Indy.com
Today:
BETTER than the novel by...
Posted: Jan 07, 2008 in Things to do, Culture, Movies
Tags:
Picking up on the cool post by caralyn, what about movies you felt were better than the source novel?
I'd put "Empire of the Sun," my favorite Steven Spielberg flick, in this category. I found the J.G. Ballard book quite ponderous and looooong. One of those reads that goes on so long that when you finish, you feel like you've won a war rather than enriched yourself.
Also "The Natural," an imperfect film that still resonates powerfully with me. Surprisingly, my list of the movie's imperfections does not include the ending, which is the correct finale for the film that preceded it. (In the book, Roy Hobbs strikes out.)
I know I'm committing literary apostasy here, but I just don't care for Malamud's writing style. I remember reading it and the first words are a typically run-on sentence about going through a train tunnel. I just don't respond to self-aware, show-offy prose like that. I remember thinking, "Oh Gawd, this is going to be a long haul." It was.
Anybody out there got their own list?
Here's the first sentence of "The Natural":
Roy Hobbs pawed at the glass before thinking to prick a match with his thumbnail and hold the spurting flame in his cupped palm close to the lower berth window, but by then he had figured it was a tunnel they were passing through and was no longer surprised at the bright sight of himself holding a yellow light over his head, peering back in.
Bleah!
Here's where I'll put Kubrick's "The Shining." I know Stephen King hated it, but the ending to Kubrick's movie was so much better (not to mention changing to topiary animals to a maze, which was brilliant). And if you watch the mid-90s miniseries version that was based more faithfully on King's book for comparison, you can see some of the differences in the story. I prefer the more downbeat ending also.
Okay - I may be officially a disloyal Nick Hornby fan by admitting this, but I enjoyed High Fidelity (John Cusak film based on the novel of the same name) in movie form more than novel. But for purely societal reasons. Aka I more easily identified with the Americanized version in the movie over the Brit. references in the book.
Also - heard some buzz that they're turning Choke (Chuck Palahniuk) into a film. Anyone hear the same??? [Palahniuk's Fight Club definately appears on my book-better-than-movie list. sorry!]
p.s. - thanks for the nod in your post...you're just trying to increase your karma points aren't you? haha.
I'm busted. For every 100 Karma points, the Star buys us a lollipop...
http://imdb.com/title/tt1024715/
I'll be damned ... there's also an entry for "Invisible Monsters". Odd they're skipping "Survivor" among the good Palahniuk novels, though.
As for movies better than book, I'd really have to say "L.A. Confidential" ... I love James Ellroy and love the book, but the movie condenses everything into such a tight, neat package that I'd have to give it the nod.
That said, "The Black Dalia" ... waaay better as a book.
Sticking with my mafia kick, the movie "Goodfellas" blew the book "Wise Guys" completely off the map. Scorcese is such a genious with cinematography and dialogue that even the worst, most predictable parts of the book left you shocked and begging for more in the movie, not to mention, besides Cameron Crowe, Scorcese does with soundtracks, what Van Gogh did with paint...
s.h.