I am a firm believer in the idea that reading a book is better than watching a film, because it allows your own imagination to make marvelous worlds and characters. Nevertheless, I concede that on a number of occasions, a film director has managed to take a great book and make it an even greater movie – sometimes it is better for us to watch the creations of someone else’s imagination. This is a list of ten such movies.
Original Story By: Alan Le May
Ethan Edwards, an ex-Confederate soldier from the Indian Wars, finds that his family has been massacred and his niece captured by the Comanches and vows to bring her back and kill everyone of the Indians who did this to him. He travels for five years in order to find her and when he does realizes even though she has been found she has become one of them. The Searchers was ranked #1 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 10 greatest films in the genre “Western” in June 2008.
Interesting Fact: Lana Wood played young Debbie Edwards and Natalie Wood, who was Lana’s older sister by eight years, played teenaged Debbie Edwards.
Original Story By: Robert Bloch
Phoenix officeworker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam’s California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel… This is a film that no one will dispute deserves a place on this list. It is perhaps the greatest horror movie across all generations.
Interesting Fact: When the cast and crew began work on the first day they had to raise their right hands and promise not to divulge one word of the story. Hitchcock also withheld the ending part of the script from his cast until he needed to shoot it.
Original Story By: Peter Benchley
A Great White shark decides to make the small beach resort town of Amity his private feeding grounds. This greatly frustrates the town police chief who wants to close the beaches to chase the shark away. He is thwarted in his efforts by the town’s mayor who finally relents when nothing else seems to work and the chief, a scientist, and an old fisherman with revenge on his mind take to the sea to kill the beast. Jaws was a bestselling book for Peter Benchley, but it took the force of a movie to frighten generations away from the beaches!
Interesting Fact: After the shark was built, it was never tested in the water, and when it was put in the water at Martha’s Vineyard, it sank straight to the ocean floor. It took a team of divers to retrieve it.
Original Story By: Lew Wallace
When Prince Judah Ben-Hur hears that his childhood friend Messala has been named to command the Roman garrison of Jerusalem, he is thrilled. He soon finds however that his friend has changed and has become an arrogant conqueror, full of the grandeur of Rome. When Judah refuses to divulge the names of Jews who oppose Roman rule, Messala decides to make an example of him and sends him off as a galley slave. Through fate and good fortune, Judah survives the galleys and manages to return to Jerusalem in the hopes of finding his mother and sister, who were also imprisoned, and to seek revenge against his one-time friend.
Interesting Fact: Initially there were queries over whether William Wyler was the right director for the job, as he’d never tackled a film of this scale before. One of the doubters was Wyler himself.
Original Story By: Thomas Harris
Clarice Starling, a young intelligent FBI trainee, has been sent to the Baltimore state hospital for the criminally insane to interview an inmate Dr. Hannibal-the cannibal- Lecter. A brilliant renowned psychiatrist turned infamous psychopathic serial killer. She must match wits with Lecter -who has the darkest of all minds- and trust him to give her clues in the search for “Buffalo Bill”. This is, undoubtedly, one of the greatest psychological thrillers ever put to screen. The success of this film contributed largely to the success of Harris as a writer.
Interesting Fact: Anthony Hopkins studied videotapes of serial killers as part of his research for the film. After noticing that Charles Manson hardly ever blinked when he spoke, he did the same for Hannibal Lecter.
Original Story By: Margaret Mitchell
The epic tale of a woman’s life during one of the most tumultuous periods in America’s history. From her young, innocent days on a feudalistic plantation to the war-torn streets of Atlanta; from her first love whom she has always desired to three husbands; from the utmost luxury to absolute starvation and poverty; from her innocence to her understanding and comprehension of life. This one hit wonder book by Margaret Mitchell not only worked out brilliantly for her publishers, it also became the highest-grossing film in the history of Hollywood, and received a record-breaking number of Academy Awards.
Interesting Fact: The movie’s line “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” was voted as the #1 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
Original Story By: Stephen King (Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, a short story from Different Seasons)
After the murder of his wife, hotshot banker Andrew Dufresne is sent to Shawshank Prison, where the usual unpleasantness occurs. Over the years, he retains hope and eventually gains the respect of his fellow inmates, especially longtime convict “Red” Redding, a black marketeer, and becomes influential within the prison. Eventually, Andrew achieves his ends on his own terms. This film has become so popular it now ranks as the IMDB number 1 film – knocking the Godfather in to the number 2 spot. There is no doubt that the film is excellent, but I do not believe it deserves the number 1 spot on this list.
