# Worst butchery in turning book into movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2001, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413 "2001-12-02T03:32:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/41 "2001-12-02T17:40:15Z")
**The Lawnmower Man**. It was so removed from the Stephen King short story, that he sued to have his name removed from the film. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/42 "2001-12-02T17:45:34Z")
\*\* Battlefield Earth \*\* was actually a pretty fun book. If you’ve ever read \*\* The Power of One \*\* (and you should), and seen the movie (and I couldn’t last longer than 15 minutes), then you know true butchery. But if they are giving out awards, it’s hard not to vote for \*\* Simon Burch. \*\* \* A Prayer for Owen Meany \* might be my favorite book of all time…a masterpiece. The fact that John Irving begged them to change the name and remove his from it says everything we needed to know. (Does anyone have an explanation for why they screwed it up so badly? Why they missed the whole friggin’ \* point? \* ) I have to take this moment for \*\* best \*\* movie from book: Sophie’s Choice. It’s like they filmed the inside of my head. stoid ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Like\_A\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@Mighty\_Like\_A\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Like_A_Rose)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/43 "2001-12-02T20:40:24Z")
I would have to say one of the worst conversions from book to movie would have to be the above mentioned novel by Umberto Eco. However, I think the end result was one of those cases of, as a movie alone it was a good peice of film, but when viewed with the context of the novel it was a pale reflection of the original story. The movie itself, I felt, was a very good thriller/mystery. The novel however was much broader in scope with the mystery elements used more as background to the philosophical elements of the story. Anyway, all I really wanted to say was that I thought the book was good, I thought that the movie was good, but I thought that the movie as film adaptation of the novel sucked royal. ---
**Author:** ![Fouccalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Fouccalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fouccalt)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/44 "2001-12-02T20:55:49Z")
Jurassic Park and Lost World, After the butchered the first movie, the 2nd one was so far off the book, it wasn’t even close. Granted the first movie was enjoyable, I thought the books were so much better. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/45 "2001-12-02T22:09:28Z")
I’m very upset about Disney’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame.” I understand that the real story couldn’t be a kids’ movie, but it was a bizarre choice for a kids’ movie. Take out all of the sex, turn Phoebus into a hero, and make everyone live happily ever after? A whole generation of young people are going to read Hugo’s novel for the first time and get a rather rude surprise. I won’t even go into the happy singing gargoyles. ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/46 "2001-12-02T22:42:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimboguy \* > **I’d have to nominate “First Blood” (Rambo I), in the book a psychotic drifter who’s killed at the end.** You are so right about _First Blood_. I have seen a paperback copy from before the movie came out that promotes it as a horror story. In the book, the sheriff is a good man, and more or less the hero; in the movie he is a jackass and more or less the villain. I find it amusing that the authour was supposedly trying to parralell _a season in hell_ hence Rambo/Rimbeaud. What do you want to bet Stallone knew that? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/47 "2001-12-03T03:11:15Z")
First: Nobody answered the question about where to find **The Cold Equations**. Among other places, it’s in the anthology **The Science Fiction Hall of Fame** (and rightly so). I saw the SciFi channel version of it, and agree that the woman dies in the end, as in the story – they didn’t cop. But the whole conspiracy thing wasn’t necessary, even to “flesh out” (or pad out) the story. I haven’t seen the Twilight Zone version of it. I think there may be yet another version of it (possibly made for British V) that I have not seen. Second: I agree that the circa 1987 version of **Nightfall** is an abomination. There has been another version o it recently, which I haven’t seen (I think it went direct to video/DVD. My local Blockbuster has a copy I haven’ ented yet). Analog magazine once released an audio adaptation of Nightfall. It was their first audio release. Also, I understand, their last. I dubbed a copy from a friend’s LP, and it’s pretty good. Third: I _liked_ the adaptation of **The Name of the Rose**. It _could_ have been done a LOT worse. I’m surprised how much of the book (a pretty hefty tome itself) actually made it into the final film. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/48 "2001-12-03T03:15:18Z")
