50 Movies That Are Better Than The Book
By Matt Barone | Dec 19, 2011 | 12:15 pm | Permalink
Passionate bookworms can be a protective bunch. Just behold their furious anger if a paperback-to-film adaptation's screenwriter changes even the slightest element of a beloved novel. And it's usually justified, since far too many Hollywood adaptations either abandon all of the source’s subtext or enhance the showier moments while forgetting about character developments. That’s why the staggering amounts of fans dedicated to the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium Series” are waiting with baited breath and sharpened knives for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, acclaimed director David Fincher’s much-ballyhooed repackaging of Larsson’s first “Millennium” entry (hitting theaters tomorrow, December 20).
Having sold 15 million copies in the United States alone, Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a pop culture phenomenon, so thankfully the impeccable Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network) tackled the project with his signature, superlative talents. His first master-stroke was casting the relatively unknown Rooney Mara as the series’ iconic female badass, Lisbeth Salander, a troubled computer whiz who dresses like a Hot Topic regular and helps solve a 40-year-old murder mystery. In addition, Fincher and screenwriter Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List, Gangs Of New York) retained the book’s graphically adult nature but also expanded upon characters’ complexities (namely Lisbeth) and sprinkled in sickly clever stylistic touches (the sounds of Enya’s “Orinoco Flow” make a particularly grisly scene all the more disturbing).
Those 15 million owners of Larsson’s Dragon Tattoo can breathe easy: Not only is Fincher’s movie a worthy adaptation, it’s by all means the superior version, even better than the impressive 2009 Swedish film starring Noomi Rapace. Inspired by Fincher’s accomplishment, we’ve taken a look back at cinema’s history to salute The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’s predecessors, a.k.a. 50 Movies That Are Better Than The Book.
Written by Matt Barone (@MBarone)
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Chris Hall December 19th, 2011 at 12:46 PM
You mean Peter Falk, of course - not Jason Robards as the grandfather in The Princess Bride...
Mathew Wellington December 19th, 2011 at 03:28 PM
fuck that a clockwork orange is a better movie i knew that shit was going to be number 1 when i read the title. that shits bogus as hell
That One Guy December 19th, 2011 at 04:04 PM
also to add to this list, every comic book movie ever, even though some of them are still pretty awesome.
Bob December 19th, 2011 at 07:16 PM
What about the Shawshank Redemption
KPDAGOAT December 19th, 2011 at 07:32 PM
Wheres ShawShank??
Patrick Bateman December 20th, 2011 at 11:21 AM
I may have missed it on the list, but where is American Psycho? Christian Bale owned that role. I'd also toss in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Classic Liberal December 21st, 2011 at 04:08 PM
MANHUNTER came out in 1986, not 1982 as your article reported. But that was only your second blunder about this movie. Your first? Including it on this list. You have undervalued the author's achievement by declaring Michael Mann's movie to be superior to the Thomas Harris novel "Red Dragon" when it's not even in the same league, suspense-wise OR story wise. And if SILENCE OF THE LAMBS came closer than MANHUNTER to matching the greatness of the Thomas Harris novel that it came from -- and it did -- even THAT film falls short of its superlative source material, despite its many Oscars. (Ridley Scott's HANNIBAL, on the other hand, while a lonnnng way from wonderful or even very good, did successfully surpass the borderline-awful novel it was based. Harris's third Lecter book is an abomination matched only by its follow-up.) And lastly, you missed the boat on ROSEMARY'S BABY. The Polanski movie is brilliant, no question. But Ira Levin's novel is equally so.
bloodhound December 21st, 2011 at 07:28 PM
Peter Falk played the grandfather in "The Princess Bride," not Jason Robards.
C33 December 22nd, 2011 at 09:35 AM
You actually want me to click through 50 of these? Ha! Go to hell, click-farmers.
Georgia 411 December 22nd, 2011 at 10:34 AM
Like the list and agree with most of them. I would also add 1985's "Desert Hearts" (adapted from the Jane Rule novel "Desert of the Heart." I thought the novel was very good, but the movie was excellent. Best wishes to all for a great holiday.
Ostade December 22nd, 2011 at 10:42 AM
Wow, your list loses all credibility when it became obvious you never read Stephen King's "The Shining". The scene you mention in the Kubrick movie, where a man in a "bear" costume goes down on another man. That was a *Dog* costume, and if you read the book, you would understand the scene. That scene was put in purposely to appease the readers of the book. I'd explain it to you, but maybe you should read the book for yourself.