Which movie did the book justice?

Which is your opinion the best movie made from one of Stephen King's books?

Only two come to mind. Stand by Me which adapted The Body from Different Seasons and Shawshank which adapted Rita Hayworth & Shawshank Redemption also from Different Seasons. Others may capture pieces of their source material, but fail to capture the larger element.

I agree with you on Stand by me and the Shawshank Redemption. The Green Mile and Secret Window also come to mind, they all did the books justice in my opinion.

I might be in danger of being accused of blasphemy, but I LOVED the Stanley Kubrick version of The Shining. Granted, the miniseries did a better job of sticking to the plot, but in my humble opinion, the original version of The Shining was just a better movie. I realize that my opinion is largely based on aspects that have nothing to do with the actual novel (ie. acting, lighting, cinematography), and I know that the Stanley Kubrick version took more liberties with the plot, but in terms of sheer entertainment and enjoyment, the original did the book justice. I felt that the miniseries was too long and drawn out and if I really wanted to relive the story, I should just reread the book.

I also really enjoyed Carrie and Secret Window.

I also LOVE the Kubrick version. Yes, he did take liberties, but I think that he did a perfect job in capturing the feel and terror of the novel, which in my opinion was extremely important in this case. (And Nicholson's performance was sheer GENIUS!!!)

Agreed, the Kubrick version is excellent and Jack is so disturbing that I can forgive the poor adaptation.

Actually thought of another decent one - Creepshow. I have it on laser disc and dig it out every once in a while (and I always grab the comic book itself while watching). It's huge fun. It might not count since it's not based on anything major like a novel, but hey it involves George Romero so what's not to love? Especially The Crate with Adrienne Barbeau. And the father's day story has a very young Ed Harris (I want my cake, Bedelia!). Oh and the one with a very young Ted Danson being tormented by Leslie Nielsen. Great stuff.

And while I was typing I remembered that while I don't own the movie, I didn't hate Christine. Total b-movie cheese that makes it very endearing.

The Kubrick version is indeed a good movie, Jack Nicholson still freaks me out and give me the shivers...

I haven't watched Christine, I hope I can get it someday. From the series I liked Storm of the Century the best. I didn't liked the Stand, it wasn't quite the Randall Flagg I envisioned.

You'd be surprised at how many people I've talked to who jump down my throat the minute I mention that I liked the Kubrick version of The Shining.

Anyway, I completely forgot about Christine...it's not the best movie I've ever seen, and I still prefer the book over the movie, but I still like it.

What did people think of The Dreamcatcher? I thought the novel would be impossible to put into movie format because of the flashbacks, but they actually got it to work. The thing I liked most was the actors they got to do. None of them were really well known except for Morgan Freeman.

The adaptation from book to movie was nicely done, but I guess the story was too unrealistic for a movie to be enjoyed by the public.

I really liked Secret Window. I don't actually like horror movies so I tend to stay away from King's movies even though I love the books. I don't actually like horror novels either, but Stephen King is an exception. This is why you can't convince me that he is just a genre writer. =)

I enjoyed Dreamcatcher until the end, when they made Duddits into an alien. What? That had no relation to the book whatsoever.

I really enjoyed the first half of the TV version of Desperation. Ron Perlman was fantastic as the sheriff.

Did any of you watch the miniseries Nightmares and Dreamscapes? I saw 6 of the 8 episodes, and thought that 3 of them were really good.

I agree with many of the above, and I'd also add Pet Sematary, which I thought captured the novel very well and was one of the more well-done adaptations.

I also enjoy both Christine and Pet Sematary.

1408 which comes to theaters pretty soon looks amazing as well. I can't wait to see that one.

The following is the list of Films adapted from Stephen King novels or short stories that I own or want to buy on DVD (which only means that I liked them, not anyone else in the entire free world):

Owned:
Dreamcatcher
The Green Mile
The Shining (Kubrick)
Maximum Overdrive
The Shawshank Redemption
Needful Things
The Stand
It
Misery
Pet Sematary
The Running Man
Stand By Me
Silver Bullet
Cat's Eye
Christine
Creepshow

Wishlist:
Secret Window
Children of the Corn
Hearts in Atlantis
Apt Pupil
The Langoliers
The Dark Half

I enjoy King's work too much to watch most of the movie adaptations. Ruins the pictures in my head too much. The only ones I own are Shawshank, Stand By Me, The Shining & Creepshow. Have seen pieces of Pet Sem, Christine, Carrie, Misery & The Stand (always the same scene too which is weird - where Flagg is talking to what's-his-face in the jail cell).

