# movie better than the book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915 "2009-01-12T15:40:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/61 "2009-01-13T15:58:44Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > Most of the Tom Clancy novels made better films than novels because they removed the endless clutter about technical details. So many characters, so many subplots, and some of them never seemed to link together. I recall reading a scene near the end of one book where a character goes out jogging and throws himself in front of a bus. This was supposed to be a big shocking climax, and yet I had to flip back several chapters in order to figure out who the guy was in the first place. At least the movies had EDITORS. Goddamn, I knew Clancy was losing it when he took a WHOLE CHAPTER, some twenty pages, to describe the instant of a nuclear explosion in precise, technical terms. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/62 "2009-01-13T16:05:24Z")
All the Bourne movies. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/63 "2009-01-13T16:14:01Z")
_No country for old men_ is not a bad book, but it’s McCarthy’s weakest by a long way. Thought the film was excellent. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/64 "2009-01-13T16:30:00Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > **Stardust** is not only better than its book, but is a really overlooked movie by a lot of people. God I love **Stardust**. Hardly anybody has ever heard of it, let alone seen it. I recommend it every chance I get. Anyhow, I agree with the **Ghost World** nomination. I saw the movie first and was pretty stunned when I read the comic. They have very little to do with each other. **HellRaiser** is a much better movie than _The Hellbound Heart_, the story upon which it’s based, is a book. For the visuals if nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/65 "2009-01-13T17:18:19Z")
**Soylent Green**. Read the book it was based on (“Make Room, Make Room”), and while it’s an interresting early treatise on overpopulation, it really doesn’t have -that- much of a plot. The murder in the movie that’s made to look like a break-in gone bad? It’s… Uhm… A break-in gone bad. Even the big reveal of the movie? Isn’t part of the book. Soylent green in the book is, in fact… Soylent green. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/66 "2009-01-13T17:40:36Z")
> [@discodancer](#): > > The movie Ghost World is better than the comic book it’s based on. I wholeheartedly disagree. I found the comic way more evocative, poignant. It’s perfect. While I like the film, I much prefer the comic. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/67 "2009-01-13T17:56:38Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Jurrasic Park. The book needed Spielberg’s visuals. Actually \*anything \*by Michael Crichton that I’ve ever read and seen the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/68 "2009-01-15T14:49:25Z")
If I recall Roger Ebert’s analysis correctly, _Love Story_. I agree with him, but he made the point first: that the movie included everything that Erich Segal thought it was clever to leave out, like descriptions, characterizations, plot. :rolleyes: Of course it’s sort of a living cliche now, but I think when it came out it was sort of revolutionary: to marry for love and not money; beautiful girl dies in the end, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/69 "2009-01-15T15:13:10Z")
I have a few where the movie in my opinion was far superior than the book. In most cases I only read the book because I liked the movie hoping the book was superior and surprised that it was not. The Andromeda Strain Ice Station Zebra The Sand Pebbles Flight of the Phoenix Mister Roberts (especially MR. WTF was that novel) Anatomy of a Murder ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/70 "2009-01-15T15:38:28Z")
Planet of the Apes (original). ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/71 "2009-01-15T16:16:06Z")
The trailer for _Coraline_ looks much better than the book. ---
**Author:** ![KnitWit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@KnitWit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KnitWit)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/72 "2009-01-15T16:35:10Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > Word. That’s what I opened the thread to say. Polanuck isn’t a great writer and the narrative stucture of the book was much imporved upon by Fincher. Removing the mother was also a good choice. > > I disagree with Clockwork Orange, but I think that’s a matter of taste. I think the book and movie are trying to accomplish totally different things and for a good long while thought that Kubric had missed the point. I now understand that Kubric missed the point intentionally because he wanted to make a different point. They both work, but work differently. I heartily disagree! I think Palahniuk rules, though I do think the film version of Fight Club at the very LEAST did justice to the book, and possibly surpassed it. Another of his is coming out in movie version, or may have opened already. “Choke” should make a great film. Met Palahniuk at a book reading, won a rubber hamburger for answering a trivia question, am much enamored of his twisted work. Incidentally, they were making his book “Survivor” into a movie and I believe it was mostly in the can when the terrorist attacks happened in NY and they decided they couldn’t release a movie about a suicidal cult member hijacking a plane. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/73 "2009-01-15T16:45:55Z")
**Blade Runner** and the various **Harry Potter** movies. ---
**Author:** ![bellybean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@bellybean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bellybean)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915/74 "2009-01-15T16:48:57Z")
> [@Gadarene](#): > > _About a Boy_. The film’s ending was completely different, and nailed the narrative arc in a way that the book couldn’t come close to. > > Such an awesome film all-around, in fact. I absolutely agree. I didn’t really care about the characters in the book (and I \*like \*Nick Hornby), but it was a totally different story in the movie. I loved it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-better-than-the-book/480915.md?page=3)