Since the earliest days of film, the world of literature has been looked to as the source material for many a movie, and that trend has only grown more prominent as time has passed. Whenever a newly published written work manages to cultivate an audience of considerable proportions, more often than not a movie version is soon to follow.
In fact, the trend of adapting both commercially and critically popular works for use in film is so prevalent that the Academy Awards created an award for these particular works (Best Adapted Screenplay). However, one of the dilemmas any film adaptation is bound to face is the expectation of the film to embody all of the most appealing elements of the book effectively; we have all requested a review for a film that was responded to with a largely disappointed "It was nothing like the book."
While I can't deny that I have held the same opinions about many of the adapted films that have been released (or, as it seems in some cases, the ones that have escaped), there is another phenomenon I think receives considerably less attention. True, many films do not capture the essence of the material they are reflecting on the screen; but in some cases this has not prevented the film from being a quality picture. In fact, there are a number of films that, while complete failures as adaptations, are actually pretty strong films despite any alterations. For that reason, I have comprised the following list of films (they are in no particular order, for those who are curious) that are representative of this lesser-known trend in the world of film.
Note to readers: This by no means comprises all of the films that would qualify for this category, so if there is a film title not represented on the list, in no way is this an act of slander against a particular work not included (with one notable exception being the truly awful Bonfire of the Vanities).
1. Less than Zero - This reasonably popular '80s adaptation of a Brett Easton Ellis novel shared very few similarities outside of names, settings, and minor character traits of the prominent characters. While the novel was a gritty venture into the the lives of college youth who are rendered shallow and broken by the horrors of the world which they inhabit, the film chose not to focus on this very unique angle and instead crafted a preachy anti-drug fable. Yet despite the film's penchant for overstating the obvious at moments (we get it, drugs are bad), it was held together by a decent plot (rich kid home from college tries to save the doomed figures from his high school years from a narcotic hell) and some very strong performances. Of particular note is Robert Downey Jr. as a brilliant, handsome young man who has been crippled by the evils of substance abuse, which in retrospect was not that much of a stretch.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
"A Clockwork Orange...faithful adaptation."
Kubrick cut the last chapter and changed the whole meaning of Burgess' work. But it still worked for me.
2 - Brian
Another good example is Children of Men, not even close to the novel but in many ways superior.
3 - Michael Clayton
Good call on Children of Men; as for Clockwork Orange, yes the controversial final chapter was cut, but the majority of the film adapted the novel quite well; it very closely resembled what was on the page, and the main reason the whole meaning was even changed was because of the exclusion of that one chapter. His other adaptations, on the other hand, are extremely different from their film counterparts.