StefanNY, I can really recommend getting Secret Windows and Apt Pupil. Children of the Corn is quite okay, but it has this teenage horror-thing about it.

I have seen Carrie too, I saw it before I read the book and some years later after I had read the book. When you have read the book, the movie loses something of her 'shine'.

Royalsophietje,
Secret Windows and Apt Pupil are pretty high on my wish list. I'm not really sure about Children of the Corn anyway as I haven't seen it since I was a kid. It scared the bejeepers out of me then, but I'm a little leery that it might be too cheesy now.

In response to message 13:

I have to say that Pet Semetary scared the bejesus out of me as a kid. Also, the tv movie It (which was nothing like the book) also managed to scare me in high school. I was never so glad to live in the country and not hooked up to a sewer.

I seem to be one of the few people in the world who WASN'T scared by the movie IT, which might have been because I'd read the book several times before I saw the movie. And the whole time I was watching it, I kept thinking, "The book did it better." Normally I can separate the book from the movie, but I just couldn't for this one.

And I completely forgot about Pet Sematary...I really liked that one! Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever seen Pet Sematary 2? I know it doesn't have anything to do with an actual novel, but I just thought I'd mention it. I saw a TV edited version and it's still one of the gorier movies I've seen in my lifetime...not to mention just plain old dumb. (Sorry to anyone who might happen to like the movie.)

well here i am deep into this subject and no one -- NO ONE -- has listed, mentioned, or even alluded to:

CUJO

now don't tell me that dog ain't horrible!!! and it was faithful to the book, too.

No one's mentioned Storm of the Century, either, which I think is the most demonic story SK has ever done. "Give me what I want and I'll leave you alone." it's also realistic in a moral sense -- no matter how we try, we cannot destroy evil.

Cujo, hm. I need to re-watch that movie (haven't read the book). First time I watched it, it didn't made an impression on me...

Storm of the Century was already mentioned ;-), but I wholeheartedly agree; from the mini-series it is one of the best! Faithful to the book (although that wasn't a problem, since it was written as a script), but the camera work was superb (as was the acting) !

Didn't like the book, so never watched the movie. I rooted for the dog anyway.

Me too, I love dogs to much :-D

The Stand was on television over the weekend. I can watch it over and over and never get tired of the movie.

I wanted to ask...

Am I the only one who thinks that "Dreamcatcher", although a very good adaptation of the book, was insanely off topic at the end of the film?? It truly disturbing, where did this alien story come from??

Amen to that! I liked the movie up until the very end when Duddits turned into an alien. After that, the movie lost me. I was so angry, because I loved the novel Dreamcatcher and the movie totally twisted the ending around.

The Green Mile Well done!
The Shining (Kubrick) Awesome! It was a great movie, even if the book had more depth and was all a round better, the performances were first rate!!
The Shining (TV) Much more faithful, obviously, and very well done.
The Shawshank Redemption Perfecto!
The Stand Considering the limitations of the media with an epic like this, i think they did a great job.
It Scary clown bad brrrrrr!!!
Misery One of the best adaptations!
The Running Man Schlocky adaptation but good fun anyway, even though Ahnold was all wrong for the role.
Stand By Me Simply The Best!
The Langoliers Uneven, but so was the story. It's a hard premise to take seriously on the screen.

Here's my take on his films:

Carrie - Novel (1974), Film (1976) - Decent adaptation, but not truly memorable. I've only watched it once, which says something about its replayability. My grades: Book: B-, Film: C+

Salem's Lot - Novel (1976), TV Movie (1979) - Schlocky TV horror fun. Not so much scary, except maybe to children. My grades: Book: B+, TV Movie: C-

The Shining - Novel (1977), Film (1980) - This is an instance where the film and book truly become two different stories towards the end, and in this case they both succeed. Sure, Kubrick's film doesn't adhere to King's story, but it's equally as effective. And c'mon, can anyone read the book now and not picture Jack Nicholson in the role? My grades: Book: A, Film: A

