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In honor of HHGTTG: Best book/film adaptations?

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In honor of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, what's your list of the best book to film adaptations? Not necessarily the most accurate, but best overall? (OK Hitchhiker's was a terrible adaptation, which movies could the producers learn from?)
The obvious:
Gone With The Wind
The Wizzard Of Oz
The Shawshank Redemption
All The President's Men
The Not-So-Obvious:
Blade Runner (Excellent interpretation, the book itself was almost unfilmable)
The Shining (Diverged signifgantly from the book, but kept it's creepiness intact)
High Fidelity (Nick Hornby rules)
Fail Safe (The original 60's version, an almost verbatim version of the book)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Not perfect, but the best attempt at a turning an HST book into a film yet. Gilliam rules.
The Hunt for Red October - Some brilliant editing here, whittled a huge book down to a managable, enjoyable movie.
The whole Harry Potter series - As above, amazing editing down into a tight, focused, entertaining package.
Special Mention:
Adaptation - A movie about turning an unfilmable book into a movie. Genius.

/*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/

Follow Ups:

There are tons, now that I think of it. - Harmonia 00:04:11 05/05/05 (0)
There are scores of good movies derived from books, novellas and short stories. (I hate GWTW with a passion but I admit it's a classic.) It often seems like the reverse is true...I wish I had $10 for every time I've said "the book was much better than the movie", lol.
OTOH, some movies, like The Godfather I & II and Rosemary's Baby, are superior to their sources. I suspect that Murnau's masterpiece Sunrise has aged a lot better than the book it's based on.
Some obvious, successful literary adaptations would include:
To Kill A Mockingbird
Far From The Madding Crowd
All Quiet On The Western Front
Sense & Sensibility (Ang Lee)
The Last Picture Show
Goodfellas
Age Of Innocence
Great Expectations (Lean)
Sideways
Bridge On The River Kwai
Apocalypse Now
Red Beard (Kurosawa)
Roshomon
Magnificent Ambersons
Touch Of Evil
The Manchurian Candidate (original)
Don't Look Now (Roeg)
The Innocents
Atlantic City
The Player
Fearless (Weir)
Thieves Like Us
Angels & Insects
Remains Of The Day
The Go Between
A Room With A View...

...which leads to...several directors who notably excell from page to screen...
Kubrick: The Killing, Dr. Strangelove (yes, it was a book first), 2001, Clockwork Organge, Barry Lyndon, The Shining and (arguably) Eyes Wide Shut.
Hitchcock: 39 Steps, Secret Agent, The Wrong Man, Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, Strangers On A Train, Rope, Psycho, The Birds, To Catch A Thief, Spellbound, Vertigo, Frenzy
John Houston: The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure Of Sierre Madre, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen, Fat City, Wise Blood, The Man Who Would Be King, Prizzi's Honor, The Dead
Children's/family classics: The Little Princess, James & The Giant Peach, The Iron Giant, Whale Rider, Harry Potter & The Prinsoner of Azkaban (the first two HPs, directed by hack Chris Columbus, fall far short of Cuaron's delightful film).
Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror: Blade Runner, Andromeda Strain, The Thing (Hawks), The Haunting ummm must be more...
Crime/Noir/Suspense:
LA Confidential
The Grifters
Reversal of Fortune
Silence of the Lambs )
Double Indemnity
The Big Sleep
The Postman Always Always Rings Twice
Sweet Smell Of Success
Out Of The Past
This barely scratches the surface...
Brideshead Revisited . . . nearly page for page. * - mr grits 13:15:56 05/04/05 (1)
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- Absolutely brilliant!! (nt) - Beethoven 15:57:30 05/08/05 (0)
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Re: Agree - rico 12:06:59 05/04/05 (4)
I agree with all of your picks. I would add three Thomas Hardy novels: "Tess", "Far From the Madding Crowd". and "The Claim" (based on Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbridge".
- Someone else has seen The Claim? - Harmonia 17:16:06 05/04/05 (3)
  I quite liked The Claim, an interesting take.
  I would love to see the other two on the big screen again.
  - Re: Someone else has seen The Claim? - rico 09:13:55 05/05/05 (2)
    I not only own it but we discussed it last year in our Summer book/film discussion group.
    - I like director Michael WInterbottom. - Harmonia 10:18:02 05/05/05 (1)
      I find The Claim one of the most interesting literary adaptations I've seen.
      I'm also a fan of the very different Winterbottom films 24 Hour Party People and Code 46 (which most people hated).
      - Re: I like director Michael WInterbottom. - jackrandom 09:45:20 05/06/05 (0)
        
        In Reply to: I like director Michael WInterbottom. posted by Harmonia on May 5, 2005 at 10:18:02:
        
        Sorry to butt into this thread, but I just saw Code 46 and had mixed feelings about it. A little too slow and gloomy and was a bit convoluted because some aspects were not described well. I also found it odd that with such futuristics homes and gadgets they still drove circa 2004 cars.
        By the way, I lurk on this and the music board and your taste in films and music is impeccible.
Re: No Lord of the Rings? - Jeff Starrs 09:21:26 05/04/05 (2)
Haven't read the book, haven't seen the film, don't intend to.
- Abandoned the books into vol 1; did not care for the movies... - EBerlin 14:22:58 05/05/05 (0)
  ...but I'm glad so many people have so enjoyed both. I guess just not my mug of suds.
  eb
- Almost forgot :) - jbmcb 21:30:18 05/04/05 (0)
  OK, Lord of the Rings - not perfect, but probably the best you can do with *THOUSANDS* of dense pages of original source material.
  Pride & Prejudice (BBC+A&E Version) - My wife & mom agree this is the best adaptation of anything Jane Austen wrote. I've never sat through all 6 DVD's, but I'll defer to the experts. Technically a miniseries, but hey, it's still film.
  
  /*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/

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