My two favorite have got to be Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and To Kill A Mockingbird. Two that I would love see made are Flowers for Algernon and The Catcher in the Rye. The latter will probably never happen being that J.D. Salinger was adament about not having any of his works made into motion pictures. Any favorites? Ones you hated? Suggestions for future ones?
We love because He first loved us.
- 1 John 4:19
Really hated Blindness, would love to see The Catcher in the Rye, enjoyed the atmosphere of In the Name of the Rose much, Kubrick's Lolita and Clockwork Orange also etc., there are many great adaptations I think.
shareI don't like most book adaptations, at least the ones where I have read the book. Saw WFE last night and I liked it more then I liked the book. Seeing it all visually really helped.
"There are so many little nerds behind their computers, on their little blogs." RP
I agree about the Name of the Rose and Clockwork Orange, both excellent adaptations.
This is such a good thread, it keeps reminding me of books I want to reread.
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"Flowers for Algernon" was made as "Charley", and Cliff Robertson won an Oscar for his performance. Check it out if you can.
shareBest Ever: Gone With the Wind
Worst Ever: Valley of the Dolls
There was a movie version made of Flowers for Algernon in 2000. I remember watching it for school (I believe I read the novel around the same time). It stars Matthew Modine and is of the same name.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210044/
Water was much, much better than the book! Succinctly told. Only flaw was the casting of Witherspoon. She wasn't bad...but just a tad too old looking for the boyish Pattinson. I was pleasantly surprised overall.
shareAgreed on "To Kill a Mockingbird," which was an outstanding adaptation. "Charlie" was a nice movie, but I never read the book. I would add "The Godfather" to this list. Many private eye books have been made into good movies, "The Lincoln Lawyer" being the most recent example. I thought "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was very well done, and I am looking forward to the American version this fall.
Nothing worse than being a little deflated coming out of the theater and thinking that the book was much better. Well, let's be honest here: a book is practically always better than the movie since nothing can beat your imagination and the leisurely pacing of reading while the story progresses. This movie is a perfect example. I loved reading "Water for Elephants," but the movie is only so so.
More rare still are movies which are better than the book. "The Notebook" is an example. Nicholas Sparks is a lousy writer, but his plots make good movies.
Carl M. Zapffe,
The Cat's Meow Movie Critic
http://www.catsmeowmoviecritic.com
The movie being better than the book is rare. I think the most people can hope for usually is that it's as good as the book.
The Godfather was as good as the book. Have you read The Accidental Tourist and seen the film? To me, that's one of the best adaptations ever.
Was Charlie St. Cloud a Nick Sparks novel? I've never read one of his books or seen one of his films, but I know CSC didn't do very well at the box office.
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http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-harper-lee-20110508,0, 3959848.story
Nonfiction film: 'Hey, Boo' spotlights the 'To Kill a Mockingbird' sensation
Mary McDonagh Murphy's documentary, which features interviews with Harper Lee's sister and friends, explores the story behind the novel beloved by millions.
Harper Lee was working as an airline reservations agent in New York City, struggling to write a novel tentatively titled "Atticus," when a close friend gave her enough money to take time off and finish her book. Published in 1960 with an initial print run of just 5,000 copies, "To Kill a Mockingbird" became an instant phenomenon: a critically acclaimed bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winner, followed by a multiple-Oscar-winning 1962 film featuring the iconic performance of Gregory Peck as courageous Southern lawyer Atticus Finch.
Fifty years and more than 30 million copies of the book later, it's hard to find any American who doesn't know the names Scout, Boo Radley and Atticus. Lee's one and only novel has been translated into 40 languages and is the most widely read book in American high schools. The novel and film are so familiar, in fact, that last month, when the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring Peck, it featured him as he appeared in that Oscar-winning role.
"I can't name another novel that has these kinds of indelible characters, a social statement without being preachy, and good prose," says filmmaker Mary McDonagh Murphy, whose documentary, "Hey, Boo: Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird," opens Friday. "It's a book that many people can relate to in many different ways."
