5 ,6, and 7. The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Dr. Strangelove (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) -  In almost every circle that analyzes the artistic merits of film, director Stanley Kubrick is routinely held as one of the greatest craftsmen in the medium. Not only were his movies filmed in a way that looks starkly different from any other director, but often their haunting yet powerful images would stay with the viewer long after the films had reached their conclusions.  And yet there was one area in which Kubrick rarely ever succeeded — in his later years he seemed to have a notorious tendency to greatly alter written source material before presenting it on the screen. 

The Shining transformed from a Stephen King yarn about the breakdown of an isolated family into a horrifying tale of cabin fever insanity. Full Metal Jacket adapted the first half of Gustav Hasford's The Short Timers rather effectively, but then combined the second and third acts of the book in a very unorthodox manner for the remainder of the film. As for Dr. Strangelove, it was starkly different from its source, the 1958 Peter George novel Red Alert. While both films revolve around the frightening prospect of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union, Kubrick had the audacity to film this chilling story as a comedy. This alteration is made even more shocking by the fact that it is a very, very funny comedy, even to this day.  True, Kubrick did not always stray immensely far from the texts:  both A Clockwork Orange and Lolita are reasonably faithful adaptations of their respective novels.  But it can also not be denied that Kubrick enjoyed forcing his own personal vision on many of his works.

So why is it that Kubrick continues to receive so much praise for these works when they did not accurately represent their base works?  Simple: Because it's Stanley Kubrick.  No matter what changes Kubrick may have made to the material, it didn't seem to affect the artistic value of his pictures;  in fact it may have even helped it.  The Shining is widely considered one of the most artistic entries in the horror genre;  Full Metal Jacket is often listed as one of the most masterfully composed war films in recent years; and as for Dr. Strangelove, its ranking of #39 on the American Film Institute's list of most important American films would suggest the film has achieved a considerable level of stature.