Ten Worst Movie Adaptations of Great Books (VIDEO)

With Baz Luhrmann ramping up for his adaptation of The Great Gatsby (potentially starring Leo DiCaprio and Blake Lively), it's a good time to offer him some examples of what not to do. Here are 10 of the most epic adaptation fails in the history of film.

Which do you think was the worst?

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The Great Gatsby (1974)

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This was the third, and most expensive Gatsby film adaptation when it came out, but even the glitzy setting, performance by Robert Redford as Gatsby and screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola could not hide the emptiness below the surface. With Baz Luhrmann casting for his own adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic, will he be able to accomplish what Coppola couldn't?

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This was the third, and most expensive Gatsby film adaptation when it came out, but even the glitzy setting, performance by Robert Redford as Gatsby and screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola could not hide the emptiness below the surface. With Baz Luhrmann casting for his own adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic, will he be able to accomplish what Coppola couldn't?

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Siren Song said on 14 Sunday 2010 am30 3:14 am: But the writing is beautiful, and he captured those vapid characters so dazzlingly.

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Which Adaptation is the Worst?

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Not That Bad! Total Fiasco

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Comments

[TheGoddessLivia]

12:13 PM on 11/29/2010

What about Clan of the Cave Bear????
Fantastic book, worst (almost) movie EVER

[mburgh]

08:26 AM on 11/20/2010

I guess I stand in total opposition to most people: I like All the Kings Men. Maybe it helps to have read the book.

[Lam56]

08:48 AM on 11/21/2010

I have read the book several times and love it, but the earlier version of this film with Broderick Crawford is much better. I am a big fan of Sean Penn, but I think he is miscast in the role of Willie Stark.

[mburgh]

12:29 PM on 11/26/2010

I love the Crawford version too. I just like this version; maybe it's Law, Ruffalo, and Winslet rather than Penn that I like. I agree Penn is wrong for Stark.

[kev1000]

10:03 AM on 11/15/2010

Man, Pinnochio? Again? Okay, other than the Disney 'toon, how many adaptations of Pinnochio were met with success? They keep trying and keep missing!

[S-Man]

09:09 AM on 11/15/2010

The "DaVinci Code" a great book?

[glesslib]

01:35 PM on 11/15/2010

Yes, my sentiments, exactly. However, I certainly must have annoyed someone because when I opined that the book sucked, too, someone flagged my comment as abusive. Really?

[Jennifer Hagan]

07:24 AM on 11/21/2010

Look i'm faving you for it. Worst book ever written.

[Jennifer Hagan]

07:24 AM on 11/21/2010

That is the worst book i've ever read. I'm still pissed at the person who told me that this book was the best book she'd ever read. I suffered through page after predictable page. I could have written that book and i'm a horrible writer.

[S-Man]

10:28 PM on 11/21/2010

My wife read it, I tried and after 2 chapters gave up, wretched book

[Dogontired]

08:14 AM on 11/15/2010

Dune! Why isn't Dune on this list?

[kev1000]

09:59 AM on 11/15/2010

Excellent question.

[bushlies]

10:06 PM on 11/25/2010

+2 Two attempts and they both sucked.

[Pandoras Folly]

02:30 PM on 11/15/2010

Got to agree with you I do not know any human with enough phlegm to do those names justice. Maybe if you did the book as a 15 hour animated movie?

[Stirner]

08:11 AM on 11/15/2010

Was there ever a comic less comical than the sappy rubber-faced gibbering Danny Kaye? To have him play the main role, in Thurber's brilliant story, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitte" is about as close to theatrical sacrilege as you can get. Catskill humor and subtle wit do not mix.

[Lam56]

09:04 AM on 11/21/2010

I remember reading this short story in class in junior high; my teacher read it aloud and did a great job with all the different voices of the characters in Mitty's fantasies, and we all got a kick out of it. Later, when I saw this movie was going to be on TV, I decided to watch it. I think I lasted 20 minutes then turned it off. Danny Kaye was not nearly as good as Mr. Goodman, my teacher.

[tombollocks]

07:49 AM on 11/15/2010

Huh. I can't believe I haven't seen one of these movies. Guess I'll just wait for a list of 10 Worst Movies, Period. :p

[fightorleave2]

07:41 AM on 11/15/2010

A good suggestion is to stop the remake of the Great Gatsby. It's not a good book and it never has been.

[Jamesb333]

07:47 AM on 11/15/2010

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lam56]

08:51 AM on 11/21/2010

I beg to differ. It is a great book, a timeless story beautifully written. But the characters belong on the page not the screen.

[Jamesb333]

05:45 AM on 11/15/2010

The worst of all time was John Berrymore's drunken portrayal of Ahab in "Moby Dick."

[sempronia]

07:37 AM on 11/15/2010

Thank you for letting me know. Now I can remove it from my hulu queue...

[punctum]

09:03 AM on 11/15/2010

You must be really close with Jamesb333. I wouldn't have removed it from my "to be watched" list from one comment I read on the internet...

[ModerateVoiceofReason]

09:16 AM on 11/15/2010

I don't remember that one.
I remember a version with Gregory Peck.

[Angelaaaa]

03:44 AM on 11/15/2010

Not a great book at all but the film adaption of Stephen King's "Cujo" was just terrible. I spent the whole movie feeling desperately sorry for the dying dog and then cried at the end.

Interesting how King's books generally don't translate very well at all to the screen.

[Jamesb333]

05:46 AM on 11/15/2010

Except for Carrie, Misery, and The Shining!

[Mum]

07:01 AM on 11/15/2010

And "Dolores Claiborne," "Stand By Me," "The Shawshank Redemption," and "The Dead Zone."

[fightorleave2]

07:05 AM on 11/15/2010

LOL, Jamesb333, The Shining is generally recognized as perhaps the best horror film ever.

Nevertheless, maybe you quarrel is with Kubrick's changes from the novel?

[racetoinfinity]

03:39 AM on 11/15/2010

"The Great Gatsby" (Jack Clayton) wasn't that bad. "All the King's Men" (Sean Penn) was awful.

[WHTrout]

02:18 AM on 11/15/2010

I would nominate "Running with Scissors" for this list also. Really brilliant, knee-slappingly laugh-out-loud funny book by Augusten Burroughs -- and one of the most unfunny unnecessary movies ever made.

[Brian Lowery]

02:07 AM on 11/15/2010

How are Bonfire of the Vanities, Maximum Overdrive, and The Da Vinci Code on this list of "great books?" Whoever wrote this is obviously more of a film buff than a reader.

[isaidit]

04:06 AM on 11/15/2010

Seconded!

[Mum]

07:01 AM on 11/15/2010

Thirded!

[Michael1960]

02:04 AM on 11/15/2010

There was a movie version of A SON ALSO RISES with Leonard Nimoy that was pretty heinous.

[chaapai]

01:52 AM on 11/15/2010

where does "The P@ssion of the Chr!#$t" fall on that list?

[Mum]

07:02 AM on 11/15/2010

What was the "Great Book" from which it was adapted?

[Rogan]

07:44 AM on 11/15/2010

The Passion of the Christ was adapted from a very strange book - it was written by an (apparently) mad nun, who suffered a series of "visions" of the passion and took notes. Yes - she believed she was transcribing the actual events, as revealed to her, in visions... Not a "classic," in the sense that it's universally acknowledged to be an excellent book... but it is, well, old...

Of course, that book (the author and title escape me) is back in print, now; but I wonder how Mel Gibson and his writers ever got ahold of it...

[AnotherTry]

07:55 AM on 11/15/2010

The best selling book of all time.