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/04/atlas-shrugged-producer -critics-you-won-hes-going-on-strike.html
'Atlas Shrugged' producer: 'Critics, you won.' He's going 'on strike.'
EXCLUSIVE: Twelve days after opening "Atlas Shrugged: Part 1," the producer of the Ayn Rand adaptation said Tuesday that he is reconsidering his plans to make Parts 2 and 3 because of scathing reviews and flagging box office returns for the film.
"Critics, you won," said John Aglialoro, the businessman who spent 18 years and more than $20 million of his own money to make, distribute and market "Atlas Shrugged: Part 1," which covers the first third of Rand's dystopian novel. "I’m having deep second thoughts on why I should do Part 2."
"Atlas Shrugged" was the top-grossing limited release in its opening weekend, generating $1.7 million on 299 screens and earning a respectable $5,640 per screen. But the the box office dropped off 47% in the film's second week in release even as "Atlas Shrugged" expanded to 425 screens, and the movie seemed to hold little appeal for audiences beyond the core group of Rand fans to whom it was marketed.
Aglialoro attributed the box office drop-off to "Atlas Shrugged's" poor reviews. Only one major critic -- Kyle Smith of the New York Post -- gave "Atlas" a mixed-to-positive review, calling the film "more compelling than the average mass-produced studio item." The movie has a dismal 7% fresh rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes thanks to critics like the Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips, who said "Atlas" is "crushingly ordinary in every way." Roger Ebert called the film "the most anticlimactic non-event since Geraldo Rivera broke into Al Capone’s vault," while Rolling Stone's Peter Travers said the movie "sits there flapping on screen like a bludgeoned seal."
The novel, a sacred text among many conservatives for Rand's passionate defense of capitalism, takes place at an unspecified future time in which the U.S. is mired in a deep depression and a mysterious phenomenon is causing the nation's leading industrialists to disappear or "strike."
Though the film has made only $3.1 million so far, Aglialoro said he believes he'll recoup his investment after TV, DVD and other ancillary rights are sold. But he is backing off an earlier strategy to expand "Atlas" to 1,000 screens and reconsidering his plans to start production on a second film this fall.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/05/to-kill-a-mockingbi rd-sells-for-25000.html
Signed copy of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' sells for $25,000
A copy of the Harper Lee classic "To Kill a Mockingbird" sold on the website AbeBooks for $25,000 last week. It was a first edition, signed by the author herself.
When "To Kill a Mockingbird" was published in 1960, Lee was living in New York City, like many other authors. But she later moved back to Alabama and withdrew from mainstream publishing. For many years, Lee has declined interviews and lived a quiet life away from the spotlight. When she was awarded the National Medal of Arts earlier this year, she did not attend.
Lee's reclusiveness certainly contributed to the $25,000 price tag on this signed first edition of "To Kill a Mockingbird." According to AbeBooks, it's the most expensive copy of the novel it has ever sold and tops the price list of books sold through the site this year. AbeBooks aggregates offerings from hundreds of sellers of used books.
Harper Lee has, from time to time, appeared at events celebrating books and reading. In 2005, she came to Los Angeles to accept the Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award.
But recently she has been closely guarding her privacy. An upcoming book -- "The Mockingbird Next Door: Life With Harper Lee," by Marja Mills, a former Chicago Tribune reporter -- was said to be written "with direct access to Harper and Alice Lee [her sister] and their friends and family." In a written statement, Lee said she had not cooperated with the book: "Contrary to recent news reports, I have not willingly participated in any book written or to be written by Marja Mills. Neither have I authorized such a book. Any claims otherwise are false."
Harper Lee turned 85 last month. "To Kill a Mockingbird" is 51.
After reading a good review of WFE on the SkyMovies site I noticed this feature, BEST & WORST BOOK ADAPTATIONS:
http://movies.sky.com/books-made-into-movies
They cover a lot of the ones we've discussed here.
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