Movies that are better than the book

Debbie Does Dallas

Into the Wild by John Krakauer. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy. The movies were cool but the books were awesome!
 
Rocky
 
Edit: Oops I did this back asswards

There are many movie adaptions I love, but I can't think of any that beat the original book.

2001 A Space Odyssey comes pretty close.

I like 2001 Space Odyssey but I have to say, the book explained the ending a lot better than the movie....

La Planète des Singes by Pierre Boulle

sharke

SteveStrummerUK

sharke
I like 2001 Space Odyssey but I have to say, the book explained the ending a lot better than the movie....

I was confused at the end of both!

Yeah but at least the book puts the nonsense into words!

Maybe, but a picture is worth a thousand words, ya?
(Or is it?)

Tom I read that in high school, in English. Hard to imagine that he wrote Bridge Over the River Kwai too
 

Quite right, auto.Heart of Darkness was boring. In fact, everything I ever tried to read by Conrad was boring.

Hi,
 
Blade Runner ... takes the top prize for me.
Dr. Zhivago ... probably because the music was fantastic and made the film better.
The Tin Drum ... the book is hard to read all around. The film is much more fun and strange!
The Devils ... Ken Russell's opus from Aldous Huxley biography (better description than novel), is outstanding! The book gets into the politics, though.
 
Other side notes:
 
Wuthering Heights - Several versions, and Luis Bunuel's is actually better than the book, though it would be hard pressed to think that it was taken from this book. Recommended.
 
Arthur C. Clarke does not translate nicely to movies. 2001, was a travesty, but we liked it because of its outlandish style. Many of his novels are way too out there.
 
Ray Bradbury stuff doesn't translate well, either, and the film is either weird, or ... really bad!
 
Shakespeare, is the one writer, whose stuff can only work, when updated and not thought of as a medieval story, because both you and I and everyone here, would have thrown tomatoes at the actors and laugh at the guys trying to play girls. Some excellent versions:
 
- Peter Brook's King Lear -- Unreal actors work. One of the best of all Willy films.
- Derek Jarman's Edward 2nd -- Actually a Marlowe play, but it fits. The play will have you asleep very quickly!
- Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet is highly romanticized and well done.
- Richard III with Ian McKellen is unreal and out of this world
- Kurosawa's RAN is a King Lear version. Awesome film!
- Brannagh's film with Emma and various folks is great. And Michael Keaton doing his Monty Python impression is even better!
- Greenaway's Prospero's Books is an insane version of The Tempest, but unfortunately it is not a film that many of us will want to see, because it is way out there and insane. John Gielgud's readings are beautiful, and rarely will you EVER understand and appreciate words that sound so clear as they do here.
- Peter Brook's incendiary and amazing version of Midsummer Night's Dream with Diana Rigg and David Warner, is not available but can be found as a bootleg video here and there.
- Paul Mazursky's version of The Tempest, gets the award for the ... wtf ... but is otherwise excellent.
- Jean Luc Godard gets the clown award for "Godard's King Lear" and "Godard's Carmen", both of which have nothing to do with nothing, but are ...
 
The Fencing Master - novel by the Spanish author at the turn of the century is still the best fencing film ever made.
 
Werner Herzog's version of Kasper Hauser is more fun to enjoy ... and clever.
 
Luis Bunuel's version of STevenson's classic is still the best and was stolen by Tom Hanks and his folks.
 
There are many versions of Dracula and Frankenstein, and none of them are really satisfying, although it's hard to not appreciate the early version with Bela Lugosi's well done wording, and then appreciate the physical style of Christopher Lee. As far as the Baron, Peter Cushing is the best, and better than the book. The monster is "softer" in the book than in any of the films.
 
Other vampire stories. Carmilla has never been done properly, and most of it has to do with the sex in it, s it would fit better as a RRR film, if not close to the X rating. Ann Rice's stuff is better on the book because you can get the subliminal stuff. And her erotica is far superior to the regular novels, which have too much ajax for me!
 
Peter Weir's film "The Last Wave" is better in the film, than the book.
 
Lucy Irvine's book about her adventure, is way better in the film, although in the book you get to read all her thoughts, but Oliver Reed, made the book  better and the story more interesting, by making him less predictable.
 
(Have to look at my list of films to see what I missed!)

Okay, I'm going there.
 
THE LORD OF THE RINGS.
Complete with Comic Sans goodness.

mcourter
Moshkito, best response ever. You gave me a list for reading and for viewing.

