Movies Based On Books

[glm]

This thread is a discussion about books that have has movies based on them.

This part of my post is from a list I created of what I thought were the greatest movies of all time, then I found out which ones were based in books. Here are the movies based on books.

" " = Short story.

1. The Godfather - The Godfather - Mario Puzo
2. It's A Wonderful Life - "The Greatest Gift" - Phillip Van Doren Stern
3. The Godfather: Part II - The Godfather - Mario Puzo
4. The Silence of the Lambs - The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris
5. Raging Bull - Raging Bull: My Story - Jake La Motta
6. The Return of the King - The Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien
7. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kasey
8. Dr. Strangelove - Red Alert - Peter George
9. Apocalypse Now - Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad/Dispatches - Michael Herr
10. 2001: A Space Odyssey - 2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke/"The Sentinel" - Arthur C. Clarke
11. Psycho - Psycho - Robert Bloch
12. Goodfellas - Wiseguy - Nicholas Pileggi
13. Gone With the Wind - Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
14. To Kill a Mocking Bird - To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
15. Vertigo - The Living and the Dead - Piere Boileau and Thomas Narcejac
16. The Wizard of Oz - The Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum
17. City of God - City of God - Paulo Lins
18. Memento - "Memento Mori" - Johnathan Nolan
19. Fight Club - Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
20. The Shawshank Redemption - "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" - Stephen King
21. Rear Window - It Had to be Murder - Cornell Woolrich
22. The Exorcist - The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty
23. A Streetcar Named Desire - A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams (Play)
24. Ben - Hur (1959) - Ben - Hur: A Tale of Christ - Lew Wallace
25. The Bridge on the River Kwai - The Bridge Over the River Kwai - Pierre Boulle
26. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - B. Traver
27. The Shining - The Shining - Stephen King
28. Double Indemnity - Double Indemnity - James M. Cain
29. The Maltese Falcon - The Maltese Falcon - Dashiell Hammett
30. The Fellowship of the Ring - The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
31. Full Metal Jacket - The Short - Timers - Gustav Harford
32. Jaws - Jaws - Peter Benchley
33. A Clockwork Orange - A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
34. Frankenstein - Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
35. No Country for Old Men - No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy
36. The Great Escape - The Great Escape - Paul Brickhill
37. There Will Be Blood - Oil! - Upton Sinclair
38. The Two Towers - The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkien
39. Nosferatu - Dracula - Bram Stoker
40. Das Boot - Das Boot - Lothar G. Buchheim
41. Million Dollar Baby - Short Stories by F.X. Toole
42. Metropolis - Metropolis - Thea Von Harbou
43. Requiem for a Dream - Requiem for a Dream - Hurburt Shelby Jr.
44. Forrest Gump - Forrest Gump - Winston Groom
45. Die Hard - Nothing Lasts Forever - Roderick Thorp
46. Paths of Glory - Paths of Glory - Humphrey Cobb
47. L.A. Confidential - L.A. Confidential - James Ellroy
48. Touch of Evil - Badge of Evil - Whit Masterson
49. The Green Mile - The Green Mile - Stephen King
50. Casino - Casino - Nicholas Pileggi
51. The Princess Bride - The Princess Bride - William Goldman
52. The Prestige - The Prestige - Christopher Priest
53. Rosemary's Baby - Rosemary's Baby - Ira Levin
54. The Pianist - The Pianinst - Wladyslaw Szpilman
55. Stand By Me - "The Body" - Stephen King
56. Rebecca - Rebecca - Daphne du Maurter
57. The Thing - "Who Goes There?" - John W. Campbell, Jr.
58. Village of the Damned - John Wyndham

[fernandito]

Blade Runner - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Phillip K. Dick


#37 - I think you meant to put There. *

[idk, my bff jill?]

American Psycho - American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis

Loved both the novel and the movie.

[John_and_Yoko]

How about:

The Graduate - The Graduate - Charles Webb?



