A movie just as good as the book
 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the 60's version.

The Wizard of Oz

The Ten Commandments - Seriously.

All deviate greatly from the source material. For good reason. Books are not movies, they need to be rewritten as movies.

I'm blanking on more, anyone have any? Most of the time there's no comparison.

The Shining (Kubrick's version, naturally.)

Gone with the Wind

Jurassic Park.

A personal favorite - Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson (Published as "Bid Time Return"- also wrote I am Legend)

Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

The Godfather
Dances with Wolves
Fried Green Tomatoes
The Green Mile
Shawshank
HP: Prisoner of Azkaban
LOTR:FOTR
Maurice
Object of My Affection
&
that gay cowboy movie...

:)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

To Kill a Mockingbird

Blade Runner (book titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and I think in this case I actually prefer the film, though the book is quite good)

Ferdinand the Bull (the Disney animation is every bit as delightful, maybe even more so, than the book on which its based)

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh comes to mind
and I am with Borneo on The Maltese Falcon
The Godfather

I need to think, think, think on this more

Tons and tons of movies are better than the books. They tend to be movies based on books that either weren't all that good or obscure.

As examples of this I'd mention Planet of the Apes, Bridge Over the River Kwai, Psycho, The Exorcist, Midnight Cowboy, Ordinary People.
As for good movies and good books I'd say that The Prestige was as good as the good and maybe better because it was willing to make changes for the medium. The Pillow Book is a great example of someting working in print and then being transformed to a visual medium.

The Cat in the Hat (animated version)
Carrie
The Hunt for Red October
The Godfather
From Here to Eternity
I, Claudius (actually a miniseries, but awesome)

Hmm, I have seen a few movies, but have yet to read a book.

Children of Men - even though the book and movie are vastly different I like them both.

Surprised no one has mentioned Jaws yet, but, yeah, JAWS the movie is far better than the novel, and was well rid of the gratuitous extramarital schtupping and pointless mafia subplot.

Misery comes to mind.

I was thinking Misery, but I liked the book a tad bit better. In the book...

But I do love both the book and the film.
:)

Not a movie, but I understand that Wicked carried over well (other than completely changing the end).

The Firm interpreted the first 2/3 of the book pretty well, but choked on the end.

Mommie Dearest

Sybil

shudder

Yes, I may have mother issues.

Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Alice in Wonderland are three books that have never been adapted to film in a satisfying way. I'll also go out on a limb, and disagree with CP on Willy Wonka. I've watched the movie several times, and I find interesting things in it, but my love for the book keeps me from fully enjoying Gene Wilder's truly bizarre and off-putting performance. Why they continued this movie conceit of Wonka being a freak into the Depp version, I don't know. Eccentric in the book? Yes. Complete freak? No.

Hunt for Red October

I liked the changed endings much better in both of these than in the books.

Practical Magic - the characters in the book were not likable at all. Love the movie.

I'll go on a limb and say most Tom Clancy "Jack Ryan" books-turned-movies are as good as, if not better than the books. I love the Jack Ryan books and have read all but one. The books are incredibly technical and the movies bring it to life in a way a layman can understand. All, except for Sum of All Fears were excellent movies. Sum of All Fears tore the time line to shreds and drove me nuts.

Shudder, indeed. I remember the scene where she was chased by cats.
Scared me sh!tless when I was a kid.
:eek:

Speaking of mommy issues, I've never read Postcards From the Edge, and I love the movie. Who's read it?

Postcards is one of those films that I always meant to see but never did.
I'll have to rent that one...

Oooh, good ones, everyone. I agree with just about all ... except that Juraissic Park sucked in comparison to the novel (imho).


Um, what's left? Gonna have to get obscure now. But Perfume is as good a movie, if not better than the novel on which its based.


Heheh, 2001 is a better movie than book. But the movie isn't based on the book. And the book is not an adaptation of the film or its screenplay.

Maybe we can have a mommy view - er, movie view.

I'll have to agree with iSm here. There was a wonderful moment in the book where they realized that there were more dinosaurs than they thought and that they were breeding rapidly. It was such a cool moment that they replaced with shmaltz in the film.

The effects were cool, but gosh the dialogue was stinky and the acting was horrible.

We could watch:

Sybil
Postcards
Ordinary People - (The Mary Tyler Moore character is my mom, btw.)
Mommie Dearest
Prince of Tides

The possibilities are endless...
:D

I knew I'd get an argument on that one. I saw the movie first, which certainly affect my perception. And I will definitely concede that the book had its points over the movie. But the ending tips it in favor of the movie, imo. Chrichton can't end a book, period. I believe I read about a half dozen of his books and they all share that. No matter how good the bulk of the book is, the end is horrible. I liked the film ending better.

IMO...

The Original Farenheit 451

James and the Giant Peach

Pit and the Pendulum

Serial Mom. I heart Beverly Sutphin.

The same goes for Stephen King, too. I loved The Stand and It but the endings were meh.

Get Shorty - Elmore Leonard

Great film that used alot of the spirted dialogue of the book. Sadly I read it after I loved the film. I've read Be Cool, which I liked but have yet to see the stinker film.

Jurassic Park 2: Lost World sucked as much as the book, does that count?

Yeah, let me know what they do to The Mist.... I wont see it till you do.

The following Best Picture winners are based on books. So, with a few exceptions, they are pretty good. I'm at work board and waiting until I leave for my screening of Beowulf so I sit here and babble.

All Quiet on the Western Front (I had to read this in high school and I honestly don't remember a thing about it; didn't see the movie for another decade after that.)

