Name a bad movie that was adapted from a good novel

[red dog 1]

Joseph Heller's "Catch 22" was a great novel, imo.

Director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Buck Henry worked on the film script for two years.
The 1970 film adaptation cost $18 million to make.

Mike Nichols has directed some of the best movies I've ever seen, including:

- The Birdcage
- Charlie Wilson's War
- The Graduate
- Postcards From the Edge
- Silkwood
- Gilda Live
- What Planet Are you From?

However, Catch 22 is one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

[DFW]

1. Prince of Tides !!!

Amazing book, film downright painful to watch.

[red dog 1]

3. Pat Conroy was a great writer

The Great Santini is one of my all-time favorite novels.
The film was very good as well

[DFW]

4. I never saw the film Great Santini

I did see "Conrack," which was OK. But Barbra Streisand somehow thought she could take Prince of Tides (the novel), and remake it with her imprint. The trouble is, she had about as much insight into the Southern mind as she did into how to be Pope. The film had NONE of the book's charm, sarcasm, wit, or raw emotion. It went nowhere fast and stayed there.

[red dog 1]

41. Same for the film "Catch 22"

The movie had none of the Joseph Heller book's "charm, sarcasm, wit or raw emotion.'
And it too "went nowhere fast and stayed there."

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

2. Dune

[ret5hd]

6. I agree. Excellent novel, but the movie just sucked.

[Turin_C3PO]

9. My choice too.

[flibbitygiblets]

85. OMG so true--what a giant gasbag of a movie that was

[unblock]

5. All of them?

Last edited Thu Oct 18, 2018, 05:10 PM - Edit history (1)

No, really. It seems universal for people who have read the book to say the movie wasn't as good.

How many great movies were actually based off terrible books?


on edit: not meant to imply there aren't a few better movies made from good books.
i just can't think of any good movies made from "terrible" books.
must be a short list....

[ret5hd]

7. It's probably easier to butcher a good novel that to "pretty up" a bad one.

Sows ear and all that.

[unblock]

10. Yes. And few studios are likely to pick up a bad novel and say "yes! Let's film that!"

Then again, there's no accounting for taste....

[qazplm135]

11. The Mist

the movie was better than the book, Stephen King even says so.

[unblock]

12. "Better than" is one thing. But would he say the book was "terrible"?

[qazplm135]

23. I was responding to this:

"No, really. It seems universal for people who have read the book to say the movie wasn't as good."

[unblock]

25. yeah, guess i shouldn't have reworded it.

there are exceptions where people who read the book think the movie actually is better.
didn't mean to introduce a tangent.

my point was simply that terrible movies made from good books is more the norm than good movies made from terrible books.
the latter list would be quite short imho.

[Glamrock]

57. Hell yes!

And the twist ending? Amazing!

[lunamagica]

29. To Kill A Mockingbird

[unblock]

30. not a terrible book.

[lunamagica]

34. I misread your post. Sorry

[Aristus]

8. I'm not sure I agree about Catch-22 being a bad movie.

It may not be as good as the book, but it captures very well, I think, the sheer nasty ugly lunacy of war.

[FSogol]

64. I agree. The movie was a good snapshot of the book.

Some streaming service should do it, faithfully following the book as a 8-10 hour series.

[geardaddy]

68. Oh, man, that would be sweet!

[geardaddy]

67. I agree with you.

I thought the movie was pretty good. It wasn't necessarily a good adaptation of the novel, which was excellent, but I thought the movie was pretty decent.

[Squinch]

13. The Scarlet Letter.

[The Blue Flower]

14. Frank Herbert's "Dune"

I enjoyed the series, but the film was unwatchable.

[ronatchig]

16. I loved the books but

I use that movie to fall asleep with at night.lol

[wcmagumba]

26. The mini series was better...

but not much...both were lousy...imo

[SKKY]

15. Just about any Stephen King book, except It...

...His books just don't translate to the screen well. Not sure why.

[The Genealogist]

18. Very much agree

I read most of Stephen kings books in high school, so more than once. "Stand By Me" was pretty good, but most of the rest of them just didn't do the books justice. He is just so good at appealing to the reader's imagination and getting it to work, that a film kind of gets in the way.

