# UN-faithful movie adaptations of novels **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647 "2013-03-11T18:12:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/41 "2013-03-12T01:19:03Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Wow 20 posts in on this subject on the Straight Dope, and somehow I’m the first to mention _Starship Troopers_? > > ETA: I thought _Fight Club_ was a good film, but I much prefer the book’s ending. The author prefered the movie ending. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/42 "2013-03-12T01:51:22Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **Blade Runner** is nothing like [the book that gave it its title](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bladerunner). :dubious: Ha-ha. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/43 "2013-03-12T01:53:56Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > …[The film of] John Irving’s _Cider House Rules_ keep[s] the name of the novel but concentrate[s] on only a small part of the source material. The film of _Cider House_ spans about 5 years while the novel spans well over 50… Similar, the movie _The Door in the Floor_ covers only the first third or so of the Irving novel _A Widow for One Year_. The movie is OK, but I thought the book was a _lot_ better. On the other hand, Tom Clancy’s _Patriot Games_ was a real mess of a book with a cringeworthy subplot about a thinly-veiled Prince Charles and Princess Diana; the movie of the same name omitted them and was a much better, well-crafted, full-speed-ahead action thriller. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/44 "2013-03-12T02:02:13Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > The author prefered the movie ending. Thornton Wilder felt the same way about the movie ending to **Our Town** , where Emily isn’t dead but just having a dream so she’ll wake up and appreciate everything. Or perhaps he preferred the financial rewards it brought Anthony Burgess was conflicted on this point over \*\*A Clockwork Orange. \*\* The movie made his fortune, at the expense of the point he made with the book’s omitted last chapter. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/45 "2013-03-12T02:03:03Z")
I loved The Dark is Rising books. I couldn’t even watch what they filmed. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/46 "2013-03-12T02:36:09Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The movie is OK, but I thought the book was a _lot_ better. That is generally the case. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/47 "2013-03-12T02:54:20Z")
Has the obligatory mention of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” been made yet? It could hardly have been a more UNfaithful adaptation. CalMeacham - thanks for the correction about Hunchback of Notre Dame. I loved the tragic ending in the book; you are right that Disney’s is not the only version that tried to make it happier. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/48 "2013-03-12T05:40:30Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > On the other hand, Tom Clancy’s _Patriot Games_ was a real mess of a book with a cringeworthy subplot about a thinly-veiled Prince Charles and Princess Diana; the movie of the same name omitted them and was a much better, well-crafted, full-speed-ahead action thriller. I can see how Clancy’s works would be difficult to translate to film. Even so, I wouldn’t consider any of the Clancy films to be faithful adaptations. The changes seem random and arbitrary. The one that really turned me off was in the film version of Clear and Present Danger. The spy that is dating the FBI director’s secretary has his cover blown in the book and makes an undramatic exit from the scene. In the movie, for no readily apparent reason, he breaks her neck instead. I also hated the movie version in which Jack Ryan is trying to copy files while a CIA guy is deleting them. The book handled it much better- there was simply too much for him to copy. Don’t get me started on The Sum of All Fears. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/49 "2013-03-12T06:45:36Z")
Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow bears very little resemblance to its source material. In the book, Ichabod Crane is an unsympathetic character and the Headless Horseman is pranking him to get the girl. No mysterious forces at work. ---
**Author:** ![Kuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@Kuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuru)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/50 "2013-03-12T08:59:08Z")
I remember looking forward\* to [Wilt](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097891/) and being severely disappointed. It felt like they wanted to keep to the original story but either executive meddling or plain bad judgement resulted in the addition of serial killer sub-plot that detracted from the film as I’d imagined it. \*I was evidently the only person looking forward to it - apart from the friend I’d dragged along, and a movie reviewer, the cinema was otherwise empty! ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/51 "2013-03-12T11:02:37Z")
_Starter for 10_ was an OK book butchered to fit into a standard rom-com mould. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/52 "2013-03-12T12:59:13Z")
