Movies I've Enjoyed and the Obscure Books They Were Based On
by Cosmic_Cre | created - 26 Aug 2016 | updated - 1 week ago | PublicThese are some of the movies I've enjoyed for years but have only just discovered the literary sources they were based on. I've always been an avid reader and the saying has always been "the book is better than the movie", so I want to read the novels these movies were based on and compare the two mediums.
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1. Angel Heart (1987)
X | 113 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A private investigator is hired by a man who calls himself Louis Cyphre to track down a singer named Johnny Favorite. But the investigation takes an unexpected and somber turn.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling
Votes: 95,853 | Gross: $17.19M
Adapted from the 1978 horror novel "Falling Angel" by William Hjortsberg, this neo-noir psychological horror film stars Mickey Rourke as Harry Angel, a private investigator hired on behalf of a mysterious client who calls himself Louis Cyphre(Robert DeNiro) to solve the disappearance of a man known as Johnny Favorite.
Angel's investigation takes him to New Orleans, where he becomes embroiled in a series of brutal murders. This was also the film that caused a lot of controversy by casting Lisa Bonet as Epiphany Proudfoot who shared a shockingly graphic love scene with Rourke while still a cast member of "The Cosby Show".
2. All of Me (1984)
PG | 93 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
A dying millionaire has her soul transferred into a younger, willing woman. However, something goes wrong, and she finds herself in her lawyer's body - together with the lawyer.
Director: Carl Reiner | Stars: Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Victoria Tennant, Madolyn Smith Osborne
Votes: 19,821 | Gross: $36.40M
Based on the novel "Me Too" by Edwin Davis, Steve Martin plays an attorney named Roger Cobb and Lily Tomlin is a difficult, eccentric, spoiled rotten, but terminally ill millionairess named Edwina Cutwater, who has been bedridden since childhood. Cutwater hires Roger to make some unusual final arrangements to her will.
Having discovered she is dying, Edwina has enlisted the aid of a culture-shocked mystic who has mastered the secret of transferring human souls. She has made an arrangement with Terry Hoskins, (Victoria Tennant) a beautiful young mystic who wishes to complete her spiritual journey by leaving her body forever and become one with the universe.
Edwina wants her own soul placed in Terry's vacated body so that she can finally experience youth and health. Roger is to change Edwina's will so that Terry, her future self, is her sole beneficiary. Roger, unsurprisingly, believes the whole plan is "bananas". To Roger's surprise, the soul-transfer works, but during the ceremony, Roger himself ends up with Edwina's soul sharing his body.
3. Altered States (1980)
R | 102 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A psycho-physiologist experiments with drugs and a sensory-deprivation tank and has visions he believes are genetic memories.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: William Hurt, Blair Brown, Bob Balaban, Charles Haid
Votes: 38,649 | Gross: $19.85M
Based on the 1978 sci-fi novel of the same name by Paddy Chayefsky, "Altered States" is the ultimate horror story-- the story of Edward Jessup, a young scientist and his terrifying experiment to find the origins of consciousness. Entombed in an isolation tank, fed with a powerful hallucinogenic drug, he experiences finally the supreme moment of terror that is the beginning of life.
4. The Associate (1996)
PG-13 | 114 min | Comedy
A comedy about making it on Wall Street. Prejudices are hard to break and Laurel Ayres quickly learns that in order for people to take her seriously she has to work for an older white man or be one.
Director: Donald Petrie | Stars: Whoopi Goldberg, Dianne Wiest, Eli Wallach, Tim Daly
Votes: 9,083 | Gross: $12.77M
Based on a 1928 novel "El Socio" by the Chilean writer and politician Jenaro Prieto, this 1996 comedy stars Whoopi Goldberg as Laurel Ayers, a smart and single female investment banker trying to make it up the Wall Street corporate ladder, until one day she finds out that she is passed over for a promotion because she is a woman. Unable to face the fact that her less intelligent male protégé, Frank Peterson (Tim Daly), has now become her boss, she quits and tries to start up her own company only to find out that the male dominated world of Wall Street is not interested in taking an African American woman seriously, and thus is forced to create a fictional white man, Robert S. Cutty, to be her "partner". She employs her friend and secretary, Sally Dugan(Dianne Wiest) to help her keep up the ruse.
5. Bad Moon (1996)
R | 80 min | Horror, Thriller
After being bitten by a werewolf in the jungle, Ted looks for a cure. His lawyer sister, with a son and dog, invites him to park his camper by her house in the woods and live out of her fridge.
Director: Eric Red | Stars: Mariel Hemingway, Michael Paré, Mason Gamble, Ken Pogue
Votes: 8,136 | Gross: $1.06M
Based on the novel, "Thor" by Wayne Smith, a family's German Shepard finds his loyalties and instincts sorely tested when the family's Uncle Ted comes for a visit. To Thor's sharp canine senses, Uncle Ted is clearly not entirely human. If the family could see and smell what Thor does, they'd realize Uncle Ted is in fact a werewolf, with an uncontrollable thirst for blood.
