Books on Film: Now, Voyager

I came to know Now, Voyager as a pretty famous Bette Davis flick. I adore Bette Davis, and in this film she's truly at her best. But this fantastic story of an Ugly Duckling is actually based on a trio of books by Olive Higgins Prouty. Now, Voyager is the third installment in the story.

The Book

Charlotte Vale lives in a big, fancy Boston house and she comes from a very well-known and well-to-do family. But Charlotte Vale still has every reason to feel miserable. She's under the thumb of her overbearing, domineering mother. Charlotte is overweight and under-groomed, dresses like a dowdy housewife and barely socializes outside the austere Vale family home. 

In this book, Charlotte has suffered a nervous breakdown. She's now under professional care, and she is blossoming. She's shed the extra weight and she's gone through a makeover. Finely-sculpted eyebrows now frame her thin, finely-boned face. Her upswept 'do is the epitome of style, and her clothes are fashionable, tasteful and expensive. In a word, she's fabulous.

The title of the story comes from a Walt Whitman poem, as the book will you tell you. Before going back to her rigid Boston home, Charlotte goes on a cruise to cap off her treatment. She makes many friends on board and truly enjoys herself. Best of all, Charlotte falls in love. He's debonair, he's polished, he's passionate...he's married.

Life is always a rocky road for Charlotte Vale. But all things must end, even her cruise, and Charlotte soon finds herself returning to Boston...and to her mother. Will Charlotte fall back into her frumpy ways? Will she ever see the handsome man from the cruise again? Where will her voyage end? You'll have to read it to find out.

The story is truly wonderful, but you can thank a different story for turning Now, Voyager into a feature-length film. 

The Movie

The year was 1942, and the 1939 success of Love Affair was still impressive to execs at Warner Bros. The movie would later be re-made as An Affair to Remember, but in this version it's Irene Dunn and Charles Boyer who star in the leading roles. They fall in love on a ship, and filmmaker Hal Willis hoped that Now, Voyager would remind moviegoers how much they love paying to see that sort of watery romance. 

So Prouty was given $40,000 for her book and Irene Dunn immediately sprang to the top of the list for the role of Charlotte. But Norma Shearer was also interested in the role. The two had the same manager, who performed a balancing act until both actresses moved on to other projects. Already a screen legend, Bette Davis was having a huge fight with Jack Warner at the time, and wasn't taking any of his calls. A director friend told her about the movie, and Bette immediately changed her mind. She began to campaign to get the role, and the producer talked the studio into casting her.

She wore padded clothing and heavy eyebrows for the early scenes, hiding her face behind ill-fitting glasses and letting her unkempt hair hang all over the place. Davis quite successfully made herself frumpy and unattractive for the start of the film, making her later transformation all the more miraculous. She's truly stunning when she arrives for her cruise, every inch the glamorous woman of mystery and polish she's meant to be.

What Got Adapted?

The movie follows the book quite closely, and it's made all the more lavish by the presence of Davis in the leading role. Paul Henreid is the perfect love interest, and Claude Rains is the best possible father figure in his role as Dr. Jaquith. Gladys Cooper is perfectly chilling as the mother, and everything about this film is perfect. Davis's wardrobe is perfectly fantastic throughout.

The final line, which appears in the book verbatim, was rated number 46 on AFI's list of top 100 movie quotes. It deserves it. Watch Now, Voyager and read Charlotte's trilogy to explore the story even further. You won't be sorry!

Books on Film: Planet of the Apes

I've always found Planet of the Apes to be a rather frightening story. I don't want a forced lobotomy, after all, and I just can't live in a cage. I like to pace when I think, and that would be maddening. But I didn't know that one of my favorite classic sci-fi movies was actually based on a French book. Did you?

The Book

La Planète des Singes, or Monkey Planet, was released in France in 1963. Pierre Boulle, the author, was already familiar with writing for American audiences. His other best-known novel is Bridge on the River Kwai.

The story isn't about America, anyway, it's about the entire world. It opens with three astronauts who are visiting a planet near the star Betelgeuse. They discover that the atmosphere is somewhat Earth-like, so they name the planet Soror. The water is drinkable, the air is breathable and the vegetation is tasty. So everything looks pretty good...at first. 

Then the astronauts go swimming and see a young woman. She kills their companion, a chimp named Hector. Things go downhill from there as far as the local population is concerned. The planet is populated by human-like creatures, but they are frighteningly primitive in nature. In fact, the astronauts are briefly captured. 

That's when they see the other occupants of the planet, ape-like creatures who wear clothing and carry guns. Several of the human-like creatures are killed, including one of the astronauts, by an ape hunting party. Ulysse, the main character, is captured by the apes.

He's taken to a research facility in a large city. Tests are conducted, and one of the researchers (Zira) becomes interested in the new test subject. Things happen, and there are a few twists and turns toward the end. The book has been translated, so you don't need to be fluent in French to read it. But you can also watch the movie if you like...and it is thoroughly American.

The Film

The first (and greatest) film version of Planet of the Apes was released in 1968 and it stars Charleton Heston -- so really, it's just not going to get any better than that. The movie was a gigantic hit right away, spawning a franchise that's still quite alive and kicking. Watch it today and the film looks dated, but in 1968 the special effects and makeup tricks were absolutely dazzling.

The lead character's name is changed to Taylor (good call) but much of the story and characters from the original book are still intact on film. Plus, Charleton Heston runs around in a loincloth practically the entire time. The movie also completely invents my favorite moment of the film, which you've probably seen spoofed a hundred times, when Heston screams "take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape." The insult is regrettable, but the delivery of the line is masterful.

If you've never seen it, see it. The ending of Planet of the Apes is utterly mind-blowing. This movie has been done and re-done and done again in skit shows, cartoons and on film, but this is the definitive version.

However, a newer one was made in 2001. It's a "loose" remake that was directed by Tim Burton, so you can probably guess how closely this version of the story mirrors the original (or even reality). Mark Wahlberg stars in it, Burton's wife is on board as usual and everything is different. But the fact that a film got made at all is a credit to the entire cast and crew.

The remake was put into development in 1988, after all. It was scrapped just before pre-production. Had it not been, you might be reading about Return of the Apes starring Arnold Schwarzenegger instead. Alas, the scriptwriter got into a dispute with Fox and the project was forgotten for a long, long time.

Wahlberg plays Leo Davidson in this version and he's on a US space station. This time, he ends up in a space pod chasing a chimpanzee named Pericles. The story pretty much goes off on a dozen different tangents from there, and it's quite different from any other version. 

What Got Adapted?

Planet of the Apes is one of those stories that everyone's sort of familiar with, but it all started with just one book. There have been numerous sequels, prequels, remakes and spoofs, but there is just one original story.  The really big twist is the ending of the book -- which is different on film. You'll have to read it to see what I mean.

