On Literature and Film

The title of this blog almost sounds as if it would be an English or Cinema class on any college campus. But I assure you, it is not.

Instead, it is about me, and my love of both literature and film, one in particular.

Now my favorite movie is High Fidelity, which is based upon a novel of the same name by Nick Hornby.

My favorite book, American Skin, is supposedly being optioned as major motion picture. But I won't hold my breath on that one.

In my experience, and many people will agree, books are almost always better than the films based upon them.

One example of a film being better than the book is Forrest Gump. The original novel, written by Winston Groom, was filled with incredibly random things that the title character did, including becoming a professional wrestler. The film streamlined things, and has since been referred to as a cinematic masterpiece.

The book Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris was fantastic, I devoured it when it first came out.

The film was nothing short of horrible.

So it was with great trepidation that I took a chance and watched the film Of Mice and Men, based upon the John Steinbeck work of the same name.

I would probably put Of Mice and Men in my top three literary works, behind the aforementioned American Skin and To Kill A Mockingbird (also a wonderful film).

The relationship between George and Lennie is beautiful. The naivety of a simple Lennie, mixed with the caring, but gruff personality of George makes for a great backdrop. These characters love each other. The final pages of the book (which I won't ruin here) actually caused me to tear up upon reading them for the first time when I was in high school.

And I quite honestly was not disappointed by the film, much to my delight.

I did not view the original version of the film, the 1939 one that starred Burgess Meredith (Mickey in the Rocky movies) and Lon Chaney Jr. (the Wolfman himself) as George and Lennie respectively. But frankly, I would have loved to see Meredith bitching at Chaney in his gravelly voice. I think that that would have been hysterical.

Instead, I watched the 1992 version starring Gary "Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump" Sinise and John Malkovich as George and Lennie.

Automatically, I did not want to buy Malkovich as Lennie, who is supposed to be very physically intimidating, but meek. Malkovich isn't even close, as he is squirrelly and wholly terrifying looking.

Instead, I LOVED this movie. Malkovich was phenomenal as Lennie, and portrayed the role with near perfection. Due to clever camera work, they did make him seen overpowering and huge. And I am always willing to buy Sinise as curmudgeonly and clever, so that fit well.

Add in the guy who played Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High as Candy, and I'm completely sold.

Film has overtaken literature in this case. This one was perfect.