From the excerpt I saw on amazon.com, the book isn't much, but I do enjoy the movie. :)

[SigTauGimp]

The Mist - The Mist - Stephen King

[glm]

Blade Runner - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Phillip K. Dick


#37 - I think you meant to put There. *

Yeah . . . damn typos.

I also enjoyed:

Hannibal - Hannibal - Thomas Harris

And to an extent,

Red Dragon - Red Dragon - Thomas Harris.

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

Did not know that Goodfellas and Full Metal Jacket were based on novels....
*runs to the bookstore*

[Sam]

2001: A Space Odyssey was not based on the book. The book and the movie were written in tandem by Kubrick and Clarke. The story was an expansion (a major one at that with extensive reworking) of the short story "The Sentinel" written by Clarke in 1948.

[Sam]

High And Low - King's Ransom - Ed McBain

[turtlex]

Goodfellas is based on the book "Wiseguy" by Nick Pileggi.

How about "Mystic River" and "Gone Baby Gone" both by Dennis Lehane - both great movies based on books.

[Brice]

Sleepers-Sleepers-Lorenzo Carcaterra

[turtlex]

Oh, nice one, Brice.

Sleepers was great.

[Brice]

It was. It made me cry though. :(

[turtlex]

It's one of those great movies that I can watch again and again. Great performances all around.

Nuttin' wrong with crying. It's a very emotional movie.

[Brice]

Oh, I know. I love that movie. The book is really good too.

[Still Servant]

They might not be as good as some of the films/books on the list above, but I'll state them anyway:

Children of Men - P.D. James
Jarhead - Anthony Swarski
A Simple Plan - Scott Smith
Bang the Drum Slowly - Mark Harris (very underrated sports film, great performance by DeNiro)
A History of Violence and Road To Perdition were both graphic novels that I had no idea about.

[Arthur Heath]

I just watched A History of Violence, again, yesterday. The movie has the same (basic) premise, not much else though. The GN is great, if you haven read it check it out. It was written by the same guy that (co-created) Judge Dredd, John Wagner.
A book to movie I really enjoyed was The Motorcycle Diaries. Originally written by Che Guevara.
One I would like to see pulled off is Orson Scott Cards Enders Game.

[RUBE]

I wish The Road would hurry-up and come out. Cormac McCarthy's book was awesome so there is little chance that it will be as good but these delays are killing me. I want to see this movie already.

[Spencer]

Watchmen's about to be on my shit list of worst adaption ever, right up there with The Firm. <_<

[Django]

I wish The Road would hurry-up and come out. Cormac McCarthy's book was awesome so there is little chance that it will be as good but these delays are killing me. I want to see this movie already.

I love the novel too, and if Hillcoat does as good a job as he'd done with Proposition, I think the movie will be good as well. With Nick Cave and Warren Ellis doing the soundtrack and Viggo Mortensen as the lead, I think we're set for a good thing there.

:cowboy:

[fernandito]

Watchmen's about to be on my shit list of worst adaption ever, right up there with The Firm. <_<

The squid thing, right?

[RUBE]

Watchmen's about to be on my shit list of worst adaption ever, right up there with The Firm. <_<

Shouldn't you wait to actually watch the movie before you decide that? Maybe Snyder can pull it off without the"squid." It doesn't have to be an exact replica of the original to be a good adaption.

[razz]

Starship Troopers- Starship Troopers- Robert A. Heinlen

[obscurejude]

Jurassic Park- Jurassic Park- Michael Chrichton

Having read the book five times before the movie was made, I was really impressed with what Spielberg pulled off. It was spectacular for that time.

[razz]

I loved both the book and the movie, but it seemed like the plot twist in the book (dinosaurs breeding) was added to the movie, but cut halfway through.

[obscurejude]

I'm sorry Razz, I want to talk about it but I'm not sure what you are saying. You mean that they mentioned it in the movie, but kind of forgot about it after Grant and the kids saw the eggs? Or do you mean something else?

