Films Screwing Books

[Vincent E]

"All work and no beer makes Homer.....something....something..."

Go crazy?

 

[kellycummings]

Go crazy?

Don't mind if I do!! woohoo woohoo woohoo!

 

[kellycummings]

Books that were screwed as films: All the Bond books (The original Ian Fleming ones that is).

Sure I do like the Bond films, they're great, but James Bond will always be remembered as the fast screwing, glib playboy spy with gadgets galore. Rather than as the cold, cruel spy, who gets his emotions crushed in Casino Royale and shuts down his emotions thereafter. You Only Live Twice was a classic book with fantastic character creation of a shattered James getting over the death of his wife.

Despite the filmmakers trying to make Bond a harder character, they're never going to capture the books.

The Earl

What about "the spy who loved me"? The book was an odd kind of love story told from the womans point of view and the movie had nothing at all to do with it. They just took the title and made up the rest.
I've read all the Bond books and totally agree. As good as the movies are they have very little in common with the original novels.

 

[gauchecritic]

Blade Runner and Total Recall (can you tell I only read sci-fi).

Total Recall didn't even bother with believable science.

A favourite Seinfeld piece was the Garcia(?) Spitting incident.

So this piece of phlegm hit you on the shoulder, skidded across your jacket, hit you on the wrist, then did a 180 degree turn and hit you on the thigh. So much for the loan spitter. When you were hit in the face the spitball must have come from foreward and right, because it made you jerk your head back and to the left. Back. and to the left.

Gauche

Edited to add: From the the film JFK (I can't believe there is anyone who hasn't seen that film)

 

[shereads]

So this piece of phlegm hit you on the shoulder, skidded across your jacket, hit you on the wrist, then did a 180 degree turn and hit you on the thigh. So much for the loan spitter. When you were hit in the face the spitball must have come from foreward and right, because it made you jerk your head back and to the left. Back. and to the left.

Heehee.

What I love about Seinfeld is that there's an episode to go with just about everything that can happen to a person, from arguing conspiracy theories to riding in a car that smells bad. Each one, a gem.

No soup for you. One year.

 

[shereads]

"All work and no beer makes Homer.....something....something..."

"Dad, are you licking toads again?"

"I'm not not licking toads."

 

[Guest]

I have yet to see a Henry James novel filmed well, e.g., Wings of the Dove, Daisy Miller, Portrait of a Lady, The Golden Bowl. I only watch the movies for the scenery, decor and costumes, and some lines of dialogue. Even with fine actors the films are flops, even as films. James' exquisite language does not translate into film frames, at least not yet.

However, Kurosawa, in another medium and language, set in medieval Japan, brought Macbeth to the screen in Throne of Blood. It is a brilliant adaptation of Shakespeare, and a brilliant film in itself.

Perdita

 

[kellycummings]

However, Kurosawa, in another medium and language, set in medieval Japan, brought Macbeth to the screen in Throne of Blood. It is a brilliant adaptation of Shakespeare, and a brilliant film in itself.

Perdita

Don't forget "Ran". It was a great version of King Lear.

 

[oggbashan]

I think it would be more difficult to find a shitty book that made a great movie. I can't think of any, in fact.

"The Sheik" by E M Hull

Og

 

[Guest]

Don't forget "Ran". It was a great version of King Lear.

I can't forget anything of Kurosawa. "Ran" is a version, yes; not really Lear the way Throne of Blood was Macbeth. I love "Ran", but it's not Shakespeare in the same way ToB is, for me.

Perdita

 

[kellycummings]

I think it would be more difficult to find a shitty book that made a great movie. I can't think of any, in fact.

The Bridges of Madison County

 

[shereads]

A book and movie of equal brilliance:

Remains of the Day.

I read the book because I had loved the movie so much. Anthony Hopkins' performance was so restrained and so moving, it hurt my heart. Reading the character, I couldn't imagine him being brought to life by anyone else.

Out of Africa was a beautifully rendered telling of some portions of the autobiography. The voice-over narrative was considered risky because it was equated with lazy filmmaking. But Isak Dinesen's opening lines in the book just begged to be read. The opening narrative, as simple as those few lines are, ends up being one of the most memorable things about the film.

 

[Guest]

Ah! I've thought of an exception to my very general and sweeping statement, made earlier in this thread...

Watership Down. Good book, GREAT film.

Always makes me cry, and the soundtrack adds to the brilliance of it. Seriously.

Lou

 

[Svenskaflicka]

"How Stella Got Her Groove Back".

OK, we're gonna make a movie about a middle-age woman who falls for a 21-year-old guy. Let's have Angela Barrett play the woman! Yeah, she's a very believable middle age woman! And let's throw in an extra character in the film, just for the heck of it! Played by Whopee Goldberg! And then we kill her! In cancer! Yeah, that's good!"

