# Film adaptations that influenced the original source material **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080 "2012-03-28T20:17:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**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 30, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/41 "2012-03-30T16:39:03Z")
Gary K. Wolf wrote a sequel to his **Who Censored Roger Rabbit?** after the movie **Who Framed Roger Rabbit?** was released. Since the movie threw out his original plot (and his ending had made a sequel impossible), he wrote it as a sequel to the movie, not the original book. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/42 "2012-03-30T16:40:32Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Thereby explaining the miserable failure of my college radio magic show. Yeah, but Edgar Bergen was able to hsave a very successful radio ventriloquist show, so you’ve got no excuse. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/43 "2012-03-30T17:14:56Z")
Rambo dies at the end of the first novel. He did not die in the movie adaptation which spawned a sequel. They hired the original author to write the novelization of the sequel. I believe he wrote a foreword that says “In my original novel John Rambo died. In this, he didn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/44 "2012-03-30T17:15:01Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Yeah, but Edgar Bergen was able to hsave a very successful radio ventriloquist show, so you’ve got no excuse. Well, of course, that was just a bunch of talking. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/45 "2012-03-30T19:40:33Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Rambo dies at the end of the first novel. He did not die in the movie adaptation which spawned a sequel. They hired the original author to write the novelization of the sequel. I believe he wrote a foreword that says “In my original novel John Rambo died. In this, he didn’t.” Much better ending in the novel. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/46 "2012-03-31T21:22:57Z")
In the early Bond novels, Bond is described as looking like Hoagy Carmichael. In the later Bond novels, Fleming’s description is a ringer for Sean Connery. Batman’s butler, [Alfred Pennyworth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Pennyworth): > [@](#): > > When Alfred first appeared, he was overweight and clean-shaven; however, when the 1943 Batman serial was released, William Austin, the actor who played Alfred, was trim and sported a thin moustache. DC editors wanted the comic Alfred to resemble his cinematic counterpart, so in Detective Comics #83 (January 1944), Alfred vacationed at a health resort, where he slimmed down and grew a mustache. This look has remained with the character ever since, Before the Batman TV series, the Riddler looked sort of like Eugene Levy. Since then, most artists have drawn him to look like Frank Gorshin. In Richard Condon’s book _Prizzi’s Honor_, the lead character bears no resemblance to Jack Nicholson. When he wrote the sequels, he tried to write about his original character, but he couldn’t get Nicholson’s version out of his mind. So he ended up doing two novels about the Nicholson character. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/47 "2012-03-31T21:36:36Z")
My recollection is that, in one of the last Tarzan books, Lord Greystoke and friends are in a plane that crashes in the jungle in Indonesia. He regains consciousness first, sees that he’s in a jungle, quickly strips down to loin-cloth and goes swinging through the trees. When he returns to the crash site, his friends see him and say something like, “Who do you think you are? Johnny Weismuller?” ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/48 "2012-03-31T23:16:55Z")
I have also read that most of the characters in the novel [Tarzan and the Lion Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzan_and_the_Lion_Man) were based on people Burroughs worked with when he was filming [The New Adventures of Tarzan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Adventures_of_Tarzan). ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/49 "2012-04-01T01:15:36Z")
Elmore Leonard is writing a [new novel](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204257504577155180069629066.html) featuring the character of Raylan Givens, based on how pleased he’s been with the TV show **Justified**. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/50 "2012-04-01T03:33:09Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I haven’t read either of Winston Groom’s “Forrest Gump” novels, but I’ve heard that Jenny doesn’t die in his first book. However, when he wrote the sequel, he chose to pick up where the MOVIE left off, and Jenny was, in fact, dead. Jenny doesn’t die in the book but she doesn’t marry Forrest either. Another change is Forrest’s mother doesn’t die in the first book. So Groom started the second book with Forrest saying his mother had died but he doesn’t want to talk about it. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/51 "2012-04-01T18:00:13Z")
