Ugh! Eaters of the Dead was SUCH a crappy book! I saw the movie The 13th Warrior which I loved and thought, “Oh, Goody! I’ll read the book now too, because the book is always better than the movie!” WRONG!!! That book sucked and the movie was so cool.
My personal worst experience: Battlefield Earth. What an entertaining, interesting book! I couldn’t read it fast enough! Damn John Travolta for ruining it for me. Now I get laughed at when I tell people I thought it was a good book.
I take it back, Congo is NOT the worst thing Crichton ever wrote. I’d blocked some of the even worse stuff from my memory.
One of my favorites is “The Great Train Robbery”, but I haven’t seen the movie yet.
Hands down… without a doubt… has to be…
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
That movie was so bad I almost cried.
Karma, I didn’t think that the F&LiLV movie was that bad. Not great mind you, but I’ve read the book several times and I thought it was OK.
Worst book to movie EVER?
Steinbeck’s East of Eden. Turned into the James Dean crapfest. They completely ignore the first generation from the book, and don’t include Lee! He was the best character in the book. That movie was beyond bad.
The Postman by David Brin was a great book (if you’re in to Post Apocalyptic Sci-Fi–which I am). The 3 hour self-love fest directed and starring Kevin Costner was painful to watch.
Goboy, gotta agree with you about the former Mrs. Willis’ “Scarlet Letter.” But remember, MGM and Lillian Gish did get it right, back in 1926 . . .
• “Show Girl in Hollywood.” Hilarious, cynical 1929 J.P. McEvoy novel. Awful, sappy 1930 movie.
• “Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York.” Very funny Gail Parent novel, early 1970s. Made into an abominable film—I can’t believe they even READ the book.
• “Man without a Face.” Leave it to Mel Gibson to take a touching novel about a misunderstood gay man and take all the gayness out of it.
Gosh, it’s hard to know where to begin with so many astute appraisals already made. Interestingly, the ones that seem to disappoint the most are the SF ones, or perhaps more generally, those whose vivid visualizations would be the most difficult to film and the most disappointing when not realized.
Having said that, I in no way want to let Verhovan and his ilk off the hook. If you’re going to tackle something like Heinlin, by God, you have a moral obligation to do it properly.
For a look at how good intentions can get sabatoged by the process, check out Terry Rossio’s account of the trouble with ** Puppet Masters ** at this site http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp15.Building.the.Bomb.html
As far as ** Dune ** I have to give it only a partial verdict in spite of the general slam. Yes, the “Weirding Modules” were an abomination and the Baron turned into a caricature, etc. BUT I found a few things absolutely dead on for me, especially the scene where Paul is beset by a hunter/seeker in his bedroom. The action, the set design, even the camera angle matches my internatl visualization of the scene dating from the first time I read it. Linda Hunt was perfect as the Shadout Mapes, even though they totally wasted the character’s use. Come to think of it, that makes it even more annoying, to see that they may have had the ability to do it right and chose not to. Arrgh!
And don’t get me started on ** The Postman ** for which I had such high hopes. (Yes, I know. Even after seeing Waterworld. Sigh, hope dies so hard.) As a native Oregonian, It was a kick to read Brin’s depiction of such real places as Oakridge and Eugene. I loved that dang book, and it was worse than hammered because it was trivialized. I hope Mr. Brin got a mile high pile of money cause he sure can’t have been happy with the final product.\
:::pant, pant:::
It’s alright, I’m OK now
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Of course, I haven’t read Timeline, yet, so I don’t know where that falls.
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They made a movie out of that? Rock on! The book was very cool, hopefully the movie will do it at least some justice.
When did this movie come out? What is it called? Can I just rent it, or is it hard to find? Did it go directly to video, or what?
The 411, people, break me off a little info!
Love’s Labours Lost, starring Alicia Silverstone and Nathan Lane and other people who also should’ve known better.
I brought that home for me & girlfriend to watch. She has repossessed my video-rental card 
Of course, I haven’t read Timeline, yet, so I don’t know where that falls.
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They made a movie out of that? Rock on! The book was very cool, hopefully the movie will do it at least some justice.
When did this movie come out? What is it called? Can I just rent it, or is it hard to find? Did it go directly to video, or what?
