10 of the BEST book adaptations EVER!

[@wrist.2539]

Dude no country for old men is an absolutely flawless adaptation

[@rammelbroadcasting]

@wrist.2539 I haven't read that book, but I do like Cormac McCarthy

[@kevinokeefe6589]

I would also add oil/ there will be blood. Only mention in this no country for old men comment cus they were both being filmed at the same time less than 5 miles from each other on location

[@llchapman1234]

I've only seen clips of the movie, but recently read the book. What a pointless slog that was, which really surprised me as I loved The Road. I just couldn't connect to that story, or even understand the point Cormac was trying to make. Life is brutal with lots of senseless violence? I can watch the news for that.

[@LeonardBurke3]

"The Green Mile", since you are a King fan, was SO well done. Perfect cast and, aside from the opening and ending being tweaked a bit, was almost word-for-word the book. Both are well worth the time and effort to watch and read!

[@oblebrun]

I just read the book and watched the movie for the first time only a few days ago. Can't agree more.

[@andrewmanitt6334]

"The Princess Bride" movie captured the spirit of the book exceptionally well, and they were both great. I prefer the book slightly, because a novel can give you more than a 2-hour movie can.

[@mattbaldwin1150]

I think the movie Arrival is a very good adaptation of the short story "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang.

[@sallydragomir468]

"I'm looking at you Dark Tower!" - Liked and subscribed :'D

[@RogueFilmsVFX]

Harry Potter deserves credit just for finishing its series. You dont see that happening too often with 7-8 entries espeicially of a YA series. Im looking at you Percy Jackson and Alex Rider.

[@creedecriswell634]

The dark tower adaptation was perfect it was so good they shoved 7 books into one movie. Oh wait….

[@neil3467]

It’s a bit dated but I think that Lonesome Dove was a great adaptation and still holds up. Some elite acting by Robert Duvall.

[@ihatevnecks7015]

I know you were only looking at movies here, but I think Interview with the Vampire (TV) is one for the list. To me it's an example of what an adaptation should be: they kept the core themes and conflicts of the story, were mindful enough to weave in threads from later books in the series to avoid weird rewrites and retcons, while also mixing up some of the particulars (timeline, character history) to freshen the story up. Add that onto the stellar performances from the cast, and some absolutely gorgeous writing, and it's IMO one of the best adaptations I've ever seen. Maybe my all time favorite.

[@thundering1]

Silence of the Lambs was SURPRISINGLY accurate/faithful to the book. He even managed to gives those of us who read the book a wonderful, funny wink with the, "LOVE your suit" line.

[@rawk2hard]

Silence of the Lambs is nearly a perfect adaptation. That's the one I always suggest if someone wants a great example of an accurate adaptation.

[@therealCrazyJake]

The World According to Garp, if you ask me, is a prime example of a book flawlessly adapted into a movie. The movie stays so true to the source material and the tone is exactly the same. The movie does leave out some things from the book, but nothing feels lost from the story because of it, and can generally just be filled in with context clues and subtle details in the movie’s background. The dialogue, settings, tone, pacing, direction, writing, and especially the casting is just perfect. I am not exaggerating when I say that the character essentially IS Robin Williams, even if you had no idea that there even was a movie, the character reads as if he were just straight up Robin Williams (there’s literally a line in the book about humour being Garp’s religion). I will say that if the movie isn’t someone’s cup of tea, then the book likely won’t be either, and vise versa, but essentially, hands down one of the best adaptations from book to film, in my humble opinion: The World According to Garp by John Irving.

[@ElRigs83]

The best part of the Ghost in the Shell live action was the seething anger of the audience

[@PJWestfield]

What, no Hunt for Red October? Both the movie and the book were amazing!

[@nicomal]

6:23 That movie was so underrated. I don't understand why it didn't do better. I haven't read the manga, but loved the movie. Robert Rodríguez is one of my favorite directors.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

The manga is really good too

[@mattbaldwin1150]

@@nicomal terrific movie.