Creepshow - Comic book (1982), Film (1982) - Not really an adaptation, as the comic was produced in conjunction with the film. Great early 1980's gore-fest, and who can forget Steve's acting job? My grades: Book: never read, Film: B-

Cujo - Book (1981), Film (1983) - One of Steve's slimmer novels, the producers still found plenty to chop out and leave us with the story of a rabid dog. Meditations on the nature of evil be damned. My grades: Book: C+, Film: D

The Dead Zone - Book (1979), Film (1983) - What do you get when you combine Stephen King's imagination with David Cronenberg's sense of dread? One of the best adaptations of a King book. Christopher Walken is dead-on in the role of Johnny Smith. My grades: Book: A, Film: A-

Christine - Book (1983), Film (1983) - Now let's combine Stephen King with John Carpenter - the results are not as effective. Great use of rock and roll on the soundtrack. The source material may have been somewhat too unwieldy to appropriately translate to the screen. Book: B-, Film: C

Children of the Corn - Story included in book Night Shift (1978), Film (1984) - Now Hollywood started to adapt 20 to 30 page short stories into film. If adaptations of some of King's more verbose novels suffer for the volume of material excised, these films suffer for the amount of stuff made up and added to flesh out the story. This first feature length short story adaptation is one of the better ones, even if the ending is drastically changed. Story: B+, Film: B-

Firestarter - Book (1980), Film (1984) - The book is more of a thriller than a horror novel, but the film just isn't that thrilling. Also, it leaves out a lot of character development which really made you feel for Charlie in the novel. Book: B-, Film: C-

Cat's Eye - Based on two stories from Night Shift (1978) plus an original story, Film (1985) - The two short stories adapted here, "Quitters, Inc." and "The Ledge" are high tension psychological terror at its finest. The film combines them with a goofy story of a little girl and a troll. The stories would have been done much better justice as part of an hour long anthology series such as Showtime's Masters of Horror or the recent TNT production of Nightmares and Dreamscapes. Stories: B+, Film: D

Silver Bullet - Based on the novella Cycle of the Werewolf (1984), Film (1985) - A long story adapted to a pedestrian werewolf movie. Not bad, but not good, nothing really memorable except Corey Feldman in a wheelchair (if my memory serves me right). Book: C+, Film: C

Maximum Overdrive based on the short story "Trucks" included in Night Shift (1978), Film (1986) - King directs his own adaptation of the short story. I found the film more comical than menacing. The killer soda machine cracked me up. Story: C, Film: D

Stand By Me - based on the novella "The Body" from Different Seasons (1982), Film (1986) - a non-horror, coming of age story told in the sweet dulcet tones of King's best childhood voice. Rob Reiner's film hits all of the points perfectly. The first King masterpiece since Kubrick's The Shining. Novella: A, Film: A+

Creepshow 2 - one segment based on the short story "The Raft" from Skeleton Crew (1985), Film (1987) - Not really an adaptation, yet The Raft sequence is done well, as is The Hitch-hiker. Old Chief Woodn'head, however, leaves a lot to be desired. Story "The Raft": C+, Film: C-

A Return to Salem's Lot - non-Stephen King sequel to the novel Salem's Lot (1976), Film (1987) - Why was this necessary? No story to grade. Film: F

The Running Man - novel (writing as Richard Bachman) (1982), Film (1987) - a dystopian sci-fi thriller of a novel, the film suffers from completely miscasting the Ben Richards role. Arnold looks nothing like the Ben of the novel. That said, the film is still fun in its own right. Novel: B-, Film: B-

Pet Sematary - Novel (1983), Film (1989) - according to King, this novel, more than any of his others, scared HIM. I'd tend to agree, it really gets under your skin. The film managed to capture a lot of that tension. The whole Rachel scene really creeped me out. Novel: A-, Film: B+

Graveyard Shift - from a short story in Night Shift (1978), Film (1990) - Workers hired to extermiante rats find the ultimate rat queen. Umm, yeah. It was a weak story to begin with, the film was unnecessary with poor effects. Story: D, Film: F

It - novel (1986), TV Miniseries (1990) - no way a novel this complex, with so many characters and such unfilmable terrors could ever successfully translate to the screen. To me, even the extended running time still only gives you a Cliff's Notes version of the story. Novel: B+, Miniseries: C+