[razz]

yeah that's exactly what i mean. They set it up, like it's important in the movie, then they never mention it again. I think they were gonna pursue it, btu didn't have the budget, so they added the corny "saved by the Big-Badass T-Rex" bit instead

[obscurejude]

Yeah, that was a bit jarring. Do you think it was explained better in the later movies when the animals were clearly breeding elsewhere?

I think one of the reasons it was more important in the book was the chaos theory philosophy and Malcom's insistence that life finds a way. To try to harness that kind of power is absurd and in the book Hammond was presented as a madman. In the movie, they toned his character down quite a bit and so I wonder if that's why it was only a peripheral development in the movie? Does that make sense?

[Empath of the White]

Something else I recall they left out of the movie: In the book when the cars had stopped near the Rex enclosure, I think either the kids or Grant noticed some velociraptors sneaking onto one of the mainland-bound boats.

[razz]

yup. they left that out of the movie as well. the urgency to return in the book was to stop the boat before it reached mainland.

[obscurejude]

They left the whole epilogue out of the movie as well as the junior T Rex, the river chase, and a ton of other things. It was still a good movie though and caught the tone of the book very well. I can understand how switching the ages of Lex and Tim and the characters of Genarro and Muldanno for cinematic purposes.

Visually, the island just looked amazing.

[razz]

I'm still waiting for news of JP IV, which is supposedly in production as we speak. I'm sure our good man's death will delay it a while, as it should, but it better be a good fucking film. or people will be hurt. badly.

[fernandito]

I'm still waiting for news of JP IV, which is supposedly in production as we speak. I'm sure our good man's death will delay it a while, as it should, but it better be a good fucking film. or people will be hurt. badly.

Don't hold your breath amigo. I just read an article last week saying that Universal has no plans for a JP IV anytime in the near future. As a matter of fact, the producer for the first three films, Kathleen Kennedy, believes that a fourth installment might never see the light of day due to the death of Crichton.

I'll PM you the link as soon as I find it.

[Spencer]

Watchmen's about to be on my shit list of worst adaption ever, right up there with The Firm. <_<

The squid thing, right?

Not just that, but what they've apparently put in the place of it.

[Spencer]

Hannibal - Hannibal - Thomas Harris


Now THERE'S a total 180 from the ending of the book, right up there with the aforementioned The Firm. The change was SO drastic that if Harris ever writes a sequel, they'll have to retroactively change the ending of the Hannibal movie and make that revised ending the first scene of the new film in order for ANYTHING to make sense to someone who has never read the books. Are you confused? The rest of the audience will be, too. :lol:

[pathoftheturtle]

An interesting topic, though a full list would be about impossible. Many, many films have their origins in literature, whether people realize it or not. (Right now, I'm trying to find a copy of Gone to Texas by Forrest Carter, which I noticed was the basis for The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976, Clint Eastwood) upon recently re-watching it.)

Not long ago, I saw The Cider House Rules (1999, Lasse Hallström) and found it to be a rare example of the Hollywood ideal: adapting the novel to the medium really refined the story greatly, IMO. Getting the original author for the screenplay like they did is a big help; moviemakers would like to believe that books are often improved upon in this way, but, usually, the film versions fall short.

My favorite example may be the classic movie The Good Earth (1937, Sidney Franklin) from the even better novel of the same title by Pearl Buck. The different endings graphically show an over-emphasis on a good, though secondary, theme of the novel at the cost of its real main message.

Original films can be truly wonderful, and demonstrate the younger art-form's unique powers. Alan Dean Foster, who's written many "novelizations" of popular films, once joked that "If you make a book into a movie, they call you a genius. If you make a movie into a book, they call you an idiot."

Anyway, all of this makes fantastic food for thought. :D

[fernandito]

hey, let's update this list!