[@curtkiefer338]

John, I have always loved the book, ON THE BEACH. The 1959 movie adaptation was spot on. I think some of the dialogue was taken word for word from the book - similar to your comments on AMERICAN PSYCHO

[@michaelhall2709]

Loose adaptation: APOCALYPSE NOW, from Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” Runner-up: BLADE RUNNER, based on Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” Faithful adaptation: SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, based on the Kurt Vonnegut novel. Runner-up: Stanley Kubrick’s A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, based on the book by Anthony Burgess. And yeah, “Shogun” turned out pretty awesome.

[@tmoh99]

Slaughter house five was made into a movie!?!?!

[@michaelhall2709]

@@tmoh99 Yep - and one that Vonnegut loved, because even though he didn’t much like film on principle, he thought the adaptation perfectly captured the tone he was going for when he wrote the book.

[@tmoh99]

@@michaelhall2709 great info thank you! Gonna have to find this!

[@michaelhall2709]

@@tmoh99 No problem. What’s interesting is that when I read John Irving’s novel “The World According to Garp” one of the first things that struck me was how much the worldview and tone reminded me of Vonnegut. Well, someone must have agreed, because George Roy Hill, who had directed SLAUGHTERHOUSE, went on to do the same with GARP, to great critical and financial success.

[@dukejaywalker5858]

I thought "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" was spot on; the book and the film are one and the same in my mind. Also, the first "Sin City" film was pretty much a perfect representation. The second film, not so much.

[@orkosubmarine]

So happy to the Expanse on here because that adaptation was SOooOooo enjoyable. I would die for show-Drummer 😭

[@amorfatiloveyourfate]

I saw Annihilation when the movie came out years ago, then I read the book this year and rewatched the movie afterward. They are VERY different, but I still agree that it was a good adaptation. The book is honestly really simple and I think making it into a whole movie would be difficult, and the things they added were really great. I think the fact that they were able to change so much and still make it feel the same is really impressive

[@TheChristianPappasCIS]

“Silence of the lambs” Won 5 oscars.

[@sheepcouldtalk]

Ah, similar journey with LotR. Got about halfway thru Two Towers, then an argument with a friend led me to vow to never read them ever again, and thus far have not. Yes we were teens and yes, we were nerds that would fight about books.

[@bheast86]

2001 got an oscar nomination for 'original screenplay'; it was written more or less in tandem with the movie, at a time when movies didn't almost automatically have a novelistation tie-in

[@nicky7522]

I so agree with "A scanner darkly": they did an awesome job with the characters. It's one of my favourite K Dick's book and the movie is superb I think the technique is called "rotoscope" or something similar? 🤔 (Spelling might be totally incorrect)

[@coyley72]

Dune parts 1 & 2 are legitimate masterpieces. Pure cinema, with astonishing world building and action. And the music and sound design... just wow.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

@@coyley72 Agreed

[@malibovo1]

Back in the 70's they did it right: The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Rosmary's Baby, Carrie, Someone Flew Over the Cuckcoo's Nest or the Godfather.

[@draglogia5244]

I watch Count of Monte Cristo as a kid and love it. I recently read the book, though the book is better. It still one of my favorite movie. Don’t know if you have read or seem The Count of Monte Cristo, but it definitely something I would recommend one day.

[@dorysmith2776]

The movie did a good job of simplifying a very complicated plot line. However, the problem was that they dismissed the theme. The priest tells Dante’s how important it is to forgive, but Dante’s doesn’t learn that lesson until the end of the book. In the movie, he never learns it.

[@nigelbennington4565]

Rosemary's Baby, Fight Club, The Martian, Sandman, Good Omens, Killing Eve, Invincible

[@Spencer_Beard]

"Do you like 'Huey Lewis and the News'?" What a line lol

[@hilarywilliams1909]

An older movie, The Haunting(1963) is very close to The Haunting Of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.

[@apracticaleccentric2065]

I tend to give a little grace to adaptations, partially because I don't want my hopes too high as I'm usually disappointed when I allow that to happen, but mostly because of how I view the process. I usually describe book-to-screen adaptations like if you painted a picture about how a song makes you feel you wouldn't be able to capture it just right for everyone. Moving from one art medium to another is going to lose/change/trade things inherently because the tools of expression available are so different from each other. I wonder if this is what makes manga/anime work so well, since the mediums are closer in their tools, so to speak. I also wonder if they don't have executives mucking about as much in their production...

