From my book salon list on "Best Picture" Adaptations, here are some arguably great books that Academy voters thought were good enough for the top prize:
All the King’s Men
(Robert Penn Warren)
All Quiet on the Western Front
(Erich Maria Remarque)
The English Patient
(Michael Ondaatje)
Gone with the Wind
(Margaret Mitchell)
Hamlet
(Shakespeare)
A Man for All Seasons
(Robert Bolt)
No Country for Old Men
(Cormac McCarthy)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
(Ken Kesey)
Out of Africa
(Isak Dinesen)
Pygmalion
(George Bernard Shaw)
Rebecca
(Daphne du Maurier)
Schindler’s Ark
(Thomas Keneally)
Tom Jones
(Henry Fielding)
Have you ever been with a warrior woman?
Wash ,'Bushwhacked'
Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
megan walker - Apr 20, 2011 8:33:30 am PDT #14164 of 30000
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
DavidS - Apr 20, 2011 8:34:37 am PDT #14165 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
I'm pretty stingy with my A+s.
Let's see that list.
What makes the Strega A+ List?
DavidS - Apr 20, 2011 8:37:55 am PDT #14166 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Susan Sontag once had a conversation with Kurt Vonnegut and he said that only he and Margaret Mitchell should be happy with the filmed versions of their books. (Slaughterhouse Five in his case.)
But Ellroy also liked L.A. Confidential, and rightly so. I think it's better than the book. It helped that Curtis Hanson was obsessed with the project and worked on the screenplay for several years to get it right.
Daisy Jane - Apr 20, 2011 8:40:51 am PDT #14167 of 30000
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."
The Outsiders?
Fiona - Apr 20, 2011 8:41:32 am PDT #14168 of 30000
High Fidelity was an extremely non-faithful film which worked pretty well, and I write as someone who adored the book.
Daisy Jane - Apr 20, 2011 8:47:48 am PDT #14169 of 30000
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."
Ok, looking at the list I have here at work.
A Raisin in the Sun Howard's End A Passage to India Grapes of Wrath The Color Purple
These I haven't read, but the adaptations are great films Dangerous Liasons Out of Africa
Ones I consider both, but others may not. KB's Henry V Watership Down The Remains of the Day Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Catch-22 The Black Stallion
Laga - Apr 20, 2011 9:23:06 am PDT #14170 of 30000
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
I'd say it's almost always less annoying!
cool, thanks.
Princess Bride is on my A+ list. I liked the movie Slaughterhouse Five, I'm not sure what about it makes me not think of it as 'great'. Dangerous Liaisons would be A+ if not for Keanu. Were those really his best takes? argh.
lisah - Apr 20, 2011 9:23:17 am PDT #14171 of 30000
Punishingly Intricate
High Fidelity was an extremely non-faithful film which worked pretty well, and I write as someone who adored the book.
I think so too. I thought it captured the spirit of the book quite well.
le nubian - Apr 20, 2011 9:25:46 am PDT #14172 of 30000
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."
The book "The Outsiders" was much better than the movie, IMO. I still cried like a little baby eating lemons, but the movie can't hold a candle to the book.
Sophia Brooks - Apr 20, 2011 9:29:36 am PDT #14173 of 30000
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here
The book "The Outsiders" was much better than the movie, IMO.
Also, Sodapop had BLOND HAIR!!!! Rob Lowe is no Sodapop!