[Roland of Gilead 33]

The firm, funny thing, i actually like the ending to the film better than the book. which i don't always say. i dunno if this one has been mentioned but the perfect film and the perfect book of "To Kill a Mockingbird' where both are pure masterpieces in itself.

also 'The Godfather' the film i liked better than the book. for me i thought the book wasn't very good actually. and yes i did see the film 1st. but the book wasn't terrible. i just liked the film better. there are some films i can say that about actually. like Carrie i love the original film. it's another perfect film. yet the book is a piece of shit. i thought it was an awful book but many love it and to each their own.

though i am grateful for it cause it gave SK a career. and i have many wonderful childhood memories of SK films and tv show etc.. because he got that published and it was such a hit. so am grateful he wrote it. i just didn't like the book that's all.

[needfulthings]

hey, let's update this list!

Where do you want to start? This book has over 2,800 titles (Just paperbacks)
http://imageshack.us/a/img18/8421/img509s.jpg

This one around 700
http://imageshack.us/a/img33/4348/img510l.jpg

OF COURSE THEY HAVE BOTH MOVIES BASED ON BOOKS & BOOKS BASED ON MOVIES.

JUST A SMALL PART OF MY SCI-FI,HORROR FANTASY PAPERBACK COLLECTION. PART OF K & L.
http://imageshack.us/a/img191/945/dscn5776g.jpg

[pathoftheturtle]

... BOTH MOVIES BASED ON BOOKS & BOOKS BASED ON MOVIES= EVERY MOVIE EVER.

Well, maybe not quite. But if there are any movies with no books, that would probably be the shortest list.
We could try to track them all down, but I bet that before we got many, somebody would see it and create another one to sell.

[needfulthings]

welcome to the world of collecting.

[needfulthings]

http://imageshack.us/a/img819/6674/img528c.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img809/7091/img529m.jpg


http://imageshack.us/a/img545/9840/img530d.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img69/5652/img531l.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img571/1913/img532.jpg

[fernandito]

http://imageshack.us/a/img819/6674/img528c.jpg

Oh wow, I love this image. That's a creepy ass looking cover.

[DoctorDodge]

Agreed, Fernando. I especially love how the eyes of everyone stick out. Very effective, imo.

[needfulthings]

BOOK TO FILM
http://imageshack.us/a/img850/6058/img533v.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img198/6449/img534u.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img43/3041/img536t.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img838/1811/img535es.jpg

FILM TO BOOK
http://imageshack.us/a/img842/5647/img537x.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img844/750/img538i.jpg

[fernandito]

It looks like The Thing was already on the list; just added Village of the Damned.

[needfulthings]

The Who Goes There? I posted was for the 1951 film The Thing from Another World.
there is also The Thing aka John Carpenter's The Thing 1982 & The Thing 2011 also based on Who Goes There?
http://imageshack.us/a/img856/1665/img539p.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img839/1766/img540.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img24/2231/img541i.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img819/8692/img542.jpg

[needfulthings]

http://imageshack.us/a/img41/8421/img495nw.jpg

[needfulthings]

How about Thorne Smith novels?
TOPPER 1937
http://imageshack.us/a/img836/9707/img545d.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img542/4280/img546.jpg

TOPPER TAKES A TRIP 1938
http://imageshack.us/a/img199/7780/img547y.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img829/4699/img548y.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img542/7526/img549.jpg

TURNABOUT 1940
http://imageshack.us/a/img607/1517/img543n.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img21/9453/img544g.jpg

[needfulthings]

http://imageshack.us/a/img211/7246/img551z.jpg

[needfulthings]

THE UNINVITED 1944
http://imageshack.us/a/img594/1788/img552x.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img268/3690/img553f.jpg

[needfulthings]

HELLO
http://imageshack.us/a/img13/7286/img555p.jpg

[needfulthings]

Lord of the Flies 1963
Lord of the Flies 1990
http://imageshack.us/a/img811/8254/img556b.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img708/2844/img561v.jpg

[needfulthings]

