20 Good Books Made Into Not-So-Good Movies
Do you agree with the AV Club’s list? Are there any more titles you’d like to add?
- Slapstick (Of Another Kind) (1982)
- The Bonfire Of The Vanities (1990)
- Bicentennial Man (1999)
- The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
- The Scarlet Letter (1995)
- All The King’s Men (2006)
- The Human Stain (2003)
- The Hours (2002)
- Stardust (2007)
- Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
- Portnoy’s Complaint (1972)
- Tropic Of Cancer (1970)
- Bee Season (2005)
- Stuart Little (1999)
- Even Cowgirls Get The Blues (1993)
- The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (2005)
- The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (2007)
- The Black Cauldron (1985)
- Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961)
- Stephen King’s The Shining (1997)
And here is another possibly scary list … this one of Books Into Movies that have release dates in November and December.
casa azahar 
I haven’t seen most of those, actually. I’ve read some of the books, but haven’t both read the book and seen the movie for any of those.
The two that I’ve seen are Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Hitchhiker’s Guide. I’ve just recently read someone expressing their disappointment about the book Breakfast at Tiffany’s. And I’m sort of embarrassed at not having read Hitchhiker’s….
I hadn’t heard that The Dark is Rising was getting made into a movie. I love the book. Too bad the movie sounds terrrible. (John just looked up some reviews when I mentioned the existence of the movie.)
LikeLike
Oh no! The link to upcoming movies — yes, they’re making one based on The Dark is Rising …”Will uncovers a series of clues, some dating back to biblical times” — BIBLICAL TIMES???? Have they not read the freakin’ books? Arthurian does not equal biblical! That infuriates me, the christianization of every freakin’ thing. “Hercules” a la Disney turning Hades into Satan was bad enough…this, a truly intelligent series of books (“Yes kids, there were cool books for kids before Harry Potter!”) is going to be ruined.
(wow. That made me angry. sorry.)
LikeLike
The AV Club article I linked to has mini reviews for each of the films listed.
I’ve only seen three of them. The Hours was excrutiatingly tedious and Even Cowgirls Get The Blues was just excruciating – I had to turn the latter off after about half an hour (what the hell was John Hurt thinking???).
I enjoyed Breakfast at Tiffany’s both as a book and a film, though I agree with the AC Club review that Mickey Rooney was awful in the film and that the ending sucked (the ending in the book is quite bleak).
I’ve not heard of The Dark Is Rising – will check out the bookshops for it.
Excellent rant, Lori! The AV Club reviewer says that the film “isn’t just a mishandling of the book, it’s a loud, clumsy, shallow insult to the author.”
I’m quite interested in seeing The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (from the upcoming films list). The review makes it sound a bit cringe-making but I really like the director, Julian Schnabel. The book is excellent.
LikeLike
I’m confused. Since when was Bonfire of the Vanities a good book? It’s utterly overblown twaddle.
I agree about Breakfast and Hitchhikers, both of which are pretty awful movies. Other then Audrey Hepburn the fomer has nothing going for it (actually the whole damned thing is just a sixties ‘Pretty Woman’), and Hitchhikers is just tedious.
I’m so sad to see that Gaiman’s Stardust has obviously been turned into a piece of sh*t. It’s a great book and deserved better. Also The Dark is Rising, though Sara found the book very dated.
And Stuart Little is a great film. And The Shining is pretty iconic. Granted it’s not Stepehn King’s The Shining, it’s Kubrick’s The Shining but it’s still a great film (Third best King adaptation ever? Certainly better than 99% of the others.)
LikeLike
From the list of ‘things to come’, most of them look horribly, deply, *worthy* so i shan’t be bothering with them.
One’s I might glance at would be The Water Horse (King-Smith has done pretty well out of films), Charlie Wilsaon’s War (sounds interesting, and I like Tom Hanks. Sue me.), Persopolis (The original comic is one of the more sensible comments on the middle-east conflict I’ve ever seen), I Am Legend (great story, already filmed twice and interesting to see Will Smith in a serious role for once) and No Country for Old men (Tommy Lee Jones is always good value for the money).
LikeLike
if anyone can do justice to cormac mccarthy the coen brothers can.
I’ll probably go to see The Atonement anyway.
Hated Even Cowgirls Get the Blues – both film and book!
and The Shining is a great film, Kubrick made it so.
that was an interesting post azahar 🙂
LikeLike
I’ve never heard of most of them actually – my loos I imagine.
The only one where I’ve both read the book abd seen the film is Stewart Little!
I almost always prefer the book to the film, especially if I have read (and enjoyed) the book first.
My main additions would be the Bond films. I really enjoyed the original books, and have never thought the films lived up to them.
LikeLike
loos = loss
abd = and
where is preview when you need it?
LikeLike
[ombudsben sent me this by email to post for him – says he can’t seem to post comments here. Anyone else having this problem?.]
I was a Tom Robbins fan back in the late 70s. At the time, Another
Roadside Attraction and Cowgirls seemed brilliant.
Since then I’ve heard him speak, and also found out that he begins a novel
with a general idea of where it’s going, but focuses on writing one
sentence at a time and just lets the muse … lead him on.
