama I've seen him in

One thing I am certain of, I doubt that anyone will find a movie better than the book.

Very strange, I was going to post the same thing, Shooter, although a good film, was nowhere near as good as the book. The other film/book I thought of today is " The Day of the Jackal ". I think the 1973 film was better than the later remake, both films being good, but the book, written by the fantastic Frederick Forsyth was/is superb.

spartacus53 · Feb 22, 2011

hammered, maybe go back and modify the questions a bit. This is really a great topic, but I am still sure the book is always way better than the movie.

Maybe I can classify Goodfella's as being better than the book. :icon_scratch:

Seeing the movie you didn't have to rad the book, the dialog was 100% quotes from the book. This is he only movie that was 100% true to the book, plus we got stellar performances from De Niro, Liotta, Pesci..

That movie was filmed at all of the location, except the bar... I still remember that old bar very well, sitting right in the middle of the JFK area. The diner was torn down and is now a Mac Donalds :crybaby2: