Yeah, for the most part, I’ve been very impressed with the transfers from novel to film for Grisham’s work — not just The Pelican Brief, but The Client and The Runaway Jury, A Time to Kill and The Rainmaker were all very well done. At least A-list actors all seem to like legal films! The Client was one in which I liked the book a bit more, mostly because of the humour Grisham gave through his narration — Barry the Blade’s constant fuckups were a joy to read :)

Tom Clancy’s novels, although often spectacular action films, are far superior in written form. I think they’re too big to be easily transferred to film. The same — for me — applies to John le Carre and to Wilbur Smith. Wonderful novels that live in the mind and cannot be well translated to film. I could add Stephen King here — his never do well as films.

Thomas Harris is a writer whose work has been hit and miss with film. The Silence of the Lambs was very well done. Red Dragon, in both incarnations, not so much. Red Dragon relied on Will’s mental processes to carry the reader through the black labyrinth of Dolarhyde’s mind and in the novel he managed that superbly. Only William Petersen did as good a job conveying that on film and his “Manhunter” was irretrievably spoiled by the 80s mindsets plastered on top of the story :(

I’ll stop blabbing. Thanks for an article to make me think about this stuff :)