Misery - novel (1987), Film (1990) - Noticing a pattern? The more psychological the horror, the better the adaptation. The only real change here is an ax to a sledgehammer, which really only blunts the impact minimally. Novel: A-, Film: B+

Sometimes They Come Back - short story from Night Shift (1978), TV Movie (1991) - Minor short story adapted pretty faithfully to TV. There's just not a lot of there, there if you know what I mean. Story: C+. TV Movie: C

The Lawnmower Man - shorty story from Night Shift (1978) (can they mine anything else from this collection?), Film (1992) - A film so wildly divergent from the original story that King successfully sued the producers to prevent them from using his name in the title and marketing materials. Story: C+, Film: F

The Dark Half - novel (1989), film (1993) - King's second venture with George Romero, the film doesn't get as much into the psychological aspects of identity as the book does. Novel: C+, Film C-

Needful Things - novel (1991), film (1993) - a disappointing novel becomes a disappointing film. I understand where King was going with the book, sort of a sell your soul to the devil story, but I just didn't feel it was pulled off well. The film suffers, mostly feeling very disjointed. Novel: C-, Film: D+

The Tommyknockers - novel (1987), TV miniseries (1993) - my least favorite King novel, it just seemed to churn on and on without having any real point. No characters I felt like rooting for. The tv movie is equally plodding. Novel: D, TV movie: D-

The Shawshank Redemption - adapted from "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" from the collection Different Seasons (1982), film (1994) - the most perfect King adaptation. A brilliant, sentimental story, the film is perfectly cast, acted, directed, lit, etc. Story: A, Film: A+

The Stand - novel (1978 - revised in 1990), TV miniseries (1994) - a huge, epic story successfully translated to the screen. All of the major characters are here, even some of our favorite minor characters. One of the most well-done TV miniseries of the 1990s. Novel: A, TV Miniseries: A-

The Langoliers - adapted from the novella in the collection Four Past Midnight (1990), TV miniseries (1995) - why would they choose to adapt the weakest story in the collection? The story was non-sensical, even for King, to begin with. Seeing it on screen makes it even funnier. Not scary at all. Story: C-, TV miniseries: F

The Mangler - short story in Night Shift (for God's sake, leave this collection alone already) (1978), film (1995) - big bad scary laundry press comes to life. Mailed it in story becomes mailed it in film. The worst piece of celluloid in the King ouevre. Story: D-, Film: F

Dolores Claiborne - novel (1993), film (1995) - Very well done adaptation of one of King's quieter stories. Can't go wrong with Kathy Bates. Novel: B-, Film: B+

Thinner - novel (1984) (as Richard Bachman), film (1996) - a quick and dirty (as they all are) Bachman novel becomes a mediocre rush job of a movie. If you're not gonna attempt to do a good job, please don't bother. Novel: C+, Film: D

The Shining - novel (1977), TV miniseries (1997) - King, unhappy with the liberties Kubrick took with his story, adapted this himself. The result, a much more faithful story, but c'mon, the menagerie looked ridiculous, admit it. And the kid who played Danny was just annoying. Sometimes less is more. Novel: A, TV miniseries: B-

The Night Flier - short story from Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993), TV movie (1997) - Richard Dees, the unctuous reporter from The Dead Zone gets his comeuppance. A quick, gritty, suspenseful tale, nicely adapted for HBO. Story: B-, TV Movie: B-

Apt Pupil - novella from the collection Different Seasons (1982), film (1998) - nicely done, ratchets up the tension, but you can't expect less from the director of The Usual Suspects. Novella: B-, Film: B-

The Green Mile - serial novel (1996), film (1999). The second brilliant film in the Stephen King prison stories adapted by Frank Darabont series. Once again, perfect casting, brilliant acting, just all around perfection. Novel: A-, Film: A-

The Rage: Carrie 2 Never saw this, don't see the point.

Hearts in Atlantis and Dreamcatcher - haven't seen or read these yet

Secret Window - Novella in collection Four Past Midnight (1990), Film (2004) - again visiting creepy themes of identify and plagiarism, this time to much better effect, both in the original story and the film, compared to The Dark Half. Novella: B-, Film: B-

Anything not included here I have not seen.

I don't know what to think of Dreamcatcher. Quite liked the book and the movie wasn't to bad, but I don't really know if Dreamcatcher was 'movie-material'. To much fantasy aspects...

