Drexal parks's great book to movie lists and singles

hello friends it is me...(pause)drexal parks.
this is a thread for those of you who like to read...then see the movie. or visaversa like myself...
you know how they say"ya it was alright but the book was better" ?well most of the time it is true. but with some movies were it may be true. the movie is still great...soo might i suggest for all of you book first peoples out there to see the flick first. I know with me atleast I will watch a movie and want to see a lot more of someone or just want to see more. well if you watch a flick based on a book first, THEN read the book it is very rarely ever ruined and you get to see more of the characters whom youve grown to love so much. nothing is ruined and it saves you from hateing a very good movie(most of the time)

now hear are some books that made great movies and some that WOULD make great movies.

1. a clock work orange.(made)
2. fight club (made)(the book is amazing every thing palinhuik writs is amazing EVERYTHING)
3. trainspotting(made)
4. naked lunch (made)
5. breakfast of champions(made)(great movie and book)
6. dune(made on film AND television both awsome)
7. perminant midnight(made)
8. the godfather.(made duh)


now some books that should be movies and may be sooner or later...

1. survivor(palinhuik. not made)
2. the great and secret show,everville, imagica, ect(barker. not made)
3. a stranger in a strange land (heinlein not made)
4. a brave new world/island(huxley brave new world was made into a pathetic tv mini seiries. but no movie as of yet)
5. choke(palinhuik)
6. calculating god(unknown at this time)

these are just a few to get the ball rolling now come one get typin'

A Simple Plan and Rising Sun.

Both were great books. The movies were good too. I just wished that they stuck with the exact story.

Does anyone know if there is a Kane and Abel movie? That was another favorite of mine.

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Look at these morose muther****ers, looks like someone S**t in their cereal.....BONG!!!!

no I don't know of one but simple plan really could of been a lot more like the book i thought to. rising sun I never read but liked the movie... i'll check the book out. thanks.

OK, just my comments. I'm a big Stephen King fan. I've read pretty much all his books (except his special edition ones).
And of course, so many of his books have been made into movies. Most of them pretty forgettable in my opinion. But heres a few that i did enjoy after having read the books first.
'IT'
'Stand by me' (Adapted from The Body)
'Salem's Lot'
'The Tommy Knockers'
'The Stand'
'The Dead Zone'
'The Shawshank Redemption'
'The Green Mile'
'The Shining'
'Christine'

Movies i'd love to see made from his novels are:
The Dark Tower
Black House
The Talisman
Insomnia

There are probably lots more i would personally add to these but its late and thats all i can remember. Obviously others would be able to come up with their own lists. But i find it amazing that so many movies have been adapted from the books of just one author. Has any other author managed this feat ? I can't think of any. Maybe it would be interesting to compare.
One last point to Brasco if I may. I think i would have to differ with you about seeing a movie version before reading the book. For me, the book version of a story will always come before the movie version. The key word here is 'story'. Stories are a tale that the author is giving us. It's ideas, characters, places,feelings. Movies by their very nature are visual and aural. When i want to learn a new story, i prefer to give my imagination over to the skill of an author ahead of a movie director. If i've seen all of the facts and characters in a movie, without truley understanding those characters and their personel stories, they mean nothing to me on a deeper level and hence, their actions and words mean little to me also, except on a very superficial level. But reading the book...ah! Now you become involved with those same people, you read their thoughts aswell as read what they say. You know what they feel inside at every moment, even as they carry out their characters actions. The best special effects that will ever be known flow through your mind. For me, movies are a quck sugar hit like a sweet candy bar. Books are a mouth watering 4 course meal, to be slowly devoured. But please don't completely misunderstand me. I also love movies. Movies have shown me worlds and places that i will never live to see. They thrill me and transport me for a couple of hours and if they manage that, then they have done their job just fine. But for me, i urge people to enjoy the novel first, untainted, full of surprises at each turn of the page. When you've done that, a movie version will be good comparison material and you will see how much of the 'story' (remember that 'ole thing) has been lost in the transition to make way for a more instant story-hit. At the end of the day, there will always be advocates for both sides of the argument. And i'm very glad of that too. We should be able to enjoy both mediums to the full.
My apoligies for rambling on. My thanks if anyone bothered to read this far.
Peace &goodwill to all.