6. The Bad Seed (1956)
Approved | 129 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Rhoda Penmark seems like your average, sweet eight-year-old girl. After her rival at school dies in mysterious circumstances at the school picnic, her mother starts to suspect that Rhoda was responsible.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Gage Clarke, Jesse White
Votes: 15,780
Adapted from the 1954 novel by American writer William March, "The Bad Seed" tells the story of Christine Penmark(Nancy Kelly), a mother who's realization leads her to believe that her young 8 year old daughter, Rhoda(Patty McCormack), is a sociopath who has committed several murders.
7. Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
G | 117 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
An apprentice witch, three kids and a cynical magician conman search for the missing component to a magic spell to be used in the defense of Britain in World War II.
Directors: Robert Stevenson, Ward Kimball | Stars: Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson, Roddy McDowall, Sam Jaffe
Votes: 40,735 | Gross: $18.53M
This 1971 Disney movie based upon the books The Magic Bedknob (1943) and Bonfires and Broomsticks (1947) by English children's author Mary Norton, starred Angela Lansbury as Miss Eglantine Price, a spinster woman learning witchcraft through a correspondence school with hopes of using her spells in the British war effort against the Nazis in her hometown of Pepperidge Eye, England. During the Blitz, three orphaned children named Charlie, Carrie, and Paul Rawlins are evacuated from London to Pepperinge Eye where they are placed in Miss Price's reluctant care.
In exchange for their silence, she casts a traveling spell on a bedknob, and adds only Paul can work the spell, as he is the one who handed the bedknob to her. Later, Miss Price receives a letter from her school announcing its closure, thus preventing her from learning the final spell. She convinces Paul to use the enchanted bed to return the group to London, and locate Professor Emelius Browne(David Tomlinson).
8. The Beniker Gang (1984)
G | 87 min | Drama
When five kids growing up in an orphanage refuse to be separated by adoption, the only way to stay together is to go on the lam across the country as The Beniker Gang.
Director: Ken Kwapis | Stars: Andrew McCarthy, Jennifer Dundas, Charles Fields, Jeff Alan-Lee
Votes: 420
Based on the 1982 novel "Dear Lola: Or How To Build Your Own Family" by Judie Angell, Andrew McCarthy stars as Arthur Beniker, an 18-year-old advice columnist who is the head of a group of children who want nothing more than to stay together as a family. So much so, that these kids run away from Esther Watson, a home for orphans, and head out westward. But their new neighbors notice that there are no grownups in the "family". Can the kids cover their tracks without uncovering the truth?
9. Bicentennial Man (1999)
PG | 132 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
An android endeavors to become human as he gradually acquires emotions.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Robin Williams, Embeth Davidtz, Sam Neill, Oliver Platt
Votes: 124,722 | Gross: $58.22M
The Positronic Man is a 1992 novel by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg, based on Asimov's 1976 novella The Bicentennial Man.
It tells of a servant robot purchased by the Martin family they name Andrew(Robin Williams) that begins to display characteristics that were traditionally the province of humans... humorous, incredibly lifelike, and possessing an astounding level of creativity, this special machine soon takes on a life of his own -- and eventually begins a centuries-long quest to achieve true humanity.
10. The Blue Lagoon (1980)
R | 104 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In the Victorian period, two children are shipwrecked on a tropical island in the South Pacific. With no adults to guide them, the two make a simple life together, unaware that sexual maturity will eventually intervene.
Director: Randal Kleiser | Stars: Brooke Shields, Christopher Atkins, Leo McKern, William Daniels
Votes: 76,584 | Gross: $58.85M
Based on the novel of the same name by Henry De Vere Stacpoole and was first published by T. Fisher Unwin in 1908, this film tells the story of two young children(Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins) marooned on a tropical island paradise in the South Pacific. With neither the guidance nor the restrictions of society, emotional feelings and physical changes arise as they reach puberty and fall in love.
11. Brewster's Millions (1985)
PG | 102 min | Comedy
A minor-league baseball player must spend $30 million in 30 days in order to inherit $300 million. However, he's not allowed to own any assets, destroy the money, gift it, give it to charity, or tell anyone about the deal.
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Richard Pryor, John Candy, Lonette McKee, Stephen Collins
Votes: 43,110 | Gross: $38.80M
The movie is based on the 1902 novel written by George Barr McCutcheon. The original plot revolved around Montgomery Brewster, a young man who inherits one million dollars from his rich grandfather. Shortly after, a rich and eccentric uncle who hated Brewster's grandfather (a long-held grudge stemming from the grandfather's disapproval of the marriage of Brewster's parents) also dies.
The uncle will leave Brewster seven million dollars, but only under the condition that he keeps none of the grandfather's money. Brewster is required to spend every penny of his grandfather's million within one year, resulting in no assets or property held from the wealth at the end of that time. If Brewster meets these terms, he will gain the full seven million; if he fails, he remains penniless.
12. Burglar (1987)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Crime
A retired cop blackmails ex burglar Bernice into paying him $20,000 - thus burgling. Paid to get a dentist's jewelry back from her ex's apartment, someone murders the ex and Bernice is a suspect. She investigates.