> [@Corn Kernel](#): > > My recollection is that, in one of the last Tarzan books, Lord Greystoke and friends are in a plane that crashes in the jungle in Indonesia. He regains consciousness first, sees that he’s in a jungle, quickly strips down to loin-cloth and goes swinging through the trees. When he returns to the crash site, his friends see him and say something like, “Who do you think you are? Johnny Weismuller?” You’re referring to _Tarzan and the Foreign Legion_. (It’s actually a group of Americans and Tarzan during World War II, not the French Foreign Legion.) Actually, the scene is somewhat different: one of the American soldiers is being charged by a rhino, and our hero intervenes, killing the rhino with a knife, and then letting out the famous yell. An American officer recognizes him, saying, “Lord Greystoke–Tarzan of the Apes!” Another American asks, “Is dat Johnny Weissmuller?” ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/52 "2012-04-01T18:04:18Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Well, of course, that was just a bunch of talking. > > 😉 I remember reading that once a new sound man on the _Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show_ kept moving the mike back and forth between the two of them as each one (appeared to) speak. Of course, since Charlie wasn’t actually speaking, this was a problem! ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/53 "2012-04-01T22:03:12Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Craig Thomas, thriller writer, acknowledged the quality of Clint Eastwood’s _Firefox_, and clearly based his sequel, _Firefox Down_, in part on the visualization of the movie. Oh yeah. I’d forgotten that. A friend of mine had an early pressing of _Firefox_, and it had a big drawing of a MiG-25 on the front. Which just looked incredibly old-fashioned compared to the sleek aeroplane in the film, although it matched the aeroplane in the book. My copy of _Firefox Down_ had the film’s aeroplane on the front. It’s been ages since I read those two books. Tom Clancy from before Tom Clancy. I remember the novel was 50% espionage and 50% awesome plane-on-plane action, whereas the film was 90:10 but still decent, and it had Admiral Piett as a KGB officer. I _think_ the original novel emphasised the aeroplane’s electronic anti-radar gear, but in the sequel - which starts immediately after the first novel ends - the anti-radar has become a special coating on the aeroplane, perhaps in light of the first leaks of information about the stealth programme. Looking at Wikipedia, it seems that the Firefox in _Firefox Down_ is chased by MiG-25s, which were the real-life inspiration for the Firefox in _Firefox_, so the, er, circle is complete. This is straying into the parallel topic of works of fiction that were superseded by technological progress though. ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/54 "2012-04-01T22:25:45Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Rambo dies at the end of the first novel. He did not die in the movie adaptation which spawned a sequel. They hired the original author to write the novelization of the sequel. I believe he wrote a foreword that says “In my original novel John Rambo died. In this, he didn’t.” That’s another good one. In the original novel Rambo’s a deranged lunatic who dies whilst trying to blow himself up; in the film he doesn’t kill anyone directly; and although he kills a lot of people in the second and third films, they’re baddies. So it’s _good_ that he kills them. And in the cartoon series absolutely no-one killed anyone. Furthermore the existence of the first film’s alternative ending means that Rambo isn’t just an action hero, he’s a complex illustration of the principle of quantum entanglement. There are several parallel Rambos, some of whom are simultaneously dead and alive, depending on which parts of the narrative you decide to treat as canon. That would make a good university dissertation for someone. According to Wikipedia’s article on Morrell’s _First Blood_, _John Skow of TIME described the book as “carnography”_, which sadly doesn’t seem to have been used as a quote on the front of the book. Morell went on to write the novelisation of Rambo III as well. I imagine a great struggle between a tiny good spirit telling him that his soul is dying, and a giant evil spirit showing him a big pile of money. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/55 "2012-04-02T01:38:13Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Thereby explaining the miserable failure of my college radio magic show. Thanks for the only Chuckle Out Loud moment I’ve had in a while… **“And… wait, what’s this? A RABBIT?!” _[applause from assistant]_ “Thank you, thank you. Now, for my next trick…”** ---
**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:** [April 2, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/56 "2012-04-02T02:03:56Z")
One sorta example is Dracula. In Stoker’s original novel, Dracula wasn’t killed by sunlight. That idea came from the movie _Nosferatu_. Stoker never wrote any sequels but the idea of sunlight killing Dracula has been incorporated into other books using the character. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/57 "2014-04-21T17:43:15Z")
Zombies!!! I have always felt that Harrison Ford informed the later Clancy books, especially in his portrayal of Jack Ryan. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080/58 "2014-04-21T20:29:32Z")
The 2005 TV show “Bones” certainly influenced the titles of Kathy Rechis’s subsequent [books](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Reichs#Temperance_Brennan_series) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-adaptations-that-influenced-the-original-source-material/617080.md?page=2)