Interesting Fact: The mugshots of a young-looking Morgan Freeman that are attached to his parole papers are actually pictures of Morgan’s younger son, Alfonso Freeman.
Original Story By: Mario Puzo
Vito Corleone is the aging don (head) of the Corleone Mafia Family. His youngest son Michael has returned from WWII just in time to see the wedding of Connie Corleone (Michael’s sister) to Carlo Rizzi. All of Michael’s family is involved with the Mafia, but Michael just wants to live a normal life. Drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo is looking for Mafia families to offer him protection in exchange for a profit of the drug money. Puzo is a good writer, but Coppola is a better director and consequently this film rocketed Puzo to fame he would never have achieved alone.
Interesting Fact: During rehearsals, a false horse’s head was used for the bedroom scene. For the actual shot, a real horse’s head was used. The head was acquired from a dog-food factory.
Original Story By: Philip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
In a cyberpunk vision of the future, Man has developed the technology to create replicants, human clones used to serve in the colonies outside Earth but with fixed lifespans. In Los Angeles, 2019, Deckard is a Blade Runner, a cop who specialises in terminating replicants. Originally in retirement, he is forced to re-enter the force when six replicants escape from an offworld colony to Earth.
Interesting Fact: Philip K. Dick claimed that footage of the film was exactly what he had envisioned when he wrote the book. However, Ridley Scott, who was notorious for having gotten exactly the visual look he wanted, claimed to have never read Dick’s source novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”
Original Story By: Stephen King (The Body, a short story in the book Different Seasons)
Based on Stephen King’s short story “The Body”, “Stand By Me” tells the tale of Gordie Lachance, a writer who looks back on his preteen days when he and three close friends went on their own adventure to find the body of a kid their age who had gone missing and presumed dead. The stakes are upped when the bad kids in town are closely tailing – and it becomes a race to see who’ll be able to recover the body first. That such a great film can be made from a mere short story says a lot about Reiner’s excellent directing skills. Both this, and Shawshank Redemption (also by Stephen King) rate in the IMDB top 250. Considering that Different Seasons was a rather mediocre book compared to some of King’s great books (such as The Stand), make these two films clear winners for this list.
Interesting Fact: At the insistence of director Rob Reiner (an avid non-smoker who campaigned for anti-smoking laws in California), the cigarettes smoked by the boys were made from cabbage leaves.
Concept Contributor: Yogi Barrister
Synopses courtesy of IMDB, the Internet Movie Database
Having worked with many a Hollywood director as part of the directorial team, I can say with assurance that just because a director, (in this case Ridley Scott) claims never to have read the book from which the movie he is directing originates, makes it so. In fact, it would be highly unlikely!
Good directors, and Ridley Scott is most assuredly a good director, do their homework. Part of that homework would be reading the original book, interviewing the author (if still alive), or, failing that, reading other books by the same author and/or from the same era if a “costume drama”.
They may chuck out almost everything they’ve read save the “flavor”. It’s a directors choice.
A “claim” not to have read the book? Publicity.
2001: A Space Odyssey – The book is actually based on the movie. And it beats the movie hollow.
What about saving some time and including all of Stephen King´s novels that were made movies? They suck.
Oh no wait! The movies all suck too.
(Except The Shinning obviously and maybe Misery)
“reading a book is better than watching a film”
define “better”
better for who? for what? you cant make claims that don’t mean anything like that
There should be pointed out the difference between real literature (Phillip K. Dick, Mario Puzo) and Best Seller blockbuster authors (Thomas Harris, Stephen King, Michael Crichton).
By the way, for those of you who mentioned The day of the Jackal, One flew over the Cukoo´s Nest or A Clockwork´s Orange, that is real literature.
It occurs to me that I haven’t read that many books and seen their movie versions. The only time I can vouch for the movie being better than the book was the recent The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Great book (I love them all), greater movie (not sure I’d say the same about Prince Caspian). Very loyal, but with more detail (since the book was pretty slim).
I’ll once again lend my support to a Great Book/Terrible Movie list, and nominate Timeline for greatest disparity between book and movie.
