# Top 18 Films Adapted From Great American Novels

> Faithful adaptations line up beside the ones that rewrote the ending — including a couple the novelists disowned.

*By YPB Team · Published September 8, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/top-18-films-adapted-from-great-american-novels*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **The Godfather (1972)** — score 1000/1000
   Coppola's adaptation of Mario Puzo's novel about the Corleone family, routinely named the greatest American film.
2. **To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)** — score 795/1000
   Robert Mulligan's film of Harper Lee's novel, with Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in his Oscar-winning role.
3. **Catch-22 (1970)** — score 530/1000
   Mike Nichols's adaptation of Joseph Heller's war satire, with Alan Arkin as Yossarian.
4. **The Old Man and the Sea (1958)** — score 485/1000
   John Sturges's version of Hemingway's novella, with Spencer Tracy alone at sea and a Dimitri Tiomkin score.
5. **Of Mice and Men (1992)** — score 434/1000
   Gary Sinise's adaptation of Steinbeck's novella, with John Malkovich as Lennie.
6. **The Shining (1980)** — score 434/1000
   Kubrick's cold, geometric reading of Stephen King's hotel novel, which King himself disliked.
7. **The Great Gatsby (1974)** — score 376/1000
   Jack Clayton's lavish adaptation of Fitzgerald's novel, scripted by Francis Ford Coppola with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow.
8. **Little Women (2019)** — score 376/1000
   Greta Gerwig's restructured adaptation of Louisa May Alcott, with Saoirse Ronan as Jo March.
9. **The Great Gatsby (2013)** — score 376/1000
   Baz Luhrmann's 3D, hip-hop-scored take on Fitzgerald, with Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby.
10. **Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)** — score 310/1000
   George Roy Hill's time-skipping film of Vonnegut's Dresden novel, which the author praised.
11. **No Country for Old Men (2007)** — score 310/1000
   The Coen brothers' near-literal adaptation of Cormac McCarthy, and the Best Picture winner of its year.
12. **The Age of Innocence (1993)** — score 310/1000
   Scorsese's adaptation of Edith Wharton's Gilded Age novel, all restraint and drawing rooms.
13. **One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)** — score 310/1000
   Milos Forman's adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel, with Jack Nicholson against Nurse Ratched's ward.
14. **Fight Club (1999)** — score 234/1000
   David Fincher's adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's debut novel, a flop that turned into a defining cult film.
15. **True Grit (2010)** — score 234/1000
   The Coens' second adaptation of Charles Portis's western novel, with Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross.
16. **The Grapes of Wrath (1940)** — score 234/1000
   John Ford's Dust Bowl adaptation of Steinbeck, with Henry Fonda as Tom Joad heading west.
17. **Gone With the Wind (1939)** — score 233/1000
   The Technicolor epic drawn from Margaret Mitchell's Civil War novel, still one of the biggest films ever released.
18. **The Maltese Falcon (1941)** — score 39/1000
   John Huston's debut from Dashiell Hammett's detective novel, with Bogart as Sam Spade.

Tags: movies, directors, usa, books, classics