Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Good books that made bad movies

It's bound to be a rich field of possibilities.

I'll start off with Starship Troopers. Not simply miscast, or poorly acted. Just way the fucgk off. Farcical.

Anything by Tom Clancy.

Any Jack London story. On the screen they add nonsense to dramatize the story and it loses all effect.

Lord of the Rings says in the credits 'based on' books by Tolkien. By based on, they took some liberties that were pretty bad. They have to leave things out but they don't have to add crap and change important stuff.

I’m thinking some movies based on Stephen king books would belong on this list. Though some of these like Misery, Shawshank redemption and Stand by Me would be considered very good movies

I don’t like his out there supernatural stuff very much so I haven’t read many of those, or watched the movies. I’ve just always heard many of the movies and mini series missed the mark

Not a movie, but most recent example I can think of is the TV series based on King’s Mr Mercedes books. I liked the books a lot, couldn’t get into the show after the first few episodes. Maybe it got better, don’t know.

I haven’t watched the recent movie American Assassin to see if it’s a decent adaptation, but greatly enjoyed all of Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp series.

The book is nearly always better. Much more room to develop the storyline, convey a character’s thoughts and motivations, build suspense.

I'll give a big ditto to Starship Troopers, Paul Verhoeven should be pushed out of an airlock for that travesty. The only thing that might save him is the original Robocop.

Most every James Bond movie after Dr. No and From Russia With Love and possibly Goldfinger. Cubby Broccoli turned him into a Mr. Gadget cartoon character. The Daniel Craig movies have restored some of the character's real nature despite the actor's personal politics.

Battlefield Earth. Atlas Shrugged.

All of them.

There's only one Good Book

Jack Reacher books. Reacher is NOT Tom friggin' Cruise.

No, Tom Cruise is not Jack friggin Reacher.

Conan

Well kind of disappointed Hollywood got a great cast together, then bastardized the Mad Trapper in “Death Hunt”. Real story would have been good. Hollywood just can’t value historical truths.

Reacher is supposed to be 6’5”, 230-250#, and blonde IIRC. Tom Cruise ain’t even close

Movies never seem to do the books justice, unless maybe ya consider "Sherk" There is so much more "details" in the written story then the movies.

The original Dune, with Kyle McLaughlin.

It followed the book exactly in dialog, but was the most awful, wooden adaptation/ruin of a great piece of sci-fi I've ever seen.

I don’t like any of the adaptations of the Bob Lee Swagger books into TV or movies. Too much of a departure from who Bob Lee was in the book, not to mention the other characters.

On the other hand, I thought Jaws was better as a movie than a book.

The only movie I can think of that had actors with eyebrow extensions. The book is a million times better, but the movie is memorable in a very David Lynchian kind of way, imo.

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.


Edit to add The Hobbit. Peter Jackson should be desolated by Smaug for that three part disaster.

Guns of the Naverone

Gregory Peck is the most annoying lead actor of all time in that movie. Supposed to be a British spy/assassin, and he sounds like Tom Brokaw reading the evening news.