Dr. Zaius has a bigger role on film, but it's well worth it because he becomes more of a true villain as well. There's more to the story in the novel, and the theme of man vs. animal much more strongly pronounced. Read the book, watch the movie and see what you think of them both.

Books on Film: Lord of the Flies

It's not your typical horror story, but Lord of the Flies scared the bejesus out of me when I read it. The story was even more horrifying as a movie. If you can't figure out what's scary about a group of young boys marooned together in a remote location, you've never had brothers...and you've also never read this book. It's time to familiarize yourself with this terrifying dystopian tale.

The Book

William Golding published Lord of the Flies in 1954. He was waaayyy ahead of the current dystopian trend.  It was his first novel, it was adapted into a movie and it's still read in schools all over the world. It's so controversial, people are still fighting it's use as a teaching tool today.

To me, this book always meant one thing: get a group of guys together, and the wheels just fall off the cart. But actually, Lord has a lot of deep symbolism and important meaning (so they say).  

Here's how it goes down: there's a nuclear war. Britain is being evacuated, but a plane carrying civilians crashes in the Pacific Ocean. As a result of this event, a group of school children have been marooned on a remote island. One group is a choir, and they have a leader with them, but most of them have never met each other before this. However, they are all pretty well-educated and they're all refined Brits (it's a British book, by the way).

Not for long. The story is about how the boys turn -- rather quickly, as it would happen -- into total barbarians. It gets nasty. In the beginning, two of the boys find a large conch (a type of shell). Blonde Ralph and overweight "Piggy" use the conch as a horn to signal others. In this fashion, Ralph becomes the official leader of the band of survivors. The boys' choir, led by redhead Jack Merridew, does not vote for him. The rules are simple. Ralph will work on a smoke signal for passing ships, and the conch will be used as a symbol. Whoever holds it may speak at formal meetings.

Jack turns the choir into a hunting group that will find food. Ralph is a clear leader for the "biguns" (the older boys) and though Piggy is his right-hand-man (so to speak), he is the outcast of the group. Simon is the third leader, in charge of constructing shelter and of herding the "littluns" (the younger boys).

The structure doesn't last worth a darn, and soon boys are being lazy and telling stories about a monster they believe lives on the island. Jack promises to kill the monster to gain esteem among the boys, because he wants to wrest control away from Ralph.

Soon enough, Jack has developed his own tribe at Castle Rock (a mountain of stone and a source of inspiration for Stephen King) and begins acting strangely. Simon ends up going a little crazy, and he discovers the Lord of the Flies -- a severed pig head.

Things get much, much worse from here. There is violence, there is bloodshed...there's a lot of completely primitive behavior, and this is why the book remains controversial. You'll have to read it to get all the gory details, and drop your jaw at the very surprising twist ending (it shocked the heck out of me, anyway).

The Film

Lord of the Flies had been majorly adapted to film only twice, the first time in 1963. Plotwise, the story is very faithful to the book. However, much of the movie was not even scripted. Most of the boys in the movie had not read the book and were not given much dialogue to memorize. Instead, the director explained each scene to the boys and then allowed them to act it out. Therefore, much of the speech is changed on film. But since the main plot points are depicted, this remains the best version of the story.

But if you're hankering for a newer one, the book was adapted again in 1990. This time around, a lot of the plot was changed. The boys are American and they attend a military school, already a huge change. Only one school is present on the island, but in the film there were two. Ralph isn't mean to Piggy in this version, and the phrases "biguns" and "littluns" are omitted entirely. The movie also has a lot more profanity, perhaps because that's more realistic when the characters are American. Some of the violence of the book is toned down. None of the boys look like they should. But much of the original ending remains intact, though the dialogue is changed.

What Got Adapted?

There are more minor differences from the book in both films, but you'll have to read the story to discover them. It's frightening, and that makes it a perfect October read. 

Books on Film: Sphere

We're entering the month of fear and fright, chills and thrills. What better way to celebrate it than with a scary book? But be careful if you choose to explore the world of Sphere -- the movie adaptation is scary in all the worst ways.

The Book

Michael Crichton published Sphere in 1987, but it's still terrifying today. The book begins with psychologist Norman Johnson, who is just beginning to get a little grumpy as he edges into the outskirts of old age. He's being flown to a classified location by the Navy, and so far they aren't telling him anything. When he reaches a full-scale military operation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and he's told they've discovered an alien spacecraft...well, Norman pretty much wishes they had decided not to tell him anything at all.

The spacecraft has been there for a while. Judging by the coral, it's been in place for over 300 years. Norman is only one part of an elite task force that has been assembled to investigate. The rest of the team includes mathematician Harry Adams, biologist Beth Halpern and astrophysicist Ted Fielding. Norman soon realizes that this is the exact team that he put together in a report he was asked to write years and years ago by the government. Norman was tasked with creating a plan if and when alien life was discovered on Earth.

When he wrote the report, Norman thought it was a joke. Now, on a Navy vessel with his team and a crew of soldiers he realizes that this is no joke. It's definitely not a joke when they're all put on a submarine and taken to the bottom of the Pacific in order to study and explore the spacecraft.

 During the mission, they learn that the spaceship isn't alien after all...it was built by Americans. It's not a spaceship, not really, but a timeship that was (one assumes) accidentally sent back to the wrong time. But on board the ship, there is definitely something of alien origin. 

It's a sphere.

By the way, there's a storm topside (that means above the water) and the submarine has lost all communication with their support up above. The team of scientists has decided to focus on the sphere. They attempt communication with it, and Harry eventually uses his math skills to find a way inside. 

Very strange things begin to happen, and the sphere begins to exhibit a very distinct personality. It puts all of Norman's skills to the test to manage the truculent sphere and the increasingly stressed-out team of experts.

Things get really scary and really interesting, and the book is definitely worth your time. The movie...is a bit of a different story.

The Film

The book became a film in 1998, with Dustin Hoffman starring as Norman Johnson (Goodman on film), Samuel L. Jackson as Harry and Sharon Stone as Beth. It was an utter flop, and the critics hated it, too.  It earned around $37 million at the box office, far below the $80 million budget.

Yeah, the studio poured a ton of money into the film. They hired the best actors they could get. And they chose an excellent source of material to create a story. So why is this film so very bad? 

The special effects are good, but somehow the roles never quite fit the actors. Hoffman isn't methodical enough to be Norman, Jackson is too angry to be Harry, and Sharon Stone is sort of just...there. Too much quick dialogue pull and push the viewer through the plot, instead of allowing the story to unfold naturally.

And that's only part of the problem.

What Got Adapted?

