Leaving Las Vegas

what do you mean the movie to book situation? it's usually the book thats better than the movie, so if you found any enjoyment out of the movie i'd say it's a safe bet that the book is as good if not better.

i forgot abut that !!

leaving vegas is one of my woman's favorite movies. though she is far from a fan of nicholas cage. she even waited on him once years and years ago at a restaurant in new orleans. he was find of a dick, but really she just doesnt like his acting. personally, i fucking loved face off and con air, but other than those two beauties, his shit blows. anyway. books. as long as it isnt a "novelization" and is in fact a novel that the movie was based on, then i will definitely be getting it for her. I remember long ago hearing that that movie was based on a novel but never got to searching for it. would make a great gift.

though.. she loved (also one of her favorite movies) jesus' son long before she and i met and i told her i loved it too, that it was a great book. Book? she said.

She didnt know it was a book and i didnt know it was a movie. she loved the book, thought it was great. but the movie was better. (i felt the opposite.)

not all movies are better than the book
but my opinion--i agree with nate--if it is a novel (as opposed to a novelization, like say Die Hard With A Vengeance [staring bruce willis and samual l]), then your usually going to be better off than the movie
-kabol

he was pretty good in raising arizona too

I agree that the books usually outdo the movies their based on, one exception being, for me anyway, is Oil by Upton Sinclair. I enjoyed There Will Be Blood much more than the book.
J - Yes, LLV is a novel by the late John o'Brien, I'll check it out and let you know. As far as Jesus' Son, I watched it the other night and found it to just be horrible. Book comes in this week from the bookstore so I look forward to (hopefully)gaining a better opinion of this work.
And don't forget Nicky was in Valley Girl, in my mind the best movie he ever made.

I've read Leaving Las Vegas, it's fairly different from the movie, almost more of a character study than the whole "Love Me And Let Me Die" thing that the movie was. John O'Brien wrote well, a lot of adjectives and qualifiers and the sort, but not bad.

"Sucking weak coffee through a hole in the plastic lid of a red and green styrofoam cup, Sera spots a place to sit down. She has been walking around now for at least two hours and wants deperately to rest. Normally she wouldn't dare hand around this long infront of a 7-11, but the curb looks high and, having recently accumulated a fresh coat of red paint, not too dirty. She drops down hard on the cold curb and hugs her knees, bending her head into the privacy of the dark little cave created by her arms. Her eyes follow the stream of light running between her two thighs, down to where it concludes in black lace, aptly exposed by her short leather skirt."

Thanks Alx. so is this a thumbs up, a thumbs down or a take a fucking shot.

i thought that this story was about him and that he drank himself to death but here is this from the wiki:
He grew up in Brecksville and Lakewood Ohio and graduated from Lakewood High School in 1978. He married Lisa Kirkwood in 1979 and the couple moved to Los Angeles, California in 1982. His first novel, Leaving Las Vegas, is dedicated to her.

O'Brien committed suicide by gunshot two weeks after learning that his novel, Leaving Las Vegas, was to be made into a movie. His father says that the novel was his suicide note.

----btw i love the movie, and reading some passages on-line the book sounds great.

Thumbs up, certainly. Ignore the tripe about it being his suicide note, he killed himself four years after the novel was published - which is at least certainly six years after writing the novel. Also, too: Welcome to the cult, and ignore posters like Zoth and Zoobot. They're useless.

I read Leaving Las Vages about 4 years ago. It is one of my top 10 favorites.
First off, I am a former drunk, and I can tell you that the book captures the physical and emotional feelings of an alcoholic so realalisticly and vivid that for me it was a little painfull to read at points, but in a good way.
The movie was ok. There were scenes in the movie that if you read the book (or ever was an alcoholic) are pretty intence. Unfortunetly, if you haven't you will not get the scene. For example, the scene when he wakes up, crawles to his refigurator and is standing over his sink with vodka and orangjuice and he is struggling to drink it.
Let me explain to you what is happening there, as I have experienced that several times myself. When you are an extream alcoholic, and you go a little while without a drink you will begin to withdrawl. Think of the worst flew or bug you ever had, than multiply that by 100. That is how you feel. The only quick fix is to get some alcohal in your system, but by that point you are so sick you can't keep anything down. So you are struggling with your body to keep the alcohal in your system, but your body keeps trying to make you throw it up. (Oh, the good old days) That is what is going on in that scene, but most people who saw the movie didn't get it.
The book is full of things like that, and is intence whether or not you are an alcohalic. As I'm sure you know, the author was an alcohalic and knew all this stuff first hand.
So yes, I would strongly suggest reading the book. Oh and he was a very clever writter as well. There were several parts of the book I read several times because they were so well written, "the reflection is more beautiful than the woman who creats it". <- One of my favorite lines in the book.

Interesting thread...I saw the movie but never had the chance to read the book. I did not about the author's suicide, it's disturbing...I'm picking up that book as soon as possible.