When films are adapted from books, more often than not, I tend to find the books a lot more enjoyable. So I have skipped watching a lot of films in the hope of reading the books later.
So what are some great films not adapted from books? Or what are some films that are significantly better than the book they were adapted from?
Synecdoche, New York Being John Malkovich Unicorn Wars Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Mad God House (1977) Susperia Videodrome
Star Wars.
IDK why I sometimes hear that Lucas derived the movies from some old book series; that’s bullshit. All the books came after the movies.
The story was beat per beat inspired by Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Campbell’s metaphorical inmost cave was translated into Luke literally going to a cave in Empire Strikes Back.
Not to take anything away from Lucas’ creativity, of course. But to me it was quite obvious that he read or at least was aware of Joseph Campbell’s theory of stories and that Lucas read Frank Herbert’s Dune
My pet peeve is when people say a story with is hero’s journey is just a rip-off of another hero’s journey. Campbell didn’t invent or discover it, the story structure was used a lot before him and was known as the medicin jurney. He just wrote a book about it
He didn’t invent it, but he did try to flatten every story into this masculine take of a heroic life, some screenwriters took this to heart and then we got Luke in the cave.
Sometimes I go through weeks of intensively reading mangas or go back to the Greek mythologies, Homer, Apuleius, and enjoy how different the story beats in these cultures are compared to, well, my boring person’s American hegemony entertainment.
I think Star Wars is a great example of an original film that’s endlessly familiar. It took so many old fantasy tropes, western tropes, war movie tropes, a hefty dose of Kurosawa, and made something that almost anyone can relate to while still being completely alien.
You might be interested in reading “The Hero With A Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell. Also read the whole discourse and criticisms surrounding the work.
Reservoir Dogs
Rambo - First Blood
Book adaptation.
It’s not
Yes, it is. It’s adapted from First Blood, by David Morrell.
Also, the movie wad just called First Blood, not Rambo - First Blood. You’re confusing the title with the first sequel, Rambo: First Blood Part II.
Star Wars is interesting in that it’s a big franchise IP that isn’t an adaption of a book or comic
Adopted from a couple older movies, like Kurosawa’s hidden fortress, among others
It was a heavily influenced film, though: Flash Gordon + Hidden Fortress + dogfighting reel with a dash of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
I’m vaguely aware of those influences, but decided to answer OP’s question very literally (there’s no ‘New Hope’ book that anyone can check out after seeing the first film)
Yea, in the case of Star Wars, there’s a lot of borrowing from old ideas and mythological forms as well as the samurai and western genres that I’m not sure it entirely counts … it probably sits in its own little category of sort of fairy tale literature brought to film, which is an achievement in its own right.
Don’t forget Dune
As an influence … for sure!
Directly stole characters from samurai films too. 2 characters in Hidden Fortress act exactly like R2 and C3PO
I’m sure there are other examples
The spear fight in HF was really cool.
The Hero With A Thousand Faces
Almost all ‘new’ ideas borrow from old ideas. If we don’t count Star Wars, then there’s nothing we can count.
It’s not just about borrowing from older ideas, it’s about the extent to which star wars was knowingly channeling a certain kind of story structure that has old cultural roots.
The Lion King would be a similar-ish example. It’s basically Hamlet, which Shakespeare based on an older Viking story (AFAIU) … so it’s just one of those stories that’s out there.
None of which is to criticise Star Wars, just to argue that it stands separate somewhat.
Fargo. Even the “true story” that it’s based on never happened.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
King Kong
Little Miss Sunshine
The Raid 1 & 2
Beetlejuice
The Goonies
E.T.
American History X
Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein are very loosely based on the original story (ostensibly Mary Shelley’s verbal retelling of the story before she penned the novel) and both are good in their own right.
It’s a recent animated film, but I enjoy The Legend of Hei.
It’s an animated Chinese film based on an animated web series of a similar name about a little cat spirit trying to find a home and ending up on a long journey.
2001 Space Odyssey might be an interesting candidate here, just because of the way in which the book and film were more or less born together and diverged in their own separate ways, though the genesis of the whole thing was apparently in a short story by AC Clark that I know nothing about.
Edge of Tomorrow is based on a japanese book or Manga (I forgot which came first) called All You Need is Kill.
The manga was good, but the movie adaptation was just much much better. The mimics were designed differently and the plot differed enough to make a significant boost.
I’ve seen the movie and really liked it, I’ve also read the manga and liked it. I wouldn’t say there is a better one, but they are very different, both satisfactory in their own ways and the cultural differences really show in both formats.
Brazil is one of my favourite movies. AFAIK it’s not based on a book. It is frequently compared to 1984, but it’s not based on it. Just similar themes of a totalitarian dystopia.
Fight Club. I’ve read the book, the film was … different and better in some ways. Very much not a disappointment.
Sunshine. This might be my favourite movie. It’s excellent. Space done right. Not from a book.
Fightclub is a movie that’s adapted from a book. OP asked for movies like your second answer. Guess that’s why you’re being downvotedObviously I misread
Hang on, in the last paragraph OP says if you know of a movie that is better than the original source book/comic, then it qualifies as a suggestion
Monuments Men is arguably way better than the book. The movie humanized the content and made it more approachable.
- Pulp Fiction
- Donnie Darko
- The Big Lebowski
- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
- In Bruges
- The Matrix
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- Ocean’s Eleven
- Indiana Jones original trilogy
- Get Out
- Bladerunner (a book, apparently)
- Bladerunner 2049
- 28 Days Later
- American Beauty
- The Usual Suspects
- Gladiator
- Schindler’s List (also a book??)
- Saving Private Ryan
- There Will Be Blood (dammit, a book!)
Gonna get pedantic here:
Blade Runner is based on “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep” by Philip K Dick.
There Will Be Blood is based on “Oil” by Sinclair Lewis.
Both were acclaimed in their own right before the film adaptations.Okey dokey then… carry on!
Completely fair!
Also Schindlers List was a book first
Christopher Nolan has done some good big movies not based on existing book or IP: Memento, Inception, Interstellar, and Tenet.
Interstellar is in my top 5 favorite movies. Fuckin’ blew my mind the first time I saw it.
It’s the music and sound design. F’n masterpiece.
It’s maybe the best theater movie I’ve ever seen.
It’s just completely overwhelming in that setting.
But… op asked for “good” movies.
Tenet is terrible.
So is interstellar (mumblemumbleCORNmumble)