Excellent reviews TwoDs. I appreciate all of the time and effort that you put into that. I'll definitely refer back to your list as a reference.

#28 - if you want to spend an evening whimpering in a corner try to find Pet Sematary 2. And I don't mean in fear. I mean in pain.

I saw this dead drunk at a drive-in coupled with Hellraiser 3. It was still stupid.

#31 - I agree. Pet Sematary was ridiculously stupid. Gory, yes. But stupid.

# 32 No, no...I mean the rip-off sequel made a few years after the first. I believe King completely disassociated himself from it but somehow couldn't stop them from making it.

Sorry, that's what I meant. I liked the first Pet Sematary, but the second one was dreadful.

I think The Green Mile is the only one that did the book justice. I was disappointed by most of the main characters in The Stand. Although I haven't seen Salems Lot miniseries...

# 34 I totally agree, I loved the first movie. I liked IT too- the tv serie, but not the ending.

I guess some stories are to difficult to turn into a movie. The Langoliers, Dreamcatcher, The Night Flyer and Sleepwalkers are quite cheesy. Granted, the Night Flyer was an OK movie, as was Dreamcatcher. But Sleepwalkers was as cheesy as it could be.

That's why I am glad The Green Mile and Storm of the Century worked out as great adapations. I was afraid it would be cheesy.

Shining Kubrick and also The Green Mile are good movies

I love the Kubrick version of The Shining, but I don't think it bears any real relation to the book at all. They shouldn't say it's "based on the book." They should just say it was "inspired by the book."

I love Storm of the Century, which is probably well done because it was a screenplay to start with. I can waste a whole day watching the whole mini-series back to back.

For the most part, I think Hollywood does a much better job with King's non-horror. All the Different Seasons adaptations are excellent.

And I _know_ Children of the Corn is a bad movie--horrible. But Isaac looking in the diner window while they murder the adults still scares the crap out of me even 20 years later.

Most of the more recent adaptations are adequate but unimpressive. Pet Sematary and The Dark Half, for instance, are very watchable and fairly faithful to the books.

Cujo is totally ruined by the change in the ending. I understand why they did it. Film is a much more assaultive medium than print, and tragedy is more immediate and upsetting on film, but it still ruins the point of the plot as far as I'm concerned.

My personal favorite film adaptation is Misery, but that may be because the movie is close to my heart--my first date with hubby! LOL

I thought Shawshank, Green Mile and Christine were all pretty good. I honestly don't love any of the movie versions. :o/

Wasn't Battleground adapted at some point in the '80's? I ask because I don't remember reading the original story, but do remember seeing it. No one else seems to remember it though, and I believe it was part of a TV series or an anthology movie.

Anyone know more?

The Mist was TERRIFIC!

I haven't seen The Mist but I've always thought it could be a good movie. But will anyone attempt to film Survivor Type from
Skeleton Crew?

Cold roast beef.
Cold roast beef.
Cold roast beef.

I liked many that were mentioned already...Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me....Carrie is one of my favorites. I thought The Rage: Carrie 2 was pretty good, actually. Had nothing to do with the original, except that Sue Snell was a teacher (and was played by Amy Irving again). Did anyone see the remake of Carrie? It was a TV movie, and I think it was out in 2002 or 2003. I thought it was good, and somewhat closer to the book then the original film.

I love, It, The Stand (Gary Sinease owes his career to this I believe), Storm of the century, and Shawshank, would like to see the Mist

Rose Red was pretty good although some of the characters annoyed the piss out of me. I agree with the above comments about Dreamcatcher, wtf was Duddits. Some of the early adaptation were just plain horrible, Early Salem's Lot, nightshift, along with both Pet Semetaries in my opinion.

Anyways thanks though to everyone, I never knew there were quite so many movie adaptations out there of Steve's stuff.

Have you ever noticed that the movies which are advertised as, "From the disturbing mind of Stephen King..." etc., usually don't do so well, whereas the movies that don't ever mention King as the author are pretty good? I don't recall The Green Mile, Shawshank, or Stand Be Me ever advertised as "From Stephen King" and they are probably three of the best movies based on King's work. Just a thought that probably isn't completely accurate.

What did people think of 1408? I watched it yesterday and I thought it was a good movie. I can't recall the story so I can't comment on how it was adapted and if it stayed close to the story.

