I recently resisted 1983's ambitious and underrated epic about the early NASA program -- The Right Stuff -- after having read the classic new journalism book by Tom Wolfe on which it is based. It's a wonderful, ambitious film -- that was not fully appreciated by audiences (although it was widely embraced by critics) upon its first release, but today is understood to be a great cinematic experience.
Having read the book -- I can also say it's a pretty much note perfect expression of what's on the page. The film brilliantly portrays the competitiveness and camaraderie of the astronauts and their wives, the media circus around them and the macho mystique of test pilot Chuck Yeager, whose aeronautic exploits were unjustly overshadowed by the ballyhooed Mercury 7 astronauts.
The book is riveting but also has a terrific sense of humor and specificity of detail, which director Philip Kaufman captures perfectly. Ultimately, the book and the movie have their cake and eat it too, its both an awe inspiring look at the heroics of these early astronauts and also a send-up of the absurd level of hero worship they engendered.
That got me thinking, what are some of the other great cinematic book adaptations -- they are really a countless amount. For instance, most of Kubrick's great films drew inspiration from a literary text. There are several I can't judge because I'm embarrassed to admit, I haven't head the book, but here are a few that come to mind (and which I've read -- for instance I've never read The Silence of the Lambs):
Lolita (1962) - Speaking of Kubrick, I know he was never happy with how neutered his version of the controversial best-seller by Vladimir Nabokov (which explores a much older man's sexual obsession with a prepubescent girl) but I still think the movie works by being suggestive in a sly sophisticated manner when it couldn't be explicit. And the movie, just like the book, finds the humor in its inherently bleak and disturbing narrative.
The Godfather (1972) - The Mario Puzo book really serves as the inspiration for both the original Francis Ford Coppola film and its sequel. Coppola brilliantly trimmed all the fat and the trash (including a deeply weird subplot about a mobster's wife getting reconstructive surgery on her vagina) and focused on what the novel does best, which is focus on the rise and fall (and rise again)m,, of the Corleone crime family.
No Country for Old Men (2007) - The Coen brothers wisely left most of author Cormac McCarthy's existential thriller in tact. They take creative license where they can -- for instance the book doesn't offer much of a physical description of its chilling antagonist (played in the film memorably by Javier Bardem) so the bowl cut was apparently their invention. But the movie gets the film's brutal and elegiac tone just right.
Jaws (1975) - The book Jaws, while entertaining, has a lot more domestic drama in it (Hooper, the character, played by Richard Dreyfuss, has an affair with Brody's wife, for instance) and director Steven Spielberg wisely shifts more of the attention on the adventures at sea that dominate the book's final stretch and beefs up the character of Quint, who has a much smaller role in the book. The book's author, Peter Benchley, had his initial script for the movie tossed out but even he had to admit the Carl Gottlieb adaptation was superior.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) - Milos Forman's version of the classic Ken Kesey book about a non conformist who shakes things up at a mental institution is decidedly more optimistic -- at least in its finale -- than the book, which ends on a very sour note. Some may quibble with this but I think the movie still is powerful and profound, bringing its claustrophobic setting to life as well as making McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) and Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) become the iconic figures they were on the page.
American Psycho (2000) - A classic example of a book that should have been impossible to adapt -- especially with it's infamous detailed descriptions of grotesque murders -- but somehow works because of the film adaptation's willingness to use restraint, humor and a go-for-broke lead performance from Christian Bale to help the movie from going too far off the rails. Like any great adaptation it keeps the book's essence and perspective in tact but makes it a little more accessible.
The Shining (1980) - It's been well-established that Stephen King hates this adaptation of his book, although other than The Shawshank Redemption it arguably remains the most durably popular. If you've read the book it's clear King had sympathy for the Jack Torrance character whereas Stanley Kubrick did not. Both approaches are valid, I just prefer Kubrick's darker, more psychologically complex one. But the material is great and gives any audience a lot to feast on (and be frightened of).
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - The first of the late Stieg Larsson's best-seller's had a lot of incredible, page-turning material in it, but also a lot of extraneous fluff that distracted from the great mystery at its core. Director David Fincher brilliantly trims the fat and keeps this dense narrative moving from point A to point B, without sacrificing the detailed nature of the text.
The Color Purple (1985) - Some critics then and now have hated on this Spielberg film for tamping down some of the more explicit sexuality of the book, and that's a totally fair critique, but where he does succeed is tap into the incredible emotions of the story and provide an opportunity for the entire cast to shine in an intense but ultimately beautiful story.
Gone Girl (2014) - Fincher strikes again. He takes a perfectly entertaining page turner -- a gender-themed thriller by Gillian Flynn -- and made it something more sublime. Ben Affleck is perfectly cast as a jerk and Rosamund Pike is a revelation in the lead. I read the book the shortly before the movie and liked it fine, and then Fincher's film trumped it in every way.
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