Movies better than the book

I go back and forth on "Jaws." The movie was a little different than the book, but both are equally enjoyable.

Die Hard 1 and 2 were based on books (and not very good ones either). The first was based on Roderick Thorpe's "Nothing Last Forever" and the second was based on Walter Wager's "58 Minutes." Obviously, the movies were better.

 

'Bonfire of the Vanities'

 

Ah, there's the Buck magic.

 

YOU DON'T KNOW?

 

"Fantasia" was pretty good.

 

Good call on "American Psycho". The semi-pornographic violence just overwhelms all attempts at satire.
I'm a big Elmore Leonard fan, but "Get Shorty" is a hell of a lot better than the book. ("Be Cool" on the other hand......)
"Forrest Gump" is a pretty crappy book that made a fine movie. "Midnight Cowboy" is an average book that became a great movie.

 

That absolutely nails why I liked the movie better. Not the Bonds comparison, but I just couldn't stand the Hobbs character in the book. Even before the ending, he is very different from the book in the movie.

It's kind of the opposite of "For Love of the Game." The book was always a personal favorite of mine. A quick, simple read, but entertaining. But of all the changes from the novel to the movie, the worst was the way Costner played Billy Chapel. They took a very likeable protagonist and turned him into a spoiled prick who occasionally tries to be nice.

 

Sean Penn's best film.

By MILES.

 

The fast Times book was great; a lot more depth than the film, thoiugh basically the same type of plot. As I have said before, what made fast Times great was that it looked like high school. There was no cheesy "Coming of age" arc, no BS plot to get the local whorehouse.casino owner . . .just people going through the day to day grind that is high school. Ither high scool movies are popular because they give 12-year-olds who see them an inflated, cool view of what t will be like. This movie was great because it makes those who have been in high school say, "Yup, I knew those people!'

Though the surfer is somewhat regional, everyone knew a stoner.

The book was amazing: I wondered how great Crowe was as a writer and listener, getting all that info while posing as a high school student, then getting it all down. Even when I read it at 11, I thought it was a singular achievement for a writer. Sort of opened my eyes to what a great journalist can do . . . . hey, I was young, OK? It's a crime the book is out of print. Can't imagine it not selling today.

As for books better than the movie that inspired them . . .Return of the Jedi's novelization has some funny Dagobah conversation where Obi-Wan says Luke was sent to live with "my brother Owen." Pretty apocryphal, and shows that even liberties taken (or uses of an older script) by dudes who write movi novels are most certainly not canon.

 

The Green Mile.

 

I haven't read the book, but I find that hard to believe. I find the movie to be quite overrated.

 

Sirs, Madames,

The Last Picture Show. (One more mention of "depressed" in the book and ... liked the book, movie's amazing.)

The World According to Garp.

Zodiac. (Unreadable book, wildly inventive adapation.)

Fat City. (Though the book is great and one of the great one-offs, John Huston takes it even farther, darker.)

The Right Stuff. (Great book, amazing movie.)

More obscurely (or just older), Advise and Consent, All the King's Men, On the Waterfront (the Schulberg book came after the screenplay), maybe The Man with the Golden Arm (I remember it being good but it's a long time since I saw it) ...

I'll try to come up with some others.

YD&OHS, etc