Adaptations

A survey a friend recently sent out got me thinking more about great film adaptations of great books. There have been plenty of mediocre-to-good books turned into great movies (Carrie, The Hustler, The Graduate, and Cool Hand Luke come to mind) and there have been many great books turned into bad movies (The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises), but I’ve been trying hard to remember the best adaptations I’ve seen of truly great books.

Here’s a list (I’m excluding one of my favorite movies, the 1946 version of The Killers, which is based on a Hemingway short story, because John Huston’s script strays so far from the story):

No Country for Old Men: The Coen Brothers adaptation of my one of my five favorite novels of all time nails it. What’s so great about the book is that it’s a crime story that transcends the genre—like Flannery O’Connor’s "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and Hemingway’s "The Killers"—and Joel and Ethan Coen managed to make the most faithful adaptation of any book I’ve ever seen. Initially, I was disappointed that they had to cut out some stuff, but I got over it quickly when they got the ending right. The fact that they didn’t bail on the spirit of the novel, that they didn’t compromise McCarthy’s vision in any way, makes it the single best adaptation—a seriously great film and the ballsiest Hollywood movie to win Best Picture since Unforgiven—of a seriously great book, the first classic of the new millennium. Here’s to hoping that John Hillcoat’s version of The Road is half as good as No Country.

Jean de Florette/Manon of the Springs: Two films that are really one film. Claude Berri’s masterful adaptation(s) of the Marcel Pagnol novels. Emmanuelle Beart, Daniel Auteuil, Gerard Depardieu, and Yves Montand comprise part of one of the best casts ever assembled (which is to say nothing of the role that Provence plays in the movie).

Monsieur Hire: Patrice Leconte’s adaptation of Georges Simenon’s The Engagement. My favorite of Simenon’s hard novels (of those that I’ve read—there are hundreds) becomes a fine film that, since it’s not entirely faithful, cuts its own path. Sandrine Bonnaire and Michael Blanc give knockout performances in this perfectly paced and perfectly executed film.

Diary of a Country Priest: Not my favorite movie by Robert Bresson (that would be Au Hasard Balthazar), but a luminous adaptation of Georges Bernanos’s wonderful novel. Bresson’s take on Bernanos’s Mouchette is also amazing, but I haven’t read the book.

Thieves’ Highway: Jules Dassin’s film of A.I. Bezzerides’s underappreciated novel (originally called, I think, Long Haul) is not only one of Dassin’s best efforts, but a film noir that—like No Country for Old Men—transcends the genre. The book is better than anything I ever read by Steinbeck and the film is one of Dassin’s four perfect noirs (see also Night and the City, The Naked City, and Rififi).

True Grit: Henry Hathaway is a name that doesn’t get tossed around too much, but he’s responsible for some of the best—and most underrated—films of the Twentieth century: Kiss of Death, Call Northside 777, The Sons of Katie Elder, and—this—True Grit. The film is most memorable for John Wayne’s performance, but it’s also a wonderful adaptation of Charles Portis’s perfect little novel. And it’s one of the best Westerns ever made.

Strangers on a Train: Alfred Hitchcock is responsible for the best—and maybe the only truly great—adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel. This is my favorite book by Highsmith and it’s also my favorite Hitchcock film (though it’s a rough list to keep track of—I also love Vertigo, Rear Window, Rope, and countless others).

The Grifters: Stephen Frears’s pitch perfect take on Jim Thompson’s hard-boiled classic stands the test of time. It’s hard to believe that the film came out in 1990, four years before Pulp Fiction and the slew of wannabe hard-boiled movies that followed in its wake. My favorite Frears film and the novel responsible for getting me into hard-boiled fiction (I must have read it when I was eleven or twelve).

The Last Picture Show: A tough one for me. Peter Bogdanovich’s TLPS is one of my ten favorite films of all time. It’s a masterpiece: the performances, the music (mostly Hank), and the way it’s shot. But I’m hard-pressed to call McMurtry’s book great. It’s good, certainly. Maybe very good. Anyhow, the movie is so goddamn good that I can’t leave it off the list.

The Long Goodbye: Another questionable pick. Robert Altman’s take on Raymond Chandler’s novel is, in my opinion, flawless. And probably better than the book. A lot of people would disagree with me on this. Chandler is definitely not my favorite hard-boiled writer and I don’t think The Long Goodbye is a perfect book, but many great films have been made of good-to-very good Chandler books (The Big Sleep, Murder, My Sweet, and Farewell, My Lovely) and this is my favorite.

Out of Sight: I’m not a big fan of Steven Soderbergh (I think Traffic is one of the most overrated films of the past twenty years), but this is a masterpiece. One of my favorite Elmore Leonard books—and I have many—turned into one of the quintessential noirs of the Nineties.

Double Indemnity: Billy Wilder, working from a screenplay by Raymond Chandler, makes a superb noir that could’ve won Best Picture in 1945 if it wasn’t up against The Lost Weekend, one of the best movies of the Forties (and based on a good novel by Charles R. Jackson). The James M. Cain novel is a classic hard-boiled crime story.

Big Bad Love: Arliss Howard’s take on Larry Brown’s excellent collection of short stories. I’m glad Howard got to make this film before Brown died (far too soon). It’s not perfect, but it’s damn near, and the soundtrack --with songs by Tom Waits, T-Model Ford, R.L. Burnside, Steve Earle, and others -- seals the deal.

Close, but I’m not sure:

The Maltese Falcon: It’s hard to exclude this classic noir. John Huston’s film is flawless. Bogie is at the top of his game. I don’t, however, think that Dashiell Hammett’s novel is great. Very good, yes, but not great.

Dark Passage: David Goodis’s excellent crime novel is one of the lesser Bogie-and-Bacall vehicles. Topshelf anyhow.

To Have and Have Not: Based on one of Hemingway’s most underappreciated novels. Script by Faulkner. Directed by Hawks. Still, a tough call. Not sure that the movie’s perfect. A classic, yes, but it lives in the shadow of Casablanca.

Jesus’ Son: Denis Johnson’s book is one of my favorites, but Alison Maclean’s film is not great.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Do I like the books? Yes. Do I consider them great? Probably not. Do I like the films? Yes, but they’re nowhere near as good as the books, and Peter Jackson probably reached his peak as a director with Heavenly Creatures.

Short Cuts: Robert Altman’s take on the short stories of Raymond Carver. I loved this movie when I was a kid, and I like Raymond Carver very much, but I’m no longer sure how I feel about the movie. I know I like it, but it doesn’t hold up against my favorite Altman movies (The Long Goodbye, Thieves Like Us, Nashville, 3 Women).

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: It has been a long time since I’ve read the book and/or seen the movie, but I’d be remiss not to mention Elia Kazan’s film and Betty Smith’s book.

Obviously, this list is dictated by my tastes. People will certainly disagree with me, but—off the top of my head—this is what I came up with. Like I said, I’m leaving out many of my favorite movies because they’re based on okay-to-good books (Nightmare Alley, for instance) and many of my favorite books have been turned into shitty movies. Then there are movies based on books I haven’t read (never did read The Godfather). And there are movies and books like Fight Club that I’m simply not a big fan of. Any other glaring omissions?