[@ClayHales]

It would be really nice to have more projects like 2001 with a director and novelist working in parallel. With the right writer and director that would be a nice antidote to Hollywood's insistence on making sequels and remakes.

[@LeonardBurke3]

You should do a list comparing movies and books that are different adaptations but are still both really good. A great example would be "Ready Player One". Granted Ernest Cline flat out said that he wrote the book with the full intention of creating something that could never be turned into a movie. LOL Both the book and the movie are so good as a stand-alone entity, but I will say I love the book for all of the references in the book that could NEVER be added to the movie.

[@Persewna4]

Only some anime are lucky enough to get a full faithful adaptation. A lot of them get, like, one 12 episode season adapting the first few volumes and then it's like "okay now go read the rest of it to find out what happens next..."

[@wjjwTheDemigod]

No Jurassic Park? It's not completely faithful to the book, but it's just as good. Remember, Michael Crichton had the number 1 movie, book, and TV show at the same time.

[@r3lativ]

which show?

[@wjjwTheDemigod]

@@r3lativ ER. Crichton had a medical degree from Harvard.

[@r3lativ]

@@wjjwTheDemigod wow had no idea that was Chichton!

[@Against417]

There are a lot of great examples from the other commenters, especially No Country For Old Men. I suggest some of the John Grisham adaptations, specifically my two favorites of his The Rainmaker and A Time To Kill. The format of the legal drama holds up pretty well despite being from the mid to late 90s. Fight Club would also get a vote as although being divisive is at least rated on the extremes of that division.

[@mori1bund]

I'm surprised that you didn't mention Stephen King's two prison stories "Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile". Both probably the most acclaimed Stephen King adaptions. Oh, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

[@RogueFilmsVFX]

To be fair, Shawshank is a short story, so I don't know if that fits his criteria. Regardless, I agree with you 100%. Both are masterpieces.

[@parcaleste]

On a separate note, I'd like to suggest a couple of things to you: The Leftovers. Just read the premise and tell me that you are not instantly intrigued. Check the book and definitely watch the 3 seasons of the show - it's totally finished, so no cliffhangers here! It's in my top 3 easily. It's astonishingly good with character development and story telling. And the acting... out of this f***ing world. Speaking of which, then change the pace with The End of the F***ing World. A dark , British comedy (because it's funny, I guess?) with A LOT of heart. Amazing casting there as well and it's only 20 minutes per episodes, so it goes super fast as well. S02 is also super good, the author of the book helped with the script and did a fantastic job. Hope you read this and at least check couple of trailers out. 🍻

[@steved1135]

Seconded, wholeheartedly.

[@bjoeeernnestor6016]

Wtf, i was so sure that both shawshank and a harry potter would make it! Insanly exciting for the dark tower series by make flanagan!!

[@aislingopal7802]

The Last Unicorn and the Princess Bride. Both even have the original author write the screenplays!

[@anonymes2884]

"The Queen's Gambit" was an _excellent_ adaptation IMO, probably my favourite in recent years (went in sceptical having been a longtime fan of the book but was very quickly won over - depending on how the wind's blowing, I _might_ even go so far as to say I enjoyed the show more). The "Doctor Sleep" movie was good but for me faltered in the change they made to the ending (to me that was a very poor decision - no spoilers but if you've read it and seen it you'll know). And of course with King it's impossible (for me anyway) to not mention "The Shawshank Redemption" (one of my favourite movies and so _maybe_ my favourite adaptation). "Stand By Me" is also great, as is "Misery" (King adaptations range from absolute stinkers to best in class i'd say). (and as an aside, in an Alita/Scanner Darkly crossover, Rosa Salazar is in a rotoscoped show called 'Undone' which deserves to be more widely seen I think - not an adaptation AFAIK, just a recommendation :)

[@rammelbroadcasting]

Rotoscope: That's the word I was looking for 🤦‍♂️ Sorry I did read the entire comment I promise, but that's the part that stuck out the most lol

[@RogueFilmsVFX]

The Martian.