Sphere as a movie didn't follow the book too well. Where the book exposes many of Norman's inner thoughts, the movie jumps from perspective to perspective to confuse the narrative. Many events are changed or eliminated, and some characters are removed before their time should come. Many, many writers have called this movie one of the worst adaptations ever...so think about that before you take the plunge and watch it.

Books on Film: Along Came a Spider

Halloween is approaching, and to me that means one thing: time for scary movies. Some of the best scary movies were books before they were film. One of my favorites is Along Came a Spider, the novel that launched a 19-book (and counting) career for literary detective Alex Cross. 

The Book

James Patterson published Along Came a Spider in 1993, introducing the world to Alex Cross.

Cross is a detective with the Washington, D.C. police force and a forensic psychologist. How good is the book that introduced him? Along, so far, has launched 18 sequels, a film adaptation and millions of fans.

At the start of the story, Alex is investigating three horrific murders. The stakes are raised when two prominent students, Maggie Rose Dunne and Michael Goldberg, are kidnapped by math teacher Gary Soneji. Cross is ordered to investigated the high-profile kidnappings, which enrages him because the world seems more interested in the disappearance of two rich white children than the murder of three poor black people.

He's still in a bad mood when he meets Secret Service agent Jezzie Flannagan, head of the children's detail. They clash, but the attraction between the two is obvious as they work together to unravel the mystery.

Soneji has the children at a deserted farmhouse. He buries them alive and goes on to kill FBI agent Roger Graham, who spoke about Soneji as a press conference. As Cross investigates, he learns that Soneji is a bit of a crime history buff and seemingly obsessed with becoming a famous criminal.

Cross is personally singled out by Soneji when the kidnapper makes a ransom demand of $10 million. Alex is ordered to deliver the cash, which he does, but Cross doesn't recover either of the children. At the farmhouse, police find the graves...empty. Soneji has returned to his home in Delaware. Surprisingly, he's a family man with a wife and daughter.

It doesn't keep him from killing another teacher. It's this murder that makes Cross and his partner John Sampson realize that Soneji is also responsible for the earlier murders. As the mystery unravels, Cross learns that the plot is much thicker than he imagined...and the spider web more complex than anyone could have conceived.

The Film

The film version of the book was created in 2001, after a successful adaptation of James Patterson's Kiss the Girls. Though Along Came a Spider takes place chronologically before Kiss, the movie was adapted after. 

But if you watch the film, you'll have some trouble connecting it to the original book. Much of the plot is eliminated and Alex Cross is changed in a lot of ways. Morgan Freeman played Cross on film, a man much older than the character. Because of this, all of his family was eliminated on film.

On film, Soneji contacts Cross directly and Alex is sent on a wild goose chase to deliver the ransom money. Cross kills Soneji in the movie, saving Flannigan's life, before he unravels the rest of the mystery. Soneji doesn't die in the book; he'll be back to bother Alex, much later. In the movie, Cross actually manages to save one of the children.

What Got Adapted?

Most of the book was adapted for film, in fact. Flannigan's eventual fate is eliminated and changed entirely. Soneji's wife and child are removed. The trials are omitted, and the romantic entanglement between Alex and Jezzie is taken out completely. It's a very different story, but still worth a watch. Freeman is masterful as Alex Cross, and author James Patterson praised his peformance in the role more than once. But before you watch, read the book! It's one of Patterson's bests.

Books on Film The Postman Always Rings Twice

James M. Cain published The Postman Always Rings Twice in 1934, and gained notoriety at once. The book is quick, thrilling and (in its day) quite controversial. The novel was banned in Boston for its sexy scenes and themes of violence. But it didn't really get sexy until the 1940s, when Lana Turner helped turn it into a movie.

The Book

The story begins with Frank Chambers, a roustabout who travels from place to place. Right now he's in California and he has wandered into a diner that just so happens to need a helping hand. Frank's always looking for work to make quick money...and there's another incentive.

The diner is owned by Nick Papadakis, an older man with a very young, beautiful wife. Frank is interested at once, and not much troubled by morals. The two begin an affair quickly, because Cora is only too willing. From the very start, there's a level of violence to their relationship.

Cora plainly doesn't love Nick, and she's eager to improve her situation. Together, Cora and Frank plot to kill Nick. This way, Cora can keep the diner and she won't be burdened by the old guy. They want it to look like he has fallen and drowned in the tub, so Cora wallops Nick good with a strong blow. But then the power goes out and a cop unexpectedly arrives, and the plan sours. 

Nick doesn't die. He recovers, but lingering memory loss protects the scheming Cora. So Cora and Frank try again. This time, they stage a car accident. Both Frank and Cora are injured in the attempt, and Nick dies. 

The prosecutor knows the sexy young wife and the handsome drifter are guilty, but there isn't enough evidence to link them to the crime. He uses trickery to get what he wants by charging just Cora with the murder. She immediately rolls over on Frank and tells the cops about his role in the murder, damning herself at the same time. A clever lawyer steps in, however, and for a brief moment it seems that Frank and Cora will live happily-ever-after...until Cora dies in a car accident. 

This time, the prosecutor is able to make murder charges stick...on Frank, for Cora's death. At the end of the book Frank is on death row, and the ambiguous title of the book is never explained. The explanation comes later, after the story is turned into a film.

The Movie

The most famous adaptation of The Postman Always Rings Twice was made in 1946 with Lana Turner and John Garfield. The movie follows the book quite faithfully until the very end. The writers tacked a speech on to the end of Frank's life, wherein he explains the title. 

This happens when he sort of admits that being executed for Cora's murder, a crime he did not commit, is what he deserves. He says it's because the Postman is ringing twice. "He rang twice for Cora, now he's ringing twice for me." It means that if the Postman can't deliver your package (or your fate) the first time, he'll ring you again.

The film version of this book almost didn't get made. MGM bought the rights more than a decade before they turned it into a film. But when Paramount started making another adaptation of a Cain novel (Double Indemnity), the studio decided to proceed.

What Got Adapted?

There are various visual tricks used in the film that you can't find in the book. In the first scenes, Lana Turned is pictured wearing white. But once Cora conspires to commit a crime, her outfits become all black. This shows the evil of her character. Cora doesn't look like Lana Turner in the novel (she isn't blonde or completely gorgeous), but moviegoers didn't care. She's a little too perfect and too glamorous for the role, but her beautiful evil makes the movie a can't-miss attraction.

Books on Film: A River Runs Through It

Like some of the best film adaptations, A River Runs Through It was based on a short story. I've always believed that movies are too short and small a medium to accurately capture a complete novel...but short stories are another matter entirely. This one was originally published in May 1976, and it's sort of based on a true story. 

The Book

The story revolves around the Maclean family, who live in the wide-open spaces of Montana. Fly fishing is what bonds them together. The story is mostly told through Norman's eyes. He's the oldest son, and he goes on one last fishing trip with younger brother Paul. This occurs in the summer of 1937; both men are in their early 30s. 

Fishing is a huge part of the story, which is really more of a novella. If you like very long and detailed descriptions of nature and the weather, you will certainly enjoy the print version of this particular tale. In-between descriptions of lures and the like, you'll see the profound relationship between the Maclean brothers. Neither one can really understand each other, but their affection isn't any less because of it.

The story in the book delves much more deeply into the characters than the film, and gives you a much closer look at Norman's struggle to help Paul. The story is taken from a semi-autobiographical novel, a collection of three stories, written by (who else?) Norman Maclean.

The Film

A River Runs Through It is perhaps best-known as being a Brad Pitt movie, but it's a pretty enjoyable period piece in spite of that. Pitt plays Paul, younger brother to narrator Norman (Craig Sheffer). Directed by Robert Redford, the flick was so popular it actually sparked an interest in fly fishing all over the United States. 

The two brothers are the sons of a Presbyterian minister. Norman has been away at college for 6 years when the film begins, and Paul has been working as a journalist back home. They are a study of opposites. Norman is straight-laced, and interested in courting the eligible young Miss Jessie Burns. Paul is wild, and chases the ladies as it strikes his fancy. He drinks, he gambles, he does just what he likes...much to Norman's despair.

It's your classic coming-of-age tale...but it's Norman who ends up coming of age, not Paul. If you haven't seen it, what have you been doing? You must seek it out at once. But if you read the story and watch the film, you will find some differences in the two narratives.

What Got Adapted?

You'll get to meet Jessie much more quickly on the page. She appears once the film is already well-established, and she doesn't marry Norman soon enough. Jessie is Mrs. Maclean early in the story, and Norman's ordeal with her brother plays out after they are married.

Paul catches the fish in the movie, but it was really Norman who wrangled the beast on the page. It doesn't happen at the end of the story, either, but more toward the beginning. Certain plot points are also fabricated out of whole cloth for the movie. In the book, Norman doesn't attend Dartmouth or get offered a job in Chicago.

Some of the passages from the story, however, appear in the film verbatim. Some of Brad Pitt's most memorable lines are ripped right from the page, as are Tom Skerritt's as the minister/father.

The book takes you even deeper into the world make visual by the movie, and both are worth the time it takes to enjoy them. This is one adaptation that got it pretty much right...and that fits into my theories perfectly, so I highly recommend it.

Books on Film: Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Too many people have no idea that Fast Times at Ridgemont High was a book before it was a movie. Those who have read it largely agree that it's even better than the famous film, yet the book is currently out print. If you haven't been exposed to it, you've truly missed out on one of the most authentic high school stories ever told.

The Book

Cameron Crowe is a talented writer who got an early start (the film Almost Famous is loosely based on his life). While working for Rolling Stone, Crowe went undercover at a high school while in his early twenties in order to research Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He attended for an entire school year, and a very memorable book and movie were the result.

The book itself very closely resembles the movie, but the story has much more depth. Linda and other characters become less shallow on the page, and there's much more dialogue and interaction. Since it's out of print, you'll have a hard time finding a copy (it's not available digitally). But you can watch the film to get a sense of the story.

The Film

Fast Times tracks a key group of high school students through one year. At the center of the story is Stacy Hamilton, a sophomore who has spent the summer working at a hip burger joint in the mall. She's friendly with Linda, who is a senior. Brad Hamilton, Stacy's older brother, is also a senior and he's pretty much got it made. He's got a great job, a cool car and a steady girl. He's the opposite of Rat, the shy movie usher who works across the mall from Stacy's summer gig. He has a huge crush on her, and under the coaching of his too-cool-for-school friend Damone, asks her out on a date.

Stacy is being coached through High School dating by Linda, who is purportedly very knowledgeable about sex. With her encouragement, Stacy makes a date with a much older guy. She lies to him about her age, sneaks out of the house, and the two have sex on their date. He sends her flowers the next day, which she asks her brother Brad to get rid of. He does so by giving them to Lisa, whom he's planning to dump so he can date other girls. 

Stacy uses her newfound sexual confidence to put the moves on Rat during their date, but it freaks him out. She ends up putting the moves on Damone instead, and he's happy to comply. But when he doesn't help Stacy deal with the resulting pregnancy, Linda steps up to get revenge. Rat confronts him, too, and we see that Damone isn't the totally cool guy he pretends to be.

Brad isn't the totally cool guy he thinks he is, either. He loses his job after blowing up at a customer and decides to hang onto his girl, but she doesn't want to hang onto him. He eventually gets a job at a convenience store and, with help from school stoner Jeff Spicoli he becomes a hero.

Jeff is the best character in the film. Played by Sean Penn, Spicoli is that perpetually-stoned slacker who exists in every high school. But he meets his match in the form of Mr. Hand, the school's toughest and sternest teacher.

Stacy learns that Linda isn't really so experienced, and things immediately get better when she stops taking her advice.

What Got Adapted?

The film is more streamlined than the novel, the stories around each character more neatly arranged. On film, distinct main characters emerge, while the book is a bit more scattered and unfocused. And some things did get lost or changed in translation. In the book, Stacy is much more aggressive with her older date. They go on more than one date, and finally she puts the moves on him to get him to make love to her. It happens in one date on film, and he is the aggressor. In the book, he continues to ask her for dates until she reveals her true age to him. 

Spicoli isn't nearly so likable in the book, though some of this is no doubt due to Sean Penn. He makes Spicoli one of the bright spots of the film, but on the page he's more of a buffoon. Many of Penn's memorable film lines aren't even in the original book. Forest Whitaker's character is much more developed on the page; he appears only very briefly in the movie. One fairly prominent character from book, Steve, was deleted from the film entirely.

Search for a copy of the book if you will, but you'll have much better luck finding the now-iconic film. If you've seen it, see it again with new appreciation. If you haven't seen it, what are you doing? Go watch it right now.

Books on Film: Terms of Endearment

Terms of Endearment is one of those movies that everyone's seen, or heard about, or wanted to watch. But before Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger made it an iconic film, it was a pretty popular book...and it was a different story. 

The Book

Larry McMurtry published Terms in 1975. It begins with Aurora Greenway, an attractive and very controlling woman. She has many boyfriends, but her life is thrown into crisis when she discovers that her young daughter Emma is pregnant. Emma married the wrong man, and will now bear his child. This makes Aurora a grandmother, and this is upsetting. After a date with a gentleman caller known as The General, Aurora hits Vernon with her car.

He becomes another boyfriend, and he becomes as besotted with her as the others. She won't marry him, or any of them. The novel follows Aurora's various dates and love affairs, as well as drama with her maid Rosie. Emma goes into labor the same night Rosie's husband is stabbed. This first part of the book takes place over a 6-month time span.