And it shows. Once I learned that, I realized why I tended to blitz
through his books noting the nice turns of expression and the
not-just-mixed but well scrambled, blended, and frapped metaphors, but
wondering where the hell he was going with this. The structures are weak.
Now, I’m just less interested. I like Uma Thurman, but I really despised
the movie. I mean, on multiple levels.
As a birder, I know the difference between a crane and a goose. Putting a
few cranes in front of a flock of snow geese to give the impression of a
larger flock is jury-rigged nonsense.
I like the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s too. Yeah, it’s early 60s
Hollywood. It caught me at a time when I younger and maybe a tad more
innocent, too. (New York seemed so cool and sophisticated to me, as a
kid.) I still think it has an optimistic charm, fidelity to Capote be
damned.
LikeLike
No posting issues here
LikeLike
I enjoyed it for what it was, though I wouldn’t say it was a favourite or anything. I never saw the film.
I won’t. I can’t stand Ian McKeeewwan (I’ve read the book – ick).
They are kind of 50/50 with me in terms of ‘getting it right’. When they do, it’s fabulous, but the other half of the time they seem to be playing at being cute for their adoring audience. Snore.
I’ve never read a Bond book or seen a Bond film. But most films don’t live up to the books, in my opinion.
I think of the film as being a ‘product of its time’ and I agree it has a lot of charm. But without Audrey Hepburn it would have been nothing at all.
LikeLike
We’ve actually made it to the cinema for the first time since we saw Transformers last Summer.
Although Sara had some difficulty with the ending (I think it worked brilliantly, but more in the way a coda does in music), we both agreed that No Country For Old men is a brilliant movie, marking a huge return to form for the Coen brothers who have floundered for some time. Built round a trio of brilliant performances (Tommy lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin), and camera work that should earn an oscar, it’s is a double thumbs up film.
LikeLike
Good to hear, Blues. Their last few efforts have certainly left me cold (and annoyed for wasting my time and money).
It’s not showing here (yet) at the OV cinema, maybe next week.
LikeLike
I seem to remember I enjoyed O, Brother! Where Art Thou and The Man Who Wasn’t There a lot more than you, but I didn’t even bother with their version of The LadyKillers.
No Country actually feels like a return to Blood Simple/Fargo territory.
LikeLike
I found those first two more annoying than *bad*- like they weren’t really trying.
The Ladykillers remake was abyssmal and that one with George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones was pretty awful too.
LikeLike
Yay! No Country For Old Men started today – in English! So I’ll probably go see it tomorrow.
Coincidentally, bought the book today.
LikeLike
Hmmm, just wondering …
Should I read the book before I see the film or vice versa?
LikeLike
Having just finished the book, I can put my hand on my heart and say it’ll make no difference whatever. No Country is a wisiwtg film, inasmuch that although they left some stuff out of the film, mostly the ‘adapting’ that the Coens did was to take the book and film it as a script.
Wen to see Sweeney Todd yesterday. It figures that Burton would choose to make a musical and then create his darkest fim ever. Very, very good, even with Depp channelling the spirit of The Damned’s dave Vanian, in both look and vocals (mistaken by most critics for a David Bowie impersonaation. Silly critics).
LikeLike
I’m dying to see Sweeney Todd. I saw No Country For Old Men last weekend and liked it just fine.
wisiwtg?
LikeLike
A misprint for wysiwyg. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film that is so true to the the original book in every way as No Country For Old Men – what you see on the screen is exactly what you get in the book, or vice versa.
LikeLike
Interestingly, I have now seen Stardust, and frankly I have no idea what it is doing on that list. It’s a really rather wonderful film, though I imagine the critics have difficulty with it because a) it’s in a field of two – the only other ‘fairy tale for adults’ movie is the hugely under-rated Princess Bride. b) Most, if not all critics are required by their job description to have hearts at least one size too small.
Also viewed recently the very, very good Last King of Scotland, utterly dominated by Forrest Whittaker’s brilliant portayal of the socopathic dictator, Idi Amin. (FW is just amazing in my book. His featured role in the last series of ER was simply magnificent.) I must read the book sometime.
LikeLike
Ah, I saw Stardust in the bookshop the other day and wondered if I should buy it. I just googled the film and it sure has an interesting sounding cast.
I’m with you on Last King of Scotland. Bought the dvd a month or so ago. I have yet to see Forrest Whitaker in anything where he didn’t shine. Personal favourites are Ghost Dog and Smoke. Still waiting to see the ER sequel.
LikeLike
For Stardust, I’d see if you can find the illustrated edition (that is to say, the original). Charles Vess, who did the illustrations is simply amazing and he added an extra dimension to a quite beautiful story.
As for the cast of the film, well, you’ll never think of Robert De Niro the same way once you see Stardust…
LikeLike
I couldn’t quite believe it was De Niro at first
LikeLike
I read Stardust about a month ago and saw the film yesterday.
Book – excellent.
Film – VERY disappointing.
Did you mean I’d never think of De Niro as a half-decent actor again, Blues?
LikeLike