 
Thx. Have done foreign film reviews for 30 years, and these things are always on the table and such ... most of them are actually fairly well known novels, like Kasper Hauser and Tin Drum ... for me, the arts all go together and not separate and this makes for my wording and a lot of musicians not liking what I say, sometimes.
 

I like both the traditional and the update versions of Shakespeare, with exceptions. Loved Baz Luhrman's R+J, better than Zeffirelli's.
Haven't read the Last Wave, though. Big fan of Weir's.
I've never seen a film version of Dracula or Frankenstein I liked as well as the novels.
 
Mosh, for whom do you review currently.

mcourter
I've never seen a film version of Dracula or Frankenstein I liked as well as the novels.

 
Agreed.
 
There was a version on TV, directed by Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows) that was very nice, I remember, but I have to see it again, as I barely remember any details in it. 
 

mcourter
Mosh, for whom do you review currently.

No one at the moment, and have never had the opportunity to get attached to any one publication. I don't do top ten, and stick specifically with more artistic works, and this is something that most companies would not appreciate. I have had some of my notes used in several Film Festivals, unfortunately, folks like Redford and the IFC and Portland are  more interested in something else than being appreciated for the foreign films they show.
 
So, I say, I write for myself, and if something happens, I'll probably cry and say thank you ... but my inner love for the film/music/art will forever be my own solace in this life. The only woman that never left me!
 
Lord of the Rings:
I like the films, and the casting selections that were made, which were magnificent. That said, the films were very well done, and lovely to watch. I have never read these to compare, mostly because I never heard of these until I came to America and was 16 and did not speak any English. That said, they were not a part of the "literary" library in our house, centered mostly on Portuguese, Spanish and Brazilian literature but with a very large European and Latin contingent, and this set of books was not one of them. While I can appreciate the story, in the end, there are parts that are way too simplistic and "symbolic" for me to appreciate. Being interested in film and theater, if there is one thing I don't care for is to be slapped with the "meaning" and told "this is the meaning", and sometimes, that was the divider of great stuff from the rest. I do not look at Moby Dick or the Old Man and the Sea as a fight against humanity or anything else ... sometimes, it's just an internal battle.  Nice set of books, and I have now read several of them, but in the end, they are not my favorites and if I want "escape" these are not the books I go after ... I disappear into books that are insane and way out there.

Hi,
 
A few more off my listing of reviews ... here we go:
 
Last Temptation of Christ//Martin Scorcese from Katzanzakis' novel, which has a very different point of view from the "known" christian book assumed by the vatican as the proper one. The film is actually very good and well done.
 
Zorba, the Greek//Michael Cacoyannis from Kazantzakis novel, but in this case, Anthony Quinn is the one that made this happen, not the book or the direction. Excellent music as well.
 
An Angel at My Table//jane Campion from Janet Frame's diaries. Superb acting.
 
Walkabout//Nicholas Roeg from the E. M. Marshall novel. The book is not as visual as the film, and this makes the book "mental", and the film is better at illustrating this.
 
Where Angels Fear To Tread//Charles Sturridge directing// Magnificent acting showcase, makes the E. M. Forster novel seem boring.
 
Women in Love//Ken Russell//Probably a little fancier and stronger than D. H. Lawrence meant to write, but it ends up clearing up the period and ideas much better than the book ever did!
 
Cyranno de Bergerac//Jean Paul Rappeneau// With his French hugeness at the lead it is hard to not enjoy this film. Makes the poetry play seem down right boring and pathetic! Even Steve Martin's version is more fun to watch! (Roxanne)
 
Carmen//Carlos Saura//Based on the story of Carmen, from which even an opera was taken, but this one had a great twist ... it was a dance film, and it was mostly about the "old dance" against the "new dance" ... and it was incendiary! Beautifully filmed and acted!
 
Being There//Hal Ashby//Written by Jerzy Kosinsky, who also worked the film script. As it turns out, Peter Sellers made this excellent, what would otherwise likely be a boring exercise in Hollywood.
 
The Last of the Mohicans//Michael Mann//Based on the famous novel, with unbelilevable music and cinematography, this becomes one of the prettiest films ever made. Highly recommended, even though it might not be 100% totally faithful, but it is a full story and works the books details and politics very well.
 
I might have more but they are not uploaded to my web site ... and I can not remember them ...from here at work!