Then, shockingly, the novel fast-forwards a decade...and suddenly switches to a different point of view. Emma is now the focus, and her marriage to Flap has degenerated terribly. She's had many affairs, but won't leave him. Then, Emma gets cancer and suddenly dies.

It's a strange way to end the plot, and a bit meandering. Why did we go see Emma's death? Why does the tone of the story change? One can only guess, but it's worth reading the novel because it is well-written. McMurtry is particularly good with dialogue, and Aurora is an inherently likable character.

But the book is not much like the movie. The movie is based on, perhaps, the first quarter of the book...and it's got Jack Nicholson. 

The Movie

Terms of Endearment became a movie in 1983, and it still appears on cable at least once a year. It's still talked about, and spoofed, and referenced. It's that good.

Viewers are introduced immediately to Aurora Greenway, who seemingly drives her husband to despair because she is so over-protective of their infant daughter, Emma. Many years later Emma is a young, somewhat rebellious and fun-loving girl who will do anything to escape her smothering mother...even marry Flap, whom Aurora despises. 

Emma is very happy to marry him, and even to move into a miserable shack of a home with him. Flap is a scholar, a teaching professor, and he's never going to make a ton of money. Aurora is heartbroken when he gets a job far away from their Texas home, and Emma is forced to move away.

They begin to talk on the phone every day, and the years pass. Flap and Emma have a son, then another. But marital problems make life difficult. Much of the trouble seems to stem from their lack of money; they borrow often from Aurora. Emma gives birth to a daughter, but nothing gets better for the family.

She meets a very nice man, also married (played by John Lithgow), and has an affair. This she tells to Aurora, because she tells Aurora everything. But when Emma discovers that Flap has been having an affiar of his own -- and much more serious -- she goes back to Texas. Flap calls to coax her back to their new home in Nebraska, and Emma and the children go. 

Then she gets cancer and dies. That part remains the same. While Emma is living her life, Aurora is living hers. The General becomes the Astronaut instead, actually Garrett Breedlove (Nicholson), Aurora's new neighbor. He alone seems immune to her charms, and he alone seems to ruffle her feathers where other suitors cannot. Nicholson's character is nothing like The General from the book. He dumps Aurora after seeing Emma and the three grandchildren, but unexpectedly flies to Nebraska while Emma is sick with cancer. 

Aurora forcibly explains to Flap that she will be raising the three children henceforth. At the wake following Emma's funeral, Garrett assumes a fatherly role toward Tommy, Emma's oldest boy.

The film was highly successful and went on to become a modern classic. It won 5 Oscars and great acclaim for strong performances from the principle and supporting cast. 

What Got Adapted?

When the book begins, Emma and Flap have already been married for two years and he's already a total jerk. In the movie, we get to see Emma right after graduation. We get to see her marry Flap, and smiling, and totally in love. They're passionate for each other. None of that is in the book. 

Also not in the book is one of Shirley MacLaine's most famous scenes in her epic body of work. In the scene, Aurora Greenway gives everyone in the hospital hell because they've forgotten Emma's pain medication. It's wrenching...and it's original to the movie.

So you should watch the movie. If you love Aurora and want to know much more about her, read the book. Otherwise...well, watch the movie again.

Books on Film: Fried Green Tomatoes

Fannie Flagg was a Match Game regular, an actress and a colorful personality, so it makes sense that she would write a book that managed to shine and stand out. She's the mind behind Fried Green Tomatoes, the novel that inspired one of my favorite chick flicks (and I've seen an embarrassing amount of them). But if you pick up the novel expecting to find the Idgie you loved from the film, you're in for a bit of a surprise.

The Book

Flagg published Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, which is the actual title of the book, in 1987. Like the movie, it focuses on two different time periods in one woman's life. In the novel's present, an elderly woman in a nursing home named Ninny Threadgoode becomes friends with a middle-aged stranger named Evelyn Couch. During their once-weekly visits, Ninny tells Evelyn a story that happened many years ago.

Her story revolves around the Whistle Stop Cafe, which is found in Whistle Stop, Alabama. Idgie and her friend Ruth ran the cafe, which was known for its fried green tomatoes. The story took place a long time ago, around the 1920s, but hearing it inspires Evelyn Couch to make positive changes in her own life. She's enthralled with Idgie's bravery, and it compels her to shed some of her own cowardly ways.

But the novel doesn't tell the same tight, cohesive stories you'll see unfold in the film version. The narration is confused at times, and the reader must determine where and when they are based on the descriptions that open up each chapter. This is helped along somewhat by the Weems Weekly, Whistle Stop's local paper. Events are revealed out of order and in no real pattern.

Ninny was taken in as a child by the Threadgoode family and she married Cleo, one of the brothers. But her true first love was dashing Buddy Threadgoode, who was very close with his little sister Idgie (short for Imogene). She's a tomboy, and the apple of her brother's eye. But things change when Buddy is hit by a train and killed. She takes to living away from the house and becomes even more boyish. Years pass in this fashion, and then Ruth Jamison arrives.

Ruth has also come to live with the family because she's teaching at the nearby Bible School. Idgie falls in love with her and begins to spend more time at home, but Ruth has not come to Alabama to stay. She's promised to marry a man, and moves to Georgia to be his wife at the end of the summer. Idgie leaves home again, and once more the years start to roll on by.

A Bible page torn from the Book of Ruth arrives at the Threadgoode home. Idgie understands at once that it's from Ruth, and that she's being abused by her husband. How she infers that from Ruth 1:16 one never knows, but then I have trouble understanding much of the Bible as it is so I'll let it go. Idgie brings Big George, a servant in the Threadgoode home, and her two surviving brothers to take Ruth away from her husband Frank Bennett.

Ruth's carrying his child, so Idgie's father gives her money to start her own business so she can care for Ruth. Idgie builds the Whistlestop Cafe. Sipsey, Big George and Onzell begin working there with her. Together, the two women raise Buddy Junior, later nicknamed "Stump" after a train accident.

Regulars come to the cafe, people like Smokey Lonesome. He's a Depression-era hobo who rides the rails, and the cafe gains some notoriety among this set. Idgie and Ruth ruffle a few feathers when they even start serving blacks out the back door. Frank Bennett has disappeared, and detectives come by to ask Ruth if she has any information about it.

Hearing about Idgie's incorrigible ways inspires Evelyn to create an alter-ego named Towanda -- she's sort of like Sasha Fierce. It makes Evelyn confident, self-possessed, bold and unafraid.

