It has to be a good book and a good movie. It cannot be a bad book/good movie or good book/bad movie. On top of my head.... Silence of the Lamb, some of those Tom Clancy movies!!!
To Kill a Mockingbird. Great book. Great movie. Can't say enough about Gregory Peck in that one. In a more recent sense, though you can't really compare it to TKAM, I was watching "High Fidelity" on TV for a few minutes yesterday. That really worked in both media as well.
Because the book sucks? The best French movie made from a good American book: Shoot the Piano Player The best American movie made from a good French book: Vertigo
The Shawshank Redemption, strange how (iirc) the movie was actually longer than the book, since it tends to be vica-versa.
Heart of Darkness > Apocalypse Now. One of the best translations of a book into a completely different medium and setting ever.
Blade Runner, from the Phillip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The 1972 version of The Slaughterhouse Five is actually one of the better translations of a well-known and difficult book. Howard's End The worst experience I ever had with a book i had already read --- Jesus Son. Probably not a bad film, but man, I just couldn't get over the liberties.. And we all know that the Lord of the Rings films are so good that we can just close down and board up Hollywood because we can never even hope to duplicate that level of perfection.
Just stop. sigh... Jackson's so-called LOTR was a good adaptation of Tolkien's masterwork ONLY for those who skimmed the book to get to "the really good parts." Of course, this is a different issue than whether or not Jackson struck box-office gold with a successful formula. But I find it hard to believe that those who valued the book find its unique qualities anywhere on screen, and I feel comfortable that Tolkien would have felt the same; Of course i don't know, but do feel comfortable saying that. Now, those things that LOTR-book had in common with every other action/fantasy/drama, in any other genre; well, those things LOTR-film emulated very, very well. Claude Chabrol's "Madame Bovary" is my choice.
Fight Club is an awesome book and an equally awesome movie. It really translates well to screen and almost doesn't change at all, having most of the dialogue lifted straight from the book. Nick Hornby blew it with Fever Pitch and made a crappy romantic comedy from a book which was about his obsession with Arsenal.
Agree with High Fidelity and To Kill a Mockingbird. Agree with qualifications on The World According to Garp (I liked it when I saw it, but the people I saw it with who hadn't read the book found it confusing and hard to follow, which I guess would be a problem). Not mentioned yet: The Girl With a Pearl Earring, according to my wife, whose read the book. I thought the movie was pretty decent. House of Mirth would've been, if Gillian Anderson got naked.
Re: Just stop. I personally think that Jackson did as well as could possibly be expected with the film but that the ending of the final part was poor. I haven't seen the film of Madame Bovary but would imagine it very difficult ot capture the emotional complexity of the novel. Also why are people saying High Fidelity, the film is dreadful, I had to switch off after about half an hours. I love the book though.
Re: Re: Just stop. For reasons I can't really figure out, it seems that English viewers tend not to like the movie, whereas American viewers do. And both sets tend to like the book. Who knows, maybe in the glory days of Ealing Road there would've been a good British version, but it didn't happen. Or hasn't yet.