Ellroy actually gave L.A. Confidential his blessing. He said it was his intention to create the darkest, most unfilmable book ever. He read Curtis Hanson’s script and thought that it was incredible. Ellroy is a god.
Movie Sucked, Book Ruled:
The Great Gatsby (Mia Farrow as Daisy?!?)
Beloved (What were they thinking?)
Interview with the Vampire (urgh!)
The Scarlet Letter (you just can’t make the story PC and have it work!)
Movie Got Pretty Damn Close to the Book
The Grapes of Wrath (totally different endings, but both were poetic and touching)
Of Mice and Men (the Malkovich/Sinise version)
To Kill a Mockingbird ("Stand up, child. Your father’s passin’ <sob>)
Movie At Least as Good as Book
Silence of the Lambs (must be seen to be believed)
What about Mario Puzo’s The Godfather? The book gave a bit more info, but the movie was almost dead-on.
I have to agree with what a lot of people in this thread have said – the movie is almost never as good as the book. About the only case where the movie was better was brought up on the SDMB a little while ago – “Goldfinger”. The movie substituted a realistic scheme (setting ff a “dirty” atomic bomb in Fort Knox to make the U.S. Gold supply unusable – what as left of it) for an unrealistic scheme to actually rob the depository.
There are too many bad movies made out of good or decent books to count, but here’s an example – “This Island Earth”, the movie that was so bad they built the MST3K movie around it. The movie deserved that treatment. It was a collection of really bad sf cliches. BUT – read the book. It has been re-issued as a paperback. Raymond F. Jones’ story is good mature science fiction that blows the movie away, even in those rare moments when it’s almost bein faithful. There are no “Metaluna Mutants”, the title makes sense, and the Interociter actually serves a useful purpose. Oh, and the aliens don’t need Earth scientists to explain to them how to use atomic power – anyone who can build flying saucers and cross space is clearly far beyond our league. A good read.
It’s been my observation that good books make for rotten movies, but bad books can be the foundation for wonderful movies. I think it’s because a good book fills the reader’s mind with all kinds of imagery, the kind that NO movie could possibly measure up to.
OTOH, one thing that many bad books have in common is that they are one-dimensional…that is, the reader never feels s/he’s doing anything other than reading the printed page, never gets pulled into the story. A good movie production will treat a bad book as little more than a base for the movie version of the story.
Let me be clear.
I love books.
I am, as I type, surrounded by them. I could happily drowned in them. I love books. The scent of a fresh page… ah, yes.
Books are the staff of life. Yes, I know, they say that bread is (the staff of life) but I feel, at times, I could live off my books.
The book of The Stand is so much deeper than what the movie could ever hope for. They combined characters into one and left others out all together… read the book. Your mind will feed on things that could never be portrayed on the screen. I feel the same way toward Gone With the Wind. Or Mr. Murder, or… I could go on and on.
There are great movies made from books but, in my heart, I know, to me, the BOOK will always be better. But that is just me. I can’t help it. But, there is one film that could never be captured in a book and that is The Red Balloon.
If you have never seen it, you should. There is no reading it because it is just a movie. And it is everything a book could hope to be.
Best!
Byz
Byzantine said:
I’ll second what Byzantine said about Gone with the Wind (I haven’t read the other books mentioned). There’s a LOT more going on in the book than the movie, which doesn’t mention Scarlett’s other 2 children, the courtship of Scarlett’s parents, Scarlett’s sister Suellen marrying a carpetbagger, Scarlett and Rhett’s ages…I could go on and on.
As to “The Red Balloon”. You know, I enjoyed that. The first five or six times I saw it. But if you see it EVERY DAMNED TIME YOUR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HAS AN ASSEMBLY BECAUSE IT’S RAINING, you’d get sick of it too after showing number 50 or so.
Ahem.
Nice touch, there. Gone With the Wind and what was left out. But FUCK YOU ON THE RED BALLOON. I saw it once… I can understand your… pain… but don’t detract from my point just because the school you went to didn’t have a vast library of movies to draw on. That isn’t my fault… so… oh, wait, I’m NOT in the pit. Well, how very nice of you to share. Do you have anything else you wish to share? No? So… can I see you outside for a moment?
Byz, I like you, but, no, you can’t see me outside, because:
-
It’s raining and I’m in assembly, watching The Red Balloon yet again
-
Just like it says on your profile, I’m not into pain, either.
And again, I DID say I liked The Red Balloon–I just got sick of it after 50 times. (There are some movies I can watch 50 times, and one of them IS Gone With The Wind, by the way.)
The only two films I saw over and over as much as The Red Balloon were “Dr. Leaky’s archeological expedition” (In Junior High) and the Stanley Milburn psychology experiment, where the pretend to have the subject administer shocks (In College…I think that to graduate with a B.A. in Psych from UCLA, it was mandated that you had to see that film 20 times. Or more.)
I’ll never be one of those “kind ladies” to you. Cause I’m a bitch. I just can’t help it. I’ve sought therapy and all but, alas, I’m still just a hard core bitch; however, you do like Gone With the Wind. And sadly, you were forced to watch, over and over, what I, personally, consider a classic. So…
Find the common ground.
I named my cat Scarlet because she’s a real bitch with attitude. What have you taken away from that film?
Hey, I’m fucking trying here, okay?! Oh, oops! I’m NOT in the pit… uh, I’m so looking forward to your reply to my missive, my dear sir… I await your response with anticipation.
Err…umm…that when I’m 44 years old (Rhett Butler), I still might have a chance to break a 28 year old hottie’s (Scarlett O’ Hara’s)heart??
::ducking and running::
After my last post, I have this gnawing feeling that I’ve blown my cue. I think that what I was supposed to say was:
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn”
Sheesh, set the damned ball up on a goddamned TEE, and DRY’ll still find a way to strike out!
RicePad said:
Wow. Very profound. Well said, RicePad!! 
Byzantine said:
I couldn’t agree more!
Just for the record, my MIL thinks I’m nuts to actually OWN books…why would you want to read a book twice, when you already know how it ends? She has no idea what she is missing!!!
As for The Red Balloon, I agree with both Byzantine and Dry. It is a great movie, a definate classic. I have a copy and my kids love it, too…BUT, I also remember seeing The Red Balloon many, many times when it was raining and we couldn’t go out for recess. It loses something when you see it over and over. (Dry, we must be about the same age. 
)
There is another movie, I can’t remember the name, another rainy-day stand-by…kinda psychedelic, very 60’s, about some kids making “happy” pancakes, lots of spots superimposed over the screen, funky music, they all get “happy” after eating the pancakes,definate drug-imagery. Anyone know what I am talking about?
Great Book, Crap Movie
Dune
Lord of the Rings(the 1978 Ralph Bakshi version SUCKED!)
Striptease
The Postman
Watchers
The Dunwich Horror
Great Book, Movie Rocked
1984
A Clockwork Orange
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?(filmed as Blade Runner)
Les Liaisons Dangereuses(filmed as Dangerous Liaisons)
Cabal(filmed as Nightbreed)
Rosemary’s Baby