And in the past, the cafe carries on. The Depression comes and goes, as does World War II. Buddy Junior becomes a man, and the town grows quiet around them. Ruth dies of cancer in the 50s, and the railroad was already out of fashion by then. Idgie is later arrested, along with Big George, for Frank Bennett's murder. His car was found at the bottom of a lake outside town, you see. But the case is dismissed after the town minister lies for Idgie on the stand. She once helped his son (and most of the people in town).

We learn later that Sipsey killed him with an iron skillet when Buddy Junior was still a baby. The detectives ate Bennett's body when they came to investigate, meat that was barbequed by Big George. They loved it.

While away at a weight loss spa, Evelyn learns that Ninny Threadgoode has died in the nursing home. It's a sad ending, and a different one from what you'll see when you view the film. In fact, a whole lot of things are different on film.

The Film

The movie Fried Green Tomatoes was released in 1991, and starred Mary Stuart Masterson as Idgie. Mary-Louise Parker played Ruth. Jessica Tandy became Ninny onscreen, and Kathy Bates was a perfect Evelyn.

The meeting between the two new friends is much the same on film...and the story begins to deviate almost immediately from there. We focus right away on young Idgie, and meet Ruth early. In this version, it's Ruth who is in love with Buddy and she has moved into the home because she will marry him. Both girls are present the night Buddy dies, and both are devastated.

Ruth is asked to come back to the home years later, once Idgie has slipped so far out of civilized society her parents become concerned. Though at first reluctant, Idgie soon accepts Ruth's friendship and returns it in kind. But Ruth still leaves Whistle Stop to marry Frank Bennett, and Idgie is left bereft because she misses her best, and arguably only, friend.

Idgie goes to visit Ruth under her own steam and all alone, and sees evidence that Frank has been beating up on her. Idgie pretty much drags her BFF back to Whistle Stop, and the events of opening the cafe take place just the way they ought.

The rest of the film pretty much carries out as the book does, with a few very glaring omissions. Ninny goes to live with Evelyn at the end, and it's revealed that Ninny is actually Idgie.

What Got Adapted?

The few changes made to Fried Green Tomatoes are probably the most important, because they manage to change the entire tone of the book. You see, Idgie and Ruth are lesbians. Such is not the case on film, where the relationship is made into more a sisterish or best friend pairing. If you don't know they're supposed to be lesbians, you probably won't see it anywhere on the film.

Ninny lives on film, because her death really does make the whole thing so sad. In the movie, Ruth lives to testify at Frank's trial. In the book, she never lives to see Idgie arrested. On film, Ninny and Idgie are the same person. This is not the case in the book. They talk to each other and they are certainly two different people; Ninny was Idgie's sister-in-law.

The book is largely about aging. It's an extremely important element that we meet a childhood and adolescent Idgie, a twenty-something Idgie and Ruth, middle-aged Evelyn and elderly Ninny. All represent something different. The town ages, too, as does Idgie's childhood home. The south becomes older, a little colder, and changes come to take away some of it charm.

It really feels like Whistle Stop dies with Ninny at the end of the book. Racism is a strong theme of the story, but only briefly touched on film by comparison. Death is another central theme, and avoided on film wherever possible.

It becomes a different kind of story, but both versions of Fried Green Tomatoes are great. It's still one of my favorites. If you don't read it and watch it, you'll be missing out.

Books on Film: Jaws

Jaws became one of the most famous big screen villains, a predator so frightening he has his own theme music. But before he swam onscreen, Jaws lived on the page.

The Book

Peter Benchley wrote Jaws in 1974, and changed horror. He was inspired by real shark attacks to write the book, though it sure didn't hurt that Doubleday asked him to pen the story.

It was so good, it was destined to become a film even before it was finished. Two producers read it before the book was even published, and quickly purchased the film rights. They helped the book become a bestseller. The very next year, in 1975, it became a hit movie. 

Jaws is set in fictional resort town Amity in New York. A young girl is attacked and killed by a shark while on vacation, but its buried by the Mayor and a local newsman so as not to disturb the town's appeal as a tourist destination.

But the killing doesn't stop. A local fisherman disappears after being asked to go kill the shark, an action prompted by the beast's attack on two local residents. The local chief of police, Brody, pulls a huge shark tooth out of the fisherman's boat. It's all that's left of the fisherman (Ben).

We learn that the Mayor is in collusion with the mob to keep the beach open (and the property values high), and the chief's wife has an affair with the fish expert who is brought in, a guy named Hooper. By the way, Jaws has a lot of sub-plots that were cut on film.

The chief decides to take action when the tourist population swells. People are flooding Amity instead of running away, as expected. They're hoping to see the killer shark. Brody hires himself a shark hunter, a guy named Quint. Together with Hooper, the men set out on Quint's ship the Orca to hunt the beast themselves.

It's tense. Brody suspects the affair, Quint is a loose cannon and Hooper seems to enjoy goading Brody. For days they find nothing, see nothing.

But they eventually find the shark, and Hooper dies in an attempt to capture it. Brody is now out of money, but Quint no longer cares. Hunting the shark is all that matters.

He gets his wish, and Jaws dies in a thrilling action scene, but the shark takes Quint with him.

The book was on the bestseller list for 44 weeks. Jaws became part of cinematic history for ever. Later in life, Benchley felt guilty for giving sharks a bad rap and became an activist.

The Movie

Director Steven Speilberg didn't like the characters in the book, and wanted the shark to win. On film, Roy Scheider stars as Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as Hooper and Robert Shaw as Quint the shark hunter.

They had problems making the flick right away. Filming went over budget and past schedule. The mechanical sharks kept breaking, so Speilberg had to get creative. Instead of the shark, there are a lot of shots of the water, backed up by the famous score composed by John Williams. 

It made for a thrillingly terrifying film, and moviegoers responded accordingly. Jaws became the highest-grossing film of its day, and the first summer blockbuster. Three sequels followed, though Benchley and Spielberg were not involved.

Spielberg removed many of the subplots, because he said the shark hunt was his favorite part. He made the characters more likable, got rid of the affair and brought in new writers to rework the script after Benchley turned in three rewrites.

As a result, the film focuses more on the shark than on the people, a deviation from the novel that made Jaws a big screen legend. Spielberg and his fleet of writers took heavy poetic license with the script, but it's hard to complain at the final result. The movie is chilling, action-packed, and it ushered in a new era of glossy big-budget films that we still celebrate today. But purists will note many, many differences when comparing the two.

What Got Adapted? 

The trouble in Brody's relationship with Ellen is obvious early in the novel, when they argue because she's so unhappy with her life with him. In the film, they're amicable with each other. Hooper in the book is a bit of a snobby elitist, an Ivy Leaguer who isn't likable once. Richard Dreyfuss as Hooper is impossible not to like. 

