# Bad movies from good books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 5, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612 "2011-03-05T20:09:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/41 "2011-03-07T18:43:02Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > For anybody on here who says it sucked, I’m sure I could find 2 people elsewhere who, like myself, liked it. And I could find 3 more people I know IRL that think it sucked. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/42 "2011-03-07T21:02:40Z")
Soon to be released [bad movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1298650/) ( well, almost certainly a bad adaptation at the very least ), based on a very entertaining [book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Stranger_Tides). ETA: I would love, love, love to see Powers’ _Declare_ done as an HBO or even BBC miniseries. Ah, well - instead I get Disney butchering. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/43 "2011-03-07T21:40:03Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Soon to be released [bad movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1298650/) ( well, almost certainly a bad adaptation at the very least ), based on a very entertaining [book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Stranger_Tides). > > ETA: I would love, love, love to see Powers’ _Declare_ done as an HBO or even BBC miniseries. Ah, well - instead I get Disney butchering. As I understand it, it was more a case of the producers/studio deciding to pre-emptively shovel some cash at Powers to avoid any legal exposure for excessive similarity. At least it means OST will be in print. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/44 "2011-03-07T22:22:16Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > The most recent version of _Alice in Wonderland_ was stunningly bad in parts, though people seemed to respond to it. But its biggest crime was that it was neither a literal adaptation I agree it was bad in parts, but it’s not an adaptation, it’s a sequel. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/45 "2011-03-07T23:03:59Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > I agree it was bad in parts, but it’s not an adaptation, it’s a sequel. No, it’s not. That’s the conceit, but it’s even more of a failure on that count. Firstly, it’s a sequel to no prior works. There is no text where Wonderland is actually called “Underland”, the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts are the same character and the Jabberwock(y) acts at the behest of the Red Queen. Secondly, it lifts whole moments from the book, such as Alice in the hall trying to get into the garden, the Hatter’s tea party, etc. (If it is a sequel, it’s a very lazy one for being so derivative of the original.) Finally, it’s called _Alice in Wonderland_, not _Return to Wonderland_ or something similar. If anything, it’s an adaptation of Carroll’s _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_, framing its elements as a pseudo-sequel to a non-existent work. But it’s still an adaptation. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/46 "2011-03-08T14:12:11Z")
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ---
**Author:** ![fjs1fs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/47 "2011-03-08T18:13:46Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > I agree it was bad in parts, but it’s not an adaptation, it’s a sequel. Yeah it was bad in parts, from the part where the projector was turned on to the part where it said “The End.” This was one of the most painfully bad movies of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Lethal\_Babydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/48 "2011-03-08T18:48:17Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > For those of us who haven’t read the Starship Troopers book the film was amazing. 🙂 That was my favorite book when i was a kid and i was quite skeptical about a movie made in a quite different era from when the book was written. but i loved the movie. if was the same in its own way, so to speak ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/49 "2011-03-08T19:02:06Z")
**Day of the Triffids** – the book is the perfect blueprint for a horror film, but they messed it up terribly (at least in the first movie version). **Fletch** – the book was a film script (80% dialog). Why they turned a taut and intriguing thriller into a Chevy Chase comedy is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/50 "2011-03-08T19:27:59Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Soon to be released [bad movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1298650/) ( well, almost certainly a bad adaptation at the very least ), based on a very entertaining [book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Stranger_Tides). > > ETA: I would love, love, love to see Powers’ _Declare_ done as an HBO or even BBC miniseries. Ah, well - instead I get Disney butchering. Oh, how I’d love to see _The Anubis Gates_! ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/51 "2011-03-08T20:05:08Z")
I give you [Exit to Eden](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109758/). The movie revolves around two detectives (Rosie O’Donnell and Dan Aykroyd) who follow a jewel thief to what turns out to be an S & M island (complete with Rosie in leather! :eek:). The book has _no such plot_! The book is Anne Rice in one of her erotica moods writing about the island itself. No cops. No jewel thieves. What do I win? ---
