The Most Iconic Book-to-Film Adaptations in the History of Cinema
25. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
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The film is based on the 2005 psychological novel by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. The 2009 version is far superior to David Fincher’s 2011 Hollywood remake. With director Niels Arden Oplev, this is an unsettling film that executes its distressing motives superbly by paying close attention to Steig Larsson’s alarming book.
24. Sense & Sensibility
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Sense & Sensibility was Jane Austen’s first published novel. It was an unabashed romantic novel with a side order of biting social critique. Emma Thompson penned the screenplay and starred alongside Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant in what is accepted as the best Austen adaptation to date. Ang Lee’s adaptation remained resolutely faithful to the mores of the early 19th Century.
23. Trainspotting
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The film is based on the 1993 novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. This early film from the director Danny Boyle follows an immature group of heroin addicts in Scotland. It features brilliant performances from young Ewan McGregor, Kelly Macdonald and Robert Carlyle. At times funny and gripping, Trainspotting is not an easy movie to forget.
22. The Maltese Falcon
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The film is based on the 1930 detective novel by Dashiell Hammett. By the time director John Huston came to bring Hammett’s hard-boiled classic to the screen, it had already been adapted twice. This version is the one that is remembered to this day, though. Humphrey Bogart’s portrayal of the morally ambiguous private detective Sam Spade set in stone the idea of the enigmatic investigator. The film would go on to inspire the likes of Scorsese and Tarantino.
21. Brokeback Mountain
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The film is based on the 1997 short story by author Annie Proulx. The end product is an exceptional piece of cinema. It’s a love story which happens to be between two men (featuring brilliant performances from Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger). However, it speaks to the doomed romantic in everyone. The film received critical acclaim and commercial success.
20. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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The film is based on the book of the same name by J.K. Rowling. It’s the third in her wildly popular Harry Potter series. Before Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron came on board to direct the film, the series was very much a straightforward, by-the-book adaptation. Cuaron’s entrance into the Harry Potter franchise would set the tone for a more complex adaptation of children’s books, and was a landmark achievement for contemporary cinema.
19. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
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As Jack Nicholson’s Randle Patrick McMurphy is being strapped in and lubricated for a vicious session of electroshock therapy, he still has time for a quick wiseguy remark. Though not released until 1975, director Milos Forman’s adaptation of Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is, in some ways, the essential film document about the 1960s counter-culture. It swept the five top Academy Awards — winning nods for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Adapted Screenplay.
18. The Life of Pi
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Based on the award-winning novel of the same name by Yann Martel, Life of Pi follows the amazing story of a young man named Piscine “Pi” Molitor Patel. He finds himself lost at sea after his family’s cargo ship sinks in a storm. In breathtaking 3D and featuring stunning visuals, director Ang Lee brings the story to life on the big screen. Lee picked up an Oscar for Best Director, and Mychael Danna also won one for Best Original Score.
17. The Silence Of The Lambs
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It’s often said that The Silence of the Lambs is a horror film in disguise. The film isn’t specifically about Hannibal Lecter (the former psychiatrist and serial killer). Rather, it’s about Starling (Jodie Foster) and her efforts to catch another murderer, Buffalo Bill. The Silence of the Lambs is a great movie. This goes without saying. With that said, it’s also a wonderfully sympathetic reworking of Thomas Harris’ 1988 novel.
16. The Color Purple
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In 1985, we witnessed Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple. Whoopi Goldberg occupied the role of Celie (the story’s centerpiece). The film beautifully conveyed the turmoil of a black woman desperate to be appreciated in early 1900’s America. This was Whoopi Goldberg’s first film, and she received her first Oscar nomination for it.
15. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
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The film is based on the J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1954 fantasy novel. It is a part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) finds himself in possession of the One Ring — a powerful force being sought by many. This includes the villainous wizard Saruman (played by Christopher Lee). Nothing screams successful adaptation more than 30 Oscar nominations. As such, we can safely say that Tolkien’s epic fantasy trilogy was in good hands with Peter Jackson.
14. Silver Linings Playbook
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The film is based on the 2008 novel by Matthew Quick entitled Silver Linings Playbook. With leads as winning as Cooper and Lawrence, and Russell’s signature mix of clever and sincere dialogue, the hook is set. This is a superlative and sympathetically handled adaptation. We should also recognize the further element of sensitive subject material surrounding bipolar disorder. The film surprises, entertains and provokes in equal measure.