- Chung_Wah -

oops, told you it was late. My apology to Brasco. My comments were of course for the attention of Drexal Parks. Sorry for the confusion.

- Chung_Wah -

thanx for the edit chung_way

now you have very good points and you adressed them with extream profesionality(i do not know if that is a word)
and thank you for your thoughts.
this is what I thread for for people to rant. rave and belittle me and my ideas if they must. its cool.

I feel obliged to rebuttle but can't for the life of me right a single decent sentance to night and I havn't for a while now. I just finishes a script and rewriting a novel. so all my enejy is involved in that. but I will make a few point non the less.

when reading a book first thenwatching the movie. you have expectations. granted you should. but I do base this on fight club. I saw a trailer for this film and my lips quivered. I swear.
no other movie had such a great trailer. i mean the teaser. thats all i would watch untill i saw the movie. then I saw it on my birthday....my god old man. this has changed my perspective. on film and the way live my life. so any ways. i go to wok the next day and tell everyone to see it. anyways a guy who I work with tells me about this book SURVIVOR itr sounds awh inspiring. I pick it up check the other...(chuck palinhuik) I flip the page and what do I see...FIGHT CLUB jesus h. christ i proclaim. and race home to read this novel. and quikly buy the fight club. i do and just to let you all know survivor is palinhuiks swan song(so far) at a rate slower than most i continue. I read fight club and am almost disapointed in the movie at what they did. because it is quite diffrant. now. when I went back to the theaters i watched it again. and was soo upset with bradd pitt or edward norton..no brad pitt..no edward,,.aghhgthey are the same guy...

anyways I am rambling chung_way was not.

if I had seen fight club after i watched the movie I would habve walked out. i would of had to...I mean they totaly cut out how they met....probably the most butifully written encounter ever written in contemporary novels...either than when dwayne hoover meets Kilgore trout in breakfast of champions.

so in closing it is things like that. i plainly just did not want to hate fight club as a movie and with every book I have read since that has a movie i watch the flick first. so i can expect more and get it. not less like when you watch the movie.

Breakfast of Champions for instanc. the movie was almost nothing like the book. i saw it first and then read the paperback.I was thrilled to see that every thing that happened did not happen in the movie.


oh and i would mention stephen king although i was going for the more obscure movies and writters. thanx though...oh you forgot the best one of all...PET SEMETARY. ONE (NOT 2 IT SUCKED)