Cimarron (based on a book that was pretty popular in its time but is now mostly forgotten as is the very successful author Edna Farber; she also wrote the book on which the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical was based)

Mutiny on the Bounty (I tried reading this when I was a kid but just couldn't; for some reason novels of the high seas bore me while movies do not; take that Patrick O'Brien)

The Life of Emile Zola (based on a non-fiction biography; never seen either the movie nor the book)

Gone with the Wind (personally I'm not a fan of the movie but my ongoing "adaptation" reading list has it coming up soon so I'll know if the book is better).

Rebecca (both book and movie are very enjoyable)

How Green Was My Valley (one of the few best picture winners I think an outright stinker so I have to assume the book is better)

Mrs. Miniver (not really based on a book since the book was just a collection of newspaper columns dramatizing the author's war experiences and writing under pseudonym)

The Lost Weekend (can't speak to the book and the movie is somewhat derided now for being preachy but I love it and I love Ray Milland in it)

The Best Years of Our Lives (not a horrible movie by any stretch but post-war sentimentalism got the best of everybody in giving this the trophy)

Gentleman's Agreement - Another message movie that I love more than I probably should.

All the King's Men - I think I'd actually argue that the movie doesn't quite live up to the book but it is a close call.

From Here to Eternity

Around the World in 80 Days - Not a very good movie at all, and in that regard is just about as good as the book.

The Bridge on the River Kwai - Mentioned it above but wanted to mention it again this time getting the title right.

Gigi - Don't know anything about the book but it doesn't really seem fair to compare a musical to a novel.

Ben-Hur - The book is truly horrible so this movie would have to be of Daddy Day Care quality to be "just as good" as the novel.

Tom Jones - This is a movie I actively despise so the book must be better. I still find it difficult to like Albert Finney I so hated the movie.

In the Heat of the Night - Actually a pretty good book but really, the movie has Sidney Poitier so I think it wins.

Oliver! - See Gigi.

Midnight Cowboy

Patton - Based on two separate biographies of Patton

The French Connection - You know, until this moment I didn't know that the movie referenced a real drug scheme/scandal. Reading the Wikipedia page about it I see there is some overlap with some of the events of the recent very good American Gangster.

The Godfather - The book is much better than I expected. The movie is much better than the book.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - I love the movie but having recently read the book I think I am more impressed by the book.

Kramer vs. Kramer - I like the movie but know nothing about the book.

Ordinary People - Mediocre book, good movie.

Terms of Endearment - I know it is sacrilegious but Larry McMurtry has never really done anything for me and this one plays a bit better on screen than on paper. At least, it is over sooner.

Out of Africa - Another of the few best picture winners I don't like at all. Too long, no point. I suspect the same would be true of the book but sometimes that is ok in a book.

Dances with Wolves - Never seen either.

The Silence of the Lambs - I'm finding that the movie is not aging well but it is still pretty darn good. Haven't read the book.

Forrest Gump - The movie is a travesty. The book has a bit more nuance.

The English Patient - Haven't read the book and my views of the movie are distorted for emotional reasons.

A Beautiful Mind - I prefer the book but they're really very different things and both are good.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Of the three movies only The Fellowship of the Ring can make any claim to great quality so I think this one suffers in comparison to the book.

tangent: Stephen King is the master of can't end a book. And I thought the ending of Crichton's Juraissic Park was just fine.


ETA: I should read the next page of a thread before I post. Gemini Cricket covered this. I heart Gemini Cricket.

Carrie
Mildred Pierce (for the self-sacrificing mothers, besides, it's Joan)

Alex, did you just insult my beloved Jules Verne? Curse you! CURSE YOU!

Speaking of books as movies, Ira Levin just died author of Rosemary's Baby, The Boys From Brazil as well as The Stepford Wives. All 3 made into good, if not great films (as much as I love Frank Oz, I thought the newer campier Stepford Wives was lame, just as the earlier one was cheesy, but truer to the original book) Rosemary's Baby, terrific film! I need to read the book and it's been decades since I read Stepford Wives.

It was certainly his best ending, but I still liked the movie's better.

I read The Cell recently and wanted to throw the book in the fireplace, I was so pissed about the ending. A cool book that was absolutely ruined. It was as if he had a dinner party scheduled and decided he better wrap things up before the guests arrived. UGH.

I find Robin Cook's books have worse endings than King's or Jurassic Park. Every single one of them leaves the door open for a sequel.

Slaughterhouse Five.

There is a film version of Love in the Time of Cholera releasing soon. I'm scared.

Wait until they're both out and do a double feature of No Country for Old Men and Love in the Time of Cholera and see if your mind can handle the 180 degree turn by Javier Bardem.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Shawshank Redemption

Charlotte's Web - the cartoon, not the one with Dakota Fanning

Lolita.

How could I forget that one?


Oh oh oh. Room with a View.

Too true. While he's my favorite author, I refuse to even crack open Congo ever again because of its craptastic ending. Blech...



My favorite book to films are:

Harry Potter: Sorcerer's Stone through Azkaban, before they ruined them with absurdly abridged storylines and the worst Dumbledore ever.

Red October I thought blew away the book.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I've loved the book all my life and the film dazzled me.

Dr Doolittle. Granted I grew up with the film, loved it, and read the book years later, so I'm perhaps biased.

I've yet to see a bad Forster book on film- my favorite is Howards End.

In honor of just now reading of the death of the original author I'd add Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives (the first one).