I had a film professor tell me that there have never been any great movies based on great books.
The Princess Bride. LotR.
If you take sexual advantage of her, you're going to burn in a very special level of hell. A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater.
Book ,'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
Buffista Movies 3: Panned and Scanned
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Jessica - Sep 29, 2004 6:52:15 am PDT #4214 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Dana - Sep 29, 2004 6:52:16 am PDT #4215 of 10001
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
great movies based on great books
Oh, that sounds like a challenge.
Blade Runner, although the original is a short story and very different.
Possession, based on A.S. Byatt's novel of the same name, although probably not enough people saw it to rule on "great".
Emma and Clueless.
§ ita § - Sep 29, 2004 6:52:55 am PDT #4216 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
PRINCESS BRIDE!!!!
Okay, I'm done.
No, I'm not.
LORD OF THE RINGS!!!!
For all values of great that correspond to "ita enjoyed a great deal."
Polter-Cow - Sep 29, 2004 6:53:02 am PDT #4217 of 10001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Mel Brooks is working on a sequel to Spaceballs.
Will it be called Spaceballs II: The Search for More Money ?
I'm meh on this - I didn't think the original was all that great.
I really like it, though I saw it a couple years ago and realized it wasn't the best movie. Still very funny, with lots of great jokes. I don't want a sequel cause...why? Leave it alone. It's good. John Candy's dead.
Frankenbuddha - Sep 29, 2004 6:53:05 am PDT #4218 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
One of his prime examples was Gone with the Wind. Good movie/mediocre book.
See also, THE GODFATHER.
Heh, inevitable x-post.
Ginger - Sep 29, 2004 6:53:42 am PDT #4219 of 10001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
To Kill a Mockingbird. Great movie, great book.
Polter-Cow - Sep 29, 2004 6:54:09 am PDT #4220 of 10001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
And yes. Princess Bride. Also Fight Club, though YGMV. I'm just naming film adaptations that match or surpass the book.
Nutty - Sep 29, 2004 6:56:56 am PDT #4221 of 10001
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
I do have a pet theory that it's easier to make a good movie from a bad book. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and The Manchurian Candidate (1963) being prime examples. For one thing, they're bad novels, so the screenwriters can chuck large elements of the source in favor of something better.
Then again, overall, I think it's a crapshoot and a matter of the right kind of people meeting the right kind of project. There have certainly been plenty of lifeless, annoying adaptations of good books, but there are also plenty of lifeless, annoying adaptations of bad books.
I mean, Broadway has got an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical based on The Woman in White. We are truly a culture of pathetic recycling.
JohnSweden - Sep 29, 2004 6:57:47 am PDT #4222 of 10001
I can't even.
Blade Runner, although the original is a short story and very different.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is a novel, and different, sure, but plenty of elements translate across.
As for the title:
The title comes from Alan E. Nourse, who wrote a story called "The Bladerunner". William S. Burroughs took the book and wrote "Bladerunner (A Movie)" in 1979. Rights to the title only ("in perpetuity") were sold to Ridley Scott. Similarities between Nourse's "The Bladerunner" and Scott's BR are in name only. Nourse's title refers to people who deliver medical instruments to outlaw doctors who can't obtain them legally. [Source: Locus, September 1992: p. 76.] Scott thought the title made a good codename for Deckard.
§ ita § - Sep 29, 2004 6:58:15 am PDT #4223 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
We are truly a culture of pathetic recycling.
Have we ever not been? How many King Arthurs or Brer Rabbit/Anansis are out there?