Back when the cinetrix started this blog--you know, when dinosaurs roamed the earth--I mused about who might play Cayce Pollard in the inevitable movie version of William Gibson's Pattern Recognition.
I was reminded again of the fraught intersection of literature and film while reading the latest from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's inestimable film columnist Alan Smithee:
Dear Mr. Smithee,
Over the years, people have made a big stink over which was better, the book or the movie. In most cases, the book is better. There, it's been stated. But, I sense, in some cases, people are just being snobby by always putting down the movie because they read. Well, most of us do read.
My question, other than are you still awake, would be: Have you ever seen a movie where you thought it was much better than the book? If so, what movie?
R-- B-------, Doraville
Dear Novel Idea,
You presume I read. How can someone who watches hundreds and hundreds of movies a year have the time to open some long-winded tome? Like "The Da Vinci Code."
But I read the book. Every preposterous word. All I know is that if Ron Howard, who had the talent to make the wonderful "Splash,”"the credible "A Beautiful Mind" and, especially, the outstanding "Apollo 13," cannot muster up anything better with "Da Vinci Code" than that nattering book did - then somebody will need to rethink the concept of Hollywood blockbusterism.
I should say to all the book snobs that movies can indeed surprise you. I finished reading "Sophie’s Choice" mere hours before seeing the movie version for the first time in 1982.
My thought was: There is no way the movie can capture the sheer horror of Sophie making her forced choice. But you know what? Meryl Streep and director Alan J. Pakula magnificently matched the emotional force and dark depths of William Styron's words.
If, good R--, you are looking for a list, here’s a few examples where films are better than their counterpart books: "Paper Moon" (I never even finished "Addie Pray"), "The Godfather" (most definitely), "Jaws," "The Exorcist," "The Silence of the Lambs," "Planet of the Apes," "The Hours" (some probably consider this selection heresy) and "Coal Miner's Daughter."
And read on, because here's a list of movies that are so good, I suspect that, while I have not been privileged to read the original tomes, they are at least equal to, if not better than, the wordy versions: "Raging Bull," "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," "Schindler’s List," "L.A. Confidential," "Field of Dreams," "Psycho," "The Graduate," "The Wizard of Oz," "Double Indemnity," "Goodfellas" and "Midnight Cowboy."
Alan
P.S. You get an "RV" road emergency kit and an "Ask Alan Smithee" T-shirt.
At some point, the cinetrix would like to teach an adaptation course [mostly likely using this book as one of the texts]. So what are your favorite page-to-screen leaps and which ones fall short?