Director: Hugh Wilson | Stars: Whoopi Goldberg, Bobcat Goldthwait, G.W. Bailey, Lesley Ann Warren
Votes: 4,732 | Gross: $16.34M
Bernie Rhodenbarr is the protagonist of the Burglar series of comic mystery novels by Lawrence Block. This film was based on the second novel in the series, "The Burglar In The Closet", in which Bernie - a white male - was portrayed by Whoopi Goldberg (renamed "Bernice").
13. A Christmas Story (1983)
PG | 93 min | Comedy, Family
In the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie Parker attempts to convince his parents, teacher, and Santa Claus that a Red Ryder Range 200 Shot BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift.
Director: Bob Clark | Stars: Peter Billingsley, Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, Scott Schwartz
Votes: 168,632 | Gross: $20.61M
This movie was based on the collection of short stories featured in the book, "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash", by American humorist Jean Shepherd first published in October 1966. Four of the short stories ("Duel in the Snow", "The Counterfeit Secret Circle Member Gets the Message", "My Old Man and the Lascivious Special Award That Heralded the Birth of Pop Art", and "Grover Dill and the Tasmanian Devil") were used as the basis for the 1983 movie.
14. Cocoon (1985)
PG-13 | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves energized with youthful vigor.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Brian Dennehy
Votes: 68,848 | Gross: $76.11M
Loosely based on the novel of the same name by David Saperstein, this Ron Howard directed film is about a group of elderly people rejuvenated by aliens.
15. Deadly Friend (1986)
R | 91 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
After his friend is killed by her abusive father, the new kid in town attempts to save her by implanting a robotic microchip into her brain.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Matthew Labyorteaux, Kristy Swanson, Michael Sharrett, Anne Twomey
Votes: 8,742 | Gross: $8.99M
This was based on a 1985 science fiction horror novel "Friend" by Diana Henstell, about a young man who tries to help a dying friend survive by implanting a microchip into her, only to find that it turns her into a monster.
16. Derailed (I) (2005)
R | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
When two married business executives having an affair are blackmailed by a violent criminal, the two must turn the tables on him to save their families.
Director: Mikael Håfström | Stars: Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, Vincent Cassel, Addison Timlin
Votes: 76,396 | Gross: $36.02M
This 2005 thriller was based on the 2003 novel written by James Siegel. It tells the story of Charles Schine, a man who works in the advertising business, who suddenly finds himself having an affair, being blackmailed, and having the police investigate him for murder, all because he missed his usual commuter train one day.
17. Die Hard (1988)
R | 132 min | Action, Thriller
A New York City police officer tries to save his estranged wife and several others taken hostage by terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson
Votes: 945,858 | Gross: $83.01M
This classic Bruce Willis action fest was based on the 1979 thriller novel by Roderick Thorp called "Nothing Lasts Forever" originally about retired NYPD Detective Joe Leland is visiting the 40-story office headquarters of the Klaxon Oil Corporation in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, where his daughter Stephanie Leland Gennaro works. While he is waiting for his daughter's Christmas party to end, a group of German Autumn-era German terrorists take over the skyscraper. The gang is led by the brutal Anton "Little Tony" Gruber.
18. Eye for an Eye (1996)
R | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
When the courts fail to keep behind bars the man who raped and murdered her daughter, a woman seeks her own form of justice.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Sally Field, Kiefer Sutherland, Ed Harris, Olivia Burnette
Votes: 18,936 | Gross: $26.79M
This 1996 thriller was based on the novel of the same name by Erika Holzer. In the novel, advertising executive Karen Newman who's worst nightmares comes true when a gang of street thugs rape, mutilate, and murder her daughter on Halloween night. When the gang's leader is released by a "humanitarian" judge, she is outraged. By Christmas she has joined an underground vigilante group, Victims Anonymous, to avenge her daughter's death.
19. Fantastic Planet (1973)
PG | 72 min | Animation, Sci-Fi
On a faraway planet where blue giants rule, oppressed humanoids rebel against their machine-like leaders.
Director: René Laloux | Stars: Barry Bostwick, Jennifer Drake, Eric Baugin, Jean Topart
Votes: 36,844 | Gross: $0.19M
This 1973 animated French film about humans living on a strange planet dominated by giant humanoid aliens who consider them animals, is based on the 1957 novel "Oms en série" by French writer Stefan Wul.The protagonist is a domesticated human(who are called Oms as a play on the French word for "man", homme) named Terr (word play on the French word Terre, meaning Earth) who runs away and joins a group of wild Oms. He has learned some of the Draags' scientific knowledge while in captivity, and uses this to forge a new, equal relationship with the Draags.
20. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of Southern California high school students are enjoying their most important subjects: sex, drugs and rock n' roll.
Director: Amy Heckerling | Stars: Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Robert Romanus
Votes: 115,801 | Gross: $27.09M
This cult classic 80s teen comedy was based on the book of the same name written by director Cameron Crowe when he was 22-year-old posing as a high school student, chronicling his experiences inside the walls of Clairemont High in San Diego, California. This is the day-by-day journal of horny and wasted semi-blank adults who don't know a thing about their future.
21. The First Wives Club (1996)
PG | 103 min | Comedy
Reunited by the death of a college friend, three divorced women seek revenge on the husbands who left them for younger women.
