# Instances of the movie actually improving on the book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200 "2004-04-09T17:37:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/21 "2004-04-09T22:00:36Z")
_Diggstown_ with Louis Gossett, Jr. and James Woods was a great, fun movie. The book, which I sought for years after seeing it, was absolute garbage. I have to disagree with **Sampiro** on one thing, though – while I absolutely loved the book Cider House Rules, I liked the movie very much. It’s such a wandering story, in the book. I was initially miffed at the exclusion of the character Melony, but I thought the moviemakers did a very nice job of compressing a story that really stretches over 40 years into a story that happens over a period of one or two years. Is the movie as good? No, but it stands on its own as a decent little picture, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/22 "2004-04-09T22:14:52Z")
> [@Kyomara](#): > > _Fight Club_ was a shitty book. You shut your dirty mouth. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/23 "2004-04-09T22:29:18Z")
I didn’t know Harrison Bergeron was made into a movie. I’ll have to check that out. Amidst what I know will be a myriad of moans, I’m going to say that **Breakfast at Tiffanys** was better than the novella. Yea, that’s right, BETTER. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/24 "2004-04-09T22:51:07Z")
I wasn’t even able to finish the book, but I loved the movie, **Dr. Zhivago**. I cried at the end of the movie when the young girl discovered that the military guy was her uncle. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/25 "2004-04-09T23:03:59Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#): > > I didn’t know Harrison Bergeron was made into a movie. I’ll have to check that out. You can find it on VHS. I don’t think it’s ever been released on DVD. (I checked Amazon and it’s on there for 35.95! more then I’d be willing to pay) ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/26 "2004-04-09T23:16:41Z")
Oh, and another that comes to mind: The Natural. The book seemed pointless and depressing, while the movie was inspiring and uplifting. ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/27 "2004-04-09T23:44:19Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > You shut your dirty mouth. Amen!!! I feel sorry for anyone who feels this way about _Fight Club_. The movie was good and all, but come on! ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/28 "2004-04-10T00:02:26Z")
In _Trainspotting_, the addition of some sort of basic plot and the use of one main character pulled everything together a bit better than the book pulled off. Also, it’s far easier to understand spoken Scottish accents than to read them, mentally pronounce them, then try to figure out what the fuck they’re saying. ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/29 "2004-04-10T00:05:50Z")
I forgot to add my contribution: **A Clockwork Orange**. I started the book about fifty times, but couldn’t deal with having to flip back to the glossary every other word. At least in the movie, hearing it spoken in context helped a great deal with the deciphering. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/30 "2004-04-10T00:14:17Z")
\*Starship Troopers the Book \* is a mediocre genre piece; \*Starship Troopers the Film \* is a viciously effective, multilayered satire on the warmongering dark side of the American psycho. Scuse me, _psyche_. Which reminds me: \*American Psycho the Book \* is a mediocre genre piece with a mildly interesting pomo twist; _American Psycho the Film_ is a viciously effective, multilayerd satire on the metaphorical violence behind the American capitalist dream. And for the record, _Forrest Gump the Film_ is a dreadful and insulting piece of cynical garbage that gives people permission not to feel guilty about not caring about anything; \*Forrest Gump the Novel \* is a viciously effective satire on the mindless follower and non-thinker that is, to some people, the archetypical American. ---
**Author:** ![Selkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/31 "2004-04-10T00:23:23Z")
Comic fans will probably descend upon me like avenging angels, but I thought _Road to Perdition_ was a better movie than graphic novel, although the book is still quite good. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/32 "2004-04-10T00:39:06Z")
_Lifeforce_ is a generally rotten movie, but, if you’re in the right mood, it’s an enjoyably fast-moving piece of trash. It’s adapted from Colin Wilson’s _The Space Vampires_, which, despite the title, is one of the dullest books I’ve ever read. (And I’ve read linguistics textbooks.) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/33 "2004-04-10T02:17:48Z")
