Best book to movie adaption

[Traveler78]

People forget that Dougals Adams wrote most of the movie (it was only polished off by someone else after his death).

Robbie Stamp: "The script we shot was very much based on the last draft that Douglas wrote... All the substantive new ideas in the movie... are brand new Douglas ideas written especially for the movie by him... Douglas was always up for reinventing HHGG in each of its different incarnations and he knew that working harder on some character development and some of the key relationships was an integral part of turning HHGG into a movie."

That doesn't change the fact that the book was much better. Just because you can write a great book doesn't mean you can write a great screenplay or that you know the best way to adapt the material to the screen.

 

[Sean]

LOTR. It's not identical to the books, but it's very close. And it captures the spirit completely.

 

[KRCummings]

LOTR. It's not identical to the books, but it's very close. And it captures the spirit completely.

And they were smart enough cut out the shit like Tom Bombadil.

 

[Sean]

And they were smart enough cut out the shit like Tom Bombadil.

Yeah, I never liked that bit. And I can't really think of anything else they left out.

 

[KRCummings]

Yeah, I never liked that bit. And I can't really think of anything else they left out.

Just tiny bits and pieces and if I remember right they changed the cutoff point between Two Towers and Return but I could be wrong about that.
Overall you're right, they captured the spirit brilliantly and kept as much of the books as possible.

 

[tinylittlegnat]

And they were smart enough cut out the shit like Tom Bombadil.

Actually Jackson wanted that part in and kept having to talk himself out of it. I never cared for the scene in the book but he apparently liked it.

Yeah, I never liked that bit. And I can't really think of anything else they left out.

They left out the return to the shire and it being taken over by Sharky/Saurumon and wormtongue. I much preferred how it was handled in the movie though.

 

[WolfMann63]

And they were smart enough cut out the shit like Tom Bombadil.

Yeah, I never liked that bit. And I can't really think of anything else they left out.

The thing I most noticed was that they cut out what Saruman and Wormtongue had done to The Shire after they had left Orthanc.

 

[Sean]

Actually Jackson wanted that part in and kept having to talk himself out of it. I never cared for the scene in the book but he apparently liked it.



They left out the return to the shire and it being taken over by Sharky/Saurumon and wormtongue. I much preferred how it was handled in the movie though.

The thing I most noticed was that they cut out what Saruman and Wormtongue had done to The Shire after they hand left Orthanc.

The scouring of the Shire. Hmm, I thought I remembered seeing something in the extended edition, but I could be wrong. I have the 12 disc set so all sorts of stuff is in there.

 

[WolfMann63]

The scouring of the Shire. Hmm, I thought I remembered seeing something in the extended edition, but I could be wrong. I have the 12 disc set so all sorts of stuff is in there.

There couldn't have been a scouring of the Shire because both Saruman and Wormtongue died atop Orthanc, a scene that was only in the extended edition of Return of the King.

 

[LaserLemon]

Silence of the Lambs...I had forgotten reading the book and while in the theater was highly alarmed by feelings of de ja vu or a sense that I had dreamed the contents of the flick...only lasted momentarily as I remembered the read, but because of that have always believed it was a great adaptation.

Godfather may be the best.

 

[KRCummings]

The scouring of the Shire. Hmm, I thought I remembered seeing something in the extended edition, but I could be wrong. I have the 12 disc set so all sorts of stuff is in there.

That's my problem. I have the longer versions and never saw the shorter ones and after about 500 hours of all that stuff you tend to forget what was and wasn't there.

 

[Shamanskiss]

I haven't seen it yet , obviously.

But , I am hoping The Road will deserve a mention in this thread.


and...

I was more than OK with 'No Country for Old Men'...

But , TL Jones , is TL Jones...

 

[Eeyore007]

What about Cold Mountain? That was a book first right?

And I have to give love to The Crow...for some reason that movie and especially the graphic novel really touched me..in a disturbing kinda way

 

[frdrcnjohn]

even though it was made for television . My pick is Lonesome Dove

 

[Peregrinator]

Touching The Void was an amazing adaptation.