The Last Man on Earth 1964
The Omega Man 1971
I Am Legend 2007
http://imageshack.us/a/img441/3192/img557v.jpg

Somewhere in Time 1980
http://imageshack.us/a/img194/5900/img558c.jpg

The Legend of Hell House 1973
http://imageshack.us/a/img202/2037/img559j.jpg

[needfulthings]

FYI Thomas Harris's Red Dragon was first filmed in 1986 as
http://imageshack.us/a/img822/7430/img560c.jpg

[pathoftheturtle]

An interesting case is The Princess Bride. This classic film features the book which its story-within-a-story is supposed to have been based on. It was not actually based on a book. However, a book was written based on the movie, for us to suppose the movie to be based on, and that book is supposed to be based on an earlier book. For people who enjoyed the wordplay of the film, this book also works splendidly. (The book based on the movie, not the book they were both based on; I still can't find that one, although I hear that it never worked as well, anyway.) Recommended.

[fearless-freak]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v27iIpvMf8M/UVvyl1gqk0I/AAAAAAAABDo/FRjVyawQeaE/s1600/heart-of-darkness.jpg

the most notable adaptation being Apocalypse Now

[pathoftheturtle]

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTg4MTQ0NTA3MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDcwODYyMQ@@._ V1_SY317_CR1,0,214,317_.jpg

[needfulthings]

An interesting case is The Princess Bride. This classic film features the book which its story-within-a-story is supposed to have been based on. It was not actually based on a book. However, a book was written based on the movie, for us to suppose the movie to be based on, and that book is supposed to be based on an earlier book. For people who enjoyed the wordplay of the film, this book also works splendidly. (The book based on the movie, not the book they were both based on; I still can't find that one, although I hear that it never worked as well, anyway.) Recommended.

http://imageshack.us/a/img17/4186/img563.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img211/2356/img562o.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img713/4008/img564m.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img28/8850/img565p.jpg

[needfulthings]

http://imageshack.us/a/img267/9636/img566o.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img40/1303/img567y.jpg

SCREENPLAY by RAY BRADBURY

[needfulthings]

http://imageshack.us/a/img69/9785/img568a.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img90/4485/img569.jpg

[needfulthings]

http://imageshack.us/a/img46/1162/img570c.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img191/7189/img571x.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img22/7035/img572j.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img547/4792/img573v.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img213/9220/img574y.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img441/6244/img575.jpg

[fearless-freak]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WRNK6aQpNZU/T0_kxZY73KI/AAAAAAAAAf4/OwweMjSlM3c/s1600/Re-Animator.jpg

i think we all know the adaptation

[needfulthings]

http://imageshack.us/a/img203/6328/img576o.jpg

1954 BRITAIN'S 1st ANIMATED FEATURE
http://imageshack.us/a/img24/4183/img577o.jpg

1999
http://imageshack.us/a/img17/9581/img578x.jpg

[needfulthings]

http://imageshack.us/a/img716/7853/img579h.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img32/9431/img580g.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img600/6497/img581i.jpg

[Mattrick]

Do you live in some dimension with no language and you have to communicate only with pictures? I dont think I've seen you write anything lol

[needfulthings]

DON'T YOU KNOW THE ADAGE? "A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS"
YOU TELL ME DO YOU WANT
MARILYN MONROE'S BREASTS OR..........?
http://imageshack.us/a/img534/6895/img582j.jpgLOL

Buy the way which do you prefer?
AFUCK YOU
Bhttp://imageshack.us/a/img545/4373/img277r.jpg
C:FU:
DNONE OF THE ABOVE
You know I want you to be happy.LOL

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

Wow that was kinda harsh.

[needfulthings]

IT WAS NOT MENT TO BE. He had the choice of NONE OF THE ABOVE.

[pathoftheturtle]

The man with the pictures shows the advocate for words the same degree of respect and consideration that in fact film and filmmakers have afforded to literary types and their books in general.

[needfulthings]

http://imageshack.us/a/img6/6504/img024qx.jpg