One of my favorite books, _The 39 Steps_, has been made into two bad films. The first time was by none other than Alfred Hitchcock. When a new PBS version was announced a few years ago, I had high hopes, but it, too, took a clever, suspenseful plot and “improved” it. I wish someone would just make a movie of this simple, exciting book as it was written. ETA I agree that Jeremy Brett is THE definitive Sherlock Holmes. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/53 "2013-03-12T15:41:05Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > That is generally the case. Of course. Off the top of my head, I can think of only three movies that I prefer to the books that inspired them: _Patriot Games, Cold Mountain_ and _Limitless_. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/54 "2013-03-12T16:14:26Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow bears very little resemblance to its source material. In the book, Ichabod Crane is an unsympathetic character and the Headless Horseman is pranking him to get the girl. No mysterious forces at work. Neither that movie nor his _Alice in Wonderland_ even try to film the source material, but instead use them as an “inspiration” for a completely different sort of movie—with, IMHO, much better results in the case of _Sleepy Hollow_ than of _Alice_. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/55 "2013-03-12T16:37:03Z")
> [@Kuru](#): > > I remember looking forward\* to [Wilt](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097891/) and being severely disappointed. > > It felt like they wanted to keep to the original story but either executive meddling or plain bad judgement resulted in the addition of serial killer sub-plot that detracted from the film as I’d imagined it. > > \*I was evidently the only person looking forward to it - apart from the friend I’d dragged along, and a movie reviewer, the cinema was otherwise empty! Upon reading the first sentence, my first thought was “They made a movie out of Wilt Chamberlain’s autobiography? I wonder if they included the sequence where Wilt gets blown by the stewardess!” Then… no. Unless they _really_ changed the book! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/56 "2013-03-12T16:42:50Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Of course. Off the top of my head, I can think of only three movies that I prefer to the books that inspired them: _Patriot Games, Cold Mountain_ and _Limitless_. You obviously never read Peter Benchley’s **Jaws**. 😉 **Contact** the movie had a lot of changes from the book, but most of them were understandable in that the two forms are quite different and it made cinematic sense to focus on the main character, even if it meant eliminating the 5 other characters that flew with Jodie Foster on the spaceship. What was inexcusable was the final scenes, where Jodie Foster capitulates on the side of woo, telling everybody (and the congressional committee) “You’re going to have to take me on faith”, walking out to meet a bunch of people holding signs saying “we believe you, Ellie!” and shit like that, so that the audience is lead to believe that one more conversation/boinking by Matthey McConaughey would leave Eleanor to a career of selling Bibles door-to-door. In the novel this never happens. She’s told to keep quiet by Kitz (James Wood) and does so. Instead of saying “take me on faith” (something her character never would have said) she tries to prove their trip happened (and, by extension, the existence of God) via some hints given to her by her “father”… and _does_ it. ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/57 "2013-03-12T16:44:28Z")
I know he’s been mentioned a few times in the thread already, but I wanted to mention “We Can Remember it For you Wholesale” (Total Recall) - The short story has about four pages after Quail/Quaid leaves Rekall. Nothing after the Johnny Cab comes from the story. As for the 2012 remake…I don’t think they even mentioned Mars in that version, but kept the whole Cohagen story. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/58 "2013-03-12T16:45:00Z")
Yes, good point - I’d forgotten _Contact_. Generally better than the book, but not entirely, as you say. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/59 "2013-03-12T16:56:47Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > The novel _Forrest Gump_ is about a crude, vulgar, foul-mouthed horndog. He does some of the same things as his movie counterpart (football, Vietnam, ping-pong, shrimp), but he also: > > - screws coeds left and right in college > - becomes an astronaut (along with an orangutan co-astronaut) whose ship re-enters and lands on an island full of cannibals > - works as a stuntman and has some episodes with a naked Raquel Welch. > - becomes a professional wrestler and a chess champion. Now _that’s_ a movie I’d want to see. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647/60 "2013-03-12T17:02:58Z")
[The Wizard of Oz (1925).](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016544/combined) The 1939 classic strays pretty far from the source material–but watch the 1925 version sometime for something that has hardly any resemblance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/un-faithful-movie-adaptations-of-novels/652647.md?page=4)