P.S. The Legend of Bagger Vance
Thought the movie was good until I read the book.
A dystopian world in which the only form of communication between leftover villages is a postman making his rounds.
Probably one of the best concepts of a book that was rarely read, thanks to Kevin Costner.
The movie version of Stephen King’s “It” was horrible, and the movie “The Langoliers” just horribley, horribley mutilated the short story. I have basically refused to watch any movie versions of Stephen Kind books ever since.
And that landlord! That was one of the most offensive stereotypes or racial caricatures I’ve ever seen in a movie. I mean, I know it was a different era, but there’s no way I’ll believe they wrote that part and permitted it to performed that way without understanding that it was inappropriate. No way.
Actually, it wasn’t that bad. I first saw it when it was released theatrically and was upset that it made so many changes from the book. But then years later, I saw it on TV and realized that they actually managed to work most of the themes into the movie. Yes, there were some differences and not all of them were to my liking. For instance, Ellie and Palmer are lovers off and on throughout the movie. And they left out the alien/father’s fascinating analogy about finding the creator’s “signature” in pi. But I definitely recomend it, if for no other reason than the brilliant (as always) performance of Jodie Foster, who was personally chosen for the role by Sagan himself, by the way. In fact, although he died before the film was made, Sagan had a lot of input in the creation of the film. It’s very possible that some – or even most – of the changes were his idea. You should definitely check it out.
Actually, it’s interesting to note that Sagan was an atheist (at least according to “famous atheists” listings on the ever-reliable Internet).
I had a lot of other things I wanted to say about Contact, but they seem have all been said here already, so nevermind.
I totally agree with you here. Loved the book and the original adaptaion, hated the remake. Of course, I sort of knew what I was in for when I saw the trailer (back when they were still calling it The Haunting of Hill House) and it said, "From the director of Speed and Twister. Subtlety is not Jan de Bont’s forte.
And the shitty thing is, they changed so many things that they could have changed the name of the movie, the names of the characters, and maybe one or two story details and they wouldn’t have had to pay royalties to Shirley Jackson’s estate. And taken strictly on its own merits and not as an adaptation of a book I loved, I probably would have liked the movie.
Actually, The Lawnmower Man wasn’t even a true adaptation of the short story, the filmmakers just stole the title. Stephen King actually sued to have his name removed from the advertising when the film was released to video.
Then why did he call it Starship Troopers? It’s like what I was saying about The Haunting. It’s not like Starship Troopers was such a well known book that he was counting on the title to draw in millions of ticket buyers.
I’ll defend “Contact”. Yes, the movie has Palmer doing better when arguing with Ellie, but the movie actually has an unabashed atheist character. Who doesn’t have a last minute conversion to theism! This is shocking stuff for a Hollywood movie. I thought the movie was a very well done adaptation of the book.
Here’s one that goes back a-ways, and it’s an adaptation of a play, not a book (although I’m sure the play’s been published in bound form, so it still sorta belongs): Our Town by Thornton Wilder.
Emily doesn’t die!
I’d put in a bid for Soylent Green.
Soylent Green is people! I mean… hello… I don’t remember any cannibals in Make Room! Make Room!
I didn’ t think the film of The Langoliers was that bad … it stuck pretty close to the book.
I am astonished that anyone would defend the movie “Contact”. I admit I haven’t read the book, so possibly the book was also that bad, but that would be hard to believe.
I think it was the only movie I’ve ever been to where I seriously considered demanding my money back. Painful.
The Color Purple book was better then the movie.
Jaws made a better book (although the 1st movie was good)
Although I won’t rank it as one of the great movies of our times, I kind of liked Contact too. It may have been a little slow moving, but not bad. Interestingly enough, Phil Plait, host of Bad Astronomy even liked it and reviewed the astronomy in his Contact review.
Gotta strongly disagree. The book Jaws was very inferior to the movie. The whole ridiculous subplot about the abortive affair between Ellen Brody and the shark expert guy killed the book.
RogueRacer, here’s my summary of “Contact”.
“Slow moving” was not its problem. “Main character acts like deer in headlights until audience gets cramps in throat muscles from wanting to scream at her” was its problem.
-OTHER-
I agree that Benchley’s book Jaws suffered from plot permutations that detracted from it; and that Langoliers, while it had other problems (pacing, mostly), didn’t depart significantly from the original short story. They left out Albert’s violin-playing and his Walter-Mitty-esque image of himself as Ace the Arizona Jew, and the Captain’s dream about his dead ex-wife, but not much else; and they didn’t try to add in a bunch of new stuff either.
Another Nomination:
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a cool kid’s book about an eccentric professor and an exotic abandoned “12-cylinder 8-litre supercharged Paragon Panther” that he rescued and rebuilt and which turned out to have a personality of its own. Dick Van Dyke was hideously miscast as Prof. Pott and they turned the sleek button-laden performance car into a candy-striped May Day parade float in the process of converting an entertaining story into a bad musical.
RogueRacer, did you know Phil Plait posts here as The Bad Astronomer?
I did not know that. I’m pretty new to these boards, so I guess I haven’t ran across any of his posts yet. That’s pretty cool though. He seems to always try to write good information and isn’t afraid to admit when he’s wrong.
Hi! My ears are burning. 
Yes, I liked Contact. The book is far superior to the movie, but that’s unfair: the book is extraordinary. Still, I found the movie to be very good. I don’t care if a movie is slow, if the story is well-told. In this way, Contact is the anti-Armageddon.
I agree that Jaws the movie is better than the book. The movie is excellent, the book rather fetid. I found it to be sexist and dull.
Colossus : the Forbin Project is a great flick, and a so-so book. Another extremely sexist book.
A lot of Stephen King movies are faithful to the books, and are awful. “The Stand” is one of them. That actually boasts the worst casting call of all time: Molly Ringwald as the lead female character. She would have been dead last on my list in that role. And yet a lot of movies from King’s books are great.
I don’t quite understand; the Langoliers was one of the very few that actually DID stick to the Novella. Not 100% but closer than most.
Oh well; what do I know
The Stand didn’t stick all that close; and though the casting of Ringwald was a horribly sour note; Gary Sinise was brilliant and the movie wasn’t bad at all. IMO it could have been better; but it sure as heck could have been worse. It brought a lot of things to life IMO.
{slight hijack}
**The Stand ** was filmed here in my homestate. In fact the scene where Rob Lowe’s caharacter meets Bill Foggerbakke’s is only about 5 blocks from my house!
{end hijack}
I hadn’t read the book before seeing The Stand, but the movie DID interest me enough to plow through the whole thing. I don’t think I quite “got” it but it was a worthwhile read anyway. And I will agree about Molly Ringwald. Who was she sleeping with to get that part?!
The Bad Astronomer:
Phil, I’ve never been more disappointed in you than when you posted your positive review of that awful movie.