Movie was better than the book... | The Boneyard

Movie was better than the book...

G0UCONN

G0UCONN

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My list includes...

One Flew Over Cuckoos Nest. Dull book but great movie.

Jaws. Book just OK....movie among best ever.

All The Presidents Men
 
The Original The Shining had a different ending than the book, but I thought the movie as whole was better. The book lagged in some parts. The Steven Weber version was more true to the book, but was worse.

Field of Dreams was better than Shoeless Joe.
 
I would say the Lord of the Rings series. I think your eyes kind of skips over it when you read it, but I made the mistake of downloading the Audible version of one of the books and the dialogue is just torturous.

Forrest Gump - I didn't like the book.
 
I'll second the vote for Jaws. The affair with Brody's wife felt tacked on and didn't add anything. As far-fetched as the end of the movie was, the shark dying of exhaustion would have been a terrible way to go. Plus, no Indianapolis speech in the book.

I also nominate Hunt for Red October.
 
I heard Robert Shaw just adlibbed that Indianapolis speech and they left it in...

great scene
 
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The godfather book had some major issues, particularly with the female characters. The movie is one of the best of all time.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
The godfather book had some major issues, particularly with the female characters. The movie is one of the best of all time.
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The Godfather movies had issues with female characters as well - Godfather II in particular.
 
Fishy said:
I would say the Lord of the Rings series. I think your eyes kind of skips over it when you read it, but I made the mistake of downloading the Audible version of one of the books and the dialogue is just torturous.

Forrest Gump - I didn't like the book.
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LOR trilogy was too tedious to read in book(s) fashion. If this were distributed as a serial, where over a year and a half, in small pieces the story was delivered it may have been readable but it was torture tackling that monster (trilogy) knowing how far removed you were from the finish line.

Forrest Gump was overrated as a novel (but a bit more humorous than the film) and the film strayed at times considerably (i imagine in order to let Tom Hanks fit the title character).
 
Fishy said:
The Godfather movies had issues with female characters as well - Godfather II in particular.
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There is a plot line in the book where Lucy Mancini, who only appears briefly in the movie, falls in love with Sonny because he is a large man and Mancini is very loose down there. Then she meets a plastic surgeon who tightens things up down there and she is much happier and lives happily ever after with the plastic surgeon. That is really a plot line in the book. Even in 1969, people had to be wondering "WTF is Puzo thinking with this?".

Every woman in the book is either a nope or a Madonna, and other than Kay, they are all idiots. Even Kay is not all that bright.

Connie is a whiny brat in the book and the first two movies. I actually like III, in part because the female characters are so much more interesting. Connie goes full blown gangster in III, ordering a key hit without Michael's permission, and then performing another hit herself.
 
Most Grisham books are better as movies, but I must admit that I feel that way because I think Grisham is a poor writer.
 
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nelsonmuntz said:
There is a plot line in the book where Lucy Mancini, who only appears briefly in the movie, falls in love with Sonny because he is a large man and Mancini is very loose down there. Then she meets a plastic surgeon who tightens things up down there and she is much happier and lives happily ever after with the plastic surgeon. That is really a plot line in the book. Even in 1969, people had to be wondering "WTF is Puzo thinking with this?".

Every woman in the book is either a nope or a Madonna, and other than Kay, they are all idiots. Even Kay is not all that bright.

Connie is a whiny brat in the book and the first two movies. I actually like III, in part because the female characters are so much more interesting. Connie goes full blown gangster in III, ordering a key hit without Michael's permission, and then performing another hit herself.
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Puzo had to have been a very bizarre character. I imagine that a psychiatrist would likely use this as evidence of some deviant tendencies (the part about the aging actresses, the real reason Johnny Fontaine left his wife). There was a TV mini-series in the early 1980's (don't remember the name) written by Puzo, supposedly based on his childhood in little Italy during the depression that was filled (as much as television would show at that time) with very strange (including cuckolding & humiliation) behavior.

I don't see what the purpose bulk of the Las Vegas storyline in the book served beyond possibly fulfilling some urge on Puzo's part.
 
The Vegas move was justification for Tessio's decision, but I agree that the book's description of what was going on in Vegas is also strange. Puzo was definitely an odd duck.
 
What about Silence of the Lambs? I didn't read the book but I read it described as "airport fiction."
 
Bandits. But mostly because the book didn't have Cate Blanchett as a redhead.
 
Waquoit said:
What about Silence of the Lambs? I didn't read the book but I read it described as "airport fiction."
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Harris' first 3 Hannibel Lector books were very good, as were the movies. Hannibal Rising was a bad book, and from my understanding the movie was terrible. Not a big movie/book gap either way in my opinion.
 
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Palatine said:
Curious George.
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There does not exist even a single Curious George moving picture (cartoon, live action, short, feature film, or otherwise) that is better than any book upon which that film is purportedly based.

The original Curious George Books are sacrosanct in every way, shape, and form. :)
 
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The Running Man, which is a distinct minority in King stuff.
 
pepband99 said:
The Running Man, which is a distinct minority in King stuff.
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I liked the book much better. The movie was enjoyable, but too campy. IMHO the movie should have stayed truer to the book, it could have been a great action flick.
 
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