Inspired by some of the posts in the Worst Movie Ending thread, I wonder what are some candidates for the worst book to movie translation. I guess worst can mean a number of different things here.
The movie missed the point of the book altogether.
The movie left out a bunch of really good stuff in the book.
The movie perverted the author’s story into some Hollywood schlop.
There may be other takes, I’ll leave it up to the individual to determine.
I’d offer up Pat Conroy’s “Prince of Tides” It really bugged me that the relationship between the Wingo’s and the wealthy family (sorry forgot their name) was mostly erased from the movie when that seemed to be a substantial factor in the problems faced by all the Wingo kids and their parents.
Another film I have issues with is the cartoon version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I know, I know… “It’s a kid’s movie–lighten up.” I just get steamed thinking that Victor Hugo’s literary classic which concludes with a public execution, a murder, and a suicide can somehow become a happy, smiley children’s movie.
BTW I’m kind of a newbie, so if this thread has been done before, I apologize and will quietly slink away.
This novel, in a nutshell, is the story of a group of Civil War veterans who fly off in a balloon and land on the Island referred to in the title. After various castaway-type perils and adventures they are rescued by Captain Nemo.
But the film producers thought that this wasn’t sufficient so they decided that the island should be populated with monsters.
Well, not ALL Stephen King books tanked; The Dead Zone turned out pretty good, as well.
But oh, the horror that was The Lawnmower Man…the only thing taken from the short story was the title, so it’s barely an “adaptation”. Still, near the top of the King stinker heap.
Actually, the early Bond flicks were more faithful to the books than the later ones. There were changes, but they were not major. If you don’t believe me, read “Thunderball” again, and compare it with, say “A View to a Kill”.
How about Stand by Me. I also thought The Dead Zone, while not completely faithful to the book, did a pretty good job.
Starship Troopers did NOT “lose a lot in the translation”. It was subjected to an ideological reversal and a lot of dumbing down. There were a lot of good points to the film, but Heinlein would’ve hated it on a lot of different levels, I think.
For my own suggestions:
Nightfall. The circa 1989 version was unbelievably awful. I understand there’s a newer version, but word is that it’s pretty bad, too.
Bonfire of the Vanities. Haven’t seen it or read it, but apparently they REALLY messed up.
Dune The David Lynch version. Again, there’s a lot of good stuff in there, but a lot of pretty awful stuff, too.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. You KNOW they couldn’t do the whole thing, but what remained seemed awfully condensed and dumbed down. At least we got to see The Lady Chablis
I vote for Jurassic Park. Strongest qualifications are 2 (they totally altered the ending) and 3 (look what Industrial Light and Magic has been up to lately!) but I think there’s a good argument for 1. If you’ve left out a lot of the book and you’ve converted it into a schlop vehicle, then it would naturally follow that you’ve missed the freaking point.
My vote is obscure, but is something I carry a banner for.
The adaptation of The Collector by John Fowles into a movie starring Terrence Stamp…appalled me.
The Collector is, in my humble opinion, the best…book…EVER. It features one of the first “brilliant, polite psychos” that I ever encountered, has wonderful and terrifying sexual tension and an amazingly strong, yet emotional and honest leading female character.
And the movie, I feel, butchered it. They introduced a third character (who wasn’t even in the book)…the role of Miranda was (again in my opinion) severely miscast, and they left out a good fifty pages of the book which would explain why the narrator is the way he is.
Oh well…my only hope is that Jude Law does a better job with it one day.
How about Stand by Me. I also thought The Dead Zone, while not completely faithful to the book, did a pretty good job.
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Hey…I DID say basically… Yeah, Stand By Me and Dead Zone were both good. I was thinking more of Lawnmower Man and The Running Man (written under the name Richard Bachman)
One of the best books I have ever read was turned into one of the worst films I have ever seen. Even taken on it’s own, this movie sucked two day old chunky bath water.
The book: A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
The Movie: Simon Birch
If you have read the book and seen the movie, you know what I mean.
Preach it. I went to see John Irving speak, and it happened to be the same week this movie was released (or maybe the week before). He begged us not to go see it. He DID NOT give them permission for the movie (that’s why it was changed to Simon Birch instead of Owen Meany) and he said he was devastated as to how it turned out.
Owen Meany simply could never be a movie. It couldn’t. Owen is someone different in everyone’s mind, and his voice is something different in everyone’s mind, and there are too many wonderful, beautiful images in that book for it to be translated to the screen accurately.
I’m sure that I’m gonna take a lot of flak for this, but I think that Contact, the movie, was hugely disappointing compared to the book. The movie wound up being this majestic fantasy and didn’t (couldn’t) include the subtle, thought-provoking aspects of the book eg. the nature of the code. (In fact, unless you’ve read the book, I bet you don’t even know what I’m talking about).
Isaac Asimov’s, “The Bicentennial Man”. Good short story about a robot who decides he should be human and fights for his right to have his humanity recognized is turned into a bad comedy where the robot, played by Robin Williams, meets Oliver Platt, who’s a wacky inventor, and falls in love with the granddaughter of his original owner.
The Sharon Stone remake of “Les Diaboliques” managed to trash both the original book and the previous movie made from that book.
Richard Attenborough’s version of “A Chorus Line” trashed the play, mostly due to uninspired casting and leaving out one of the best songs (“Sing”).
Speaking of John Irving, I never read the book, but was “The World According to Garp” really as misogynistic as the movie turned out to be? The film definitely was made by someone who hated women.
“Dune” actually wasn’t all that bad. It’s an honorable failure; the material was too much to fit into a movie format.
I didn’t see the movie or read the book (my husband is the big Irving fan), but when we saw Irving speak, he was ALSO disappointed with the Garp adaptation. He just doesn’t feel his books translate well to the screen.
He said that he was generally pleased with Cider House Rules…but it took him so long to adapt it that it seemed fruitless to ever do it for another one of his books.
I don’t see a ton of movies, but Hannibal was just wrong. It hit all 3 points listed in the OP. I found the movie hard to follow and disjointed, and for Chrissake I read the book! I don’t understand how most people followed it at all. It boggles my mind. I enjoyed the movie, but nowhere near as much as I expected to… if I didn’t appreciate Anthony Hopkins so much, I think I’d have lost interest halfway through.
The Lost World - According to the movie, the whole book took place at night. In the rain.
The Running Man - When I saw the movie (way before I ever read the book), I loved it. After reading the book, I think the entire cast and crew of the movie should be shot.
Simon Birch - A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of the most fantastic books ever…the movie truly rapes it.
Hannibal - Where’s the butch lesbian? Why does Mason Verger have a face? Where’s the REAL Clarice? Gimme a break.
Yeah, Stand By Me and Dead Zone were both good. I was thinking more of Lawnmower Man and The Running Man (written under the name Richard Bachman)