First: Nobody answered the question about where to find **The Cold Equations**. Among other places, it’s in the anthology **The Science Fiction Hall of Fame** (and rightly so). I saw the SciFi channel version of it, and agree that the woman dies in the end, as in the story – they didn’t cop. But the whole conspiracy thing wasn’t necessary, even to “flesh out” (or pad out) the story. I haven’t seen the Twilight Zone version of it. I think there may be yet another version of it (possibly made for British V) that I have not seen. Second: I agree that the circa 1987 version of **Nightfall** is an abomination. There has been another version o it recently, which I haven’t seen (I think it went direct to video/DVD. My local Blockbuster has a copy I haven’ ented yet). Analog magazine once released an audio adaptation of Nightfall. It was their first audio release. Also, I understand, their last. I dubbed a copy from a friend’s LP, and it’s pretty good. Third: I _liked_ the adaptation of **The Name of the Rose**. It _could_ have been done a LOT worse. I’m surprised how much of the book (a pretty hefty tome itself) actually made it into the final film. There are a lot of daptations worse han this. Ninteenth century authors of fantastic fiction have gotten the worst of it. Almost anything by Edgar Allen Poe, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, or H.P. Lovecraft (I know he isn’t 19th century, but he writes like it, dammit!) is almost guaranteed to be awful. Look at **From the Earth to the Moon** for a typical example. Mark Twain’s **A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthuer’ Court** , ne ofmy Twain favorites, has been filmed numerous times. Not one version has come anything close to being faithful. One version was a howcase for Will Rogers, another a showcase for Bing Crosby. Other versions that might have been faithful were, I think, scared off by Twain’s blunt comments on the Catholic Church. ---
**Author:** ![Myrnalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Myrnalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrnalene)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/49 "2001-12-03T03:19:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RichLather \* > \*\*I’d also like throw in a TV nominee, with the animated adaptation of the children’s book _Bunnicula_, which among other things made (now I’m going to spoil things here) > > …the title character, a little cute bunny rabbit, into a true vampire rabbit that was capable of telekinesis. Picked up a couple of marauding wolves and put them into vegetable juicing vats for safekeeping. Not a bit of it happened in the book, where the little bunny was just a hungry little thing that could only suck the juice out of veggies because it couldn’t quite handle solid food. > > made my little pre-teen mind unhappy, let me tell you. \*\* Dude, how weird is this? That movie is the first that came to my mind when I saw the thread title, even though I only saw it once when I was 8 or 9. That was one of my favorite books (I still think it’s great) and I was _pissed_. And so began my lifelong disgust with the motion picture industry… ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/50 "2001-12-03T03:44:30Z")
Clan Of The Cave Bear By Jean Auel. Enough said. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/51 "2001-12-03T05:33:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qwisp \* > \*\*Clan Of The Cave Bear By Jean Auel. Enough said. \*\* What, you didn’t think Darryl Hannah made a convincing 12 year old? 8^) ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/52 "2001-12-03T05:54:19Z")
Astroglide (huh huh) wrote: > [@](#): > > **Nightfall** > > One of (arguably, THE) greatest SF stories ever written. > > Asimov himself in _I. Asimov_: > > > [@](#): > > > > Fortunately, the picture died a deserved death almost at once and I can only hope that no one who has ever seen it or heard of it remembers it. > > I have actually seen this movie. I found it in a video store here in Okinawa; I was so excited and could not believe there had been a movie adaptation that I was unaware of – goddamn it sucked. It sucked long and hard. > > At least with **Starship Troopers** and **The Shining** , you could tell what story it was. I do not exaggerate when I tell you if you did not see the box and the opening credits, there is no way you would guess this movie was **Nightfall**. This was the version of _Nightfall_ that was released in 1988. I saw this movie about 10 years ago, and it was **worse** than even you describe. Here is my on-line review of it for Bad Movie Night: [http://www.hit-n-run.com/cgi/read\_review.cgi?review=32774\_rogermw](http://www.hit-n-run.com/cgi/read_review.cgi?review=32774_rogermw) To give you an idea of how bad this 1988 production of _Nightfall_ was: There was another version of _Nightfall_ released just last year. I have watched this 2000 production of _Nightfall_ on DVD. It was produced by **Roger Corman** – the same man who gave us such B-movie dreck as _It Conquered the World_ – and **it was still better than the 1988 production was!!** ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/53 "2001-12-03T17:27:09Z")
How about Mellinnium? A great book by John Varley (one of my favorite novels of all time, actually) mutates into a horrible, horrible, horrible movie starring Kris Kristopherson and Cheryl Ladd. And I think Varley even had a writing credit, so he’s got no one to blame but himself. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Derfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@Lord\_Derfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Derfel)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/54 "2001-12-03T17:37:02Z")
I nominate _The Postman_ by David Brin. The book was excellent. The movie was a craptacular Costner-fest. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/55 "2001-12-03T17:40:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Number Six \* > **. . .My main point here is that it’s impossible to judge a movie fairly on its own terms if you’ve previously read the book upon which it is based, especially if the book was a classic and/or favorite.** A well-reasoned and well-argued point of view. I disagree. If a screenplay is going to use the title, characters, setting, etc. of a book, then I believe it has an obligation to be as faithful to the book as possible, accounting for the differences between cinema and literature. If the writer, director or producer’s vision, however, is to give the story a happy ending, focus on a minor character, make the love story gay instead of straight or vice versa, etc. then for God’s sake, give it a different name, change a few other details around and don’t try to sucker people who loved the book into “yeah, but here’s how I would have written the story”!!! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/56 "2001-12-03T21:51:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kunilou \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Number Six \* > > **. . .My main point here is that it’s impossible to judge a movie fairly on its own terms if you’ve previously read the book upon which it is based, especially if the book was a classic and/or favorite.** > > A well-reasoned and well-argued point of view. I disagree. > > If a screenplay is going to use the title, characters, setting, etc. of a book, then I believe it has an obligation to be as faithful to the book as possible, accounting for the differences between cinema and literature. If the writer, director or producer’s vision, however, is to give the story a happy ending, focus on a minor character, make the love story gay instead of straight or vice versa, etc. then for God’s sake, give it a different name, change a few other details around and don’t try to sucker people who loved the book into “yeah, but here’s how I would have written the story”!!! \*\* Absolutely! I think it is an ethical rather than a legal obligation to at minimum change the title in some way. However, David Morrell, who wrote the (outstanding)novel “First Blood”, might himself disagree. According to a story I read, when he sold his rights to the film version he nearly sold away rights to the whole Rambo series. Because he never imagined that his psychotic drifter (who is killed in the novel) would be rewritten into a hero with a lifespan of several films, he nearly sold away all rights to the character. His lawyer advised him to retain future rights, and he’s made millions from that revision. I’ve never seen anything about his personal opinion of the Rambo movies, but it certainly launched his carreer. Quite a few of his novels have been filmed, none of them as badly mangled as “First Blood” was. He retained rights to the future use of the “Rambo” character on the advice of his lawyer, though ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/57 "2001-12-03T22:30:13Z")
I know it doesn’t really fit because it derives from Maxwell Anderson’s play, but any mention of butchery must pay tribute to Hollywood’s reverse 3 1/2 somersault onto the pavement that is the conclusion of the film [**The Bad Seed**](http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0048977). It still brings tears of joy to my eyes when the notorious “second ending” wallows across the screen like a wounded elephant seal. It really does. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/58 "2001-12-03T22:44:21Z")
Number Six said: > [@](#): > > I’d also like to add that “different from the book” isn’t really a valid criticism unless the change is one that hurts the movie as a movie. For example, in Bettie Letts novel Where the Heart Is, the heroine has bad events occur in relation to the number 7. For the movie, this number was changed to 5 for practical reasons related to the moviemaking process. As far as the story is concerned, having an unlucky number is vital, but what the number actually is is irrelevant. Agreed. “Where the Heart is” sucked hard for reasons that had nothing to do with changing the number “5” to “7”. My vote goes to the Leo DiCaprio version of “The Basketball Diaries”. Jim Carroll asked that they not make it “fucked up and preachy and stuff”, the director said he wouldn’t do so, and guess what? They did anyway! Not to mention that Leo and Marky Mark as heroin-shooting basketball players required a suspension of disbelief that I just couldn’t hack. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/59 "2001-12-03T22:52:14Z")
Ack- change that “5” to “7” to “7” to “5”. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413/60 "2001-12-03T23:32:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kunilou \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Number Six \* > > **. . .My main point here is that it’s impossible to judge a movie fairly on its own terms if you’ve previously read the book upon which it is based, especially if the book was a classic and/or favorite.** > > A well-reasoned and well-argued point of view. I disagree. > > If a screenplay is going to use the title, characters, setting, etc. of a book, then I believe it has an obligation to be as faithful to the book as possible, accounting for the differences between cinema and literature. If the writer, director or producer’s vision, however, is to give the story a happy ending, focus on a minor character, make the love story gay instead of straight or vice versa, etc. then for God’s sake, give it a different name, change a few other details around and don’t try to sucker people who loved the book into “yeah, but here’s how I would have written the story”!!! \*\* In rebuttal I present what I wrote in this thread’s sister thread: > [@](#): > > Let’s take an example. Movie producer options a good book about a group of British POW’s in a forced labor camp and their resistance against a viscious camp commander. The entire book deals with the battle of wills, has virtually no action, and the work being done by the prisoners completely “off-screen”. > > The director and producers decide there isn’t enough action, so write in a daring prison escape by a cynical malcontent, hire a big-name American actor to appeal to American audiences, and make the off-screen forced labor the focus of the main body of the movie, reducing the content of the novel to an introduction for the added material. Finally, they add in a big action sequence to end the movie with a bang. > > Sound like a formula for disaster? This is the process that produced “The Bridge on the River Kwai”. A filmed version of the book would have been interesting, but it’s unlikely it would have been the masterpiece “Kwai” is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-butchery-in-turning-book-into-movie/96413.md?page=4)