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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.
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