 

[AprilSmithSucks]

Did anybody like Pet Sematary? I loved it. Plus, the author wrote the screenplay....The only part I hated was the last few seconds before the credits.

 

[Eeyore007]

Did anybody like Pet Sematary? I loved it. Plus, the author wrote the screenplay....The only part I hated was the last few seconds before the credits.

My friend named her kid after that little boy, Gage...creepy

 

[Beco]

Into The Wild
lord of the flies (original movie)
cool hand luke

 

[Beco]

I'd have to say Shawshank Redemption. It's one of the ONLY ones I can think of where the movie was actually as good as / better than the book (novella).

maybe, but Shawshank was a short story, not a book. The movie took many liberties

 

[tinylittlegnat]

What about Cold Mountain? That was a book first right?

And I have to give love to The Crow...for some reason that movie and especially the graphic novel really touched me..in a disturbing kinda way

It has some of the best black and white art work I have ever seen. The white horse stuck in the barb wire and them sitting on the beach was just amazing that someone could do that with charcoal.

 

[Nigel]

A Clockwork Orange
LOTR series
Blade Runner

I agree, but the 21st chapter is missing from the film (and most American publications of the book). It kind of rounds out the story and lets Alex grow up.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I agree, but the 21st chapter is missing from the film (and most American publications of the book). It kind of rounds out the story and lets Alex grow up.

I honestly cannot make up my mind whether I like it better with or without the final chapter. That fascinates me, as the addition of the chapter makes an immense difference to the theme and message of the piece. There's part of me that almost likes it better without, because I like the unflinching difficulty of the message, "In order for real good to exist, evil must sometimes triumph." So much tougher to swallow than "Good will win out in the end."

 

[Peregrinator]

I agree, but the 21st chapter is missing from the film (and most American publications of the book). It kind of rounds out the story and lets Alex grow up.

It's been so long since I read it that I have no idea if my edition had the last chapter or not. It will be a spoiler for some, but can you summarize?

 

[Nigel]

It's been so long since I read it that I have no idea if my edition had the last chapter or not. It will be a spoiler for some, but can you summarize?

SPOILER ALERT ** SPOILER ALERT ** SPOILER ALERT ** SPOILER ALERT ** SPOILER ALERT ** SPOILER ALERT ** SPOILER ALERT ** SPOILER ALERT **

**DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE LAST CHAPTER OF "A CLOCKWORK ORANGE**



Okay. Basically, the 21st chapter starts out like the 1st - except Alex is now the oldest of his new droogs. One night, they're out doing what they do, but Alex isn't really participating...he just doesn't feel like it. He tells the boys he's going home. He's found a picture on the street of a baby, and for some reason he keeps it in his wallet. He decides to go into a tea shop, and bumps into Pete - one of his old droogs from the old days. Pete tells Alex that Georgie has been killed (if memory serves). Pete is married, has a kid, and works a regular job. His wife is lovely, but thinks that Alex is a bit strange - he still speaks in nadsat, the slang the gang kids speak - and it's a bit much for her. Alex sits with his tea, thinking about Pete being married, thinking about the possibility of a job, getting married (perhaps to the young lady from the record shop) and having a baby - like the baby in the picture in his wallet. He's starting to think that all of the "fillying and shop-crasting" is really for the young, and that he's had enough - that he can have a kid, and the kid can get caught up in the folly of youth, if he likes.


Black Shanglan - I don't think that "In order for real good to exist, evil must sometimes triumph." is really the message of the piece. I believe that it's more about the folly of trying to artificially impose something that is against the organic nature of a being. In the last chapter, Alex comes organically to the conclusion that Ludovico experiment was trying to artificially re-program in him, simply by growing up.

I was involved in a stage production of "A Clockwork Orange" and the gentleman who wrote our adaptation spoke directly with Burgess about a year before he died. Burgess had apparently always hated that American publishers left out the 21st chapter - he said that it was part of the theme of maturity - 21 chapters = 21 years (pretty much a universal age of maturity) Burgess also gave his permission to produce a stage version "as long as it stays faithful to the book and includes the 21st chapter."

 

[satindesire]

I really wish that someone would take on The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman and make it into a movie threequel.

That would be SO BADASS.