FREE ESSAY ON WHEN THE LEGENDS DIE

WHEN THE LEGENDS DIE

"When The Legends Die"
Novel/Movie Contrast
Joe McNew
June 8, 2000
The book, "When the Legends Die", was pretty good. Then some idiot had to 
go and make a movie out of it. In contrasting the two, I found alot more
differences than similarities. 
The first similarity came when Blue Elk came and took Thomas Black Bull to
the reservation. Tom had trouble with the kids as in the book. Brother Bear was
chained up and eventually Tom took him back to the woods and left him just as
Tom did in part I of the book. Of course, Red Dillion was a jerk in both the movie
and the book, although the book illustrated a better image in the reader's mind. 
There were quite a few things the two had in common but the differences
outnumber the similarities.
I am not going to attempt to represent every difference but I wil give a few
examples. For instance, we first see Tom, or any characters for that matter, after
George and his mom dies. The movie represents Tom as older, during his rodeo
days. In the book, during Red and Tom's 2 fight, he only knocks him down but in
the movie he beats him up really bad. He goes home with the nurse but in the
book he does nothing of that sort. So far he hasn't gone for the bear yet but we're
not finished yet.
The book had alot going for it and I thought that it was much better than the
movie. The movie was a horrible experience and is probably the only time I wished
my teacher wouldn't have shown it. Usually, I like the movie better than the book
but this was the exception. Whoever made this movie should be charged with
murder (of the book). The movie missed alot of the key points.
The movie was interesting and did illustrate some things better than the
book. It did an excellent job of show Tom's transitiion from rags to riches. In
addition, the movie moved alittle faster which made it more exciting. I believe that
it did a better job when Tom actually ditched Red and got into the big tournament. 
Both had their strong points.
The book was better...way better. This is a good example of why a movie
shouldn't be made from a book or at least a person may want to consider skipping
the movie if they really liked the book. Although, the movie was better in some
areas overall I would definitely recommend the book over the movie. In conclusion,
movie = F book = A.