30 interesting adaptations from novels
by jelamar10 | created - 15 Oct 2013 | updated - 15 Oct 2013 | PublicThese do not have to stick to the original work strictly but often take some freedoms with the material but still turn out well and sometimes surprising. There is no order of priority or importance nor is it all inclusive.
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Trainspotting (1996)
R | 93 min | Drama
Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd
Votes: 725,370 | Gross: $16.50M
Blew me away a little at the time with the over-the-top honesty and craziness of the characters.
2. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
R | 116 min | Drama, War
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin
Votes: 790,054 | Gross: $46.36M
This won't be the only Kubrick film on this list. :-)
3. Psycho (1960)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Votes: 717,944 | Gross: $32.00M
People still look at showers a little differently I think.
4. Blade Runner (1982)
R | 117 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos
Votes: 822,719 | Gross: $32.87M
Ahead of its time in the genre.
5. Munich (2005)
R | 164 min | Action, Drama, History
After the Black September capture and massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, five men are chosen to eliminate the people responsible for that fateful day.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Marie-Josée Croze, Ciarán Hinds
Votes: 238,213 | Gross: $47.40M
Outstanding story of the human side of revenge and people's pursuit of justice which can take a heavy toll. Love this film.
6. Das Boot (1981)
R | 149 min | Drama, War
A German U-boat stalks the frigid waters of the North Atlantic as its young crew experience the sheer terror and claustrophobic life of a submariner in World War II.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch
Votes: 264,233 | Gross: $11.49M
Dark and realistic. Just an all around good film.
7. The Untouchables (1987)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
During Prohibition, Treasury agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone, and assembles a small, incorruptible team to help him.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Charles Martin Smith
Votes: 330,671 | Gross: $76.27M
Gangsters and feds with memorable scenes and lines. DeNiro as Al Capone was the icing on the cake.
8. The Princess Bride (1987)
PG | 98 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A bedridden boy's grandfather reads him the story of a farmboy-turned-pirate who encounters numerous obstacles, enemies and allies in his quest to be reunited with his true love.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon
Votes: 450,789 | Gross: $30.86M
Rob Reiner's best by far.
9. The Godfather (1972)
R | 175 min | Crime, Drama
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton
Votes: 2,011,164 | Gross: $134.97M
One of the best ever...some of the best actors ever.
10. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi
In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke
Votes: 880,952 | Gross: $6.21M
Disturbing to say the least but a hell of a movie.
11. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,105,933 | Gross: $44.02M
Kubrick made his changes to the material but what a great movie.
12. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Approved | 129 min | Crime, Drama
Atticus Finch, a widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama, defends a Black man against an undeserved rape charge, and tries to educate his young children against prejudice.
Director: Robert Mulligan | Stars: Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy
Votes: 332,741
Classic in print and movie form.
13. Jurassic Park (1993)
PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A pragmatic paleontologist touring an almost complete theme park on an island in Central America is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough
Votes: 1,066,526 | Gross: $402.45M
One of the great creature features. I don't like the ending compared to Crichton's book, which is more of a Frankenstein's monster scenario, but still fun.
14. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
Not Rated | 112 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In an oppressive future, a fireman whose duty is to destroy all books begins to question his task.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, Cyril Cusack, Anton Diffring
Votes: 45,407
Interesting adaption of one of Bradbury's best works. I don't like much of his but this one is very good.
15. Watership Down (1978)
PG | 91 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Hoping to escape destruction by human developers and save their community, a colony of rabbits, led by Hazel and Fiver, seek out a safe place to set up a new warren.
Directors: Martin Rosen, John Hubley | Stars: John Hurt, Richard Briers, Ralph Richardson, Michael Graham Cox
Votes: 39,405
I loved this story when I was young and still think very highly of it.
16. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
G | 149 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter
Votes: 719,111 | Gross: $56.95M
Kubrick again writing his screenplay adaptation of a great book. Made for a movie with effects and camera work ahead of their time.
17. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
Not Rated | 87 min | Horror, Mystery
When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.
Director: Terence Fisher | Stars: Peter Cushing, André Morell, Christopher Lee, Marla Landi
Votes: 12,377
I like the 1959 version the best. Doyle is one of my favorites and Sherlock Holmes is probably my favorite fictional character.
18. The Green Mile (1999)
R | 189 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
A tale set on death row, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the lead guard, Paul Edgecombe, recognizes John's gift, he tries to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt
Votes: 1,406,475 | Gross: $136.80M
Another Stephen King adaptation and this is one of my favorites behind The Shining.
19. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 454,718 | Gross: $232.91M
Some think the effects a bit laughable by today's standards but this seriously creeped me out watching it when I was probably too young to see it anyway.
20. Goodfellas (1990)
R | 145 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco
Votes: 1,256,644 | Gross: $46.84M
Yep, another gangster film but it is a superb one in my book.
21. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Passed | 152 min | Drama, War
A German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy
Votes: 67,654 | Gross: $3.27M
One of the best war movies ever.
22. Lolita (1962)
Not Rated | 153 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A middle-aged college professor becomes infatuated with a 14-year-old girl.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: James Mason, Shelley Winters, Sue Lyon, Gary Cockrell
Votes: 108,750 | Gross: $9.25M
Extremely controversial but a great adaptation in my opinion.
23. The Outsiders (1983)
PG | 91 min | Crime, Drama
In a small Oklahoma town in 1964, the rivalry between two gangs, the poor Greasers and the rich Socs, heats up when one gang member accidentally kills a member of the other.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze
Votes: 97,448 | Gross: $25.60M
Great movie adaptation with a cast of so many soon-to-be very famous actors at the time in it. Hell, Tom Cruise only got a few lines compared to the others. :-)
24. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.
Directors: Victor Fleming, King Vidor | Stars: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr
Votes: 428,439 | Gross: $2.08M
One of the great classics.
25. Fight Club (1999)
R | 139 min | Drama
An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier
Votes: 2,322,201 | Gross: $37.03M
The first rule of Fight Club is....yeah, 'nuf said.
26. Apt Pupil (1998)
R | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A boy blackmails his neighbor after suspecting him to be a Nazi war criminal.
Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Ian McKellen, Brad Renfro, Joshua Jackson, Mickey Cottrell
Votes: 41,595 | Gross: $8.84M
Yes, it's a Stephen King work yet again. Brad Renfro overacts but I love Ian McKellen in this role. Could have been done better but I still enjoy it.
27. The Jungle Book (1967)
G | 78 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Bagheera the Panther and Baloo the Bear have a difficult time trying to convince a boy to leave the jungle for human civilization.
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman | Stars: Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, Bruce Reitherman
Votes: 198,559 | Gross: $141.84M
Have to include at least one Disney feature here and this is my favorite one. It's so much fun and great music. Give Kipling a read while you're at it.
28. Akira (1988)
R | 124 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by a teenager, his gang of biker friends and a group of psychics.
Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo | Stars: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshô Genda
Votes: 205,088 | Gross: $0.55M
Okay, it's a manga series and not a novel but the film is great and has influenced so many others. It is probably the best cel work in animation I have seen.
29. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
PG-13 | 169 min | Adventure, Fantasy
A reluctant Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, sets out to the Lonely Mountain with a spirited group of dwarves to reclaim their mountain home, and the gold within it from the dragon Smaug.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Andy Serkis
Votes: 872,712 | Gross: $303.00M
Yep I have to include Tolkien. This was probably my favorite book I ever read before high school. The film adaptation is good so far and I think this book lends itself better to film than the Lord of the Rings trilogy and can include a wider audience.
30. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
R | 123 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A vampire tells his epic life story: love, betrayal, loneliness, and hunger.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst
Votes: 347,260 | Gross: $105.26M
I liked reading Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles and this movie and cast are great. Who would think a young Kirsten Dunst would be such a powerful and creepy little thing?
Tell Your Friends