15 Movies That Are Better Than The Book (VIDEO)

The book is so much better than the movie. We've all said it, we've all heard it. And we all think it's always true, that the book is better than the movie.

But, maybe not.

Here are 15 films that trounce their source material like a brawny boy bullying his meek younger brother. We tried to avoid the easy picks ("Jaws," "The Godfather"), and maybe even present some movies that you might not have known had their origin in a book, which just proves how great the adaptations are.

So the next time your literary snob friend rambles on about literature's superiority to film, pull one of these babies out of your back pocket.

Did we miss any? Think the book is indeed better than the movie? Let us know!

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The Searchers

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Book by Alan Le May The John Ford-John Wayne vehicle is often cited as the greatest Western film ever. As a result, Alan Le May is today best known as The Writer Who Wrote The Book That Was Made Into "The Searchers."

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Book by Alan Le May

The John Ford-John Wayne vehicle is often cited as the greatest Western film ever. As a result, Alan Le May is today best known as The Writer Who Wrote The Book That Was Made Into "The Searchers."

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Comments

[bknott]

11:26 AM on 11/18/2010

"L.A. Confidential" should be at the top of this list.

The movie rewrote the ending - thank God! The book was a crap-tastic mess.

[Loulouthia]

10:53 AM on 11/17/2010

The movie "Jaws" was definitely better than the book. I read the book once and have watched the movie over and over for years, and I have never had the desire to pick up the book to re-read. The reason is I feel the movie simply ironed out some of the wrinkles that the book contained and made it into a masterpiece.

[Theresa Hawkins]

11:26 AM on 11/26/2010

"Jaws" is my #1 choice. The book itself is a very good genre thriller, the movie is a classic and an indelible part of our cultural consciousness. My favorite movie scene ever is the 'battle of the scars' that turns into a history lesson of the Indianapolis. This is the movie that caused a national panic, launched the career of one of the most successful directors of all time, and gave us all the perfect sound to accompany our greatest fears.

[doctor4kids]

04:10 PM on 11/13/2010

I absolutely loved the novel "The Grapes of Wrath". I read it for a high school English paper many years ago. I recently rented the film version and expected to find it lacking when compared with Steinbeck's masterpiece. While it left out a few important scenes, I thought the film was fabulous--the beautiful black and white cinematography reminded me of Dorothea Lange's depression photography. While the acting is also excellent, my husband questioned the casting--"Why is Ma Joad fat? They're supposed to be starving."

[doctor4kids]

03:58 PM on 11/13/2010

How about "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone with the Wind"?

[Appleblossom]

04:19 PM on 11/22/2010

No, those were equal in my opinion and a great deal of the good bits of Gone With The Wind was lost to the cinematic portrayal.

[Maximum Bob]

02:48 PM on 11/13/2010

The Thin Red Line may not have been James Jones' finest novel, but the artsy-craftsy self-indulgent mess Malik made was a travesty of an adaptation. The movie had little or nothing to do with the nature of the United States Army and it's men, subjects which Jones wrote about better than anyone ever has. Advice to aspiring film makers, if you're going to film a story written by a master, film the story he wrote and keep your own ego out of it.

[andzombies]

10:30 PM on 11/07/2010

Okay, a) 2001: A Space Odyssey was not based on a book, the book and the movie were made concurrently, and the result of a joint project by Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrik and b) the book was SO MUCH BETTER.

[Appleblossom]

04:19 PM on 11/22/2010

Yes, it made sense.

[Waltereg0]

03:39 PM on 11/03/2010

There's no way Shawshank is a better movie than the book, since it really doesn't change or add anything that wasn't already there in the book. Each is as good as the other. If you like the film you'll like the book and vice versa. Saying that the movie is better is just admitting that you don't care for reading.
It isn't like Stephen King is difficult reading. His books make great movie adaptations because they are great stories with likable characters. That's a strength not a weakness. I think his best written book is Misery. It's also a great movie. Doesn't mean the movie is better than the book except to people who don't like reading books.

[Concerned Citizen in CA]

02:59 PM on 11/02/2010

Have to agree with "It's a Wonderful Life" - considering that it was a story included a Christmas card and not really a book.

[FrannyBlue]

11:05 PM on 10/30/2010

The Godfather. This definitely should have been on the list without question. Goodfellas would be a second.

I'd argue for Field of Dreams, too. And, much as it pains me to admit it, I really do prefer the Emma Thompson version of Sense and Sensibility to the book.

[frankcaprafan]

01:48 PM on 10/29/2010

"If it's possible, 'Being There' seems smarter with every year that passes because we see just how far ahead of its time it really was."

Same holds true for "Network."

[c-tom]

12:04 AM on 10/29/2010

A History of Violence was a graphic novel or for us old guys a comic book so that shouldn't be on the list.

[Fran Jaime]

11:04 PM on 10/28/2010

I couldn't disagree more about "The Devil wears Prada". The book was good and had a logical ending but making Miranda repent her sins and pay for them goes completly against the character. Not to mention Andy's "happy ending".
The Thin Red Line was a very interesting book but I found it to ba a bore of a movie. It was horribly slow and had waaay to many cameos.

[stagebandman]

01:44 AM on 10/26/2010

I went way, way back, and didn't find these:
"The Poseidon Adventure" (original, not the unfortunate remakes)
"True Grit" (the book was really all about the girl)
And, just because it so successfully fleshed out a great short story, "Vacation".

Also, I agree with the "Jaws" folks, the James Bond movies, and those who like the book, "The Shining" better than either movie.

I was gonna make a sarcastic thing out of "The Passion Of The Christ", but that's just not right.

[MonaLisa65]

09:02 PM on 10/25/2010

Forrest Gump.

[okakura]

05:12 PM on 10/25/2010

Considering Shawshank Redemption was published as a short story, I'm not sure that it is a fair comparison.

Does anyone know how much (if at all) Stephen King was involved with the actual screeplay?