[@jordanevans3735]

I think this is where Fight Club belongs. The movie and the book are very on par. I think the ending of the movie is better, I think the gross-out line was better in the book.

[@nicky7522]

Oh yeah, another amazing adaptation. Even Palanhiuk said he was really pleased with it 😁

[@notsure9802]

I gotta say, my husband and i rewatched the old Dune after we saw the 2 new ones. They both have good aspects about them. However, the new Dune movies are far more watchable. The old one tries to fit everything in one movie so there's far less character developement. But the old one right away clarifies why spice matters.

[@tmoh99]

Oh and a river runs through it

[@ES-lv6zd]

Rosemary's Baby is one of the most faithful you will come across.

[@civoreb]

Dune was great! I wish they included the dunner scene. That was vital in the book

[@vincentnegus9608]

Misery by Stephen King is my favorite King book and the movie was perfection

[@AloBal-n1g]

Marathon man the best.

[@jennifermorris6848]

To Kill a Mockingbird.

[@joshstratton2495]

The Abyss by Orson Scott Card. Written together with James Cameron right up until the last possible minute.

[@6Grimmjow]

Haven't read the books, but loved Bridge to Terabithia and Stardust. As a fan of Harry Potter books, the first three are quite a treat. Even if not good enough to make this list.

[@poppyjohnsen6068]

The Painted veil is a really good adaptation of the book by same name.

[@surelythiswasnotused]

The first season adaptation of King’s novel Mr. Mercedes by the Audience Network was excellent. It was extremely faithful not just to the story, but also the characters. The cast was spot on. Justine Lupe’s portrayal of Holly Dibney is so much better than HBO’s version of her in The Outsider adaptation. Seasons 2 & 3 of Mr. Mercedes are also good, but they flip the orders of the last two books in the Bill Hodges’ trilogy. It worked, but I do think it hurt Season 3 by rendering it somewhat anticlimactic.

[@gregawallace]

No country for old men, green mile, the road, Shawshank were some great ones you missed

[@traviscole1009]

The original Dune movie was ok, but the pacing was super weird. It's started out super slow and pain stakingly faithful to the book, and then like half way thru it was like the film makers thought, "Crap, we got a lot more story to get thru!" And rushed the last half.

[@SaveLockwoodNCo]

You forgot Lockwood and Co.

[@clementmatheny7985]

Lonesome dove is my favorite adaptation

[@nicomal]

2:27 Totally agreed with anime in general but Netflix f*ed up Ranma 1/2 (it came out last week, and I don't really know if it's Netflix's fault, but I gotta blame someone). WTF. I'm so annoyed! Ranma has no nipples. They messed up the nudity! Americans are so prude. Just don't reboot an IP if you are going to change its essence. George RR Martin said it best: “The book is the book, the film is the film,' they will tell you, as if they were saying something profound. Then they make the story their own. They never make it better, though. Nine hundred ninety-nine times out of a thousand, they make it worse.”

[@whatthedeal869]

I have about 200 pages of Shogun left to read but I still think the adaptation was waaaaay better than the book. The book reads like it was written by a white man and the show obviously had a significant amount of Japanese creative influence. Also, Hiroyuki Sanada's performance elevated Toranaga as a character so far past his book counterpart. **spoilers below if you haven't read the book or watched the show** In the book, it made zero sense to me why Ishido would allow Toranaga to take his sweet time to get to Osaka after sending Toranaga's half-brother to arrest him. If Toranaga is known for his political maneuvering, why allow him the time to do so? It works out as you expect with Toranaga getting the upper hand with some back room deals. In the show, Toranaga's son dies at the time of the arrest which forces Ishido to give Toranaga time to go to Edo and perform funeral rites. Toranaga even acknowledges that this was a gift in a way because it gives him to time to come up with a plan. That makes way more sense to me plot wise than what the book did.

[@nicomal]

You said written by a white man as if it was a bad thing. That's very racist and you don't even notice.