Director: Hugh Wilson | Stars: Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, Diane Keaton, Maggie Smith
Votes: 54,236 | Gross: $105.49M
The First Wives Club, based on the book of the same name by Olivia Goldsmith, is about three college friends, Elise, Brenda, and Annie who have one thing in common: they were all first wives. Make that two things in common -- they were the secret to success for each of their spouses, faithfully supporting them as they rose to the top. Okay, three things: they were each abandoned for younger, blonder, sleeker women, "trophy wives" for their exes to sport about town. They plot to get back at their unfaithful and selfish husbands and get the respect they deserve.
22. 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: 790,667 | Gross: $46.36M
This 1987 Stanley Kubrick classic was based on "The Short-Timers", a 1979 semi-autobiographical novel by U.S. Marine Corps veteran Gustav Hasford, about his experience in the Vietnam War. The book is divided into three sections, written in completely different styles of prose, and follows James T. "Joker" Davis through his enlistment in the United States Marine Corps and deployment to Vietnam.
23. Home (II) (2015)
PG | 94 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
An alien on the run from his own people makes friends with a girl. He tries to help her on her quest, but can be an interference.
Director: Tim Johnson | Stars: Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Steve Martin, Jennifer Lopez
Votes: 111,555 | Gross: $177.40M
This 2015 DreamWorks movie is loosely based on Adam Rex's 2007 children's book "The True Meaning of Smekday". The story follows the shared adventures of a friendly fugitive alien named Oh(Jim Parsons)who is shunned by the rest of his kind, and a teenage girl named Gratuity "Tip" Tucci(Rhianna), who is searching for her mother, Lucy Tucci(Jennifer Lopez), after they are separated during an invasion of Earth.
24. The Howling (1981)
R | 91 min | Horror
After a bizarre and near deadly encounter with a serial killer, a television newswoman is sent to a remote mountain resort whose residents may not be what they seem.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone
Votes: 40,223 | Gross: $17.99M
Loosely adapted from the 1977 horror novel of the same name by Gary Brandner, the film follows television newswoman, Karen White (Dee Wallace) who is sent along with her husband, Bill(Christopher Stone) to the "Colony", a secluded resort in the countryside for treatment after a near fatal incident with a serial killer named Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo), unaware that the inhabiting residents are werewolves.
25. Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
PG | 119 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking castle.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Chieko Baishô, Takuya Kimura, Tatsuya Gashûin, Akihiro Miwa
Votes: 449,643 | Gross: $4.71M
Based on the young adult fantasy novel of the same name by British author Diana Wynne Jones, the film tells the story of a young hatter named Sophie after she is turned into an old crone by a witch's curse. She encounters a wizard named Howl, and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.
26. In Dreams (1999)
R | 100 min | Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
A suburban housewife learns that she has a dreamworld connection to a serial murderer, and must stop him from killing again.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Annette Bening, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Sagona, Aidan Quinn
Votes: 13,638 | Gross: $12.02M
This thriller was loosely based on the 1994 crime novel "Doll's Eyes" by Bari Wood. Originally about Eve Klein, a clairvoyant woman who involuntarily "witnesses" a grisly murder in the woods of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York and is inexorably drawn into the violent, horrifying web of a genius serial killer's dementia.
27. In Her Shoes (2005)
PG-13 | 130 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Strait-laced Rose breaks off relations with her party girl sister, Maggie, over an indiscretion involving Rose's boyfriend. The chilly atmosphere is broken with the arrival of Ella, the grandmother neither sister knew existed.
Director: Curtis Hanson | Stars: Toni Collette, Cameron Diaz, Shirley MacLaine, Anson Mount
Votes: 65,087 | Gross: $32.88M
This Cameron Diaz/Toni Collette dramedy was based on a novel of the same name by Jennifer Weiner. It tells the story of two sisters, Rose and Maggie and their estranged grandmother, Ella. The two sisters happen to wear the same size shoes - the only common ground that they have besides a mutual hatred of their step-mother, Sydelle.
28. Just Like Heaven (2005)
PG-13 | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A lonely landscape architect falls for the spirit of the beautiful woman who used to live in his new apartment.
Director: Mark Waters | Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, Donal Logue, Dina Spybey-Waters
Votes: 117,390 | Gross: $48.32M
Based on the French novel, "If Only It Were True" by Marc Levy, the original story is set against the backdrop of San Francisco and tells the story of Lauren Kline, a young, pretty, medical resident, and Arthur, the man who rented her old apartment after she ends up in a coma. She shows up to her apartment as a ghostly apparition and the two end up falling in love.
29. Limitless (I) (2011)
PG-13 | 105 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller
A mysterious pill that enables the user to access 100% of his brain's abilities transforms a struggling writer into a financial wizard, but it also puts him in a new world with many dangers.
Director: Neil Burger | Stars: Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro
Votes: 612,571 | Gross: $79.25M
This Bradley Cooper sci-fi action film was based on the 2001 techno-thriller novel "The Dark Fields" by Irish writer Alan Glynn. In the book, Edward "Eddie" Spinola(in the movie, it's Morra) is a writer at a small publishing house in New York City. He starts using MDT-48(in the movie, it's NZT-48), an experimental drug granting heightened intellectual, creative, and learning powers, and enabling its user to see meaningful patterns in large amounts of disparate information.
