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Logan's Run.  The movie was very different than the book.  In fairness the book could not have been done faithfully at the time. 

World War Z.
It's like someone saw the title of the book and said "Cool, let's make a movie!" without ever actually reading it.

MAN, I hated that movie!!

Yeah tell me about it. I read the book too.  It could have made a great trilogy of movies.  The fall of much civilization in the first.  The establishment of the post zombie civilization in the second. The reclamation of America in the third.

The Hobbit.

The Lawnmower Man (1992) - it began as a short story by Stephen King about a disturbing Bacchus-like gardener with an autonomous, carnivorous lawnmower.  The movie had Pierce Brosnan as an experimental neuroscientist who pumped mentally retarded gardener Jeff Fahey full of nootropic drugs and boosted his intelligence via virtual reality.  The sheers levels of wtfukery were off the charts.

Von Ryan's Express: great book, horrible film.
The Eagle Has Landed: again, great book, horrible film.
The Shining: Yikes.

All of PJ's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies are only loosely based on the books.

The Bible  :wink:

Even Gene Deitch's 10 minute version is more similar to the book than Peter Jackson's:

! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBnVL1Y2src#)

FRANKENSTEIN (1931)

Nothing like the book. The Monster is very articulate, kills Frankenstein's son, and is pursued all the way to the Artic.
Even Dr. Frankenstein's name is changed from Victor to Henry! There is no hunchbacked Fritz, no fancy electrical contrivances, and Victor even begins to create a mate for him.
Still-It's a fantastic film-and I can watch it over and over. The book-ugh. It's a chore.

I'd still rather watch Kubrick's film than watch the King approved mini-series. That was a wreck!
I loved King's book. I also loved Kubrick's movie. It's a classic.
If you ask me-most adaptions of King's books made awful movies! The few exceptions I think are CARRIE, MISERY, PET SEMETARY, the SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, and STAND BY ME, Oh-and the one where the townsfolk are trapped in a grocery store surrounded by demons-I forget the name-brain fart-I like that one too.

The Mist?

YES! and 1408 is good too.

*cough*Ienjoyedthemanglerandgraveyardshift*cough cough cough*

Yeah-well-I gotta admit-I like MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE too.

One of the Frankenstein remakes made in the '90s that I saw had a lot of those elements.  I do remember the monster being tracked into the Arctic.

I really like the original Salem's Lot mini series/TV movie.  I'm not an avid reader, but some day I need to read that and some of Stephen King's other popular books.

Starship Troopers.

Eragon. Unless both of them sucking counts.

PUBLIC ENEMIES - The movie with Johnny Depp focused on John Dillinger. The book covered a variety of 1930s criminals including Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, Alvin Karpis, the Barkers, and others. It also contained a lot of information about the rise of the FBI. One of the best non-fiction books I ever read. Obviously, a movie couldn't have covered all that material. Maybe it would have been better as a mini-series than a theatrical release.

PLANET OF THE APES (1968) is NOTHING like Pierre Boulle's book! Nor is any APES film!

Live and Let Die  :hatred:

Or most Bond movies for that matter (especially the ones after Connery left the series). MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN - There was no secret island with a customized funhouse in the book! THE SPY WHO LOVED ME - The book took place at a motel! OCTOp***y - Was a short story that did NOT include a character named Octop***y! Sheesh!

That is SO true.  

I will say THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION is a much better film than the novella it's based on: Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption,  a story that includes little of the great details in the film.  

DRACULA (1931) is nothing like BRAM STOKER's novel. 

the other day I picked up the blu ray release of PSYCHO 2

In the bonus interviews + features, much is made of the fact that Robert Bloch's novel called 'Psycho 2' ( published shortly before the movie) is nothing at all like Psycho 2 the movie. From what I gather the book was a satire on slasher movies/hollywood in general. The film is not and apparently has a completely different story to the book- I did like the film though.

Now that you mention PSYCHO-Bloch's first book is also not like the movie.

haha, I was wondering about that while I was typing that post, but I've not read it though.


I read JAWS when I was about 18 and seem to remember large sections of it have nothing to do with the shark, and being more focused on chief brody's wife having an affair with whatahisname  (Dreyfus' character)...I guess the film wouldn't really have worked as a kitchen sink drama, lol

I thought the book ending of Jaws was just terrible. The shark dies from a loss of blood?!?

I've not had an urge to read it again but yeah I remember the ending being a real anti-climax compared to the film.

I'm not a big reader anyway, but I think the book is held in quite high regard generally?

Well, the exploding air tank bit has been debunked so many times it has become a laugh meme. Maybe just having the damn thing die of all it's wounds finally would have been better but audiences would have, with some understanding, cried "Deus ex machina!"

It seems to be, and for most of it I thought it was decent. Then I reached the end and thought "Seriously, that is how you are going to end it?". Mind you a year or two ago I picked up another one of Benchley's books, The Beast and


****spoiler alert****

That ends in a similar fashion. The giant squid had pulled its self up onto the back of the hero's boat, and is about to kill them all when a Sperm Whale swims up and bites it in half. The end.

The Sea Wolves (1980) based on the true WW2 war story by James Leasor.

The film - with a great cast, including Gregory Peck and David Niven - changed so much about the book Boarding Party that it was almost unrecognizable. In the battle in the Goa harbour, no one - German or Allied - were killed but in the film, a lot are.

(https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780552115230-us-300.jpg)

There are some funny moments in the film: one of the raiding party is told that he can't go aboard the German vessel: his response is "Sh*t, sir." Another is told this and he asks "Can I say 'sh*t' too, Sir?"  :teddyr:

The other guy on the ship who is studying to be a minister, gets seasick and says "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not UUURRRRRRRRPPPPP" and pukes over the side.   :teddyr:

There are also so many anachronisms in the film - seeing 1980s clothes in a period film, for one - that you just want to go EISH.  :buggedout: