Book ver Movie or series

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Most Estonians can quote it in their sleep.

Good one; I'll have to remember it.

[issybird]

I’ll suggest Deliverance.

Both book and movie are terrific in which case I’d usually go with the book, but the absence of the first-person narrator in the movie made the outcome even more suspenseful.

[Gandulf]

Originally Posted by hobnail

After I rediscovered ebooks and upgraded my ereader I looked at my library's collection and they have a lot. Checked out the first one of LOTR and yup, it's a slog and I didn't finish it. And that would have been the 3rd time I'd have read it. I'm clearly getting fussy in my old age.

As good as or better than the movie is the audio book version done by the BBC where they have actors playing the characters, like the old radio dramas.

Often wondered the age of a person when they review or comment about a book.

It is a bit of a slog, that's probably why I have only read them 3 times

[Deskisamess]

The Princess Bride book can be odd, if the reader doesn't realize it's meant to be satire. Check out 1 star reviews and you'll see examples of readers who didn't "get it."

But I do agree the movie was more enjoyable.

I enjoyed Empire Falls mini series more than the book, but the book is good. I've just got a thing for Ed Harris and Paul Newman.

I like The Haunting much more as a movie, the 1963 version. The book was supposed to be scary, but I didn't get it.

[Uncle Robin]

Definitely The Princess Bride for me, despite having read the book first. I actually enjoyed the book more on the first read as a teen, a few months before watching the then-newly-released film, than I did decades later on a re-read when Goldman's love of his own cleverness and clumsy autobiographical insertions came across as self-indulgent and tedious. The one thing I wish they had included in the film from the book was the way they all banded together to rescue Wesley from the Pit of Despair

[skb]

Even the author of Lost Horizon (1937 James Hilton) said that the movie was better than the book. And it was.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by skb

Even the author of Lost Horizon (1937 James Hilton) said that the movie was better than the book. And it was.

Agreed.

Also, The Graduate.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by John F

Soylent Green got me thinking of Charlton Heston, which brings to mind:

The Omega Man

PLEASE don't say that the goofy The Omega Man with its disco zombies is better than Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. Surely you must have recently been struck on the head for your perceptions to be so skewed.

The 10 Commandments

No comment there. Anything I say will feel like it belongs in P&R

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Catlady

and The Natural.

I thought the book was better.

[ZodWallop]

One instance where the book was definitely better than the movie was Girl On The Train. The better half and I read that one together and both enjoyed it.

But that movie... It was a bad movie not because of changes made to the story. It was just a poor movie, overall.

[curtw]

If you're not familiar with the story, you should watch "Predestination" before reading "All You Zombies."

Jaws the movie is much better than the book.

Von Ryan's Express, they're pretty close, but the movie's ending is much more memorable.

A Scanner Darkly, the movie is as close to a literal adaptation as it's possible to get

[John F]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

PLEASE don't say that the goofy The Omega Man with its disco zombies is better than Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. Surely you must have recently been struck on the head for your perceptions to be so skewed.

...

Yeah, that's the movie. I saw it a lot of times when I was younger, and a couple of times since, but it sticks in my mind. Whereas I read I Am Legend recently, and I've already forgotten a lot of it.

Come to think of it, I probably thought the recent I Am Legend movie was better than the book.

[ducks his head in shame]

[barryem]

I read "Dr Zhivago" and then saw the movie and, while I liked the book I think the movie was far superior.

I sure can't agree with "The Maltese Falcon". I loved that book. I might agree that the movie was nearly as good.

I have a hard time comparing movies with books. They rarely have that much in common and when they do that's usually a strong mark against the movie. They're different art forms and different also in that a book is the creation of a single mind and a movie is a collaboration.

Anybody remember Allan Sherman? He had a line in his song "Peter and the Commissar" that covers this situation pretty well:
"There's a saying that is true as well as witty
that a camel is a horse that was designed by a committee"

With that in mind I'm not sure I can agree about "Carrie" either. It was an excellent movie but I think the book was even better.

This is a good idea for a thread. I'm glad it was suggested.

Barry

[Paperbackstash]

Yes, many

I think these movies are all superior to the book - some off the top of my head, I'm sure I'm forgetting a few:

Jaws
Dolores Clairborne
Brian Depalma's Carrie (didnt' like the book)
Kubrick's The Shining
Monkey Shines (movie great, book not)
Requiem for a Dream
Horns
Terms of Endearment (really hated the book, loved the movie)
The Man without a Face (Book much better IMO)
Psycho -- I love Robert Bloch but his first book was very basic for him and it seemed half-hearted and I doubt he knew what a success it would be later

[rkomar]

Apart from "Crazy Rich Asians", most of the suggestions are old. Are there no good recent movies based on books, or are they not known here?

I thought Arrival was an excellent movie, but I'm not sure it's better than the short story it is based on.