Two separate questions:
- What is the greatest book of all time?
- What is the greatest movie of all time?
Please note that this is probably a different question than “What’s your favorite book or movie?”
If you combine the two, into “what book made into a movie has the highest coefficient of greatness?”, then I would have to say Gone With the Wind.
Greatest Book: The unabridged Oxford English Dictionary because as Hawkeye Pierce said, “It has all of the other books in it.”
Greatest Movie: I’m tempted to say Citizen Kane, but I’ve never actually seen it, so I will go with a movie that I **have ** actually seen and say Casablanca
For greatest book, I’d say Catch-22.
For greatest movie, it would have to be The Godfather, although Being John Malkovich runs a close second.
For Lumpy’s question, I’d say either A Passage to India or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Depends a lot on criteria for defining “Greatest”, but here goes:
Book: The Bible has had more influence on modern civilization than any other book. Personal feelings aside, by this standard, the Bible would be my choice for greatest book.
Movie: Birth of a Nation or Star Wars. They’re both still being cussed and discussed decades after their respective releases. Both had significant influence on popular culture long after their release.
Welcome to the SDMB, mattymillhouse. If you had phrased your question as “best”, my answers would have been a tad different, but “greatest” is a tough one! 
For the combo, I vote for To Kill A Mockingbird
Book.::.
Fellowship Of The Ring or if accepted Lord Of The Ring’s trilogy. Since I was 12 year’s old this has been the only book or series of book’s which I can read annually and still lose myself in.
Film.::.
First that come’s to mind is Seven Samurai , however I also think of film’s such as Gladiator , Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon , and Shaka Zulu. Maybe I just have a thing for epic battle’s.
- A Bridge Too Far or The Oxford English Dictionary
- Casablanca
“Greatest” is open to interpretation, so I’ll use my own definitions.
Book: The Unabridged Complete Shakespeare
Movie: The Bicycle Thief
Best book/movie combo: 2001: A Space Oddysey
I’d say for the combination; A Clockwork Orange was pretty rockin’.
how many book/movies has Kubrick done?
The Complete Shakespeare seems as good a choice as any for the book; only The Bible seems a serious challenger.
For the film I shall plump for La Règle du Jeu.
Someone mentioned Shakespeare. So I will name the greatest book of all time “Don Quijote de la Mancha” by Miguel de Cervante Saavedra. My favourite “Red and Black” (Stendhal).
I don’t know if it is the greatest but my favourite movie is “Cinema Paradiso”.
Complete Shakespeare if it counts, but…
first, it’s a collection;
so, Hamlet if it counts, but…
second, it’s a play. So while I guess a play in book form is still a book, I’m going to try and find the greatest novel.
The bible can’t be it. The main character was flawless and could do no wrong. Somewhat one dimensional. Yawn.
My favourite novel, The Catcher in the Rye seems to be too unassuming for the crown. I think it’s a great work, but somehow Holden Caulfield and best book ever just doesn’t seem to go.
I’m leaning towards 1984. Everything about this book is perfect: the exploration of theme, the detail of the world Orwell created, yet it doesn’t get bogged down in minutae and still tells a wonderful narrative of an individual struggling against oppression. The characters are fully developed, there isn’t a word out of place, the writing is brilliant and the ending is suitably soul destroying.
Yet, how can I judge? I’ve read a lot, but there’s so much that I haven’t.
The same with film. I feel barely qualified to name the best, since there are so many, especially older ones, that I haven’t seen.
Here goes: American Beauty.
But I haven’t seen Citizen Kane.
thanks for the welcome, mr. carter. and thanks to all for their thoughtful responses.
a brief note of explanation on the question that i should have included in the original question: some friends and i constantly argue about this stuff. i have come to the conclusion that this is one of the best bar discussions possible, right up there with “best tv show” and “best sports team.” and whenever new people come into the discussion, i’m always amazed at the diversity of their opinions. i personally think the greatest movie ever is the godfather (part 1). but i’ve got friends that say everything from annie hall to the shawshank redemption to the usual suspects to das boot.
and the responses on books are even more disparate. my personal vote goes for the bible. while there aren’t a heck of a lot of flaws in jesus, he certainly has some “human” moments. and there are plenty of flaws to go around from those around him. if the bible doesn’t count, i’d go with the complete works of shakespeare or hamlet. if that’s disqualified, i’d go with either the sound and the fury (although i probably would have hated it if i hadn’t been forced to learn about it in my american lit class) or a farewell to arms. but responses have included everything from catcher in the rye to stephen hawking’s a brief history to green eggs and ham. although the OED is a new favorite response.
Hmmm… if you want the intersecting set of bestselling books and award winning films, Godfather and Gone With the Wind certainly qualify, though I’d throw in the Ten Commandments (1956) as an adaptation of the book of Exodus, though it was only nominated for Best Picture.