[Paladin]

24. Pretty hard to beat the movie version of "The Shawshank Redemption." (nt)

[OilemFirchen]

39. Uhmmm...

The Shining?

Carrie?

[Flaleftist]

44. The Green Mile?

Aside from some minor details and a little more information about Paul's situation at the retirement home, the movie seemed pretty similar to the book, from what I recall.

[Midwestern Democrat]

49. "The Dead Zone" film is even better than the book. Every change they made was for the better.

I think good vs bad Stephen King adaptations comes down to the director and cast - if you get Stanley Kubrick, you get "The Shining". If you get David Cronenberg, you get "The Dead Zone". But if you get a director that even a major film buff like me has never heard of, the results are going to be more like "Firestarter" and "Pet Semetary".

[mucifer]

90. I liked that the child in the end was a stranger. I thought that was so much more

powerful than in the movie when it was his girlfriend's child.

That's how I remember it. But, I read it a long time ago. I might be wrong.

[SKKY]

62. Wasn't a fan of either to be honest...

....but then again, most of my closest friends love, love, love Bob Dylan, and I can't stand him. So, take my opinion with a grain of salt.

[Va Lefty]

93. I agree about his horror stories but Stand by Me and Shawshank were great!

[rampartc]

102. i like the movie of carie

but i am a fan of sissy spacek. i agree on all athers being bad, especially the shining. and speaking of kubrick ........

[rsdsharp]

17. Most any of the movies made from Robert Heinlein novels.

Puppet Masters and Starship Troopers were excellent novels -- Troops won a Hugo. Both movies with the original novel titles were bad. The four Trooper sequels were hideous. Puppet Masters was a little better than the original Troopers but I may have been swayed a bit by the fact that some of the movie was filmed in Des Moines. The building I work in is shown in the helicopter scene; they flew between my building and the Hub Tower across the street.

Heinlein was also one of the writers and technical adviser for the 1951 film Destination Moon, which is loosely based on his juvenile novel Rocker Ship Galileo. That movie wasn't too bad.

[First Speaker]

21. I'd love to see someone do a good job with "--If This Goes On"...

...more relevant than ever...

[SeattleVet]

55. The best description of 'Starship Troopers' I saw was...

"Somewhat loosely based on the cover art of one edition of the novel by Robert Heinlein."

[rsdsharp]

66. I think I've owned three copies of the novel over the years.

I must have missed that cover. The shower scene was interesting, though, even though it really belonged in Joe Haldeman's Forever War, rather than Starship Troopers.

[Paladin]

71. The "Starship Troopers" flick has been one of my guilty pleasures, for years.

I can recall times gone by, when my young daughters would come into the study, take a look at the TV, and shout "Mom! Dad's watching the bug movie again."

And before too much longer, I'll have grandkids old enough to enjoy it with me. Life is good.

[Codeine]

89. The film version of Starship Troopers has the advantage

of not being an open love letter to fascism, however. It rather cleverly skewers Heinlein’s politics at several points, in fact.

[rsdsharp]

94. Sorry. No.

Heinlein was not a fascist. In the 1930s while, married to Leslyn, he was a liberal Democrat. In fact, he was virtually a socialist. He avidly supported Upton Sinclair's EPIC (End Poverty in California) movement.

After he divorced Leslyn, and married Ginny in 1948, he adopted her political views, and became increasingly more conservative. He could most accurately be viewed as a Libertarian in the last 3-4 decades of his life. He never supported the blending of government and business (Mussolini called it "Corporatism&quot that was Fascism.

[TEB]

19. Apocalypse now

Joseph Conrad heart of darkness

[Paladin]

20. George Clooney is coming out with a new "Catch 22" movie.

Kyle Chandler co-stars.

I agree the original doesn't hold up too well. It was made during the height of the Vietnam protests, and the script lays the anti-military stuff on a bit thick. Uninspired acting throughout, particularly a listless Alan Arkin as Yosarian. And who the hell thought casting Art Garfunkel was a good idea?

Here's hoping that Clooney's new version of a classic novel is a lot better.

