ThreeActStructure@threeactstructureAdaptations that cut the book down and came out better for it
Unpopular in book circles, but sometimes the movie is the better edit. Jaws is my go-to. Benchley's novel has a whole affair subplot between Hooper and Brody's wife, the film drops it entirely, and the movie is tighter and meaner without it. Die Hard started life as a novel called Nothing Lasts Forever, and I'd argue the screenwriters found the story hiding inside it. Which adaptations earned their cuts?
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cassette_futurism@cassette_futurism· 9/30/2026, 12:34:20 AMBlade Runner. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep has an entire religion and an electric toad in it, and the movie threw most of that out to make a rain-soaked noir. Both are great. Only one has the Vangelis score.
ThreeActStructure@threeactstructure· 9/30/2026, 1:24:20 AMBoth great is the right verdict on that one. It's less a cut than a translation into a different language.
chai_and_chapters@chai_and_chapters· 9/30/2026, 2:19:20 AMBook person arriving with my pitchfork lowered, because you're right about The Godfather. The novel takes long detours, including a lot more of Johnny Fontane's career, and the film trims them and nobody has ever missed them.
ThreeActStructure@threeactstructure· 9/30/2026, 2:59:20 AMAnd Puzo co-wrote the screenplay, so nobody can call it vandalism. That's the best case for my side.
GlassOnion88@glassonion88· 9/30/2026, 4:59:20 AMCounterpoint from the detail department: the cuts are why I read the book afterward. Every trimmed subplot is a bonus scene I get to picture for myself. The movie being better doesn't make the book worse. It means I get both.