# Movies that were BETTER than the book they were based on **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 13, 2018, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515 "2018-01-13T05:36:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/201 "2018-03-03T16:21:34Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > We read two different books. The society in the book is the opposite of the one in the movie. There has been much discussion over what RAH meant for that society. He later clarified it, but many say what the book shows and what RAH said are not the same. ---
**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:** [March 3, 2018, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/202 "2018-03-03T16:44:12Z")
John Irving’s The World According to Garp is okay. The movie took the best parts of the book and made them really good. ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/203 "2018-03-03T23:34:04Z")
Not a movie but I feel the series Dexter is much better than the book _Darkly Dreaming Dexter_. While I like the premise of the book it felt like it was a draft that needed a few more run throughs. I didn’t bother with the followup books but really enjoyed the series. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/204 "2018-03-03T23:49:20Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > John Irving’s The World According to Garp is okay. The movie took the best parts of the book and made them really good. I’m the opposite. The movie was okay, but the book is really good. > [@Cumberdale](#): > > Not a movie but I feel the series Dexter is much better than the book _Darkly Dreaming Dexter_. While I like the premise of the book it felt like it was a draft that needed a few more run throughs. I didn’t bother with the followup books but really enjoyed the series. Agree. I read the first Dexter book and decided that was enough. The series was great. ---
**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:** [March 3, 2018, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/205 "2018-03-03T23:57:15Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > It’s one thing for a film to surpass a shitty book, but when the film surpasses an excellent book, that’s really something. And Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me are perfect examples of that… > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Both The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me were much better than the Stephen King novella’s they were based on. The stories are both in the book Different Seasons and are both good, but the movies are excellent. Yep. > [@j666](#): > > Oh, and Horatio Hornblower series with Ioan Gruffudd was much better than the books. I prefer the version with Shatner. In space. > [@ivylass](#): > > I tried reading _The Princess Bride_. I couldn’t even get through the first chapter. Oh, I’m afraid you somehow stumbled on the rare Way Too Long and Boring Original Version by S. Morgenstern… William Goldman’s father did you a favor by cutting out the slow parts. > [@Jane\_Elliot](#): > > _The Scarlet Pimpernel_. The book was terrible and I couldn’t finish it. So much of the action takes place off the page that I just gave up on it. Ah, but the [1934 movie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP8qi_RxMRg) is wonderful, mostly due to [Leslie Howard as \*Sir Percival, \*the floppiest, foppish-est Secret Identity ‘eveh’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD0cE8B5Dj0). ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/206 "2018-03-04T00:23:34Z")
My condolence. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2018, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/207 "2018-03-04T22:45:34Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > We read two different books. The society in the book is the opposite of the one in the movie. The society in the book is a society that soundly rejects democratic and egalitarian ideas, and idolizes military service above everything else while damn near fetishizing corporal punishment as the solution to crime. In the book it was presented from the viewpoint of someone who has accepted that society’s propaganda after growing up with it, while in the movie it was cynically viewed from outside, but it’s definitely not the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/208 "2018-03-05T00:43:16Z")
children of men … I remember every major critic and review telling pd james stick to her cozy mysteries and then the movie came out it was major sci-fi… ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/209 "2018-03-05T02:17:49Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > children of men … I remember every major critic and review telling pd james stick to her cozy mysteries and then the movie came out it was major sci-fi… I loved that book. I loved it so much I hated the movie. (That’s not true; I hate the movie because they changed the crisis to a complete loss of female fertility for no reason. I still don’t know why they made the change.) (And PD James mysteries were not cozy.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/210 "2018-03-05T20:53:55Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > The society in the book is a society that soundly rejects democratic and egalitarian ideas, and idolizes military service above everything else while damn near fetishizing corporal punishment as the solution to crime. In the book it was presented from the viewpoint of someone who has accepted that society’s propaganda after growing up with it, while in the movie it was cynically viewed from outside, but it’s definitely not the opposite. RAH himself disagrees with you. \*Some reviewers have suggested that Heinlein was simply discussing the merits of a selective versus a nonselective franchise.