#51
Double Indemnity
Based on Double Indemnity by James M. Cain.
An insurance representative is seduced by a dissatisfied housewife into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, a claims investigator.
100 Book to Screen selections
Book to Screen's 100 Greatest Film Adaptations
Book to Screen's editorial longlist of 100 outstanding film adaptations.
100 adaptations represented
#52
The Searchers
Based on The Searchers by Alan Le May.
As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable.
#53
The African Queen
Based on The African Queen by C. S. Forester.
At the start of the First World War, in the middle of Africa’s nowhere, a gin soaked riverboat captain is persuaded by a strong-willed missionary to go down river and face-off a German warship.
#54
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Based on The Bridge over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle.
The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.
#55
Doctor Zhivago
Based on Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak.
The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.
#56
Gone with the Wind
Based on Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.
#57
All Quiet on the Western Front
Based on All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.
When a group of idealistic young men join the German Army during the Great War, they are assigned to the Western Front, where their patriotism is destroyed by the harsh realities of combat.
#58
Dr. Strangelove
Based on Red Alert by Peter George.
After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop it.
#59
Midnight Cowboy
Based on Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy.
Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.
#60
Raging Bull
Based on Raging Bull: My Story by Jake LaMotta et al..
The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
#61
The Graduate
Based on The Graduate by Charles Webb.
A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
#62
The Last Picture Show
Based on The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry.
High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife. As graduation nears and both boys contemplate their futures, Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business. Each struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.
#63
Stand by Me
Based on The Body by Stephen King.
After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four boys decide to go see the body. Gordie, Vern, Chris, and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, but they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.
#64
Misery
Based on Misery by Stephen King.
After an accident, acclaimed novelist Paul Sheldon is rescued by a nurse who claims to be his biggest fan. Her obsession takes a dark turn when she holds him captive in her remote Colorado home and forces him to write back to life the popular literary character he killed off.
#65
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Based on The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith.
Tom Ripley is a calculating young man who believes it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody. Opportunity knocks in the form of a wealthy U.S. shipbuilder who hires Tom to travel to Italy to bring back his playboy son, Dickie. Ripley worms his way into the idyllic lives of Dickie and his girlfriend, plunging into a daring scheme of duplicity, lies and murder.
#66
Fight Club
Based on Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.
A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.
#67
American Psycho
Based on American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.
A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.
#68
Adaptation.
Based on The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean.
Charlie Kaufman is a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald. While struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief," by Susan Orlean, Kaufman's life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman and Orlean's book become strangely intertwined as each one's search for passion collides with the other's.
#69
Atonement
Based on Atonement by Ian McEwan.
A young girl irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
#70
Never Let Me Go
Based on Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.
As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy spend their childhood at an idyllic and secluded English boarding school. As they grow into adults, they must come to terms with the complexity and strength of their love for one another while also preparing for the haunting reality awaiting them.
#71
Room
Based on Room by Emma Donoghue.
Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.
#72
Call Me by Your Name
Based on Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman.
In the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's father, a professor of Greco-Roman culture. Soon, Elio and Oliver discover a summer that will alter their lives forever.
#73
Drive My Car
Based on “Drive My Car” + other Murakami material by Haruki Murakami.
Yusuke Kafuku, a stage actor and director, still unable, after two years, to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, accepts to direct Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, an introverted young woman, appointed to drive his car. In between rides, secrets from the past and heartfelt confessions will be unveiled.
#74
The Zone of Interest
Based on The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis.
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
#75
Oppenheimer
Based on American Prometheus by Kai Bird & Martin J. Sherwin.
The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.