Following on from another thread, this topic popped up. The Godfather was the obvious choice, and I think both Into The Wild and The Road are up there too.
Any others?
Blade Runner
Get Carter, was made from the novel Jack's Return Home by Ted Lewis in 1970.
It went out of print pretty quickly as it wasnt a great read. But we all know how good the film turned out. In a straight glass.
The Gruffalo - very faithful to the orginal text, though it did drag on a bit after a while 😉
The Road
Is the film any good - saw the trailer and thought it looks pants. Have deliberately avoided the film as the book is one of those that has stayed with me for ages after reading it....
Wouldn't have said the film of the road was anywhere near the quality of the book, but opinions and all that.
No country for old men is a great film, whereas the book is McCarthy's weakest by some margin IMHO.
Thunderbolt And Lightfoot
Shawshank
Silence Of The Lambs
Jaws - Peter Benchley's book was [i]rubbish[/i]
Requiem for a Dream.
The Road? I thought the film was excellent, mainly because it matched my vision of the book very well. I'm conscious this can be a very subjective thing though. It's possible that - because the cover of my book was a still from the film - I had a bit of a helping hand in creating my own images, even though I read the book before seeing the film.
the original ending to Jaws in the book was a real let down 🙁
The film of Jaws is far better than the book
The film of "the Road" is good but not better than the book.
No country for old men is a great film, whereas the book is McCarthy's weakest by some margin IMHO
Still a rattling read, imo, but you're right - it's an even better film.
Conversely, [i]Cold Mountain[/i] - lovely book, & so I refused to see the film.
Into the Void.
2001: A space odyssey
Watchmen, not technically a book but still good.
Life of Brian.
although I must admit, I've never made it all the way through the New Testament.
Fight Club - although I ruddy *loved* the book, in fact Chuck Palahniuk is awesome full stop.
Casino Royale
Yeah, 'do androids dream of electric sheep' was OK but not as good as blade runner.
Neuromancer is good but The Matrix was massively better (although granted, the link betwen them is tenuous)
Cool Hand Luke
[i] in fact Chuck Palahniuk is awesome full stop.[/i]
You are correct 🙂
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Cracking book, cracking film.
Only ones I know are The Godfather and Bladerunner. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is pretty close....
Lord of the Rings.
I preferred the book of the Road to be honest, but the film was pretty damn amazing too.
The Princess Bride.
Silence of the Lambs
Debbie Does Dallas.
Shit book.
I can honestly say none. Films never quite surpass what I was imagining in my head whilst reading the book.
Silence of the Lambs
Not sure about this one. The film is one of my all time favorites, but the book is superb as well.
jurassic park.
Christine (the Stephen King book / film).
Silence of the Lambs? Is that the one where the woman who can't see in the pitch dark shoots the bloke with night vision goggles on?
Far too realistic for me.
Limitless which was based on The Dark Fields, both as good as each other,
on the graphic novel note Watchmen was an epic read but they tried too hard with the film to please the geeks ~( ex assistant manager at forbidden planet so i know.......)
300 was an excellent rep of the graphic novel tho.........
Fear and loathing in Las Vegas makes a good stab at it as did Trainspotting. Both books are better, but very good representations. You are never going to get everything from a book into a film..
Trainspotting - is it just me but felt the book was grim/amazing. Film was like a comedy - but enjoyed it
(same cant be said for American Psycho - the film was shockingly bad)
Any film where there's a book adaption/novelisation written by Alan Dean Foster.
The list includes Alien, The Thing, Star Wars and Chronicles of Riddick.
Neuromancer is good but The Matrix was massively better (although granted, the link betwen them is tenuous)
Well, apart from the cyberspace aspect, I'm damned if I can think of a connection between Neuromancer and The Matrix.
And I've read Neuromancer since it was first published, in fact met William Gibson at the WorldCon in Brighton around then.
Touching the Void - the film is brilliant but the book's not very well written.
Also The Lovely Bones - I thought the book was a bit rubbish but the film's pretty good.
Tinker, tailor, soldier spy. Good book, excellent film.
Lord of the Rings+ 1. Boring, poorly written books, whereas the films are some of the best, if not the best, fantasy films ever made.
Margin Walker - Member
Trainspotting - is it just me but felt the book was grim/amazing. Film was like a comedy - but enjoyed it(same cant be said for American Psycho - the film was shockingly bad)
+1
Trainspotting was to clean, spent a day getting stoned and kept reading untill i finished it. Written how i spoke.
I used to drink in Leigh Walk so i had great images of the dirt bag types in the book. Although when there was a hash shortage in town you would often end up having to deal with these types 🙂
Any film where there's a book adaption/novelisation written by Alan Dean Foster.The list includes Alien, The Thing, Star Wars and Chronicles of Riddick.
Novelisations don't really count though, that's a book of a film rather than a film of a book.
If you discount the sequels and the way it all turned out, First Blood was actually an excellent film and the book was great too.
brakes - Member
Life of Brian.
although I must admit, I've never made it all the way through the New Testament.
😆 😆
LA Confidential. The book is excellent, but has so many different story threads running through it that you could never do them all justice.
With the film, they trimmed exactly what they needed to to make it much tighter and more direct, but the main story arc, the tension and atmosphere are still there. Every adaptation should be done so well.
Battle Royale! Although, in fairness, the novel may be so shite because of the translation.
Touching the Void - the film is brilliant but the book's not very well written.
Also The Lovely Bones - I thought the book was a bit rubbish but the film's pretty good.
A double-whammy of nonsense. Never before in the history of Singletrackworld's beloved forum have I felt more compelled to tell someone their opinion is quite frankly wrong 🙂
Touching the Void - fab mountaineering book; one of the best I have read
The Lovely Bones - very very poor adaptation of the book. I felt like I was watching a completely unrelated story at times.
Forest Gump!
Any of the Jane Austen adaptations, film or TV.
I bought "Emma" on the back of the TV version and it became not so much a read as a challenge just to get through.
Arguably the most boring book ever written. Even more than the bible. Or the koran, probably...
[whisper]That's cos it's a [i]lady's[/i] book[/whisper]
The koran? I doubt it...
I don't think you can compare Blade Runner to 'Do Androids Dream...' as they are vastly different in terms of theme, characters (same names but Deckard is completely different, for example), but overall I prefer the book to the film.
All of the Bourne films. The book is so heavy going, Ive started it three times and barely made a dent.
Those who've said a film is better than the book (and specifically the LOTR coz I thought the films were merely ok) did you read the book first?
I have found it harder to appreciate a book after already seeing the film, but the other way round the book is almost always better.