• GREAT ADAPTATIONS
• Tess (1980 - Roman Polanski), from the novel Tess of the d'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
• Far from the Madding Crowd (1967 - Jhon Schlesinger), from the novel by Thomas Hardy
• The Age of Innocence (1993 - Martin Scorsese), from the novel by Edith Wharton
• Dangerous Liaisons (1988 - Stephen Frears), from the novel Les Liaisons Dangereusnes by Choderlos de Laclos
• Valmont (1989 - Milos Forman), from the novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos
• The Innocents (1961 - Jack Clayton), from the novel The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
• Rosemary's Baby (1967 - Roman Polanski), from the novel by Ira Levin
• The Princess Bride (1987 - Rob Reiner), from the novel by William Goldman
• All the President's Men (1976 - Alan J. Pakula), from the book by Woodward & Bernstein
• Three Days of the Condor (1975 - Sydney Pollack), from the novel by James Grady
• The Manchurian Candidate (1962 - John Frankenheimer), from the novel by Richard Condon
• Prizzi's Honor (1985 - John Huston), from the novel by Richard Condon
• The Maltese Falcon (1941 - John Schlesinger), from the novel by Dashiell Hammett
• Under the Volcano (1984 - John Huston), from the novel by Malcolm Lowry
• The Treasure fo the Sierra Madre (1948 - John Huston), from the novel by B. Traven
• The Man Who Would Be King (1975 - John Huston), from the novella by Rudyard Kipling
• Jaws (1975 - Steven Spielberg), from the novel by Peter Benchley
• Mother Night (1996 - Keith Gordon), from the novel by Kurt Vonnegut
• Catch-22 (1970 - Mike Nichols), from the novel by Joseph Heller
• Birdy (1984 - Alan Parker), from the novel by William Wharton
• A Clockwork Orange (1971 - Stanley Kubrick), from the novel by Anthony Burgess
• A Boy & His Dog (1975 - L.Q. Jones), from the story by Harlan Ellison
• The Witches of Eastwick (1987 - George Miller), from the novel by John Updike
• The Commitments (1991 - Alan Parker), from the novel by Roddy Doyle
• High Fidelity (2000 - Stephen Frears), from the novel by Nick Hornby
• The Grifters (1990 - Stephen Frears), from the novel by Jim Thompson
• After Dark, My Sweet (1990 - James Foley), from the novel by Jim Thompson
• L.A. Confidential (1997 - Curtis Hanson), from the novel by James Ellroy
• Wonder Boys (2000 - Curtis Hanson), from the novel by Michael Chabon
• The Player (1992 - Robert Altman), from the novel by Michael Tolkin
• Get Shorty (1995 - Barry Sonnenfeld), from the novel by Elmore Leonard
• Out of Sight (1998 - Steven Soderbergh), from the novel by Elmore Leonard
• Misery (1990 - Rob Reiner), from the novel by Stephen King
• Empire of the Sun (1987 - Steven Spielberg), from the book by J.G. Ballard
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968 - Robert Ellis Miller), from the novel by Carson McCullers
• The Last Picture Show (1971 - Peter Bogdanovich), from the novel by Larry McMurtry
• "Lonesome Dove" (made-for-TV 1989 - Simon Wincer), from the novel by Larry McMurtry
• Little Big Man (1970 - Arthur Penn), from the novel by Thomas Berger
• Missing (1982 - Costa-Gavras), from the book by Thomas Hauser
• The Mosquito Coast (1986 - Peter Weir), from the novel by Paul Theroux
• Zorba the Greek (1964 - ichael Cacoyannis), from the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis
• The Last Temptation of Christ (1988 - Martin Scorsese), from the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis
• Last Orders (2001 - Fred Schepisi), from the novel by Graham Swift
• The Music of Chance (1993 - Philip Haas), from the novel by Paul Auster
• GoodFellas (1990 - Martin Scorsese), from the book Wiseguy as told to Nic Pileggi
• Serpico (1973 - Sidney Lumet), from the book by Peter Maas
• Fletch (1985 - Michael Ritchie), from the novel by Gregory MacDonald
• Ragtime (1981 - Milos Forman), from the novel by E.L. Doctorow
• The Chocolate War (1988 - Keith Gordon), from the novel by Robert Cormier)
• Barbarians ot the Gate (made-for-TV 1993 - Glenn Jordan), from the book by Burrough & Helyar
• BladeRunner (1982 - Ridley Scott), from the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001 - Peter Jackson), from the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (1998 - Terry Gilliam), from the book by Hunter S. Thompson

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Out of curiousity, are you planning on putting your username in the title of every thread you start?

Holden, love the Depp photo. If I remember right, he never once removes the smoke from his mouth the entire film, I guess we never see him light a new one either, eh?

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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

Drexal, thanks for your response to my words. After i had posted it, i wondered if it had sounded like i was trying to completely rubbish your views. I was not. Indeed, in some instances i agree with your point of view but in general, I would hope i could trust an author first, to give me the best version of any story.

I entirely understand your views regarding Fight Club and how seeing the film version first was a major joy which the book failed to live upto. I have favorite movies which to be honest, i wouldn't want to read the book if it actually existed ( I wouldn't know anyway). I guess it would spoil my enjoyment of the single entity that is the movie version.

The great enjoyment of movies (and books) is that what appeals to one, does not appeal to another. We all see different moments of magic that touch us and keep us coming back for more.