The Mafia subplot is abandoned in entirety, newspaper reporter Harry Meadows is shoved to the fringes of the story, and Brody never tries to strangle Hooper to death on the deck of the Orca. The illegal dolphin bait is exchanged for standard chum on film, and the Orca stays on the oceans for many days and nights (in the book, it returns to dock at night). 

One of the most noticeable differences is Hooper. He dies in the cage on the page, but survives the ordeal on film. Quint's death is changed. In the book he dragged under water when his foot is caught in the harpoon rope. The shark eats him on film. Even the shark dies more dramatically on film, but then it's a visual medium.

Surprisingly, it's the book that's the darker of the two. Spielberg hired comedy writers to lighten up the script and add some jokes in order to balance out the life-and-death struggle that plays out in the story. On paper, Jaws reads like a whole different story altogether. Give it a try after you watch the movie...and think about it next time you go swimming.

Movies on Paper: Star Wars

I've written many posts about books that became films. Much more rarely, this happens in reverse: people write books inspired by movies. The best example you're likely to find is Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope. It was on film first. Now, it's in everything.

The Film

I'm certain there's nothing I can tell you about Star Wars that you don't already know, except maybe that I find Family Guy's to be the definitive spoof and I'm sorry, Mel Brooks (Spaceballs reference). 

It's basically your classic heroic tale, only set in space. The story, to paraphrase, goes something like this. A pretty young and untried filmmaker named George Lucas got an epic idea for a movie, so he wrote it all out. He started showing it around, and movie studios were overwhelmed. They told Lucas he didn't have a movie in his hand -- he had several movies. So Lucas selected the middle chunk of his epic sci-fi fantasy story and said, let's make this into a movie. The studio said, let's make it three.

So they released A New Hope, technically the fourth chapter in the epic story but the first movie made in the franchise, in 1977. 

It blew everybody away. The special effects were mind-boggling and the story so good, everybody pretty much overlooked the fact that three unknown actors were playing the leading roles. Star Wars has it all: romance, mystery, space battles, scary soldier guys, a creepy villain with an amazing name, a little weird guy who's surprisingly wise, a princess, swordplay...and a Bigfoot. It hits all demographics. 

This was a sci-fi movie to end all sci-fi movies, and the franchise has done nothing but grow for the past thirty-five years. A New Hope spawned (so far) 5 more movies, comic books...and dozens of novels.

The Books

There are way, way too many Star Wars books to list, and the authors are numerous as well. Suffice it to say that a great many authors have been inspired by the first film and its subsequent sequels and prequels. Read them to learn a great deal more about different periods in time and all your favorite characters from the films.

Moved to Write

A good story is a good story in any medium. My Twitter followers might know that I'm a big fan of The Walking Dead, which was inspired by a series of graphic novels, and I am not a fan of comic books. There aren't a lot of movies that have inspired authors to create books, but it is proof that inspiration to write can come from anywhere. 

If you can't find your own story to tell but the words inside you are clawing to get out, why not try an adaptation? Many successful, and wonderful, books have been written as adaptations or re-tellings of other stories. Shakespeare and Jane Austen remain favorites in the adapted classics department, but your inspiration may come from anywhere. Tell us the untold story of someone from one of your favorite movies, or books, or poems or even songs. It's still an original idea if it's something that hasn't been seen before, a twist perhaps on something we have. 

Who knows? Maybe you'll write something so interesting, others will be inspired by you.

Books on Film: The Help

The Help shot to fame after its 2009 release, becoming one of those "must-read" novels on everyone's book club list. After the novel rocketed up the bestseller list, the subsequent film became a surprising blockbuster. In either medium, the story is fantastic...but if you've only experienced one version, you're missing an awful lot. 

The Book

Kathryn Stockett wrote her debut novel The Help just a few years ago, but the book takes place in entirety in the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. She wrote the book for 5 years and got rejected by more than 50 agents before finding someone to represent her. It was on the New York Times bestseller list for more than 100 weeks.

Primarily, the story is told through the eyes of Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter. Aibileen is a maid of African-American descent who cleans house and cares for the children of white families. She is currently working for the Leefolts, her first job after the death of her son. Aibileen keeps the Leefolt house and cares for their young daughter Mae Mobley. Minny is Aibileen's closest friend who has trouble keeping a job -- she's been fired from 19 of them. She worked recently for Hillly Holbrook's mother, Mrs. Walters. Hilly is known to one and all; she's the head of the Junior League and the de factor social leader of the community.

Skeeter, whose name is actually Eugenia Phelan, grew up on a successful cotton farm. She's returned home from college with ambitions to become a writer, though her mother hopes Skeeter will marry. Upon returning home, Skeeter finds that the maid who raised her, Constantine, has mysteriously departed. No one will tell her what has happened.

It gets her to thinking about what it's like to be an African-American maid in Mississippi, and she starts asking questions. For the first time, Skeeter is paying attention to how other white families treat their maids. But the maids are reluctant to talk to Skeeter about their working lives in any way, until one of them reaches a breaking point. Aibileen and Minny eventually open up to Skeeter, and the book is created.

In many novels, this is where the story would end. This is not the case with The Help. In this book, the reader gets to see the ramifications of Skeeter's efforts. The results are pretty hilarious, and touching.

The Film

The big screen version of The Help came to theaters in 2011 and made a huge splash. Awards were passed out and hype was everywhere, for good reason: it's a darned good movie. Skeeter is played by Emma Stone on film, a casting decision that some lovers of the book have criticized. Stone did a wonderful job as the young, would-be journalist, but she is very petite with a slender 5-foot-4 frame. In the book, Skeeter is a big woman. Bryce Dallas Howard wonderfully portrays bitchy Hilly Holbrook, and Octavia Spencer earned an Oscar for her turn as Minny Jackson.

Skeeter initially approaches Aibileen for help with her "homemaker hints" column, the only writing job she's landed. But the more time Skeeter spends with Aibileen, the more she sees the deplorable way Hilly Holbrook and others treat "the help" in their household. After Minny is fired from the Holbrook household, Aibileen helps her find a job working for Celia Foote (played by Jessica Chastain in a highly-praised performance). Still, Aibileen and Minny are the only two willing to share stories with Skeeter. The New York publisher that Skeeter is speaking to urges her to get stories from more maids, and to do it quickly before the Civil Rights "fad" passes. 

When Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers is killed in Jackson and Hilly's maid is subsequently arrested, the other maids start to come forward. Minny tells Skeeter her most secret story, the "Terrible Awful," to make certain none of the white families will admit to having any involvement with the book. Skeeter also learns the truth about Constantine at long last. The book is released, and becomes a huge success, though it does ruffle a few feathers.

The story ends happily enough, as happily as it possibly could. The Civil Rights Act did make things a little better for African-Americans in the United States, and the women's movement made things better for African-American women in particular, but the world would wait 50 years before an African-American landed the highest job in the land.