I haven't read it either but it was a fantastic movie. John cusack does a great job. Loved Samuel L. jackson too.

If i remember correctly, the movie of "1408" covers the story in about the first 40 minutes, and the spins off in another direction for the rest of its running time.

The Shawshank Redemption was probably the best movie in my opinion and I agree that the ending of Dreamcatcher was spoilt by the Duddits/Alien thing.

I haven't seen 1408 yet but I'm looking forward to it and prepared for the fact that it will probably be different to the story because they have to make a feature lenght film out of a short story.

I remember seeing a truely awful film named The Lawnmower Man which was I think meant to be based on the Stephen King story but was nothing like it at all. Does anyone else remember this film?

I would love The eyes of the dragon to be made into a film because I think it could be done really well now, what with all the Lord of the Rings/Narnia/Golden Compass kind of films being out and being so popular.

I loved "The Lawnmower Man" for it's cinema story of a partially retarded kid who cut lawns for food, who becomes a super intellect and has his revenge on the meaniies. A great film as it was one of the first (if not the first) to go "inside the machine".

The Lawnmower Man really wasn't too bad of a movie. But I do remember that Stephen King (rightly) sued them to have his name removed since the film had no relation to his story.

Personally my favorite SK Movies are The Mini-Series IT , STORM OF THE CENTURY , PET SEMATARY , FIRESTARTER , MISERY , NEEDFUL THINGS , CARRIE The Mini-Series THE STAND , DOLORES CLAIBORNE , THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION , THE RUNNING MAN , THE TOMMYKNOCKERS , THE GREEN MILE , CHRISTINE and the one with Christopher Lloyd
In fact I own most of his movies in either VHS or DVD.

Librarianwannabe

Tim Curry as Pennywise! oh mah gawd! Dreamcatcher was pretty good too.

I remember being so disappointed with the mini of The Tommyknockers.

I heard way back when that John Carpenter was originally slated to direct Firestarter. They took it away when The Thing tanked. I always thought that was too bad. Firestarter now is a complete middle-of-the-road movie. If JC did it it could have been great!

That's such a shame, too, because Firestarter has great X-Files paranoia potential and a fabulous cast. It could have been very dark and subtle and effective. Instead, George C. Scott and Martin Sheen chew on the scenery a lot, and it's pretty obvious and mediocre. Carpenter would have made a much quieter, more effective movie.

Let's just put this out there first, that there is no movie equal to the book. That said I think the best representation is probably "Stand by Me", "Dreamcatcher", was an accurate representation of what the book was like. However, I didn't care much for the book or movie.

Jseger, I personally loved The Thing (another one of those movies I had to watch between my fingers)

Oh man, The Thing is a classic. John Carpenter is one of my favorite directors. I wish he'd get something else out.

#59 Couldn't agree with you more! Plus, the girl in me has to say, any time you add Kurt Russell and a great monster, it's an instant hit!

indeed! can we say Big Trouble in Little China most people thought it was a stinker but Kurt Russell was my hero.

Big Trouble in Little China was also a John Carpenter movie. I wish those guys made more movies together. They seem to compliment each other so well.

BTW, who would say Big Trouble in Little China is a stinker? That's someone who doesn't know how to have fun.

Absolutely! Any movie where truck drivers and martial arts come together with asian girls with green eyes is a must see. Ha Ha! I wonder if todays Sex in the City fans would think the same of Kim Catrell after seeeing it though.

did anyone see Split Second? I thought it was great as well - you *can* live off of chocolate and caffeine. I think Kim was a brunette for that one.

Getting back to Stephen King adaptations, I agree with nearly everyone that Shawshank Redemption is a good movie and probably one of the best adaptations (although I thought Misery and Stand by Me were also exceptionally well done). However, I do have one major quibble with Shawshank (the movie) and it is concerning the ending (since I presume nearly everyone reading this thread has read and/or seen it, I hope giving away the ending is okay -- if not, don't read on!) Anyway, my point is that the story ends with the words "I hope" and certainly hope is a predominant theme of the book and the movie. At that point in the story Red is on a bus, on his way to (HOPEfully) meet up with Andy at the appointed location. The film, however, shows Red actually meeting up with Andy on a beach. Now, I know to some this may be a quibble, but I still think the director tacked on a Hollywood ending (for those who need "closure") rather than leaving us with the scene of Red on the bus, and the message that hope keeps us going even if there's no guarantee of success at the end. I know many will disagree but this was to me a disappointing departure.

