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

Movie was better than the book...

Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
4,088
Reaction Score
2,094
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
 

Husky25

Dink & Dunk beat the Greatest Show on Turf.
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
Messages
18,527
Reaction Score
19,519
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.
 

Fishy

Elite Premium Poster
Joined
Aug 24, 2011
Messages
18,119
Reaction Score
131,886
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.
 
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
894
Reaction Score
1,808
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.
 
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
4,088
Reaction Score
2,094
I heard Robert Shaw just adlibbed that Indianapolis speech and they left it in...

great scene
 

nelsonmuntz

Point Center
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
44,185
Reaction Score
33,037
The godfather book had some major issues, particularly with the female characters. The movie is one of the best of all time.
 

Fishy

Elite Premium Poster
Joined
Aug 24, 2011
Messages
18,119
Reaction Score
131,886
The godfather book had some major issues, particularly with the female characters. The movie is one of the best of all time.


The Godfather movies had issues with female characters as well - Godfather II in particular.
 

FfldCntyFan

Texas: Property of UConn Men's Basketball program
Joined
Aug 25, 2011
Messages
12,347
Reaction Score
42,354
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.

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).
 

nelsonmuntz

Point Center
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
44,185
Reaction Score
33,037
The Godfather movies had issues with female characters as well - Godfather II in particular.

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.
 

nelsonmuntz

Point Center
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
44,185
Reaction Score
33,037
Most Grisham books are better as movies, but I must admit that I feel that way because I think Grisham is a poor writer.
 

FfldCntyFan

Texas: Property of UConn Men's Basketball program
Joined
Aug 25, 2011
Messages
12,347
Reaction Score
42,354
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.

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.
 

nelsonmuntz

Point Center
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
44,185
Reaction Score
33,037
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.
 

Waquoit

Mr. Positive
Joined
Aug 24, 2011
Messages
32,517
Reaction Score
83,812
What about Silence of the Lambs? I didn't read the book but I read it described as "airport fiction."
 

storrsroars

Exiled in Pittsburgh
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
Messages
20,026
Reaction Score
40,212
Bandits. But mostly because the book didn't have Cate Blanchett as a redhead.
 

nelsonmuntz

Point Center
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
44,185
Reaction Score
33,037
What about Silence of the Lambs? I didn't read the book but I read it described as "airport fiction."

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.
 

Husky25

Dink & Dunk beat the Greatest Show on Turf.
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
Messages
18,527
Reaction Score
19,519
Curious George.

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. :)
 

Online statistics

Members online
374
Guests online
2,020
Total visitors
2,394

Forum statistics

Threads
157,175
Messages
4,086,706
Members
9,983
Latest member
dogsdogsdog


Top Bottom