MovieChat Forums > Needful Things (1993) Discussion > My big grumble about this movie--

My big grumble about this movie--

posted 22 years ago by Haggis_McCrablice
5 replies | jump to latest

--is that some very well-fleshed out people from the novel were reduced to silly, squabbling children at the end. Jewett, instead of being some pedophile afraid of his other lifestyle exposed when his kiddie porn stash was scattered all over his office at work, was bawling because some kid swiped his new book! Crybaby! Where's the scandal? Brian Rusk, in the novel, blew his brains through his rectum with his dad's shotgun and died...here, he just grazes himself with a little pistol that, even held up to his head, only puts him in the hospital (and since I saw the movie on TV they cropped it so we couln't even see the gun, the cheap schmucks). Now I could understand why they would use Mickey Mantle intead of Sandy Koufax--lawsuit fears--but why was the card real and not some dirty old card with some obscure player on it? That was the crux of the novel--everything the good citizens of Castle Rock bought and loved so much was cracked, broken, filthy, and worthless. And worst of all the most hateful character in the book--outside of Gaunt--turns out to be the one to stand up to the devil in the end and to die a hero. Bleah. [Comic Book Guy voice] Worst...adaptation...ever.

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[–] rainbow657 21 years ago

i know what you mean about the characters being totally under developed compaired to the book. Dont you think this movie would have been better as a mini-series which would have given all the different threads of the plot time to develop? plus i think they should have made the characters more like they were in the book, for eg they gave Alan a totally different past. And did you notice that pollys hands were too bad to shake lelands hands one minute and the next shes carrying around a coffee pot. while i dont know much about athritis of the hands im guessing if you cant shake hands you cant grip a coffe pot enough to carry it around.

[–] Haggis_McCrablice 21 years ago

Well, they did that with IT and some think it would have been better done theatrically with a fatter budget. THE STAND was a fair TV mini--I was actualy wanting to see more (they ended too abruptly with a plague survivor's baby being born and cut the part with the rebirth of Flagg). I think the problem wasn't the format they went with in NF, it was the script itself (much like any SK book-to-film adaptation).

There's nary an animal alive that can outrun a greased Scotsman! Buy ALMASHEOL, ye barstards!

[–] Sarah_Canfield 18 years ago

Now I could understand why they would use Mickey Mantle intead of Sandy Koufax--lawsuit fears--

Being English, and knowing little about baseball the game, let alone the players and the intricacies of their lives, I really don't get this. Could someone explain it to me please, just to satisfy my curiosity?

~Sarah~
Best IMDB Forum Ever: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314331/board/nest/45004202

[–] Sarah_Canfield 18 years ago

I completely agree with you on this. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the movie in a distant way. Since I saw it before I’d finished reading the book, I haven’t been quite so ripped off as other fans (there’s plenty I’ve read first then watched and felt very upset about).

I think that the actors were well-cast, they all look how I’d imagined them from what I’d read so far, but the script was weak. I made a fanvid for Needful Things, and as I was making clips, I really noticed how childish the ending was, as you’ve said. I think what really smacked me in the face was seeing people looting in Castle Rock. Nobody was looting the night the town went to hell, they were all on their own personal missions to kill their nemeses. While it gave me plenty of hits and crashes to hit the beats to, it was completely ridiculous in the context of the book.

As someone mentioned below, seeing Polly carrying a full coffee pot, then refusing to shake hands because of her arthritis in the same scene was just stupid. I actually have arthritis, not in my hands, but my hips, and I have good days and bad days (or, more recently, bad days and worse days), and some days I feel well enough walk to the shop, and some days I so bad that I can’t get out of bed. However, I can’t feel both on one day, much less in the space of a couple of minutes. Little things like that really bugged me.

Of course, big things, such as Alan saving the day by shouting at the townspeople to be nice to each other annoyed me too.

I’d really love to see this remade, since everything is being remade these days – although, if remakes have to exist, why can’t they remake bad films into good, instead of great films into dirge? As it’s been said here before, a mini-series would be lovely to see, although I think J.T. Walsh as Buster will be hard to top. Something about him really fitted into place as Buster for me.

~Sarah~
Best IMDB Forum Ever: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314331/board/nest/45004202

[–] kurt7825 11 years ago

the movie is better for those reasons