# Book to movie-Worst adaptation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710 "2018-01-01T21:23:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/101 "2018-01-04T14:51:33Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Now, I am not saying it is impossible to portray such a thing with an actor who is 5-foot-nothing, but you would have to find one with seriously crazy eyes and body language to believably convey that a squad of football players or bikers would think twice before messing with him. He’s got nothing on Christopher Walken, but are you saying Cruise doesn’t have teh crazy eyes? At the very least, if a skinny, 5-foot nothing bag of attitude rolled up to you and your biker pals like he was 7-foot nothing would you not be obliged to ask yourself “WTF? Human honey badger?” To the OP: I have only a passing familiarity with the Tank Girl comics, but I am led to believe the highly entertaining and star-studded movie adaptation was in most ways unfaithful to the source material. At least, this is the vibe I get from the graphic novel fanbois. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/102 "2018-01-04T16:58:42Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Followup question: _Blade Runner_ (movie) has nothing in common with _The Bladerunner_ (novel) other than being a variant title. > > So the movie pretty much sets the bar for not following “the novel”. Does this count? > > (It also doesn’t follow “the other novel” at all well.) I would nominate Bladerunner also. The book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is excellent. The movie is a masterpiece. The movie’s events, and indeed the very meaning of the story, are far removed from the book. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/103 "2018-01-04T17:16:45Z")
> [@B-Rad](#): > > He’s got nothing on Christopher Walken, but are you saying Cruise doesn’t have teh crazy eyes? At the very least, if a skinny, 5-foot nothing bag of attitude rolled up to you and your biker pals like he was 7-foot nothing would you not be obliged to ask yourself “WTF? Human honey badger?” No. The laws of physics still apply. A small guy won’t have much punching power and won’t be able to absorb punches like a bigger man. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/104 "2018-01-04T17:29:36Z")
> [@B-Rad](#): > > He’s got nothing on Christopher Walken, but are you saying Cruise doesn’t have teh crazy eyes? At the very least, if a skinny, 5-foot nothing bag of attitude rolled up to you and your biker pals like he was 7-foot nothing would you not be obliged to ask yourself “WTF? Human honey badger?” I think the actual response would be “Great! Another idiot who believed his mommy when she told him that bullies are really cowards at heart and will back down if you stand up to them. This should be easy!” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/105 "2018-01-04T19:18:41Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#): > > No mention of what Redford did to “The Horse Whisperer?” People in the theater were staring at me, I guess I made a scene. Explain please?😕 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/106 "2018-01-04T19:43:03Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I would nominate Bladerunner also. > > The book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is excellent. > > The movie is a masterpiece. I strongly disagree. With the book being excellent part, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Runestar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/74df32/32.png) [@Runestar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runestar)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/107 "2018-01-04T19:44:55Z")
Another vote here for **Chitty Chitty Bang Bang**. Loved the book as a child; first time I saw the movie my jaw was hanging open in disbelief as to how different (and bad) the latter was. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/108 "2018-01-04T21:19:40Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I get that Tom Cruise does not look at all like the character described in the book. But hair color and physical size are not essential to the character. Reacher is a badass smartass loner nomad ex-cop with a major chip on his shoulder for any petty authority. Lee Child could have written basically the same books and made him a 5-foot tall redhead, or a medium-build black guy, and they’d be… basically the same. Gotta disagree with you. The Jack Reacher of the books is basically Superman in human form, and it does come into play. In one of the early books, **Tripwire** I think, Reacher survives a gunshot to the chest because his muscle is so dense that the bullet doesn’t penetrate much. In **One Shot** , the book that they turned into the movie **Jack Reacher** , he kills one henchman by bear-hugging him to death, with a mighty CRUNCH. I can’t picture Tom Cruise doing that, _at all_. That being said, I found both movies entertaining, especially the first. Even though the Reacher of the books is a man-beast, it’s not absolutely essential to the plot of **One Shot** ; the acting and action scenes are solid, and I think they did a good job adapting the book to the screen. But Tom Cruise ain’t the Jack Reacher of the books. ---
**Author:** ![ddtdigest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@ddtdigest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddtdigest)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/109 "2018-01-05T01:54:34Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > You can pick almost anything written by Stephen King but, “Graveyard Shift,” is a standout. Funny…I was going to go right there myself, specifically with “Needful Things”. A great book and a thoroughly awful movie, in spite of a really good cast. That being said, I really enjoyed the film adaptations of _Pet Sematary_ and _Misery_. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/110 "2018-01-05T13:05:37Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Explain please?😕 "Robert Redford bought the film rights in 1995 for £3 million,[4] and the film The Horse Whisperer was released in 1998, with Redford himself in the title role as Tom Booker. The film is mostly faithful to the book but does not include Grace’s confrontation with the herd of Mustangs, or the death of Booker. Instead, Annie drives away from the ranch with Pilgrim in the trailer while Booker watches from the top of a hill. There is no indication in the movie that Annie and Tom sexually consummated their affair." Above from Wiki. So at the end we’re treated to a gratuitous shot of Redford in the mountains, which had nothing to do with the book. Panning in closer and closer to his face. It infuriated me. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/111 "2018-01-05T14:48:09Z")
> [@ddtdigest](#): > > Funny…I was going to go right there myself, specifically with “Needful Things”. A great book and a thoroughly awful movie, in spite of a really good cast. > > That being said, I really enjoyed the film adaptations of _Pet Sematary_ and _Misery_. The problem with Stephen King is that for every Shawshank Redemption, Stand by Me, The Shining, Carrie, Dolores Clayborn, and Misery you have Dreamcatcher, Sleepwalkers, Tommyknockers, The Langoliers, The Lawnmower Man, The Mangler, The Night Flier, Sometimes They Come Back, Storm of the Century, and probably a dozen more my brain won’t let me remember. And in the case of Maximum Overdrive, Carrie, The Shining, and Salem’s Lot, they actually made shitty TV miniseries, presumably to make you forget how good the originals were (or at least how campy and fun in an 80s action movie staring Emilio Estevez, the voice of Lisa Simpson and a who’s who of nobodies with an awesome AD/DC soundtrack sort of way with Maximum Overdrive) ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/112 "2018-01-05T16:15:30Z")
Salems Lot and The Stand are going to be remade. [http://www.darkhorizons.com/king-talks-stand-salems-lot-remakes/](http://www.darkhorizons.com/king-talks-stand-salems-lot-remakes/) ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/113 "2018-01-05T17:42:18Z")
> [@Doyle](#): > > Every Dean Koontz book made into a movie has been terrible. I take it back. \* Intensity\* wasn’t bad. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/114 "2018-01-06T01:08:12Z")
One of my favorite books as a child was _Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of NIMH_. Don Bluth directed the animated adaption( as _The Secret of NIMH_) which added supernatural elements that weren’t in the original novel. I wouldn’t necessarily say the movie is bad; it was just different from the book. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710/115 "2018-01-08T16:41:12Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Salems Lot and The Stand are going to be remade. > > [King Talks "Stand" & "Salem's Lot" Remakes - Dark Horizons](http://www.darkhorizons.com/king-talks-stand-salems-lot-remakes/) They should leave that alone and remake **Cujo**. The book is good and cries out for a great movie. The movie we have is okay, but St. Bernards are such gentle dogs that it’s easy to see that most of the time, he just wants to play. With today’s effects, they can give us a proper, rabid, 300-pound hellbeast. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-to-movie-worst-adaptation/805710.md?page=5)