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Movies that are better than the book

posted 3 years ago by Alocirp (688)
59 replies | jump to latest

99% of the time, the book is superior to the film. Of course, that leaves 1% of room for exceptions.

Here's a few of mine:
-American Psycho
-A Clockwork Orange
-Jackie Brown
-No Country for Old Men
-Fantastic Mr. Fox
-The Godfather
-Fight Club
-The Last of the Mohicans
-One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
-Requiem for a Dream
-Watchmen
-The Silence of the Lambs
-The Shining

No disrespect to any of these books, of course; most of them are great. For example, The Shining is a masterpiece both as a novel and a film—I personally just slightly prefer Kubrick's version. Same goes for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and A Clockwork Orange. Excellent novels, but for me, they're also both all-time Top 20 films.

I'm sure many people will disagree with my selection of Watchmen—which is fine—but I'm just not big into graphic novels, and thought the film remained incredibly faithful to the source material while somehow actually improving upon it. It's likely my favorite superhero film, and as far as I'm concerned, a damn near-masterpiece, regardless of genre.

The film that I believe MOST improved upon its source material is American Psycho, which is why I listed it first. The book was pretty decent, but not great. The film, however, is one of my all-time favorites.

So, what are some films you consider to be superior to the books on which they were based?

[–] Drooch (5333) 3 years ago

Misery
Jurassic Park

[–] Sarmoviefan26 (1368) 3 years ago

Not sure if better but as good as the book but I’d say Both adaptations of the girl with the dragon tattoo.
Some things the Swedish film did better and others the American film did it better.

maybe I could say the age of innocence with Michelle pfiefer, Daniel Day Lewis and Winona Ryder was better than the book since at the most people know more about the film than the book.

Marvel civil War comic
I’m cheating here a bit but many hard core marvel fans say the civil war film was better than the comic. And from what I’ve read about the comic I’d agree. The film Made Tony much more likable or at least redeemable, the comic turned him way way too dark.

Hey the MCU has improved a lot marvel characters on the big screen especially the trinity: Captain America, IronMan and Thor.

[–] TheLovelyAnomaly (619) 3 years ago

The Last of the Mohicans and Silence of the Lambs, definitely. I tried to read both books and couldn't finish them, but the movies are great. Also, I read A Beautiful Mind for a book club when I was in high school and hated it, but the movie is one of my favorites.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

I was just at Amazon to look over the reviews of the A Beautiful Mind book and I think I know what the problem is. The book is released after the film and the book is actually about John Nash and not the romanticized version that was put out by the Hollywood. I'm not trying to belittle the guy, he was very seriously ill, but he was a much different person than is presented by the movie Nash himself said this after seeing the film. I think it's the kind of thing you need to be honest about when you're in the kind of condition he was in.

[–] BillHicksFan (10662) 3 years ago

The Outsiders

Probably has the most pre-stars

[–] PaladinNJ (21629) 3 years ago

Toy Soldiers (1991)
The movie made a lot more sense of the motivation than the book did.

[–] chilone (18067) 3 years ago

Even the author of Fight Club said the movie is better.

Another one is Alien. It amazes me that someone read it and thought "This would be a good movie."

[–] Alocirp (688) 3 years ago

Never read the source material for Alien. Honestly didn't even realize it was based on a book. But yeah, I find it hard to believe the book could be better than the film, considering Scott's version is one of my all-time favorites.

[–] trevorh321 (5495) 3 years ago

A Clockwork Orange? I love the novel but I cannot stand the movie.

Some of these are close, like Mockingbird, Psycho, LA Confidential, the novels are well worth reading but the movies are slightly better.

The Shining
Planet of the Apes 1968
Jaws
Misery
To Kill a Mockingbird
Psycho
The Godfather
Pride and Prejudice, the Keira Knightley version
LA Confidential
The Halloween Tree
Empire of the Sun
Silver Bullet
Invasion of the Body Snatchers 78
The Haunting
Casino Royale (at least the most recent film)
Manhunter
The Princess Bride
The Death of Superman 2018

Most improved on the source? Silver Bullet. Not a great film, a fun one, but Cycle of the Werewolf is terrible, King phoning it in. Nice illustrations, though.

[–] Alocirp (688) 3 years ago

Some good picks there.

So why'd you hate Kubrick's adaptation of Burgess' novel? Like I mentioned, I think they're both excellent, but prefer the film. I feel like the biggest difference between the two is the ending. And I prefer the more cynical ending of the film ("Oh, I was cured all right.") Such a perfect way to end a darkly brilliant film.

I know that line is in the book as well, but then Burgess had to continue on with an unnecessary epilogue explaining that Alex was actually cured. Diminished the impact of the novel for me. Didn't much care for Burgess' conclusion.

[–] 000 (473) 3 years ago

honestly, movies save so much time, i reckon theyre all better

[–] Alocirp (688) 3 years ago

Well... I'll give you credit for the hot take, at least.