Forgive me if I am totally wrong about the ending here. I haven't seen Shawshank in awhile.
If the last words are still spoken by Red when he's looking out the window of the bus couldn't the ending still be ambiguous? He COULD be meeting with Andy on the beach but he also could be anticipating/imagining it from the bus i.e "hoping"?

For me, the genuine 'greats' are Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me and The Green Mile - strange how the best films of books by probably the greatest living writer of horror are the 'non-horror' ones. Even so - I thought a couple of TV adaptations that were very nearly up there were The Stand and Salem's Lot (the David Soul one - not the other one). Must admit there are a lot I haven't seen though. And about those SK acting cameos - Good to see him having fun but I'm happy for him that he can write - I don't think he'll ever make a fortune as an actor ;-)

I'm ashamed to say that I have yet to read/see The Shawshank Redemption, as well as the Green Mile. Does anyone else have an opinion on the Stand miniseries? I just read the book, and I'm debating on whether or not I should take six hours out of my life to watch it.

#69 The thing I love best about that one is that (apart from Nick Lowe IMO) the casting is just the way I imagined these people to be. The other great thing is that, over 6 hours, it can take its time and not try to squeeze stuff into too shorter space or cut the important bits out. It remains truer to the book than almost anythng else I've ever seen.

I frequently have trouble with films of books I have loved but this one fits perfectly. I think it's also one of those you'd be able to make up your mind about very quickly so if you can borrow a copy and give it half an hour, you'll know whether you want ot invest that other 5 1/2 hours. Hope you enjoy it.

#68

I love King's cameo's too. Especially when he shows up as a pizza delivery guy!

Colorado, do yourself a favor and read and watch both Shawshank and The Green Mile. They are 2 of my favorites.

I too loved the movie versions of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. I also love "Stand By Me" and The Stand. I first saw It when I was maybe 6 or 7 and it pretty much scarred me for life. A clown that eats children? I was terrified. It was years before I could watch it again, but I'm glad I did because it was much less scary the second time around. In fact, I thought the ending was pretty cheesy, especially the whole bike-riding scene at the end. (I'm sorry, I can't remember the character's names right now, I think it was Bill? and his wife).

I love The Stand Mini-Series and I own the VHS version. Most of my King Collection is in the VHS version even though I did invest in a DVD version of a few of the movies so I own both a VHS and DVD version. How about The Mist? That was pretty creepy. I love IT. IT is probably one of the better versions of movies/mini-series that has been done from his books or short stories. I hope they'll eventually get around to doing Duma Key, Blaze and some of the otehr stuff they haven't yet filmed like From A Buick 8 and Everything's Eventual.

beatles1964

I think stand by me and hearts in atlantis i loved both of them very much

Oh and of cource shawshank redemption even though reds character was different in the movie

I haven't seen as many as I'd like, as I'm 16 and mom doesn't like scary movies, but The Mist is my fave so far. I was really kind of scared because I am a huge Stephen King fan and The Mist is one of my favorites of his work. But I was very impressed. They followed the dialogue amost word for word, took out the (in my view) unneccesary sex scene, and replaced the ending, which was already good, to something absolutely chilling. Major goosebumps!

Personally I like the Stanley Kubrick version of The Shining with Jack Nicholson Scatman Crothers and Shelly Duvall however there is something to be said for King's 90s version The Shining when he decided to remake it the way he felt it should've been done originally. King said he was unhappy with the way Kubrick portrayed Jack Torrance Nicholson's character in the movie since it was different from the way he wrote the character in the book. REDRUM, REDRUM. Kubrick's version was really creepy with the blood seeping out of the walls and the two little ghost girls and the woman in the bathtub who walks up to Jack Torrance and the end of the film. Of course the scene where Nicholson is as crazy as a loon and chops through the bathroom doo witht the axe pokes his head through and says, Here'sss Johnny.

Beatles1964

do you like goosebumps

You know, I watched Needful Things again the other day and realized its really not that bad. For having to compact that big book into a feature length movie. I thought they did a good job of getting the main idea across. I liked the characters, and there is not a large amount of over-acting. Not my favorite, but definitely better than I remember.