13. No Country For Old Men
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The film is based on the 2005 novel by Cormac McCarthy. What is it about the Coen Brothers’ inconsolable No Country for Old Men that still chills the blood, even under the South Texas sun? The story of a drug deal gone wrong soon reveals its true theme: The futility of being good and just in the face of abject evil. The Coen Brothers had to streamline the plot of the grand No Country For Old Men, but the result was film gold.
12. American Psycho
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The film is based on the 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis. The protagonist of American Psycho is Patrick Bateman, a wealthy investment banker during the financial boom of the ‘80s. Bateman cuts an unsympathetic figure even before we discover that he brutally murders women in his spare time. Director Mary Harron’s film is slightly more comedic than the novel, and is a hugely enjoyable romp with a magnificent central performance from Christian Bale.
11. Fight Club
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The film is based on the 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. Fight Club was visceral, inflammatory and, above all, entertaining. The film stars stars Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed narrator beset by discontent over his white-collar job. He forms a “fight club” with soap salesman Tyler Durden. Writer Chuck Palahniuk himself has applauded Fincher’s adaptation.
10. Stand By Me
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The film is based on Stephen King’s 1982 novella The Body. Stand by Me tells the fictional story of four boys in a small Oregon town who go on a hike — only to find the dead body of another boy. Although as American as apple pie (lots of which is regurgitated in the film), the universal themes of childhood and loss of innocence strike a chord with everyone.
9. To Kill A Mockingbird
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The film is based on the 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee. If Lee’s epoch-defining novel is about tolerance and compassion in the face of hatred and violence, then Robert Mulligan’s adaptation has hit this premise spot on. The casting of Gregory Peck as the heroic Atticus Finch is absolutely perfect. The film won three Oscars — including Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Peck.
8. The Shining
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The film is based on the 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It’s well known that Kubrick was fast and loose with Stephen King’s source material. King himself wasn’t initially impressed with Kubrick’s picture. However, that is not to deny the brilliance of Kubrick’s chilling, mesmerizing and alarming film. It continues to be an iconic piece of cinema.
7. The Big Short
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The film is based on the 2010 book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. The Big Short is Adam McKay’s kaleidoscopic look into the months leading up to the 2007 financial meltdown. Based on Michael Lewis’ award-winning non-fiction account of how our economy crashed, McKay looks to counteract the inherently dry, impenetrable subject matter on display with boatloads of vibrant, cinematic style.
6. The Shawshank Redemption
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The film is based on the 1992 novella by Stephen King entitled Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is convicted of the murder of his wife and her lover. He maintains his innocence. The film follows Andy as he tries to survive cruel Shawshank State Penitentiary. He’s helped and counseled by fellow prisoner, Red. Red is played by Morgan Freeman in an Oscar-nominated performance.
5. Gone With The Wind
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In truth, it would have been a folly not to include this Tinseltown classic. Margaret Mitchell’s novel ran to an incredible 1,037 pages. The film is similarly unstinting in its devotion to telling the story (clocking in at nearly four hours). Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland and Leslie Howard shine like the Hollywood royalty that they were.
4. Goodfellas
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This was based on the 1985 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi. Wiseguy told the story of mobster-turned-FBI informant Henry Hill, and his life in and around the Lucchese family for 25 years. Martin Scorsese was the ideal director to bring this fascinating story to life. His film, re-titled Goodfellas, is one of the greatest gangster films of all-time.
3. The Wizard of Oz
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The adaptation was based on the L. Frank Baum book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why Wizard of Oz is so enduring and popular. It is a beautifully-made film, with gorgeous MGM sets, vivid technicolor, and the deft directorial hands of Victor Fleming. Starring Judy Garland as the iconic character, it is one of the most popular movies ever made.
2. Jurassic Park
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The film is based on the 1990 science fiction novel by Michael Crichton. Jurassic Park was an achievement in major league filmmaking. Like Star Wars before it, the film was a quantum leap in visual effects — both physical and CGI. One of the greatest pure adventure movies in Spielberg’s celebrated canon, Jurassic Park was representative of the spectacle we’ve come to expect in the traditional “blockbuster” movie.
1. The Godfather
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The film is based on the 1969 book The Godfather by Mario Puzo. The Corleone family, a New York crime family headed by patriarch Vito (Marlon Brando), fight to stay on top in the years following World War II. Reluctant son Michael (Al Pacino) is drawn deeper and deeper into the family business. The Godfather is widely regarded as one of the greatest films in world cinema. It’s one of the most influential — especially in the gangster genre.