I’d argue that A Clockwork Orange should be added as well, the book ending (Alex finally realizes the error of his ways and begins to be an upstanding citizen) is such a cop-out, and it renders the rest of the book meaningless-it proves the government and the mainstream really CAN force one to conform. Give me the movie ending any day of the week.
Yogi, I must respectfully disagree with your choice for #2. Philip K Dick’s short story was brilliant. Cyberpunk isn’t often held in it’s full spectrum and can be misunderstood. I would guess it would be one of those “popularity” things where most people would agree with you, but those who have delved deeply into cyberpunk would understand my point of view.
Everything else is spot on. Shawshank Redemption, yes! Did you know that the rights to that movie were bought from Stephen King for $1? He has that deal with any of his short stories. (I may have learned that from LV!)
124. psychosurfer:…The day of the Jackal, One flew over the Cukoo´s Nest or A Clockwork´s Orange, that is real literature.
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Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey, Milton’s Paradise Series, Shakespeare, Steinbeck, James Joyce, etc. *that* is real literature.
10. Searchers — Can’t comment since I didn’t read the book.
9. Psycho — OK, I can go along with that.
8. Jaws — VERY good movie but also VERY compelling read. Tie.
7. Ben-Hur — Pass. Didn’t read it.
6. Silence of the Lambs — Disagree. Very good movie but excellent book.
5. Gone With the Wind — Nope, book is much better.
4. Shawshank — Disagree again. King’s story is superior.
3. Godfather — Agree.
2. Blade Runner — Pass again.
1. Stand by Me — Nope again. King captured the feel of being a kid at that age in those times better.
Two movies that are FAR superior to their written counterparts: The Third Miracle (see if you can even find the book — or the movie for that matter) and A History of Violence (another Ed Harris movie).
I think Birth of a Nation should be #1 on this list. D.W. Griffith’s 1915 silent film about the American Civil War was based on Thomas Dixon’s The Clansman, a badly written and somewhat hysterical glorification of the Ku Klux Klan and justification of white supremacy.
While the subject matter of the film is obviously problematic, Birth of a Nation is a masterpiece of film-making. No other director of the time had the technical prowess of Griffiths, and this film introduced effects and camera tricks that had not been seen before. If you can get past the premise, this film is well worth seeing.
Gadfly I thought the storyline in the graphic novel, A History of Violence, was better than the movie, but it didn’t have Maria Bello, so you are inarguably correct.
I am Legend is better as a movie. The book was too boring.
128.Segue, you really got me on that one
Shawshank is great. Another interesting fact, Morgan Freeman’s character was an Irishman in King’s book. the line “maybe its ’cause I’m Irish” was kept in just for the hell of it.
i’d say Holes should be on the list too. terrible book, enjoyable movie.
However I doubt that I would attend a movie about Plato´s dialogues.
LOL! LOL! LOL! psychosurfer, you really got *me* on that one!
yay !! great list !! extra hurray for blade runner :]i feel like with sci fi its sometimes hard to turn a good book into a non-corny film
I have seen most of these movies but not read any of the books, so I don’t think I can judge this list a lot…but I would also like to add Brokeback Mountain. I was a lot more affected by the movie than the short story, that’s for sure!
126.
the book isnt a cop out, it is a book that is making a point, it has a plot resolution, it is about the fact everyone needs to grow up eventually. the movie only ended that way because the book originally didnt have that chapter in it in the US, but that ending leaves it with no plot resolution, which is a horrible device to use in a book or movie, it is unsatisfying(sp?) and horrible for literature(sp again?)
ANYWAY, the fact is that the book leads up to a point, and then makes that point, the movie leads up to a point then says “oh nevermind”
needless to say, there is another point both have, about the importance of free will, and then several smaller ones, but the book leaves you with an ending that is important, and that has a point vs the empty ending the movie leaves
(its still my fav. movie though)
Great list. i love it
As I’ve read none of the books I cannot comment the items on the list.
But one brilliant film which is based on a mediocre book came instantly to my mind when I read the list title: The Ice Storm (Ang Lee vs. Rick Moody)
m.
i didn’t knew these were books:)
Excellent list! I definatly agree with Shawshank Redemption. I love reading, but I couldn’t get into that book, LOVED the film though! But then Morgan Freeman is a legend!
Fight Club, the movie is just different. IN a good way
what about the wizard of oz?
146. El Pekardo: what about the wizard of oz?
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What about it?
Another omission: Ordinary People
Although I love King’s novels, most of his short stories leave me a little disappointed. I’d probably have to add “The Mist” and “1408″ to your list as well.
The Godfather??? The book, I can’t put down…The movie can put non-fans to sleep
Not a word in the article to suggest the author read any of the books, so it’s hit and miss. The novels Psycho and Jaws are indeed inferior to the movies. Psycho was a potboiler; Jaws was written by committee (Benchley scion asking editor buddies to tell him what to do) and by the luck of the draw the Hollywood committee came up with a much better story. Godfather and Gone With the Wind and Ben Hur are those rare movies that recreate the experience of a big popular novel; it’s possible to enjoy them more than the original (particularly the Godfather, which throws out some of the schlock Puzo threw in when he wasn’t respecting what he was doing), but most fans of the books would disagree that the books are actually better. Silence of the Lambs (like its predecessor and unlike its sequels) was brilliantly written, and as good as the movie is (it’s very good), the few places where it diverges from the book are inferior. (Indeed, the “laugh with Lecter” ending marks the beginning of the end for the whole series, book or movie.) Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream… are so totally different there’s no point comparing them. The Searchers is a great movie, but I haven’t read the source book and I don’t believe the list author has either. (For some reason I haven’t read either of the King books or seen their adaptations.)
Now, it is a fact that second rate books often make first-rate movies. But to come up with a real list of this kind, you have to be a book reader. Most movie reviewers aren’t. They frequently feel compelled to pretend they’ve read the original novel, particularly if it’s a classic, but because movies almost always diverge widely from the book, the reviewer’s bluff is usually given away within a sentence or two. Keep your eyes open and (if you’re a reader) you’ll see this all the time.
I might add that you could come up with a list of ten good movies better than their original books and stick to one original author: Cornell Woolrich (REAR WINDOW, etc.). As an author, Woolrich definitely had something real that a lot of writers never had, but it was almost always mixed with really terrible stuff. He was an adaptor’s dream — you could fix him up and feel you weren’t betraying him, but realizing his potential.
Regarding your mention of Stand By Me: “a mere short story?” I know what you probably meant, but it sounds so dismissive. Short stories can be powerful and great pieces of literature, and I hate to see them waved off so casually!
I have to disagree with Gone with the Wind. It was a truly amazing book to read, one of my favourites! The movie only captured a fraction of the detail and emotion of the novel.
“Travels With My Aunt” by Graham Green. this Carpe Diem Movie is better than the book. great performance by maggie smith
Both Shawshank and Stand By Me were great movies, but not better than the stories.
In my opinion both are as good as anything King has written and far better than most of his work. And the original titles were superior to those chosen for the movies.
I have just read The Bourne Identity, and the movie was far better.
I also have seen Goodfellas AND read Wiseguys. The book is so similar to the movie that it is like you are reading a screen play. That said, the book is better than the movie, if only for the greater depth of story telling.
Oh yeah, what did he think dog food was made out of anyway?
How could you miss Lord of the Rings!!
Peter Jackson trememdously improved on the books (which were brilliant too)! I think he did a fantastic job with the three films, which are on my all time favourite list.
One may argue that he took a lot of liberty with Tolkein’s text; but the emotion, grandeur, passion, courage, cinematography, the breathtaking CGI, the speeches, the charge of the Rohirrim …aww man! That elevated the stories to a new level!!!
Woot nice list. But I was hoping Fight Club would be on here. They changed the ending up a bit in the movie, and the author of the book actually stated he liked the movie’s ending better than his own ending.
@AmazingThor Your right, i did forget that League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was a Moore book. That movie was painful despite the great cast. Though I still stand by From Hell being a better movie. It didn’t have a third of what was in the book true, (Dense is a kind way to put it) but I still think it was translated into a more compelling story. And to each his own I guess about V for Vendetta and 300. though 300 was Frank Miller and not Alan Moore. I liked 300. I thought it was beautiful. They may have given the queen a bigger role and put loin clothes on the men so it wasn’t a movie of constant jiggling wang… but i still think it was as good as it could have been. Frank Miller tends to be more involved in his movies, which is why Sin City is practically a shot for shot translation of the comic. And after thinking more i just have to agree with a few others when it comes to Forest Gump and Fight Club. Incredible movies from painful books.