I think Needful Things benefits from a quality cast. It's a pretty straight novel adaptation, nothing showy. The changes they did make were probably necessary to make a cinematic movie, and it's well-cast and well-acted (and that's a book where bad casting would have truly sunk the whole thing). I agree--it's nobody's masterpiece, but it's solid. I loved that book, and I saw the film in the theatre when it first came out and wasn't disappointed. The "Ave Marie" sequence is especially nice.

I think Thinner was done well, it followed the story pretty faithfully.

So, did anyone else get sucked into The Stand back to back to back on the Sci Fi channel yesterday. It's kind of cheesy, but I can't not watch it when it's on.

Nah...I saw it was on, but didn't watch. haven't been able to take more than a couple minutes of it.

#85: I didn't catch it this time around only because I was sucked into watching from start to finish a few months back on its last showing. It is cheesy, but what the heck. Cheese isn't all bad:)

I'm all for cheese too, especially when it's a B-movie horror flick or a B-made-for-TV horror flick.

28> I favorited your post. Pretty comprehensive itemization there. Great resource. Thanks!

All I can think to add is more cheese: "The Boogeyman". You can watch the first of three parts right here.

The Stand - are we talking about that old TV one with Gary Sinese? Love it, love it!

so far I think that's the only filmed version of it, but has anyone thumbed through the graphic novelized version of TS? Apparently there's a series of them out now. Looked at one at B&N, but didn't buy it. 2 hardcover versions are enough.

#84 - I watched Thinner just the other day. It wasn't bad, but I wish they had a bigger budget and I hated the actor for Billy. I know Billy wasn't sypathetic, but in the movie he was just an a$$hole.

I did like Stephen King as the pharmacist though.

No, i didn't get a chance to watch The Stand on the Sy Fy Channel the other day. They had a Stephen King Marathon that day they also showed The Langoliers too. I already own The Stand Mini-Series on VHS so from time to time I'll take it off of my sheles and watch it all the way through. I have several different paperback & hardback versions of The Stand with different covers including the Limited Edition version of The Stand that was limited only to 1,250 copies.

Beatles1964

I'd have to say The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Misery, Dolores Claiborne, and 1408 were all pretty true to the book versions.

I think The Green Mile is one of my all time favorite movies anyway.

The 3 worst adaptations of their decade -- perhaps the worst of my llfetime:

The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren
(The movie starred Frank Sinatra as the drug addict dealer Frankie Machine. Heroin addiction was greatly publicized in the 1950s; morphine addiction wasnʻt, but morphine was Frankie Machineʻs addiction. Sinatra, as Iʻve said in another thread, was to my mind a very good actor, so Iʻm not blaming him for the failed movie version.

The Last Hurrah by Edwin OʻConnor

Spencer Tracy played Frank Skeffington, based on Boston polltician James M..Curley. Tracy played the "Curley" role as a very typical Bosotn Irish politician, which Curley and OʻConnorʻs book version of Curley definitely wasnʻt.

By Love Possessed by James Gould Cozzens
"Arthur Winner" (I forget who played him ) is having an affair with his aging law partnerʻs wife
(played by Lana Turner). The partner in the mean time is illegally "borrowing" from the Firmʻs funds. Winner discovers this and finally abstains from blowing the whistle on his partner.
This, probably to Cozzensʻs mind is a real example of LOVE -- as opposed to sexual love. The film isnʻt able to bring this out, but then neither were several hostile critics of the book. At the same time --Lana Turner is attractive, but hardly convincing as the source of sexual love "possession".
Winner defends on a statutory rape charge his secretaryʻs younger brother --in the book he does this through his lawyer-integrity --an awareness of how the young man is in danger of being convicted of consensual sex and deserves a defense. The secretaryʻs brother --one of the most important characters in the book -- is written out of the movie and replaced by Winnerʻs neʻer do well son (who in the book has already died in WW II)!

On 94:

Sorry, kind of a long diatribe for someone who missed that this is a Stephen King thread! (#1)
--I somehow took it that anything about movie adaptations of books was allowable.

Oh well it wonʻt fit into anything else currently, so Iʻll let it stay.

#95 We noticed roland - just didn't like to say;-) It still made interesting reading.

Yeah, actually it was an enjoyable analysis. I don't mind off topic posts, if they're that well thought out. :).

To Madcow299 and Booksloth:

Thanks!