[18] Heinlein made a similar claim, over two decades after Starship Troopers’s publication, in his Expanded Universe and further claimed that 95 percent of “veterans” were not military personnel but members of the civil service. … Dennis Showalter, writing in 1975, defended Starship Troopers, stating that the society depicted in it did not contain many elements of fascism. He argues that the novel does not include outright opposition to bolshevism and liberalism that would be expected in a fascist society.[88] Others have responded by saying Showalter’s argument is based on a literal reading of the novel, and that the story glorifies militarism to a large extent.[88] Ken Macleod argues that the book does not actually advocate fascism because anybody capable of understanding the oath of Federal Service is able to enlist and thereby obtain political power.[12] Macleod states that Heinlein’s books are consistently liberal, but cover a spectrum from democratic to elitist forms of liberalism, Starship Troopers being on the latter end of the spectrum.[2] It has been argued that Heinlein’s militarism is more libertarian than fascist, and that this trend is also present in Heinlein’s other popular books of the period, such as Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966) \* I didnt read anything that rejected “democratic and egalitarian ideas” at all, just that you had to serve before you got to vote- and many didnt want the bother of serving and voting. The book seems very egalitarian to me. Yes, those in the miliarty tend to glorfiy military servise, which is to be expected. ---
**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 6, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/211 "2018-03-06T13:10:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by j666 > Oh, and Horatio Hornblower series with Ioan Gruffudd was much better than the books. I missed this one when it first appeared. Gotta severely disagree with it. Much as I love the Ioan Gryffud Hornblower TV movies, it’s _despite_ their divergences from the books, rather than _because_ of them. I accept their changes to make things more condensed and in giving you a larger cast of continuing characters, and in giving Hornblower more people to talk to and the freedom to talk to them – if they were strictly by the Forester book the series would consist of a LOT of voiceovers as Forester’s brooding, introspective , intentionally reticent character spent all of his time talking to himself in his head. But they also changed too many things that made Hornblower do things even more blatantly against the rules than the books ever did. Hornblower skated close to the edge, but was careful to stay on this side of the Right. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/212 "2018-03-06T17:17:58Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > RAH himself disagrees with you. And he’s wrong, because we’re talking about the society **in the book** , not what he retconned about it later, or about what he possibly intended but failed to actually put into the book. This essay does a good job of pointing out that the claim that “Federal Service” in the book is 95% non-military: [https://www.nitrosyncretic.com/pdfs/nature\_of\_fedsvc\_1996.pdf](https://www.nitrosyncretic.com/pdfs/nature_of_fedsvc_1996.pdf) > [@](#): > > Heinlein made a similar claim, over two decades after Starship Troopers’s publication, in his Expanded Universe and further claimed that 95 percent of “veterans” were not military personnel but members of the civil service. … Rather pointedly, the essay I linked makes it clear that this is a retcon inconsistent with the book as written. The essay provides multiple quotes (from the book, not from non-book sources) to back this, and goes into detail, I’ll put one here to make the point: > [@](#): > > “Son, don’t think I don’t sympathize with you; I do. But look at the real facts. If there werea war, I’d be the first to cheer you on—and to put the business on a war footing. But there isn’t,and praise God there never will be again. We’ve outgrown wars. This planet is now peaceful and happy and we enjoy good enough relations with other planets. So what is this ‘Federal Service’? Parasitism, pure and simple. A functionless organism, utterly obsolete, living on the taxpayers.” [Ch. II, p23] > > Juan’s father clearly sees Federal Service as military service, a defense agency, a war mechanism. If large parts—not to say ninety-five percent of it—were more general governmental functions, why does Emilio Rico assume exclusively that Juan’s interest is in military-style service? Why does he not mention, say, the utter boredom and wasted time of a job ‘flying a desk’ in some faceless bureaucracy, or the hazards of civil duties such as heavy public works construction? In a more general Federal > Service, any of these would be more likely than a slot in the five-percent military. > [@](#): > > I didnt read anything that rejected “democratic and egalitarian ideas” at all, just that you had to serve before you got to vote- The society is explicitly and clearly anti-democratic, as it clearly completely rejects the idea of universal suffrage. You either join the military or don’t get to vote. > [@](#): > > and many didnt want the bother of serving and voting. The book seems very egalitarian to me. You don’t remember the scene of the ‘society speaks’ character sneering with open contempt at the idea of a physically handicapped person wanting to serve so that he could get the franchise? ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/213 "2018-03-07T01:08:01Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I missed this one when it first appeared. Gotta severely disagree with it. Much as I love the Ioan Gryffud Hornblower TV movies, it’s _despite_ their divergences from the books, rather than _because_ of them. I accept their changes to make things more condensed and in giving you a larger cast of continuing characters, and in giving Hornblower more people to talk to and the freedom to talk to them – if they were strictly by the Forester book the series would consist of a LOT of voiceovers as Forester’s brooding, introspective , intentionally reticent character spent all of his time talking to himself in his head. But they also changed too many things that made Hornblower do things even more blatantly against the rules than the books ever did. Hornblower skated close to the edge, but was careful to stay on this side of the Right. To be honest, I do not fully appreciate that because I didn’t read the books. Oh, I tried. I read one as a child, and after I watched the first few episodes I was so looking forward to reading the books, but no. They were so tedious. And I like **Dickens.** ---
**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 7, 2018, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/214 "2018-03-07T13:12:02Z")
> [@j666](#): > > To be honest, I do not fully appreciate that because I didn’t read the books. > > Oh, I tried. I read one as a child, and after I watched the first few episodes I was so looking forward to reading the books, but no. They were so tedious. And I like **Dickens.** Well, YMMV and _De Gustibus non Disputandum est_, but “tedious” is not among the words I would use to describe the Hornblower novels, or any of Forester’s books\*. I find that I easily fall into reading them and can devour them in no time. That’s also been the experience of friends who have read them, but maybe that’s just because of who I hang out with. \*Well, except for _The Age of Fighting Sail_. That’s Forester’s non-fiction account of the War of 1812, which I’ve never been able to finish. Tedious, it is. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/215 "2018-03-08T00:33:47Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Well, YMMV and _De Gustibus non Disputandum est_, but “tedious” is not among the words I would use to describe the Hornblower novels, or any of Forester’s books\*. I find that I easily fall into reading them and can devour them in no time. That’s also been the experience of friends who have read them, but maybe that’s just because of who I hang out with. You know multiple people who enjoy his writing? Now you’ve got me convinced that I’m confusing two different authors. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/216 "2018-03-11T02:10:05Z")
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace I think I saw the Tim Burton movie several years ago, and wasn’t super impressed (I think the plot didn’t make much sense). But then I saw Big Fish the Musical this past fall at a local community theater, and it was a delight. Charming and whimsical, with lots of fun music to listen to, and dancing to watch. And I then attempted to read the book and watched the movie-- armed with a clearer understanding of the plot, the movie was great fun. Different choices were made for various bits( really, almost everything was different, down to the name of the wife character), but it was also charming and whimsical, and visually delightful. But the book didn’t strike me as nearly as charming and whimsical. I was disappointed, and didn’t finish it. ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/217 "2018-10-08T14:33:37Z")
the oved one ---
**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:** [October 8, 2018, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/218 "2018-10-08T15:34:22Z")
> [@fedman](#): > > the oved one I suspect you mean the 1948 Evelyn Waugh novel _The Loved One_ and the 1965 film made from it. I never read the one nor saw the other (although I liked the Charles Addams cartoon on the copy of one paperback edition). But… If you’re gonna post here you should (besides proofing your post to make sure you got it right\*) tell us _WHY_ you think the movie’s better than the book. Don’t just throw a name out there. Especially if it’s missing key elements. \*like I’m a good one to complain about that. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/219 "2018-10-08T16:43:10Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > As I remember, > > the shark just died at the end, without Brody doing anything. I think it was supposed to have died from an accumulation of injuries. Also, Hooper (the oceanographer) didn’t survive in the book. The Mad Magazine version had the shark keel over in shock at the unreality of Hooper surviving. “That, not even a shark could swallow!” > [@RTFirefly](#): > > This was the scene that totally ruined the movie for me. The drawn-out silence into which Frodo says, “I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way” - that moment, AFAIAC, is the heart of the entire three-book tale. > > And Peter Jackson, may he be perpetually infested with the fleas of a thousand camels, turned that heart-rending moment into a cacophonic shouting match. But, the [Jack Black version of the scene](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiX4MrvpPfdAhUCXawKHWOXC3gQyCkwAHoECAYQBA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D8Uztj3vp-RI&usg=AOvVaw0TCWb98LV9kn22nDYtAxfq) is excellent! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/220 "2018-10-08T18:59:44Z")
> [@j666](#): > > You know multiple people who enjoy his writing? Now you’ve got me convinced that I’m confusing two different authors. Maybe you are thinking of Patrick O brian? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515.md?page=12)