[@Spencer_Beard]

They absolutely did not need to change anything in "Dune". What was the point of making 2 movies to cover the whole thing if you change things and leave other things out??? The impact hits so much different. "History will call us wives." That last line in the book hits so hard, but no they had to go and change just enough to make too different of a story.

[@ElRigs83]

I watched Alita six times in the theater

[@skyefox]

I am a little sad to see no Michael Crichton projects on here, but seeing as how some of them were either changed considerably or had lackluster movies I understand.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

I've only read two of his books, and I don't think either are particularly right for this list. I would say jurassic park the movie was better than the book, and Congo the movie was worse than the book 🤷‍♂️

[@skyefox]

@@rammelbroadcasting Ahh gotcha, I would've nominated Westworld or Great Train Robbery.

[@nadya8641]

Silence of the Lambs was extremely faithful to the book and both were great. Agree with this list though

[@rammelbroadcasting]

I haven't read that book yet. I read Red dragon but haven't got my hands on Silence of the lambs yet.

[@tmoh99]

Outsiders A scanner darkly

[@alberton.1601]

Hi. By far, my favorite (not in you list) is Clockwork Orange.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

@alberton.1601 I have not read that book. I have seen the movie, though

[@alberton.1601]

​@@rammelbroadcastingAnthony Burgess, great writer and composer. The only story that Kubrik didn't cared to change. He just told it as it was.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

@@alberton.1601 I'll have to check out that book

[@andrewcarter803]

Make the GOAT of fantasy the next books you read. READ THE LORD OF THE RINGS! I get you’re more of a hard sci-fi guy but TLOR influenced so much fiction (not just fantasy) you are truly missing out on some amazing writing and a world-building masterpiece.

[@Cosmic-Industry]

The Exorcist deserves to be in this list!

[@gabriellbraga7732]

The Club Dumas --> The Ninth Gate with Johnny Depp is awful but I love it 😂

[@nicomal]

Both are great. The book is way better, it's kind of two books in one and the movie decided to adapt just one. I actually on the movie on Blu-ray (kind of a Jeremy Jahns reference)

[@RE-xv9fp]

I am surpriced Minority report is not here :( One of my fav science fiction movies. I have not read the original story by Philip Dick its based on though

[@CraigLaq]

Nice 1984 t shirt! Where'd you get that?

[@rammelbroadcasting]

@@CraigLaq outofprint.com

[@wynjones2877]

"The Unbearable Lightness of Being".

[@nathanielvalla6142]

Maybe I'm just nitpicking, but Lord of the rings, tho a fantastic adaptation it was not necessarily that faithful one. That's part of the reason why they are such good adaptations.

[@JackManhire]

The Godfather

[@cynfaelalek-walker7003]

Technically not a movie adaptation but Metro 2033 Was a perfect adaptation of the book, I'd argue it even improved some stuff.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

@cynfaelalek-walker7003 I love both the books and games

[@cynfaelalek-walker7003]

Yeah but the end of some Side characters and the entire ending of 2034 was a bit too dark for my taste, it was still a fabulous journey though.😅​@@rammelbroadcasting

[@ColleenSchafer-c5t]

A Walk to Remember The Last Unicorn Harry Potter Outsiders Pride and Prejudice 😊😊😊😊

[@nicomal]

Limitless. That's such a great movie and the book is also good. The movie is better though.

[@thomask1424]

It seems you're limiting the selection to the last 50-ish years. Best adaptations ever have to be The Razor's Edge and To Kill a Mockingbird.

[@beerme8949]

Agreed. IT chapter 1... great. 2 i though was very meh.

[@youraustralianmate8701]

Lord of The rings ?

[@pepe_sasia]

You can go ahead and add Lord of Rings as one of the best adaptations. I don't know if people remember, but before the movie came out most people were saying "There's no way a movie adaptation of Lord of the Rings will measure up to the books, or even come close". Everyone was ready to hate on the LoR movies. And then the 1st movie came out and everyone's minds where blown away! Including Tolkien fans. And then the second, there was no doubt, Oscar winning movie. The most people could complain about is the many endings of the third movie, minor detail

[@MorgothsBalrog]

People complain about the multiple endings of the 3rd one. But the books ending is way longer than the movie.😂

[@Rumham7291]

how about lords of the rings? or do you not really read fantasy?