Please! _Starship Troopers_ the book is a sharp, gritty look at a future militaristic state and what it does to its citizens. _Starship Troopers_ the movie is an over-the-top campfest dedicated to mocking Heinlein because the so-called _auteur_ is a simplistic-minded political idiot. And a lousy director, too. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/34 "2004-04-10T02:23:37Z")
I think the Aragorn’s character in the movie is much improved over the book where he’s a bit of a prig: “Hi, I’m Aragorn THE HEIR OF ELENDIL! BOW BEFORE ME!” ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/35 "2004-04-10T02:24:20Z")
**Dreamcatcher** the book is one of my least favorite SK books. But I loved the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/36 "2004-04-10T02:30:37Z")
I like the movie for _Fight Club_ much better than the book. It’s a very visual story, I think, and actually seeing the fights with Tyler from the narrator’s perspective vs. that of everyone else was pretty interesting. Especially the scene where they’re fighting in the garage, and you see bits and pieces of the fight on the camera monitors in the security office. Also, I didn’t like the explaination the book gave for the origin of the fat. It just made me mad. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/37 "2004-04-10T02:35:24Z")
1983’s _The Hunger_ may be my favorite mediocre movie of all time. I’ve watched it again and again, and for a long time I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t a better movie. A huge amount of musical, acting, and production talent went into this film. I believe it features Catherine Deneuve’s only English-language lead role. That alone was enough to make me interested. And yet the whole project just didn’t seem to work out all that well. Solid two-star material, IMHO. I figured that reading the book might give me some further insight. Heck, maybe the book would be a lot better (the book often is), and since I liked the movie even though I didn’t think it was particularly good I’d be sure to like the book if it was better than the movie! Well, turns out the book sucked. I read the whole thing in about two hours, because I enjoyed it so little I didn’t want it to take longer than it had to. If Whitley Strieber was really abducted and anally probed by aliens then it’s hardly worse than he deserves after writing something that bad. Amazingly, the film script managed to be remarkably faithful to the novel while improving upon it in many ways. The casting was spot-on given the character descriptions, and even minor details like the names of secondary characters were kept the same. Every problem with the movie’s story comes directly from the book (including the pointless lab-monkey subplot that is suddenly abandoned partway through), and the screenwriters managed to work around most of the worst flaws in the book’s story. And those endless scenes of curtains blowing that made the movie seem to drag on and on? Well, those curtains are actually described in the book! So I solved the mystery – the film _The Hunger_ wasn’t all that good because it was crippled by lousy source material. It’s a mid-range movie made from a bad book. I think the screenwriting team made the best possible script they could from _The Hunger_ without turning it into one of those “adaptations” that shares little but the title and basic premise with the original novel. It’s a shame that better novels haven’t always been treated with such respect. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/38 "2004-04-10T02:42:18Z")
> [@Darkhold](#): > > Harrison Bergeron (sp?) the short story was painfully dull and dumb and it was turned into a fairly interesting movie. Bite your tongue. That’s one of Vonnegut’s best works. Anyway, there’s an older thread discussing roughly this exact topic: [Movies superior to the books they are based on](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=161500). The definitive example of the phenomenon, as mentioned upthread, is _The Godfather_: the novel is quintessential crappy summer beachside reading, the movie a true masterpiece. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/39 "2004-04-10T02:43:30Z")
Thoughared little in common, I actually enjoyed The Sum of All fears the movie better than the book. I thought the book was much too long, and often boring. I found the movie to be rather suspensful. And I agree with the LOTR trilogy. I only read the fellowship, and after that I decided to just stick with the movies. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200/40 "2004-04-10T02:44:32Z")
The movie version of _The Firm_, based on the John Grisham book, impressed me by greatly improving the ending of the story. Based on my reading of the book, I was expecting a long, rather confusing, chase scene. Instead, the screenwriter came up with a “trick ending” that wrapped everything up in about 30 seconds, and actually worked! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instances-of-the-movie-actually-improving-on-the-book/239200.md?page=3)