# 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:** 3
**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 13, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/41 "2018-01-13T21:11:55Z")
Most of the Harry Potter movies. I saw the first two or three before reading the books and was very disappointed with the books when I got around to reading them. I might not have been the target audience for the books, but I was definitely in the audience for the movies. I read the next book or two before seeing the movies and they fell pretty flat for me, and spoiled several important moments in the movies, so I stopped reading the books and just watched the last few movies. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/42 "2018-01-13T21:51:32Z")
The World According to Garp. The movie only hints at the novels Garp writes. You see the 1 minute visualization of Magic Gloves and you fill in your own book. You get the point, the sadness, the beauty of it without having to read it. (If that’s what it was about, I like it. -Jenny) In the novel, not only do you get (have?) to read The Pension Griillparzer, which not only not as good as Magic Gloves _could_ be, it sucked. It was boring and tiresome. After Garp dies, the novel tells the fates of all the main and secondary players. While somewhat interesting, it makes the novel not end. It just sort of trails off. The movie rightly ends as Garp dies. One thing I really liked that was added to the movie was the echos of minor points throughout the movie. I could see some arguing it’s trite (probably Irving 🙂 )I liked it. It unified the movie, made it more than the collection of vignettes the novel is. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/43 "2018-01-13T22:25:59Z")
Dan Brown can’t write. Fortunately for Dan, Tom Hanks can act. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/44 "2018-01-13T22:42:50Z")
The ending of the movie _The African Queen_ was better and more satisfying that the book. I liked the book _Presumed Innocent_, but I found the movie riveting. And I echo what was said about _The Godfather_ movie, which was great, while the book was good. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2018, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/45 "2018-01-13T22:43:13Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > _Jaws._ The movie dropped the stupid sub-plot about Hooper having an affair with Brody’s wife. I have not read the book but doesn’t it end with the shark just swimming away out to sea rather than getting blown up by Brody? I can see why ending the book with a massive anti-climax might work on a literary level but if the movie had ended like that, the audience would’ve burned down the theater. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/46 "2018-01-14T00:10:16Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I have not read the book but doesn’t it end with the shark just swimming away out to sea rather than getting blown up by Brody? I can see why ending the book with a massive anti-climax might work on a literary level but if the movie had ended like that, the audience would’ve burned down the theater. 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. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/47 "2018-01-14T00:22:25Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Does _2001: A Space Odyssey_ count? It was from a short story. “Babette’s Feast” (late 1980s Foreign Language Oscar winner) was too. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/48 "2018-01-14T02:02:37Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Lord of the rings. Come at me. I stand shoulder to shoulder with you, **DigitalC**! As a teen, I was a role-playing, fantasy-reading, socially-outcast dork. And I couldn’t get through a single Tolkein novel. I tried again when I was older, and I still couldn’t. And this was a time when I read _Faulkner_ for fun! I’m sorry. I know Tolkein is held in high regard here, and lots of people love his work, and that’s wonderful. I just couldn’t get into the books at all. I found the movies to be very compelling and moving. ---
**Author:** ![Jane\_Elliot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jane_elliot/32/6166_2.png) [@Jane\_Elliot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jane_Elliot)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/49 "2018-01-14T02:41:10Z")
_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. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2018, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/50 "2018-01-14T03:11:39Z")
By all accounts _Tristram Shandy_, but I’ve not read the book. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/51 "2018-01-14T03:13:20Z")
[The Thing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(1982_film)) is significantly better than [Who Goes There?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Goes_There%3F); which isn’t all that bad itself. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/52 "2018-01-14T05:05:44Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Lord of the rings. Come at me. I came in here to say this. I liked reading The Hobbit but LotR was impossible. The movies distilled out the key stuff. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/53 "2018-01-14T05:07:04Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > [The Thing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(1982_film)) is significantly better than [Who Goes There?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Goes_There%3F); which isn’t all that bad itself. Good pick. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/54 "2018-01-14T05:10:29Z")
> [@Grumbacher\_Red](#): > > And you don’t even like Jenny because all of her backstory is missing, so she is just some mean careless slut who uses Forrest every now and then and disappears, but you don’t even care. How is that different than the film? My friends and I came to the conclusion a few years back that Jenny is one of the worst human beings we are supposed to have sympathy for in film (Holly Golightly is in that conversation as well). > [@Ethilrist](#): > > Most of the Harry Potter movies. I’d actually argue the exact opposite. I loved the books and find the movies to be mostly meh aside from a few standouts (Prizoner of Azkaban, which is also my favorite book, The Half Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows pt 1). They just don’t capture the (for lack of a better word) magic and charm of the world. Nor do they, though you’d imagine they’d have to due to the length of the books, adequately deal with the breadth of the world Rowling has created. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/55 "2018-01-14T06:09:46Z")
_Star Trek_ adapted Fredric Brown’s short story “Arena” into an episode of the series. The basic structure was the same but they made a major change in the ending - and the new ending was much better than the original. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/56 "2018-01-14T06:19:02Z")
I thought both versions of _The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo_ were much better than the book. I found it such hard, unsatisfying reading that I didn’t bother with the rest of the trilogy. The movies were a pleasant surprise. Similarly I find most of James Ellroy’s stuff unreadable so I think the movie of _L.A Confidential_ is quite an achievement. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/57 "2018-01-14T12:48:07Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > By all accounts _Tristram Shandy_, but I’ve not read the book. I’ve read the book, and I don’t agree. The characters in the book are far more interesting, and the humour and satire is more varied than the movie, and even more over the top. However, the movie is really good. It captures a lot of the zaniness of the book. It’s faithful to the spirit of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/58 "2018-01-14T13:21:06Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I tried reading _The Princess Bride_. I couldn’t even get through the first chapter. You should try reading the abridged version by William Goldman. It has a much better pacing. ---
**Author:** ![Harrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac8455/32.png) [@Harrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harrington)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/59 "2018-01-14T13:31:04Z")
Not sure if a book or just a story, but Shawshank Redemption (the movie) was better than anything Stephen King could produce, ever. ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515/60 "2018-01-14T13:55:39Z")
IMHO, Field of Dreams is better than W.P Kinsella’s “Shoeless Joe”. In the book, there are two long subplots that are left out of the movie that kind of sidetrack the narrative. The most significant of those, is that the narrator, Ray Kinsella, has a long-lost twin brother who ran away from home at sixteen to join a carnival and returned to Iowa as the owner/manager of the carnival during the novel. It was this twin, not Ray, who had the conflicted relationship with his father and needed closure. Ray himself got along fine with his father, and stayed in Iowa his whole life. Oh, and that movie ending? In the book, Ray not only suspected that the field could bring his father back, he actually lobbied for it, telling Shoeless Joe he knew a good minor-league catcher who could play a few games. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-were-better-than-the-book-they-were-based-on/806515.md?page=4)