[FSogol]

65. Breakfast of Champions with Bruce Willis as Dwayne Hoover.

[geardaddy]

69. That was a casting disaster!

[First Speaker]

22. The Bible...

...book was definitely better...

[ADX]

28. You win the thread...

[madaboutharry]

27. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman.

A story about two sisters, who are the descendants of a long line of witches and are witches themselves. It is a moving and serious book about sibling relationships and finding your way in a world where you will never fit in. It is serious literature.

Then came along a silly slapstick movie with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock that was not only ridiculous but an outright sacrilege.

[brewens]

31. The Choirboys. A good Joseph Wambaugh novel turned into a movie he at least hated.

I don't remember it real well.

[sinkingfeeling]

32. Recently, "Ready Player One". Loved the book and don't understand

why they had to change all the challenges in the movie and who went to debtors' servitude.

[wcast]

101. I agree.

Loved the book and all of the 80s references. Couldn't wait to see it on the big screen. I hated the movie so much that I immediately reread the book.

[ploppy]

33. The Power of One

The movie was a big disappointment. Such a good book.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

35. Simon Birch

It was an attempt at adapting John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany", but was so watered down in content and story that they changed the main character's name and merely claimed it was "inspired" by the Irving novel. In the end, a very forgettable movie.

I remember watching The Firm after reading the novel and thinking it was lacking compared to the book.

[Paladin]

37. That movie was an absolute travesty.

I have friends who regard the Owen Meany book as holy writ. I like it, but of all of John Irving's novels, my favorite is "The World According To Garp"---and come to think of it, the movie version of "Garp" came up way short of the brilliant book (particularly the book's astounding, heart-wrenching ending).

[skypilot]

76. The Cider House Rules got watered way down...

...on it's way to the big screen as well. I don't remember anything about it accept that Michael Caine was in it somewhere. I think.

[Baitball Blogger]

36. The Host

[sakabatou]

38. The Ralph Bakshi version of LOTR

[Hassler]

40. Sometimes a Great Notion is s great novel. The movie

Is only so so. The musical score is especially bad.

[techne7319]

56. Kudos here

SAGN is the most magnificently written books I’ve ever read - the visually illuminating detail, in-depth psychological perspectives, rhythmic writing style, all of it - a masterpiece which I reread every couple of years. I was so excited to finally find the movie on DVD a few years ago. I was sorely disappointed. The movie didn’t capture any of the magic of the book. It came off as cheap and “campy.” A honorable cinematic rendition would require a series format along the lines of “Lonesome Dove.”

[Midwestern Democrat]

86. Well, they originally started filming with a Universal TV director, then he got fired shortly after

filming began and Paul Newman took over the direction (and Newman, as great as he was an actor, did not really have any particular skill at directing - his directorial debut "Rachel, Rachel" got a lot of praise in 1968, but he never came close to repeating that success in the few attempts he made at directing after that - his primary motivation for directing seemed to be providing Joanne Woodward acting showcases). This kind of puzzles me - a book of that pedigree; Hollywood's biggest star (only McQueen was Newman's equal) in the starring role; a cast including Henry Fonda and Lee Remick - and they penny pinch on the director? They don't try to get someone at the level of a Martin Ritt or a Sidney Lumet? They get a guy who was directing episodes of "Ironside"?

[MaryMagdaline]

42. White Hunter Black Heart

Clint Eastwood ruined it by casting himself in the lead.

[shanny]

43. The Milagro Beanfield War

Loved that book; hated the movie (sorry Redford)

[Paladin]

47. Good choice.

Terrific book (it was one of my mother's favorites); merely adequate movie.

[IcyPeas]

46. Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice

[mercuryblues]

63. That was the 1st one

that I thought of.

the 2nd was American Psycho

[Coventina]

48. "Emma" with Gwenyth Paltrow

Ugh.

My favorite novel, butchered into slapstick.

[Codeine]

50. The Hobbit

What a fucking abortion those films ended up being, which is even more galling when one considers what the same folks did with LotR.

[Kajun Gal]

51. The Excorcist. The book scared me to death. The move was kinda laughable.

[red dog 1]

81. The book scared me to death too!

But I liked the movie, and it scared me too.
(When I got home from the 10 PM showing, I noticed for the first time that there was a trap door in the ceiling of my room...From then on, I had to leave a small light on in my room every night)

[RandySF]

52. World War Z

[AnnieBW]

53. Johnny Mnemonic

Adapted from a William Gibson story by the same name.

