The Godfather to start, because there's no question on this one. Second, I'd say its a close tie between American Pyscho, one of the most underrated films of all time, and Fight Club. Both are superb, must-see movies, and much better than their books. American Pyscho mentally dances in circles around the novel its based on. Die Hard was based on a book called Nothing Lasts Forever, which I read growing up. Die Hard is different in tons of ways, but almost every change was necessary and had a positive outcome. No Country For Old Men, once again, great book but even better cinematography and the acting is amazing.
I personally believe, however some may argue, that all three Lord of the Rings movies were better than their novels. I read the first two and skimmed through book three, but the movies gave me a closer connection to the material and characters. Silence of the Lambs? The book could not compare to Anthony Hopkin's appearance or voice, but the overall experience was very close and hard to compare. The Jaws book was unreadable in my opinion, just something about it was too boring for me. So, the film was clearly better. In addition, The Shawshank Redemption is considered the best movie of all time on IMDB.com, but I haven't read the book to compare. The last book I can remember reading that was also a better movie is Jurassic Park. Much better character versions and the musical score/computer graphics at the time were uncomparable.
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I havn't ready too many... if at all, any books that have a movie made for it (except in school). I've heard nothing but good things about the movie and book, Twilight... which is why, for once I want to read the book before seeing the movie. My friend just lent it to me the other day and Im looking forward to reading it, probably after this class, so I can finally see the movie!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read too many of the books either, but in my opinion, I don't see how the books for Silence of the Lambs or Shawshank Redemption could possibly be better then the films. Those are two amazing movies, with Shawshank one of my favorites of all time. Some of the other films such as American Psycho, No Country For Old Men, and Lord of the Rings I wasn't a big fan of, but I never read the books so I don't know how it would compare.
ReplyDeleteThe topic that you're breaching here is actually a sub-discipline of both media and literature studies: adaptation. Once you get beyond the (original) book vs (adapted) film [w/ the (original) book being better] discussion, there's a range of additional research questions and routes for inquiry for you to explore. For a start, have a look at this book:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Film-Adaptation-Depth-James-Naremore/dp/0813528143/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249062218&sr=1-9
That is definately an interesting book to read and I will search for it in my library.
ReplyDeleteThis post led me to find this site:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/readers/movies/
It shows most movies that have come from books/plays/short stories. It's pretty neat to explore.