30. Legally Blonde (2001)
PG-13 | 96 min | Comedy, Romance
Elle Woods, a fashionable sorority queen, is dumped by her boyfriend. She decides to follow him to law school. While she is there, she figures out that there is more to her than just looks.
Director: Robert Luketic | Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis
Votes: 248,289 | Gross: $96.52M
Based on the novel of the same name by Amanda Brown, Elle Woods(Reese Witherspoon), a blonde California University of Los Angeles sorority president, is deeply in love with her college sweetheart, Warner Huntingdon III. When Warner enrolls in Harvard Law School, and aims to find a girl more serious than Elle to be his bride, Elle schemes a plan to follow him to Harvard Law School to win him back.
31. Lili (1953)
Passed | 81 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
An orphaned young woman becomes part of a puppet act and forms a relationship with the anti-social puppeteer.
Director: Charles Walters | Stars: Leslie Caron, Mel Ferrer, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Zsa Zsa Gabor
Votes: 3,935
The 1950 short story, "The Man Who Hated People" by Paul Gallico was the basis for this 1953 coming of age movie starring Leslie Caron as Lili, a touchingly naïve French girl whose emotional relationship with a carnival puppeteer(Mel Ferrer) is conducted through the medium of four puppets. The success of the movie prompted Gallico to expand his story, turning it into the novella, "Love of Seven Dolls".
32. The Mambo Kings (1992)
R | 104 min | Drama, Music
Two Cuban brothers bring a new music to the 1950s USA. They are as different as the problems that await them.
Director: Arne Glimcher | Stars: Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas, Pablo Calogero, Scott Cohen
Votes: 5,959 | Gross: $6.74M
Based on "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love", a 1989 novel by Oscar Hijuelos, Antonio Bandaras' first American film is about the lives of two Cuban brothers and musicians, Cesar and Nestor Castillo, who immigrate to the United States and settle in New York City in the early 1950s.
33. The Man Without a Face (1993)
PG-13 | 115 min | Drama
Chuck wants to leave home but can't make the grade for boarding school. Then he finds out the disfigured recluse living nearby is an ex-teacher.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Mel Gibson, Nick Stahl, Margaret Whitton, Fay Masterson
Votes: 31,007 | Gross: $24.76M
This 1993 Mel Gibson drama based on the book of the same name by Isabelle Holland is about young Charles(Nick Stahl) who desperately wants two things: a father and a way out. Little love has come his way until the summer he befriends a mysterious scarred man named Justin McLeod(Mel Gibson), nicknamed ""The Man Without a Face." Charles enlists McLeod's help as tutor for a military school's entrance exams, his ticket away from the unpleasant restrictions of his home life. But more important than anything he could get out of a book, that summer Charles learns from McLeod a stirring life lesson about the many faces of love.
34. Marnie (1964)
PG | 130 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Mark marries Marnie although she is a habitual thief and has serious psychological problems, and tries to help her confront and resolve them.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Martin Gabel, Louise Latham
Votes: 53,878 | Gross: $7.00M
An English novel first published in 1961 written by Winston Graham, "Marnie"(Tippi Hedren) is about a young woman who makes a living by embezzling from her employers, moving on, and changing her identity. She is finally caught in the act by one of her employers, a young widower named Mark Rutland(Sean Connery), who blackmails her into marriage. Two shocking events near the end of the story send the troubled woman to the brink of suicide and she eventually must face the trauma from her past which is the root cause of her behavior.
35. Mermaids (1990)
PG-13 | 110 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An unconventional single mother relocates with her two daughters to a small Massachusetts town in 1963, where a number of events and relationships both challenge and strengthen their familial bonds.
Director: Richard Benjamin | Stars: Cher, Bob Hoskins, Winona Ryder, Michael Schoeffling
Votes: 35,890 | Gross: $35.42M
Based on the 1987 novel by Patty Dann, this film is about teenager Charlotte Flax(Winona Rider) who can't seem to hold on to anything long enough to really experience it. Her family has moved 18 times already. Her mother, Mrs. Flax(Cher) is a woman who wears polka-dot dresses and serves hors d'oeuvres for dinner every night, and Kate(Christina Ricci) is a child who basically wants to be a fish.
36. Monkey Shines (1988)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Jason Beghe, John Pankow, Kate McNeil, Joyce Van Patten
Votes: 13,033 | Gross: $5.34M
Based on author Michael Stewart's 1983 thriller of the same name, this movie is about Allan Mann(Jason Beghe) who has the world at his feet - he's a brilliant law student and a star athlete, and in love. But Allan's world falls to pieces when he is paralysed in an accident. Helpless, he lacks even the power to kill himself.
A friend researching primate intelligence smuggles a small capuchin monkey out of his labs to become Allan's companion and help-mate. Gradually Allan's dependence on the monkey, Ella, turns to something else... something deeper... As their minds become increasingly entwined, the boundaries between human and animal are crossed ever more frequently and dangerously.
37. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
PG-13 | 125 min | Comedy, Drama
After a bitter divorce, an actor disguises himself as a female housekeeper to spend time with his children held in custody by his former wife.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Robin Williams, Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein
Votes: 291,077 | Gross: $219.20M
Robin Williams stars in this beloved family film based on the 1987 English novel "Madame Doubtfire" by Anne Fine about a family dealing with divorce. Daniel and Miranda Hillard(Robin Williams and Sally Field) are separated and Miranda, a successful businesswoman, severely limits the amount of time her husband, an impractical, out-of-work actor, is allowed to spend with their three children Lydia, Chris, and Natalie. When Miranda decides to hire a nanny, however, Daniel disguises himself as a woman and gets the job.
38. Mrs. Winterbourne (1996)
PG-13 | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Connie, unwed and pregnant, is heading to Boston by train when she meets wealthy newlyweds Hugh and Patricia. The train crashes, and when Connie comes to in the hospital, she is mistaken for Patricia, who died in the crash with Hugh.
Director: Richard Benjamin | Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Ricki Lake, Brendan Fraser, Miguel Sandoval
Votes: 8,475 | Gross: $10.07M
This film takes a more comedic and lighthearted approach from the 1948 novel it was based on originally titled, "I Married a Dead Man" by Cornell Woolrich, but the overall story is the same. In the original story, pregnant, abandoned by her slimy husband and destitute, Helen Georgesson(in the movie, she's named Connie Doyle) boards a train going west. In the crowded train car she meets happy newlyweds Patrice Hazzard, also expecting, and Hugh.
They are on their way to visit Hugh’s parents, whom Patrice is meeting for the first time. After Patrice hands Helen her wedding band so she can wash her hands in the rest room, the train crashes, killing the Hazzards, but Helen survives. When she regains consciousness in the hospital, she discovers she has been mistaken for Patrice.
Patrice’s wealthy in-laws send for Helen, and she decides for the sake of her son to go along with the misunderstanding. They welcome her into the fold and her “brother-in-law” Bill even shows signs of romantic interest. But when her husband tracks her down and threatens her with blackmail, her dream turns into a nightmare.
39. 9½ Weeks (1986)
R | 117 min | Drama, Romance
A woman becomes involved with a man she barely knows. Complications develop during their sexual escapades.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger, Margaret Whitton, David Margulies
Votes: 43,819 | Gross: $6.73M
I can't believe that this was actually based on a true story! :O From the 1978 memoirs of businesswoman Elizabeth McNeill titled "9 1/2 Weeks: A Memoir of a Love Affair", this erotic thriller starred Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger as two strangers who begin a casual affair that ends nine and a half weeks later in a shattering climax of bondage, humiliation and ecstasy. By day she was a successful career woman in Manhattan; by night, a trembling, erotic slave.
40. The Object of My Affection (1998)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A pregnant New York City social worker begins to develop romantic feelings for her gay best friend, and decides she'd rather raise her child with him, much to the dismay of her overbearing boyfriend.
Director: Nicholas Hytner | Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd, Kali Rocha, Lena Cardwell
Votes: 21,527 | Gross: $29.11M
The 1987 debut novel of American author Stephen McCauley, was turned into this 1998 romantic dramedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd. The story is about Nina(Aniston), a pregnant New York social worker who develops romantic feelings for her gay best friend, George(Rudd), her decision to raise her child with him, and the complications that ensue.
41. Once Were Warriors (1994)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama
A family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.
Director: Lee Tamahori | Stars: Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell, Julian Arahanga
Votes: 36,856 | Gross: $2.20M
I've loved this movie for as long as I can remember! Based on the 1990 novel of the same name by New Zealand author Alan Duff, it tells the story of an urban Māori family, the Hekes, and portrays the reality of domestic violence in New Zealand.
42. Paper Moon (1973)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Ryan O'Neal, Tatum O'Neal, Madeline Kahn, John Hillerman
Votes: 52,473 | Gross: $30.93M
This Academy Award nominated film based on the 1971 novel "Addie Pray" by Joe David Brown stars Tatum O'Neal(who won for Best Supporting Actress) and real life father Ryan O'Neal as Addie and Moses, an orphan and a con man who travel together through Kansas and Missouri during the Great Depression.
43. A Patch of Blue (1965)
Unrated | 105 min | Drama, Romance
A blind, uneducated white girl is befriended by a black man who becomes determined to help her escape her impoverished and abusive home life by introducing her to the outside world.
Director: Guy Green | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Hartman, Wallace Ford
Votes: 9,537
One of my favorite romantic dramas, this film based on the 1961 novel "Be Ready With Bells and Drums" by Elizabeth Kata, is about a blind young woman momentarily escaping the sordid world of her prostitute mother when a young Black man befriends her in the park and how feelings between them begin to grow in a racial divided America.
