# Any movies as good as or even better than the book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2003, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195 "2003-03-30T08:27:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/1 "2003-03-30T08:27:44Z")
Tons of threads about movies that sucked relative to the books, but I think this is the first of this type. The only set I can think of is **Fight Club**. I thought the book wasn’t especially great - the ideas were interesting, but the actual implementation struck me as amateurish. The movie, however, expressed the ideas perfectly, and added it’s own visual style that just fit perfectly with the ideas being conveyed. It’s a much more powerful experience than the book was, while still being true to the ideas. Thoughts? Other such sets of books and movies? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/2 "2003-03-30T08:31:40Z")
Oh my god. Fight Club was the first one that jumped to my mind. Actually, I’ve pondered this subject in the past and always concluded that Fight Club was a better movie than book. I also didn’t think the book was great. It had good ideas, but if I’d read the book on my own, without having seen the movie, I probably would have thought “boring” and have forgotten about it. It feels like Fight Club always manages to get a mention in a movie thread, though…you’ve gotta work fast. I used to think the same thing about Shawshank Redemption (or should I say Rita Hayworth and…), but then I got tired of the movie, too. But definitely Fight Club. ---
**Author:** ![CyberPundit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CyberPundit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberPundit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/3 "2003-03-30T08:34:35Z")
Godfather is an obvious example. The book seemed pretty ordinary though it’s a while since I read it. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/4 "2003-03-30T08:59:29Z")
**The Godfather** is the best example of several categories besides “movie as good as book” **The Godfather II** is generally considered to be the best sequel [some say it was better than the original] ever made. Don Vito Corleone is the only movie character played by two different Oscar winning actors. Supporting Actor Robert DeNiro as young Vito [GFII] and Actor Marlon Brando old Vito [GF I] This post brought to you by “Ask the Godfather” geek. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/5 "2003-03-30T11:08:01Z")
_Goldfinger_ (the movie) actually improved on _Goldfinger_ (the novel). In the novel, the villian’s plan is to rob Fort Knox, while the movie dismisses this as stupid and suggests detonating an A-bomb in the gold repository would have equally valuable results. Plus the novel had a bunch of crazy crap about lesbians that’s better forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/6 "2003-03-30T12:14:14Z")
Personally, I liked **The Thirteenth Warrior** better than **Eaters of the Dead**. I liked the premise of the book, but the main character went threw no personal developement, and that just annoyed me. For one thing, it just makes for a boring story when the main character’s only change is that he now starts sleeping with random women just because everyone else does. The other thing is, in the movie, he goes from being a prissy, stuck up whinny punk to a courageous, self sacrificing entry level badass. He goes threw some major developements in the book, and the friendships he makes are shown a lot more clearly. Plus, they explain the “evil” a lot better. In the book, there’s none of that, and that makes it rather dull. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/7 "2003-03-30T12:30:14Z")
IMHO The Andromeda Strain Anatomy of a Murder The Sand Pebbles Jaws ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/8 "2003-03-30T13:56:01Z")
I _know_ I’m going to get lambasted for this (except for Parrothead, who totally agrees with me), but here I go. **The Postman** OMG, was the book lame! Especially the last third of it, with the whole Wizard of Oz thing going on. The movie left all that crap out, and while it wasn’t great, it was a ton better than the book. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/9 "2003-03-30T14:27:35Z")
We’ve discussed this topic before – [here’s some other examples](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=161500). ---
**Author:** ![obidiah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@obidiah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obidiah)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/10 "2003-03-30T14:48:28Z")
The most glaring example to me is “Wild at Heart”. The Lynch movie is magnificant. The book is dull and deviod of any kind of tension. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/11 "2003-03-30T15:05:22Z")
'nother vote for **the Godfather** And my fave - **The English Patient** ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/12 "2003-03-30T15:19:39Z")
**The Princess Bride** gets my nomination for “as good as”. The book was amazing, and the movie was equally amazing; both were written by the same person, so the ideas translated quite smoothly. **Who Framed Roger Rabbit?** gets my nomination for “even better than.” Whatever you think of the movie, the book was just awful. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/13 "2003-03-30T16:05:56Z")
**The Shawshank Redemption**. The movie, IMO, was wonderful, the story it was based on was good. But the movie filled out some areas, developed others, and, on the whole, better than the story. I’ve reread the story since seeing the movie (for those who haven’t read it, the story is told from the perspective of Red, a little Irish guy in the book, Morgan Freeman in the movie), and I keep hearing Freeman’s voice doing the narrative. Gosh he has a great voice for stuff like that! ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/14 "2003-03-30T16:10:22Z")
Forrest Gump. The book was awful. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/15 "2003-03-30T16:20:21Z")
“Babe” is a better story than “The Sheep Pig.” “Olive, the Other Reindeer” is a totally _different_ story as a (quasi-)movie than as a book. And it’s better. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/16 "2003-03-30T16:39:15Z")
I think the film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” was much better than Gary Wolf’s original novel. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/17 "2003-03-30T16:53:43Z")
I may be alone in this, but I preferred the film _The Heiress_ to Henry James’ _Washington Square_. Oh, and the delightfully trashy but eerily on-target _The Best of Everything_ to Rona Jaffe’s book of the same title! ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/18 "2003-03-30T17:19:24Z")
_Devil’s Advocate_ the movie was waaaaay better than the book, at least IMHO. I also kind of liked the movie _The Puppet Masters_, while I though the Heinlein novel was kind of, um, not so good. _braces self_ ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/19 "2003-03-30T17:49:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MLS \* > \*\*Forrest Gump. The book was awful. \*\* Seconded. I don’t even understand why the movie was called Forest Gump anyway. The only thing it had in common with the book was the names of the characters. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195/20 "2003-03-30T18:00:36Z")
I think **The Client** was the best adaptation of a Grisham novel by far. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-movies-as-good-as-or-even-better-than-the-book/165195.md?page=2)