Regards to all.

- Chung_Wah -

well. i...(pause)dexal parks. am hear to respond.

to yoda. yes I do and will. it my shtick. sorry if it bothers you.

to lordslaytan: yes, in every shot. and no he doesn't light another one. good eye.

holden pike: first off great name. an heir to mine. he, he, he, he. and jesus. thats some list. do you think these are all good flicks? i am curiouse i threded this for people to post both good and bad and catagorize them. you threw them all into one big basket. thanks though. it was cool to see somany....have you read them all?...and i don't know how i could of forgotten fear and loathing. it one of my favorites.
(i like contemporary, satire most of all)

to chung_way: thanks. but. i do not think you caught my drift. i was saying that the movie did not live up to the book. though it did at first. once i read it the way that jack and tyler meet on the beach is so butiful that they ruined it for me the second time i saw the flick. though i could have written it wrong. i am a bit dislexick(incorect spelling) but much thanks. i value everyones opinon. negitive or positive.

your friend and trusted advisor:
drexal parks.

Those were all great adaptations in my first list. There was only one basket. Here are some bad ones...

• BAD ADAPTATIONS
• The English Patient (1996 - Anthony Minghella), from the novel by Michael Ondaatje
• Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil (1997 - Clint Eastwood), from the book by John Berendt
• Breakfast of Champions (1999 - Alan Rudolph), from the novel by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Scarlet Letter (1995 - Roland Joffe), from the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• From Hell (2001 - Albert & Allen Hughes), from the graphic novel by Alan Moore
• Beloved (1998 - Jonathan Demme), from the novel by Toni Morrison
• Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993 - Gus Van Sant), from the novel by Tom Robbins
• The House of the Spirits (1993 - Bille August), from the novel by Isabel Allende
• The Great Gatsby (1974 - Jack Clayton), from the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Simon Birch (1998 - Mark Steven Johnson), from the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
• Moby Dick (1956 - John Huston), from the novel by Herman Melville
• Out of Africa (1985 - Sydney Pollack), from the novel by Isak Dinesen
• The Time Machine (2002 - Simon Wells), from the novel by H.G. Wells
• Dad (1989 - Gary David Goldberg), from the novel by William Wharton
• Billy Bathgate (1991 - Robert Benton), from the novel by E.L. Doctorow
• Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001 - John Madden), from the novel by Louis de Bernieres

I completely disagree with you guys on The Breakfast of Champions. I think it's a horrid adaptation, just awful. I like Rudolph, it's a decent cast, but he just plain missed the tone here. Robert Altman had the rights to it back in the '70s (with Rudolph attached as screenwriter), and I can't help but wonder what he might have crafted. The best Vonnegut adaptation yet is Keith Gordon's Mother Night (1996), far and away. George Roy Hill's Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) isn't bad, but damn short of the book's perfection. I'd love to see maybe Terry Gilliam or David Fincher re-do it with today's effects.

believe me i see were you are coming from with breakfast of champions. but i couldn't help but like it as just a movie. it was a stylistic attempt at the bbok. sure rudloph failed in the acuracy but the movie was fun.

there are others? jesus i MUST be slow. a slaughter house five eh? and mother night? well. you showed me thanks i'm off to the movie store. good argument and i see it COMPLETELY i just liked it is all. i probably should of mentioned that it was nothing like the book though i thoght i did. sorry. but you r right on all the others....terrible

I was considering bringing up the Breakfast of Champions thing, mainly because Vonnegut himself was extremely vocal about hating the film.
In fact, he's been pretty vocal about disliking just about every adaptation someone has done of his work (espescially the just horrendous Slapstick) with the exception of the efforts by his good friend Robert B. Weide, one of the main characters behind the creation of Mother Night.

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"We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glow-worm."
--Winston Churchill

[quote]Originally posted by Holden Pike
[b]Those were all great adaptations in my first list. There was only one basket. Here are some bad ones...

The English Patient - Anthony Minghella), from the novel by Michael Ondaatje

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