**Author:** ![from\_a\_to\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5fc32e/32.png) [@from\_a\_to\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/from_a_to_z)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/52 "2011-03-08T20:32:41Z")
[Scott Spencer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Spencer_%28author%29)’s _[Endless Love](http://www.amazon.com/Endless-Love-Novel-Scott-Spencer/dp/0061926000/)_, one of the “best books of the year” 1979 per the New York Times per Amazon, was a [1981 film](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082329/) directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Brooke Shields with Martin Hewitt. The film was [a box office success](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endless_Love_%28film%29#Reception) and also received 6 [Golden Raspberry awards](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Golden_Raspberry_Awards) (outworsted by [Mommie Dearest](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082766/) per Wikipedia. I assume that Scott Spencer and [HarperCollins](http://www.harpercollins.com/author/microsite/About.aspx?authorid=15119) appreciate at least the publicity, because _Endless Love_ is still in print unlike, apparently, _[Mommie Dearest](http://www.amazon.com/Mommie-Dearest-Christina-Crawford/dp/0966336909/)_. Christina may have gotten more up front than Scott, though, for the film rights. ---
**Author:** ![Edwardina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Edwardina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edwardina)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/53 "2011-03-08T22:33:44Z")
Oh no, no, no, I win this one! I give you: [Striptease](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117765/), which was a very good book by Carl Hiaasen. [The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0484562/), based on _The Dark Is Rising_, a nearly unrecognizable adaptation of a great young adult book by one of my favorite authors, Susan Cooper. And, last, but definitely not least, [Even Cowgirls Get The Blues](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106834/), the sad, sad, sad, awful movie version of one of Tom Robbins’ delightfully goofy novels. Bah! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/54 "2011-03-09T02:45:53Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I give you [Exit to Eden](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109758/) […] What do I win? The “Bad movies From Even Worse Books” thread is two doors down. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/55 "2011-03-09T03:23:18Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **The Lost World** (1960 version) Wait, what “good book” did this ruin? Never read Doyle’s novel, but based on [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_World_%28Arthur_Conan_Doyle%29) description it is no better than any of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ pulp-yarns. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/56 "2011-03-09T03:24:40Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I hesitate to mention this, because the dear father of a once-dear friend directed it, but the 1967 film adaptation of Joyce’s _Ulysses_ didn’t fare so well among most critics. But those critics were sympathetic; they understood that it was a very tough book to bring to the screen, and that the filmmakers probably did as well as anyone could hope for. When are they going to do _Finnegan’s Wake?_ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/57 "2011-03-09T03:26:03Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Most adaptions of Agatha Christie mysteries are pretty poor. > > I don’t know why Directors thnk that some unknown screenwriter will be able to ‘improve’ the story & plot conceived by one of the best-selling, foremost mystery writers of all time. 😕 **Somebody** has to write the screenplay, you can’t just issue the cast copies of the book and go, “Action!” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/58 "2011-03-09T03:34:42Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > The 1995 film version of [the Scarlet Letter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter_(1995_film)) is usually considered the classic case of a hack screenwriter trying to “improve” a classic work of fiction. > > For those of you who slept through English class, Hawthorne wrote the story so that it intentionally reflected a Puritan mindset - Hester Prynne, a devout Puritan, accepts the communities’ punishment of her, in fact genuinely believes that by giving into lust, she is forever tainted by sin, and that her daughter (born out of wedlock) is possibly tainted as well. She accepts whole-heartedly the notion that she brought her troubles on herself. The narrative arc of the story is more concerned with whether or not Reverend Dimmesdale (whom Hester had “carnal relations” with) will confess his own sin publically. > > But of course, a modern day (and likely Demi Moore herself) realized how foolish all this sounded, so they rewrote the character of Hester as an age-of-Oprah style “empowered WOMYN” who rebels against the _hypocrisy_ of the religious community and holds her head up high in the face of OPPRESSION. To further drive home the point, sub-plots concerning a quasi-lesbian slave, and a “Native American” tribe are tossed in. Liberally sprinkled with titty shots & scenes of “wontonly lustful” groping. All true. But I actually give that horrible movie points for (1) being more exciting than the book (not difficult) and (2) being the only film portrayal I have **ever** seen of [King Philip’s War,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Philip%27s_War) even as a subplot. It was quite an important war – if we count the English settlers as “Americans,” then it killed a higher percentage of the American population than any war since, even if Indian casualties are discounted. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/59 "2011-03-09T03:37:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > \*\* > A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court\*\* – many, many times over. A pet peeve of mine, as I think you could get a wonderful film out of this. An enjoyable book. An important book. **Not** a good book. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612/60 "2011-03-09T06:01:19Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 😕 **Somebody** has to write the screenplay, you can’t just issue the cast copies of the book and go, “Action!” Writing a screenplay is fine. But why would they mess with her mystery plot, change characters around, move key scenes elsewhere, etc.? If your screenwriter can do a better mystery plot than Agatha Christie, then he should be writing his own books! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movies-from-good-books/573612.md?page=4)