44. Romancing the Stone (1984)
PG | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A mousy romance novelist sets off for Colombia to ransom her kidnapped sister, and soon finds herself in the middle of a dangerous adventure hunting for treasure with a mercenary rogue.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Zack Norman
Votes: 103,353 | Gross: $76.57M
Author Catherine Lanigan's adventure/romance novel was turned into this 1984 action comedy! Joan Wilder(Kathleen Turner) is a lonely New York romance novelist who receives a treasure map mailed to her by her recently-murdered brother-in-law. On her way to Cartagena, Colombia Joan ends up in the jungle but is saved by American bird exporter Jack T. Colton(Michael Douglas). For getting her to Cartagena, Joan promises to pay Jack $375 in traveler's cheques.
45. Scent of a Woman (1992)
R | 156 min | Drama
A prep school student needing money agrees to "babysit" a blind man, but the job is not at all what he anticipated.
Director: Martin Brest | Stars: Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell, James Rebhorn, Gabrielle Anwar
Votes: 329,011 | Gross: $63.90M
Italian novelist Giovanni Arpino wrote "Il buio e il miele" (which translates into "The Darkness and the Honey") in 1969 that became the basis for the film that won Al Pacino his first Best Actor Oscar for his brilliant portrayal of an overbearing, blind retired Lieutenant Colonel who hires a young guardian (Chris O'Donnell), to assist him when they embark on a wild weekend trip that will change the lives of both men forever.
46. Single White Female (1992)
R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
A woman advertising for a new roommate finds that something very strange is going on with the tenant who decides to move in.
Director: Barbet Schroeder | Stars: Bridget Fonda, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Steven Weber, Peter Friedman
Votes: 41,979 | Gross: $47.92M
Based on the thriller novel "SWF Seeks Same" by John Lutz, the story concerns Allie Jones(Bridget Fonda) whose new roommate, Hedra Carlson(Jennifer Jason Leigh) seems perfect, until she starts copying her and behaving strangely in other ways.
47. Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)
R | 99 min | Drama, Thriller
A young woman fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her nightmarish marriage, but discovers it is impossible to elude her controlling husband.
Director: Joseph Ruben | Stars: Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin, Kevin Anderson, Elizabeth Lawrence
Votes: 65,176 | Gross: $101.60M
Based on the 1986 thriller novel by Nancy Price, the movie follows the metamorphosis of Laura Burney(Julia Roberts), an abused, submissive and battered wife whose daily goal has been to keep her brutish husband Martin(Patrick Bergin) from still more violent assaults. Presumed dead when she is swept overboard from a sailboat in Manhasset Bay, Laura seizes the opportunity to escape from her husband and begin a new life.
48. Stella Dallas (1937)
Approved | 106 min | Drama, Romance
A working-class woman is willing to do whatever it takes to give her daughter a socially promising future.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, Anne Shirley, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 6,278 | Gross: $2.00M
Based on the 1923 Olive Higgins Prouty novel of the same name, social climber Stella Martin(Barbara Stanwick) sets her sights on mill executive Stephen Dallas (John Boles) and gets married to him at a most vulnerable time in his life... his father's death and his fiancee's marriage to another man. The only thing these two have in common is the daughter they have together, Laurel(Anne Shirley) whom they both adore, especially Stella who never thought she even had a maternal instinct.
Although her love and devotion to Laurel is strong, it still hasn't stopped her from her vulgar and wild ways, including her friendship with her obnoxious friend, Ed Munn(Alan Hale). Because of several embarrassing encounters with the upper crust of society that her daughter desperately wants to fit in with, Stella decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and gives Laurel up to her estranged husband and his reconciled former fiancee to give her a better life. The power of a mother's love! *SNIFF*
49. Stir of Echoes (1999)
R | 99 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
After being hypnotized by his sister-in-law, a man begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around him.
Director: David Koepp | Stars: Kevin Bacon, Zachary David Cope, Kathryn Erbe, Illeana Douglas
Votes: 87,528 | Gross: $21.13M
The 1958 novel "A Stir of Echoes" by Richard Matheson was the inspiration for this 1999 Kevin Bacon thriller. Tom Witzky(Bacon) is living in a working-class neighborhood in Chicago with his pregnant wife Maggie(Kathryn Erbe) and his son Jake(Zachary David Cope), who possesses the ability to commune with the dead.
At a party one evening, Tom challenges Maggie's sister Lisa(Illeana Douglas), a believer in paranormal activity, to hypnotize him. After putting him under, Lisa plants a post-hypnotic suggestion in Tom urging him to "be more open-minded". Tom then begins experiencing visions of a violent scuffle involving a girl who he later learns is Samantha Kozac(Jennifer Morrison), a 17-year-old that disappeared from the neighborhood six months prior.
50. The Thing (1982)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur
Votes: 466,850 | Gross: $13.78M
This 1982 sci-fi horror classic starring Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady was based on "Who Goes There?", a science fiction novella by John W. Campbell, Jr., written under the pen name Don A. Stuart. It was first published in the August 1938 Astounding Science-Fiction. The story is about a parasitic extraterrestrial lifeform that assimilates other organisms and in turn imitates them. The Thing infiltrates an Antarctic research station, taking the appearance of the researchers that it absorbs, and paranoia develops within the group.
51. The Trouble with Angels (1966)
PG | 112 min | Comedy, Family
Two high-spirited young students at St. Francis Academy keep things hopping for the challenged Mother Superior and her staff of bewildered Sisters.
