When movies come close to the book.

[Teague]

Originally Posted by superdoug

The Princess Bride. Despite missing some parts from the novel that would have only slowed things down, this followed the plot and characterizations of William Goldberg's novel very well. Mostly because he wrote the screenplay.

Good call on Princess Bride. (It's William Goldman, by the way...) Goldman took the best of his book, and left out the literary stuff that wasn't going to translate into the new format (the grandfather/grandson frame)--and as a bonus, made the framing story actually carry some weight too! Awesome, awesome stuff. A fantastic movie that makes the book no less enjoyable on its own terms.

And if you're a William Goldman fan, he wrote some great non-fiction about writing in Hollywood (can't remember the titles, but there was one book and then later a sequel to it). Also, his book The Color of Light was a great read.

[TNovak]

Originally Posted by Teague

The Green Mile movie was good, but still lacked the depth of the books. How long was that series? It was huge, wasn't it? I remember getting a really lovely sense of the era from the books, which was mostly missing from the movie, fine as it was.

I read the green mile in one volume and it wasn't that long, much much shorter than say "The Stand". I know I am probably in the minority, but I've always found Stephen King to be overrated in almost every way.

[Teague]

Originally Posted by TNovak

I read the green mile in one volume and it wasn't that long, much much shorter than say "The Stand". I know I am probably in the minority, but I've always found Stephen King to be overrated in almost every way.

I'm not a huge King fan either, but I really enjoyed Green Mile and Bag of Bones and the like. And no one can criticize the guy's success rate.

If we're comparing book lengths to The Stand, though, pretty much everything will come up short. But Green Mile was what, five chapbooks originally? About 100 pages each? So say 500 pages or so. That's still a TON of stuff to get into a film. Even 300 page books can't fit into a standard-length movie.

[superdoug]

Originally Posted by Teague

Good call on Princess Bride. (It's William Goldman, by the way...)

That's what I get for typing stuff with 'The View' on in the background. Yeesh.

And I've actually read some of his non-fiction. The explanation of the novel in Princess Bride is almost worth the cover price alone.

[protector2814]

I'm a pretty big fan of Crime Fiction mainly Black Lizard Press. A writer by the Name of Charles Willeford published a slew of Florida Crime novels back in the 60's and 70's with his biggest success being a series of Dade County Detective novels staring one of the most quirky Heroes I've ever read - Hoke Mosely. This guy was one hell of a character. One movie was made of one of the 5 or so books and I loved it, they nailed the character. Miami Blues starring Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh and a young Alec Baldwin. Very faithful.

[Nitefall]

Writers use particular characters viewpoints of situations etc. that push our imaginations in the characters focus - (only one example) and many other ways that are not able to be done in film. Our imaginations are pointed in many different directions with words; the imagination field is huge. With film it is flat and very limited in that you are letting the artist do every thing for you- however beautifully done . Still there are great films; it's just that to compare written work with film ----ahhh s##t again I am just stating the obvious.

[Teague]

Originally Posted by superdoug

And I've actually read some of his non-fiction. The explanation of the novel in Princess Bride is almost worth the cover price alone.

I totally agree! Fascinating stuff.

[fossa2]

Originally Posted by RichBamf

I actually think the only book that is BETTEr than the novel is Stephen King's 'The Shining'.

WTF

This goes WAAAAAAAY back, but does anyone else remember "The Deep"? I thought the movie was as good as or even better than the book, & you can't beat Jacqueline Bisset soaking wet

[protector2814]

Originally Posted by fossa2

This goes WAAAAAAAY back, but does anyone else remember "The Deep"? I thought the movie was as good as or even better than the book, & you can't beat Jacqueline Bisset soaking wet

Sure. I read the book and saw the movie. They were close but I remember the movie ended up being all about Bisset's underwater t-shirt moments. I was a kid so that's all I remember zoning in on.

[ANGRYCOMICMAN]

The Girl Next Door.
I read the book this weekend and saw the movie tonight.
Very disturbing.
The movie made Evil-Lyn cry and she couldn't watch it.
I just love man's inhumanity to his fellow man.
Sickening.