MovieChat Forums > Night of the Twisters (1996) Discussion > Anyone remember the book?

Anyone remember the book?

posted 19 years ago by Glozone
4 replies | jump to latest

I read this a long time ago as a kid and randomly I read it again last night since it was still in my room as I was cleaning it out. Still a good book. I know I saw the movie back in the day but I don't recall liking it, I think Devon Sawa as Dan was a bit of a misstep, although I recall liking the teens who played Arthur and Stacey (although it's lame how they changed their last name.) The Hatch parents were well played too, but I didn't like the change of the backstory between Dan and his father, although it does help explain the large age difference between Dan and Ryan, if Ryan is only his half-brother.

"Thanks, Boss." -Josh Lyman (7.17)

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[–] fsuwx0311 18 years ago

I loved the book and was so excited when I saw they were making a TV-movie from it.

[–] TasteTheRainbow 17 years ago

it would have been totally awesome if they actually used a town in nebraska that actually exists...and in the time era too, bc i live in nebraska, and if i'm not mistaken from my high school/elementary history these twisters happened in 1980...haha and the license plates aren't nebraska, they look more colorado...it makes me laugh, but they got all the husker stuff correct! when huskers were good, with a good coach!...but other than the nebraska stuff, i love the movie

No ma'am, we at the FBI do not have a sense of humor that we are aware of.

[–] Elfie-5 16 years ago

I loved the book when I was little, and wondered if they'd do the bathroom scene justice. Luckily, they did.

[–] shesquint 16 years ago

This was one of my favorite books as a kid, and I was livid when my mom, going through my stuff after I moved out, threw it away. Livid! I finally got another copy of it about two weeks ago. It was like reuniting with a long-lost friend.

That said, I watched about 15 minutes of this movie, got fed up with it, and gave up. I've just finished reading the Wikipedia entry on the movie adaptation. WHAT DID THEY DO TO THIS BOOK? I understand that they needed to flesh the story out to fill a movie's worth of time, but is that really the best they could have done? What was wrong with the Hatch family dynamic as written? Why take the very lovable Belle Smiley out of the story altogether? Why change freewheeling Goldie, one of my favorite characters, to diner waitress Jenny? Why not depict Stacy as responsible, capable, and brave? Argh. I hate it when scriptwriters think they can tell a story better than the story's author can.