# Which movies got it wrong the most **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483 "2008-09-27T18:18:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/21 "2008-09-27T21:44:12Z")
Danny Kaye’s version of _The Inspector General_. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/22 "2008-09-27T21:55:52Z")
Wow, no-one has mentioned Forest Gump. I saw the movie, but never read the book, but my wife did, and everything I’ve heard from her, and from things I’ve read on the Dope before, make me surprised it wasn’t brought up earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/23 "2008-09-27T22:10:16Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Wow, no-one has mentioned Forest Gump. I saw the movie, but never read the book, but my wife did, and everything I’ve heard from her, and from things I’ve read on the Dope before, make me surprised it wasn’t brought up earlier. That’s the classic modern example of a movie that was better than the book, so maybe that would be a movie that got it _right_ the most :). ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/24 "2008-09-27T22:41:51Z")
[This version of **Black Beauty**.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066834/) I picked it up at Circuit City about ten years ago for five bucks, and I still think I was overcharged. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/25 "2008-09-27T22:49:02Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > That’s the classic modern example of a movie that was better than the book, so maybe that would be a movie that got it _right_ the most :). You’re the first person I’ve heard who’s read the book and seen the movie and like the movie better. Guess there’s a first time for everything :). ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/26 "2008-09-27T22:55:40Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > You’re the first person I’ve heard who’s read the book and seen the movie and like the movie better. Guess there’s a first time for everything :). I thought the book was ass, and the movie was watchable. So in that respect, the movie is better than the book…I don’t know if that’s saying much, though. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/27 "2008-09-27T23:04:36Z")
“…based on a novel by Philip K. Dick” ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/28 "2008-09-27T23:40:23Z")
**JFK**. Won the thread. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/29 "2008-09-28T00:05:12Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > I disagree. I think he read it. I think he got the point. And I think he deliberately decided to piss on it. This. I was in the audience at WorldCon that year when his people were trying to sell the movie to us. They swore up and down that they were being faithful to the book, even without power armor. Liars! ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/30 "2008-09-28T00:17:13Z")
Like _Lawnmower Man_, _BladeRunner_ had nothing whatsoever to do with the book of the same name. Which would have made a damn good movie. A perennial mention, Stephen King’s _The Shining_ was badly butchered by that rather forgettable person who tried to make a movie of it, and it was King’s best book ever and once again would have made a hell of a good movie. King himself did a miniseries, which was an improvement but needed serious editing for pace. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/31 "2008-09-28T00:21:16Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > A perennial mention, Stephen King’s _The Shining_ was badly butchered by that rather forgettable person who tried to make a movie of it, and it was King’s best book ever and once again would have made a hell of a good movie. King himself did a miniseries, which was an improvement but needed serious editing for pace. Stanley Kubrick? His version is excellent, I think. I know Stephen King has issues with it, but it is a great movie(now matter how different it is from the book). ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/32 "2008-09-28T00:29:03Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Like _Lawnmower Man_, _BladeRunner_ had nothing whatsoever to do with the book of the same name. _BladeRunner_ was based on the non-eponymous book _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_ by Philip K Dick. Which is not to say that it was particularly faithful to Dick’s work, not at all. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/33 "2008-09-28T00:33:20Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > _BladeRunner_ was based on the non-eponymous book _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_ by Philip K Dick. Which is not to say that it was particularly faithful to Dick’s work, not at all. Well, you just know they must have republished it under that title at some point. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/34 "2008-09-28T00:45:30Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Stanley Kubrick? His version is excellent, I think. I know Stephen King has issues with it, but it is a great movie(now matter how different it is from the book). Excellent? :dubious: In what ways? I don’t see that he added anything whatsoever. Screwed up the plot. Miscast all three main characters. Give him credit for a couple of good indiv scenes, sure, but apart from that? Even trying to see the movie on its own merits as if I’d never read the book, Wendy is annoying and the entire subplot with the cook, now deprived of relevance, just chews up time, and the end sort of wanders off into the maze and gets lost and leaves you thinking “huh? that was IT?” Besides, the book DOES matter. See thread title. He got it wrong. It was a spectacularly good book. He fucked it up. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/35 "2008-09-28T00:53:08Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > You’re the first person I’ve heard who’s read the book and seen the movie and like the movie better. Guess there’s a first time for everything :). I’ve never heard of anyone liking the book period. Despite the movie being almost universally hated here at the SDMB, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone in real life who didn’t like it. It has an 8.5 on IMDB and makes a lot of “best movies of the '90s” lists. ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/36 "2008-09-28T00:57:44Z")
The main problem with _I Am Legend_ isn’t that it diverges from its source. I dislike the movie _I, Robot_ because it takes the title of a cool series of stories and uses it for silly pulp sci-fi. With a different title, _I, Robot_ would’ve been a fun mindless action flick, but now that it’s used that title, a real adaptation will never be made. The thing with _I Am Legend_ though is that even without the title, it’s not consistent in its own universe. It includes numerous set-ups to imply that the zombies are more intelligent than Neville gives them credit for, setting traps and forming social relationships. But it all amounts to nothing, and the movie ends with a big pointless explosion and an overly saccharine voice-over. The alternate ending on the DVD would’ve made it a much better movie, even if it’s still not entirely faithful to its source material, as it was at least consistent with what the movie itself had been building up to. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/37 "2008-09-28T00:58:21Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Like _Lawnmower Man_, _BladeRunner_ had nothing whatsoever to do with the book of the same name. Which would have made a damn good movie. Wait, _Blade Runner_? I don’t believe the book is called _Blade Runner_. ETA: Whoops! Didn’t realize that I had opened this thread so long ago and see the subject has already come up. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/38 "2008-09-28T01:07:19Z")
The Sci-Fi channel’s **Children of Dune** adaptation in 2003. The first installment covered the book **Dune Messiah**. They switched some stuff around and left a bunch of other stuff out, but I thought they did OK with the source material given the time and filming constraints. They basically made the next parts of the series based on the COD book into a new story, and a half-assed one at that. Characters just ran around the stage doing things that didn’t make sense with no reason given. To be fair to the filmmakers (a) So did the characters in the book (b) When the book _did_ list a reason, more than half the time the reason didn’t make any sense © As far as I’m concerned, the entire **Dune** series is unfilmable. It’s too weird. Too much takes place inside the head in the form of philoso-babble and monologues. I used to think that it might _just_ have worked in anime format, but after rereading the first three books, I can’t even see that working. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/39 "2008-09-28T01:42:55Z")
Because I just read the reviews over at agonybooth recently: the **Neverending Story** movies. Michael Ende, the author, was roundly disappointed with the first one and removed his name from the credits; and by stopping the first movie halfway through the book, TPTB turned the whole message of the book around and stomped on it. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483/40 "2008-09-28T01:44:01Z")
I haven’t ready the book, but I understand _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_ diverges from the book in several significant ways. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-got-it-wrong-the-most/465483.md?page=3)