What Got Adapted?

The movie understandably glosses over some of the harder facts that are openly shared in the book. At the top of the movie, Aibileen mentions that she has raised 17 children for white folks. In the book, we understand that she eventually left them all because they all broke her heart. Though she loved them, these white children she raised learned how to be racists at the knees of their parents...and all began to see Aibileen as something less than them.

Minny's last scene with Celia Foote has been changed considerably on film. Celia, who has been trying to learn how to cook from Minny for months, has prepared a gigantic meal for Minny to tell her that she may always work in her household. In the book, Celia doesn't learn how to cook or to clean and really can't do much of anything useful. She does promise Minny a lifelong job, more or less, telling her that Hilly can't get her fired from this household...but Celia doesn't have a lot of options, either.

Skeeter's mother is also softened for the film. In the movie it is discovered that she has fired Constantine because of some embarrassing behavior committed by Constantine's daughter during a meeting of white society women. On film, Charlotte Phelan's public embarrassment more or less forces her to banish Constantine from the house.

What actually happens is this: Constantine's daughter Rachel is half-white by virtue of the fact that Constantine was raped by a white man before she came to work with the Phelans. Charlotte doesn't even know Rachel exists until the girl turns up at the society meeting applying for membership to the club. Charlotte learns that Rachel is actually Constantine's daughter, and in her eyes the girl is infiltrating white society. This is why Constantine is fired, and Charlotte never feels sorry about it. Rachel's offense is just too great.

Smaller changes are made on film that defeat the message and realism of the book. Skeeter and Aibileen sit at a table together in one scene, for example. This would not happen in reality, and did not happen in the book.

The violence of the times is greatly softened. In the film, Skeeter's book is scandalous. Writing such a book was potentially fatal, however. Sympathetic whites were hanged and killed in the deep south as surely as blacks who fought for Civil Rights.

The ending is also changed on film, something that causes many critics to cringe. You'll have to familiarize yourself with both versions to find out how the ending was changed! The Help is definitely worth the time to read and to watch, so don't miss either version.

Books on Film: Julie and Julia

Julie and Julia is one of the more interesting books on film you'll watch, because it's not based on one book. It's based on two books written by authors who were worlds apart. The movie shows both stories, though they did not occur concurrently, and somehow manages to blend both together pretty seamlessly.

The Books

Julie and Julia is based on My Life in France, an autobiography by the famous chef Julia Child. It was published in 2006 and compiled with the help of Julia's grandnephew Alex Prud'homme. He completed it after her 2004 death. In the main, it takes place from 1948 to 1954. This is when Child lived in Paris, Marseilles and Provence with her husband Paul. It's when her star as a chef rose, and she became a household name. 

The book details the arrival of the Childs in Paris, and Julia's love affair with French cuisine. She began taking classes at Ecole du Cordon Bleu and learned how to master cooking. She learned how to make amazing things like souffle, gnocchi, canard a l'orange and turbot farci braise au champagne. Sounds good, right?

She was well into her 30s when she discovered her love of French cuisine, but she embraced it with unfettered devotion. Julia stubbornly pursued all the goals she set for herself, and the story is truly delightful. As most of you probably know, it ends happily. Child went on to accomplish the goals she set for herself and became one of the best-known chefs to American audiences. She was so well-known, Dan Aykroyd even spoofed her on SNL.

And she was still interesting a few decades after her cooking show went off the air. The cookbook she wrote in France during the 50s was still darned good in 2002...good enough to interest a blogger living in New York City.

Julie Powell decided that she wanted to learn how to cook -- really to cook -- and began to consider her copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by Julia Child. She decided to blog about it, and gave herself a deadline for cooking her way through the entire book. Later, Powell's blog became a book in its own right, and formed half the basis for the movie that would follow.

 
Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen is the blog that Powell wrote, slightly reworked for print. The book was published in 2005, and later re-titled in paperback as Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously.

The blog took off, and Julie developed a following. For the book, she added a backstory describing her own life and her marriage to high school sweetheart Eric. The book doesn't read like a typical memoir...it reads more like chick lit, containing lurid descriptions of Julie's day-to-day life and squalid apartment. It's hard to find the bits about cooking within it all. But the book is saved by Julie's humor, which springs up often, and her persistence to finish her goal. In that, she is very much like Julia Child indeed.

Their similar personalities are made more apparent in the film that followed, aptly named Julie and Julia. 

The Film

On the big screen, Amy Adams became Julie Powell and Meryl Streep Julia Child. Streep, who stands at 5'6", was manipulated on screen to look more like a stately, 6'2" Child. Camera angles and Hollywood trickery were employed to make Streep look a little more Amazonian, like Julia.

The movie shows Julie Powell, a woman in her late 20s who is unhappy with her job and her tiny apartment. She latches onto Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, published in 1961. Hilarity ensues as Julie attempts to execute complicated recipes in her itty-bitty kitchen, sometimes breaking down into hysterics when the lobsters must be boiled alive or the bone marrow burns.

Julia's story is woven equally into the narrative. We go with her to French restaurants, and futilely pursue a cookbook of French recipes written in English. We go to culinary school, and watch as each woman realizes her true fate. Julia Child is meant to be a chef...Julie Powell is supposed to be a writer. They take different journeys in different places, in vastly different times, and doggedly attempt to succeed at all costs.

Julia's book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, is the thread that ties them together. Each woman is obsessed with the book, and captivated by it, in different ways. Each is creating something. Each is learning. In other words, it's a movie about three books, two writers, and a ton of French recipes. Watching it without snacks is impossible. 

It's a really good movie. Both are writers of different sorts, and like most writers both face rejection and obstacles that stand in their way. 

Julia Child certainly learned how to master French cooking, and thanks to her all us Americans may attempt to do the same. Julie Powell learned how to cook, and blog. Both became published, and Julie and Julia was born on film. 

But like all good books on film, changes were made. 

What Got Adapted?

Julie Powell seems to have ambivalent feelings about the film. She wrote an online article distancing herself from the way she was portrayed on film (by Adams), while simultaneously stating that she liked the movie very much.

Powell is right about some things. Amy Adams doesn't totally capture Julie Powell's voice because she's more sanitized on film. Powell has a knack for the colorful euphemism, and only a scant amount of this remains in the film. Her use of f-bombs is cited as the main reason that Julia Child didn't like the blog, and did not consider Powell to be a "serious" cook. Powell's pets aren't shown as often, or at all, and some "characters" from the book were dropped altogether. Julie's brother Heathcliff is not present, and her friends appear only on the fringes.

However, the movie does a good job of capturing the flavor (pun intended) of both books, and showing both heroines in a  positive light. It's two stories about writers, and how can that be anything but appealing?