Films that are better than the book...

It's often said that the book is better than the film, I read the short of 1408 a while ago and it was really good, has anyone seen the movie and whats it like, also to kick the thread of I do think the book four seasons is brill but shawshank the movie is amazing, it could come on in a tv shop and I'd be instantly emerged in it.

funny enough i was going to start this thread after reading one particular book recently.

I loved the rambo movies. first one especially. The movie first blood was based on david morrells best seller back in roughly 73.

after loving stallone and rambo for so long i ordered the book a few weeks back from america (i live in london) and couldnt wait to get stuck in since i read the book was far more dark and violent.

WARNING. SPOLIERS HERE.

well......i read it and i never got past half. i struggled after a quarter way and wanted to give it a chance but couldnt.

rambos charatcer irritated me since he asked for trouble rather than being pushed like the films brilliantly portrayed.

everytime teasle asked for id, asked him where he was going, asked him to put his hand on his head, asked him for proof of something etc, rambo always responded arrogantly.

he says things like "what...u a ******? cant u bring ur own id *******? i will go where i want scumbag" and on and on and on.

I know books are supposed to reveal the chratcters thoughts as opposed to a script but this is what let me down a lot. the book exceeded the normal level.

By revealing rambos every single thought, there was no suspense whatsoever and the violent traumatised vietnam vet did not appear all that dark.

however, i do realise the book was written back in the 70's so the standard was not as high then.
but overall, i couldnt finish it. The movie was excellent.

also rambo dies in the book, I'm told

books better than films in my opinion.
any thing by dean Koontz
most Stephen king accept the shining which contradicts the rest is by being a Kubrick master piece and way out shining the book. sorry bout the pun it was an edit mistake.
also I am legend which was made into omega man, book. It takes about a day to read I mean really short, but is absolutely amazing , I was very let down by film version.
duel was a good short story, but I do praise Spielberg.
Also a book I read recently by author joe hill called heart shaped box would make a great film.
does anyone know if they made any of the late Richard laymen books into film?
I'll leave you with a few more I've read which I rate high
Trainspotting
silence of the lambs
fear and loathing
red dragon {man hunter is great though}
I think thats about it!

No Way!! Book is much better. Great movie, but greater book.

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Sorry but I have to disagree Rambo's character irritated me in the movie, I haven't read the book I thought that his reaction to "being pushed" was always an overreaction

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Shawshank Again-
Bit's of the book are better, ie the convict who escapes by drawing a line out the yard, and how they later refer to him as D.B.Cooper was great, however I like the satisfaction at the end of the film. to good to miss off, but I do understand the books ending

I've mentioned in this forum before the only two films that I think were better than the books on which they were based. One is "One-Eyed Jacks" that was based on a book with a title something like "The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones" which essentially was the retelling of the Billy the Kid saga but with a different name and set in California. The only thing that the movie kept from the book was the California setting in the late 1800s. From that point on, it's a completely new story.

My second choice for better movie than book was the original "book" of the stage production "Paint Your Wagon." The stage play was about a miner as the single parent of a young woman growing up in a california mining camp in the 1800s; she falls in love with a young Mexican who is in danger of being lynched just for being Mexican. Again, the movie keeps the California setting, most of the songs, and the character of a Mormon with 2 wives who wanders into camp. It adds the Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood characters with the shared wife and totally changes the story for the better.

It's pretty much universally true of all Kubrick adaptations (with the possible exception of Lolita, and, maybe, if you're being exceptionally charitable to a really dull novel, Barry Lyndon).

Stand by Me was a far better movie. The Body was a good story, but it kind of drug on a little to much for me.

have I already mentioned the book i am legend, think I did

I thought that Fight Club was better than the book it's based on. Also, Misery was more involving and intense than than the infamous Stephen King novel. Take hammers anyday over chainsaws.

i think that James and the Giant Peach is way
better in the book than in the movie.
child-ish i know, but it really is better than the movie.

Fight Club
The Godfather
Brokeback Mountain
Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep)
Sense and Sensibility
Perfume
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I agree with you on Misery "You Dirty Bird!" Kathy Bates was so good in that film. And I really loved Fight Club and for that reason I will probably never read the book because c'mon it's pretty damn few and far between when a movie is better than a book so if I like a film a lot I just stay away from the book so it won't make me hate the film. Silly I know but that's just me.

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Requiem for a Dream - the novel is a masterpiece, but Aronofsky really brought out its full potential and created something beautifully special with it.

I also though The Shawshank Redemption was better than the novella it was based on.

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Shawshank Redemption is the only film I know by now that is better than the novel it based on.For the majorities, movies are great,but the novels are just even greater.

I enjoyed No Country For Old men in movie form more than Book because it was a lot more exciting but they did leave out things that completely changed the ending

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Whenever the question comes up about which movies are better than the books upon which they're based, the first thing that comes to my mind is The Godfather. The novel is just a sensationalist piece of hack writing, but the movie is a masterpiece.

I have to disagree with the post above concerning The Shining. The book was far better than the movie, IMHO. Of course I read the book just before I saw the movie, so that could have something to do with it.

I thought that I already posted in here, but definitely The Godfather. The only better example I can think of is Jaws.

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