[Codeine]

87. I tried to watch that recently;

what a mess.

[SeattleVet]

54. The Clan of the Cave Bear

Jean M. Auel's original book was actually quite good, and (the first in the series, at least) pretty well researched.

The movie was pure trash.

[Doreen]

58. That was what I thought.

[LibDemAlways]

59. The Great Gatsby -any version

[SKKY]

61. See, I thought the latest was quite good...

....And I loves me some Great Gatsby.

[DetlefK]

60. "Hannibal"

The book has such complex characters and multiple strands and the end surprises and shocks. You can feel your sanity slip bit by bit. You finally understand the twisted logic behind Hannibal Lecter's murders and cannibalism. The why.

For the movie they cut so, so much. They fused 3 side-characters into one. And they changed a great ending into one that doesn't fit Hannibal Lecter's character-motivation.

[geardaddy]

70. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Excellent book. Trash movie.

[miyazaki]

72. Congo. nt

[Mendocino]

73. The Firm

The movie was another paint by numbers Tom Cruise vehicle.

[LibDemAlways]

75. I hated that they changed the ending. The

last chapter of the book was a seat of the pants page turner. The movie ending was a cop out.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

78. I remember reading the novel on my breaks at work and being rather drawn into it.

Once I finished, I immediately rented the movie and I don't remember much about it other than feeling rather let down that it wasn't nearly as good as the book.

I felt a little bit the same about Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which I also read on my breaks at my summer job.

[Mendocino]

82. The film needed another

45 minutes of running time. They had no time left for the getaway, so they chopped half the narrative to fit it in.

[LibDemAlways]

83. The getaway was the best, most suspenseful part of the book.

Some of the earlier fat should have been trimmed to make room for it. What a disappointment that ending was.

[Mendocino]

84. Remember the Nordic?

Do you recall the other stooge? None other than Dean Norris, Hank from Breaking Bad.

[Leith]

74. Bambi

I read the original Bambi (in translation) by Felix Salten when I was a kid. The Disney movie was the first movie I was disappointed in.

[LisaM]

77. LOTR and the Narnia books.

Peter Jackson missed the point of the LOTR books by the widest margin I've ever seen, and I have seen many bad adaptations.

My mother would say "Mary Poppins", which certainly veers off course from the books.

Oh, and the CBC "Anne of Green Gables", I about LOST it, and I'm talking about the Megan Fellows version.

The Keira Knightly version of "Pride and Prejudice" makes me angry, too.

[Power 2 the People]

79. Bridges of Madison County

[Basic LA]

80. John Carter (of Mars)

Best of the Edgar Rice Burroughs adventures, imho, but the movie was a mess.

[Codeine]

88. I sort of enjoyed the film, to be honest.

It was horribly mistreated by the studio after an executive shakeup made it a bit of a red-headed stepchild.

[edbermac]

91. Bonfire of the Vanities.

[zanana1]

92. I enjoyed Postcards From the Edge.

The movie.

[red dog 1]

95. So did I

I enjoyed every Mike Nichols movie I ever saw except "Catch 22"

[red dog 1]

96. "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me" was a novel written by Richard Farina

It's a truly great novel, imo, but the movie they adapted from the book was terrible.

Shortly after the novel came out in 1966, Richard Farina was killed in a motorcycle accident...He was 29.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

97. I usually go in reverse

Watch the movie and then read the book. I usually find that I can enjoy them both with few exceptions. The only thing that sometimes annoys me is how movies tend to "sex up" in terms of drama and action compared to what happens in the books but OTOH if some movies try too hard to copy the book, they can be a bit boring and plodding.

[jmowreader]

99. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Made from the most unfilmable book ever written, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas may be the most unwatchable movie ever made.

[MissMillie]

100. Simon Birch

"A Prayer for Owen Meany" was one of the best books I ever read.

"Simon Birch" sucked.

[Cartoonist]

103. Alice in Wonderland

A lot of movies have been made of this book. None of them deliver.