The 411, people, break me off a little info!
**
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Oh, no, I’m not aware of any movie. I was just off on a little tangent talking about the worst Crichton stuff.
There’s no movie that I know of.
Lexicon, I’ve seen some things you’ve posted I agreed with, others made doubt, and some left me neutral. With this post, though, you have just become an ally for life!
I seriously thought I was the only person out there who strongly prefers the original film noir take-off to the seriously under-powered director’s cut. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
BTW, do you have any idea where I can score a copy of the good version on VHS? All I can ever find for sale is the DC.
goboy, Demi Moore was the producer. That explains a lot now, doesn’t it? 
I will third the nominations for ** Dune ** (Sting half nekkid couldn’t save the movie!) and ** Interview with a Vampire ** (Though I wouldn’t call this a “great” book, Tom Cruise as Lestat was one of the worst casting mistakes I’ve ever seen).
John Irving’s The Hotel New Hampshire. Wonderful book, great cast, lousy direction, horrible film.
Flymaster - Oh, shit on you! ;o) You got my hopes up and left me dangling! You’re name is Amy Brinkmeir is it? If so, you did the same thing to me, TWICE!, in high school. Knock it off!
Fallen Angel - Sadly, the original version on VHS is Very hard to find and a collector’s item to boot. The DC is the only one in print right now. If you can find a copy you can expect to pay a pretty penny for it. By all means, if you can find it a video store, you would be well advised to rent it and not return it. If you do that, let me know and I will do whatever you wish for the oppurtunity to dupe it.
Indeed, it is good to know that I am not the only person on the planet who finds the OG better than the DC.
I have to second all the nominations for Starship Troopers on this thread – the book was, in addition to being a very interesting social commentary, a fantastic action novel! With CGI special effects what they are today, that could have been an excellently adapted movie. (For a good example, see the Starship Troopers Saturday morning ‘cartoon’ – it’s all CGI, it’s all about powered armor, and it’s FANTASTIC.)
My own nomination is “Clear and Present Danger”. A wonderfully written book by one of my favorites (Tom Clancy). For anyone who’s read the book, DON’T SEE THE MOVIE! The plot was completely eviscerated and the characters were completely shallow. (In the movie’s defense, you can’t turn a 1,000-page novel into a 2-hour movie and do it justice… but Momma Krunk raised me to believe if you can’t do it right, don’t do it.)
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Starship Troopers - GREAT novel. Movie SUCKED. Paul V, if you can’t afford powered armor, DON’T DO THE MOVIE!!! What next, “Planet of the Apes” “Well, we can’t afford the makeup, pretend they are apes…”
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Dune. Don’t knwo anyone who saw the film (not miniseries) who hadn’t read the book who understood it. Someone (Kronk?) said, you can’t make a 1000 page novel a 2 hour movie? Well, you can’t make a 500 page novel a movie either.
(BTW, Clancy probably cuts down better - he has more subplots that can be discarded, well-written as they are, to help flow, IMO)
LNO, if you value The Hobbit, do not see the animated version made in 1978. Perhaps the main strike against it is the godawful singing they stuck on for no rational reason. It is the worst 1970s easy-listening feelgood crap ever sung by a spun-syrup male singer. The show itself follows the book pretty well with some obvious mistakes (it drops whole subplots for no good reason), but the music will make you want to rip out your stereo system and stomp on it.
The IMDb link to it exists right here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you if you actually see it.
I saw 2010 a few times and think it could have been much better. It was way too Hollywood, too conventional. They should have thought about it a little. The only way a novel like 2001 got made into a successful movie was by making the movie a true work of art, so different from anything else it would get remembered on its own merits and set new standards. It was successful and is still remembered today as a classic. 2010 broke with that, failed in its own time, and is largely forgotten today.
The Running Man[ by Stephen King. A terrifying cross-country bloody manhunt done for sport reduced to a city-block-sized game show featuring ‘heroes’ in garb that not even pro wrestlers would wear. The best part of the movie was when Jesse Ventura’s gladiator speech.
Lucie -
when I read this post title “Even Cowgirls get the Blues” was the first book that popped into my mind, absolutely horrible. Though I thought Crispin Glover was good in it.
Sphere. I loved the book to bits, but the movie sucked.