[@rammelbroadcasting]

@@Rumham7291 It was the honorable mention in the video only because I haven't finished all of the books.

[@prc789]

@@rammelbroadcasting It also failed as a good adaptation of the book, specially in the movie characterisation of all the Hobbits, Sam got the best adaptation, but Frodo, Merry and Pippin were badly short changed, Their characters in the films were totally wrong. The film was good, but too different from the book in places

[@LCTwil]

The Road is not listed? Well, all the credibility of this video is Gone, Baby, Gone... :D

[@rammelbroadcasting]

I have no idea how I missed that one 🤦‍♂️

[@AttackonGames]

There are so many turkey horrible anime adaptations that either are no where near the manga or it completely derailed from the manga or it just never got finished 😂

[@3du76]

Apocalypse Now!,

[@darthwingnut464]

It chapter 2 was roughly garbage. It chapter 1 was really good.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

@rickmiles2955 I wouldn't say garbage but I did think chapter 2 was a step down.

[@darthwingnut464]

@@rammelbroadcasting maybe I'm putting unrealistic standards on it, because if you remove the cheesy spider ending the 80s miniseries was just so much more level across the board. Do I prefer the new Pennywise... maybe, but Tim Curry always has a place in my heart. I loved the casting in both sets though... I just felt that separating out the flashbacks to set one movie as children and the other as adults did a disservice to the material as even as written the adult sections of the book were weaker.

[@shturmovik3033]

The Last of the Mohicans…movie was poor, movie and soundtrack was phenomenal. Lonesome Dove (TV limited series) was extremely good, book was ok. No Country for Old men vastly improves the book. The Hunt for Red October great (1st book) and movie.

[@parcaleste]

Oh, maaan. IT? The first one was tremendous, but the second one was absolute dog 💩 And you put it before Alita in the list? 🍅

[@th3_patch]

I think another honorable mention would be the show Silo (aka Wool) by Hugh Howey. The performances are spectacular and Rebecca Ferguson is amazing as the lead.

[@DNA912]

I agree, but I do think the show is a bit too different. Not a bad thing, I think the book and show are about equally good and the general plot is intact. But I feel like it's a bit too different to be on this list

[@th3_patch]

@DNA912 I can see you point. I just loved the first so much that I felt it was worthy of mentioning.

[@RE-xv9fp]

Ugh I really tried to like the expance tv-series. But 4-5 episodes in and its lacking. I suspect its because they tried their hardest to follow the book to the point and thats their downfall imo. You have to adjust some things when its from book to screen. Or maybe the screen writers and production etc was bad not sure not an expert. Trying to read the first book now. And sometimes its bad when they don't follow the book. Like IT. I saw the movie first then read the book and OMG the most scraiest part in the book involving a picture, was totally butchered in the movie! WHere they rewrote the whole thing as a projector movie, and the kids where not even scared or shaken at all afterwards. They just gott up, shrugged and went home. Insane how they could mess that up in script and play!

[@robertpatenaude]

For you to say that Shogun was a good adaptation makes me think you did not read the book. Watch the 80's mini series. That was a great adaptation. The new show was good, but did not follow the book at all. Be well, stay safe.

[@michaelhall2709]

I’ve read the novel any number of times, and in spite of the picture-perfect casting never cared that much for the 1980 miniseries precisely because I found it to be so paint-by-the-numbers and unimaginative. Fidelity to the source material isn’t necessarily a plus, and while the 2024 version definitely takes more liberties with the plot and even some of the characters, on just about every level I think it’s a far more impressive feat of filmmaking.

[@Bunclemark]

STALKER by Tarkovsky. Roadsise Picnic and STALKER are very different stories, but they share some thematic links and both present those themes powerfully with great skill.

[@gen2917]

Dances with Wolves book and movie 🤌🏻*chefs kiss*

[@orderlycollector]

The Godfather