I have to say, I disagree with Stand By Me and The Silence of the Lambs. The stories were so amazing, I’ve always felt the movie just didn’t do them justice.
Yeah, ummm short stories are very different than novellas, both The Body and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, were quite long and detailed, though not long enough to be considered novels. I think this list needed someone who actually read the book/stories that go with the movies rather than just spouting off on how great the movies are. It’s quite obvious he or she hasn’t.
@DK (94): Ehhhh. there is no “Long” version. “The Princess Bride” pretends to be an abridgment of a real “Brothers-Grimm” type fairy story, but in fact it’s just the “good parts” version.
You missed Forrest Gump. One of the greatest movies of all time, the book by Winston Groom was a real loser.
ZenPoet-jiggling wang-now thats funny.
163. Ann:…short stories are very different than novellas…
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Most people don’t know the difference between short story, a novelette, and a novella. In fact, it looks as if you are confusing a novelette and a novella.
Everyone learns this in high school lit., but it’s easily forgotten. Still, it’s also easily remembered because it works as a stair-step mnemonic.
Short story, up to 7,500 words.
Novelette, 7,500 to 17,500 words.
Novella, 17,500 to 40,000 words.
And yes, there is some over lapping and wiggle room, but this is pretty much the basic deal.
I’m fairly sure the author of the list read the stories and/or books involved. Yogi Barrister is an old, familiar LV poster, and not someone likely to make up tales about what he has or has not done.
I think movie of The World According to Garp was better than the book, though I liked them both. Just seems the movie was able to focus on a few of the themes and make the most of them.
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned “Last of The Mohicans” yet. To be fair, I haven’t read the book, but I’ve heard it’s very boring and tedious, which the movie certainly is not. I also have to say that having re-read “Little Women” a couple of years ago, it is much more enjoyable as a movie–the book was very preachy, though it did include some interesting parts about Meg & John’s relationship, and Amy’s character was much more likable.
I have to agree with those who have said that the books “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Gone With the Wind” are at least equally as good if not better than their respective movies. TKAM was an amazing read.
However, with regards to Tolkien’s LOTR series, there is no way in my mind that the movies could ever be better than the books. This also goes for the upcoming movie based on “The Hobbit”, which is one of my favorite books of all time. I don’t expect everyone to enjoy Tolkien’s writing style, but for anyone who is already a fan of the books, no movie will ever measure up, even though Peter Jackson’s adaptations are amazing and among my favorite movies of all time.
On the opposite end, “The Wizard of Oz” is certainly better as a movie, as it vastly improves Dorothy’s character. The only thing I think it did wrong was her “I’ll never leave home again” speech at the end–which, considering there are 12 more books in TWOO series, doesn’t really make any sense. (As an added note, the sequels are much more interesting in my opinion–almost make you wonder was L. Frank Baum was on when he wrote them)
169. modernmonalisa: To be fair, I haven’t read your post, but I’ve heard it’s very boring and tedious.
i feel Lord of The Rings should be on this list. Tolkien took some wrong turns where Jackson took the right ones.
The Godfather is a fantastic book….I think better than the film.
Shawshank redemption and stand by me — really great films…
“Cocktail”
Movie- good cheesy 80′s fun
Book- Tom Cruise’s character is a cynical ass who only is with people for money and Coughlin dies about twenty or so pages in the book, barely mentioned. Ends with Cruise’s character marrying a rich chick he doesn’t care about and bragging about it to the reader.
two words: Fight Club
Seriously there are plenty of book/movie crossovers that are great or horrible but what makes these the top 10 and how were they different from the source material?
How about some of the older books that were filmed? Executive Suite, Anatomy of a Murder, and Magnificent Obsession are three that come to mind. Peyton Place, too.
I can’t believe that people think that the Stanley Kubrik abomination that was The Shining is better than the book! I’m genuinely shocked – it seemed to only be loosely based on the novel anyway. I found the mini-series with rebecca DeMornay (while obviously not as well directed etc), much more enjoyable and much scarier. Maybe it’s because I’m a movie philistine
‘The Plague dogs’ is another one – probably the saddest ending ever – is that a list?
Jurassic Park is about even, but The Lost World is much better in movie form (even though I missed the book’s color-changing Carnotaurus)…