What WOULD have been faithful-to-the-book, would have been to cast Whopee as the romantic heroïne.

But that would have made Hollywood lose their lunch - WITHOUT using their fingers, for a change.

 

[shereads]

Watership Down. Good book, GREAT film.

Always makes me cry, and the soundtrack adds to the brilliance of it. Seriously.

The crying and soundtrack references made me remember the book/film partnership I can't believe I'd forgotten:

To Kill A Mockingbird.



Still missing Atticus Finch.

Hey, boo.

 

[Wills]

OK - It's Humble Pie time.

The Cider House Rules - screenplay John Irving.
Video & DVD both available through Amazon.

I have never seen them in any shop, in UK or Portugal and the 2003 Video/DVD World Wide Guide states they have never been released.

Now completely confused, apparently JI decided to do the screenplay after someone else screwed up the screenplay for 'A Prayer for Owen Meany'.

I give up, but thanks for all your contributions.

Will's (Note to publisher - J Irving NOT to write screenplays)

 

[kellycummings]

The crying and soundtrack references made me remember the book/film partnership I can't believe I'd forgotten:

To Kill A Mockingbird.



Still missing Atticus Finch.

Hey, boo.

Can't believe I didn't think of that one! Great book, great movie!
I've always thought Atticus Finch was one of the greatest fictional characters ever.

 

[SadieRose]

Have to say I laughed at the Seinfeld take on "The English Patient". Like Elaine in that episode, I found the original film unbearably boring.

Loved the novel "The English Patient" it was fascinating and absolutely beautiful. The characters were well explored and no single character took over the entire story. It was like looking at a series of tranquil, engrossing paintings. Michael Ondaatje took you walking with him in the Italian gardens in the rain and you felt for each of his cast members, especially David Caravaggio, who disappears in the movie.

And the film was an oversimplified crock of shite.

A very very long O-SCoS!!! *yawn*



Everyone send Terry Gilliam five dollars so that he can make the movie of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens, please. he only needs about £35,000 dollars now!

xx.Sadie

 

[shereads]

And the film was an oversimplified crock of shite.

Terry Gilliam owes me five dollars for promoting Time Bandits tirelessly.

I'll never be able to think of The English Patient without remembering:

1) An entire Seinfeld episode built on the theme of being afraid to tell one's date that you find The English Patient boring.

2) Another Seinfeld episode. Making out in the theater during Schindler's List.

 

[Remec]

Got an address?

Everyone send Terry Gilliam five dollars so that he can make the movie of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens, please. he only needs about £35,000 dollars now!

Coolness! I love that book.

I'm still waiting for Gilliam to get back on track making Alan Moore's The Watchmen, however...but this will do for now, I suppose. (The way The Watchmen shifts from view, style, and tone, though, it might make for a better miniseries. They still make miniseries, don't they?)

 

[cahab]

Ah! I've thought of an exception to my very general and sweeping statement, made earlier in this thread...

Watership Down. Good book, GREAT film.

... Ditto for Plague Dogs.

And on bad adaptations, at the risk of repeating myself (okay, so definitely repeating myself, whatever), Hannibal.

My teeth were ground down to stumps coming out of that movie. No! No! No! And from Ridley Scott, too, who should know better.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Re: Got an address?

Coolness! I love that book.

I'm still waiting for Gilliam to get back on track making Alan Moore's The Watchmen, however...but this will do for now, I suppose. (The way The Watchmen shifts from view, style, and tone, though, it might make for a better miniseries. They still make miniseries, don't they?)

I liked that book, but I'm saving my money for a non-cartoon version of Wyrd Sisters.

 

[kellycummings]

... Ditto for Plague Dogs.

And on bad adaptations, at the risk of repeating myself (okay, so definitely repeating myself, whatever), Hannibal.

My teeth were ground down to stumps coming out of that movie. No! No! No! And from Ridley Scott, too, who should know better.

Please tell me you didn't like the end of Hannibal (the book). I was so into it until the end and then wanted to throw it down, find Thomas Harris and choke him. The movie wasn't great but at least it had a better ending. IMHO.

 

[SnoopDog]

Please tell me you didn't like the end of Hannibal (the book). I was so into it until the end and then wanted to throw it down, find Thomas Harris and choke him. The movie wasn't great but at least it had a better ending. IMHO.

I agree the ending of Hannibal is risky and might not be liked by a lot of people, but
a.) it still is a great book
b.) i think the ending is somewhat explained by the character developement, and so remains within the logic of the characters that Harris created....
...if that makes any sense, lol
Snoopy

 

[Belegon]

Yo Perdita

We obviously agree on something here;

Akira Kurosawa + any film = damn good investment of time and $