Director: Ida Lupino | Stars: Rosalind Russell, Hayley Mills, Binnie Barnes, Camilla Sparv
Votes: 5,780
This classic coming of age movie starring Hayley Mills and Rosalind Russell was based on the 1962 memoirs of ad executive Jane Trahey titled "Life With Mother Superior" about her three years attending a Catholic boarding school and her friendship with the charismatic, badly-behaved and utterly glamorous Mary Clancy.
52. Village of the Damned (1995)
R | 98 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A small town's women give birth to unfriendly alien children posing as humans.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Michael Paré
Votes: 34,251 | Gross: $9.42M
This sci-fi horror movie(plus the one made in 1960), based on the novel "The Midwich Cuckoos" written by English author John Wyndham and published in 1957, is about the quiet coastal town of Midwich in California being invaded by an unseen force, causing a blackout for six hours, which leaves ten women mysteriously pregnant. Nine months later, the babies are born simultaneously on one night, though one is stillborn.
At first, they all appear to be normal, but it does not take the parents long to realize that they aren't. As they grow older, the children are shown to all have pale skin, white hair, fierce intellect, and cobalt eyes. However, they also do not appear to possess a conscience or personalities. The children display eerie psychic abilities that can result in violent and deadly consequences whenever they experience pain or provocation.
53. The War of the Roses (1989)
R | 116 min | Comedy, Romance
A married couple tries everything to drive each other out of the house in a vicious divorce battle.
Director: Danny DeVito | Stars: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Marianne Sägebrecht
Votes: 57,391 | Gross: $86.89M
The War of the Roses was based on the 1981 novel of the same name by Warren Adler about Oliver and Barbara Rose(Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner), a wealthy couple with a seemingly perfect marriage. When their marriage begins to fall apart, material possessions become the center of an outrageous and bitter divorce battle.
54. The Warriors (1979)
R | 93 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A street gang known as the Warriors must fight its way from the Bronx to its home turf on Coney Island when its members are falsely accused of assassinating a respected gang leader.
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Michael Beck, James Remar, Dorsey Wright, Brian Tyler
Votes: 110,730 | Gross: $22.49M
The Warriors was based on the 1965 novel of the same name written by Sol Yurick. The story centers on a New York City gang, The Warriors, who must return to their home turf in Coney Island after they are framed for the murder of a respected leader of the largest gang in New York, The Riffs.
55. The Watcher in the Woods (1980)
PG | 84 min | Family, Horror, Mystery
When a family moves to a country home, the young girls experience strange happenings that have a link to an occult event years past.
Directors: John Hough, Vincent McEveety | Stars: Bette Davis, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Kyle Richards, Carroll Baker
Votes: 7,067 | Gross: $5.00M
This classic live action Disney movie was based on the 1976 mystery novel by Florence Engel Randall, "A Watcher in the Woods". The film tells the story of a teenage girl and her little sister who become encompassed in a supernatural mystery regarding a missing girl in the woods surrounding their new home in the English countryside.
56. Whale Rider (2002)
PG-13 | 101 min | Drama, Family
A contemporary story of love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.
Director: Niki Caro | Stars: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton, Cliff Curtis
Votes: 44,040 | Gross: $20.78M
Based on the 1987 novel "The Whale Rider" by Witi Ihimaera, the film stars Keisha Castle-Hughes as Kahu Paikea Apirana, a twelve-year-old Māori girl whose fate is to become the chief of her people's tribe. Her grandfather, Apirana, believes that this is a role reserved for males only despite the clues, signs and Paikea's natural abilities to the contrary.
57. What Dreams May Come (1998)
PG-13 | 113 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Chris Nielsen dies in an accident, and enters Heaven. But when he discovers that his beloved wife Annie has killed herself out of grief over the loss, he embarks on an afterlife adventure to reunite with her.
Director: Vincent Ward | Stars: Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., Annabella Sciorra, Max von Sydow
Votes: 114,436 | Gross: $55.49M
Based on the 1978 novel by Richard Matheson, this fantasy drama stars Robin Williams as Chris, a man who dies in a car accident then goes to Heaven, but descends into Hell to rescue his wife, Annie(Annabella Sciorra) who committed suicide.
58. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
PG | 104 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
When a cartoon rabbit is accused of murder, he enlists the help of a burnt out private investigator to prove his innocence.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Cassidy, Charles Fleischer
Votes: 216,922 | Gross: $156.45M
This Academy Award winning film was based on the 1981 mystery novel "Who Censored Roger Rabbit?" by Gary K. Wolf. The book and the film has a lot of the same characters, but the book's animated characters are from the world of comic strips, not cartoons and the overall tone is a lot darker.
In the book, Eddie Valiant is a hard-boiled private eye, and Roger Rabbit is a second-banana cartoon character. The rabbit hires Valiant to find out why his employers, the DeGreasy Brothers, the owners of a cartoon syndicate, have reneged on a promise to give Roger his own strip. Soon after, Roger is mysteriously murdered in his home. His speech balloon, found on the crime scene, indicates his murder was a way of "censoring" the star, who apparently had just heard someone explain the source of his success.
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