What do you think of the movie and book "The Stand" by Stephen King?

Answer 1

I actually like both, having read the book several times before seeing the movie. As with most book to movie transitions, a lot was lost, but the end product kept most of the main themes, and the best characters. The book itself is a great story of good vs. evil, and examination of the way he addresses the theme of evil, in several forms, shows how our society sees evil, and what we think of as evil. One of the strongest characters in the book could be thought of as evil, a man who does not value women, who abuses drugs, who dishonors his mother, but who is a complex character who like most of us, has a vast capacity for good as well (Larry). It is a book well worth your time, but it is a long book, so it could be a lot of time.

Answer 2

Like some of your other answerers, I too am a Stephen King collector.
The Stand is my second favorite King book... The Gunslinger series being the first - albeit the last installment came off a little cheesy.
One thing that really hooked me in The Stand (the book) is that I can imagine, and truly believe the possibility of a global epidemic caused by our own experimentation.
I agree with a previous responder that the first half of the book is the best half.
I own the movie as well. Of course TV movies don't get the big budgets, but most of all, 99.9% of the time books are better than movies.
The written word allows us to read between the lines and paint the faces of the characters. We hear their voice and project our perceived personality into them.
Even the best of movies can leave you disappointed after reading the book, because things are never exactly as you've imagined.
I guess that in the end, we know how to entertain ourselves better than anyone else does and King provides that space to do so.

Answer 3

The Stand is one of my favorite Stephen King books, and I thought the TV movie did a fairly decent job considering Stephen King books don't translate well to screen. He uses the theme of large scale good vs evil alot in his books, and I love the way that so many of his books link up - there are connections between The Stand, the Dark tower series, The Talisman and Black House.

Answer 4

I think it's Stephen King's second-best book. I didn't like the movie, simply because they had to leave so much of the book out, or else it would have been a five-hour movie. The TV mini-series suffered from bad casting. Gary Sinese was too young to play Red, and Molly Ringwald sucks in almost anything she's in. And, the actor I've always wanted to see playing Randall Flagg is Vincent Klyn (see: Cyborg starring Jean-Claude Van Damm).

BTW, I think Stephen King's best book is "It".

Answer 5

I own both the book and the 5 or 6 hour movie and rate them both excellent as there are details you can find in the book and imagery/characterization which makes the movie unique. Actually King is the only author I collect both book and film because he's pretty good about not letting the film sacrifice the story. There are some disappointing exceptions though...Dreamcatcher was weaker in the film. Green Mile, IT, were strong in both presentations, so was Misery. The made for tv films not as good as the full length Hollywood productions IMHO. Shining was great stuff, "Heeeeeere's Johnny" delivered by Jack Nicholson was funny as well as horrifying. Tommyknockers? Book better.

Answer 6

The Stand is one of my many favourite Stephen King books (I've read both versions). Haven't yet seen the movie but will probably buy it one day.

Answer 7

The book of course was much better than the movie! I couldn't put the book down until the end. However, I was more impressed with the first half of the book. When the 2 communities started forming in the 2nd half of the book, I started to lose interest. I don't really like reading scifi, supernatural things.

Answer 8

Favorite book - The Stand Favorite movie - IT the book was way better then the movie though which is normally the case, they left out a lot and added things that didn't belong.

Answer 9

here goes. The Stand is an excellent example of the journey novel. King's great talent is letting his characters breathe. Each character is flawed, even Mother Abigail, but this allows for honest growth and redemption. People often comment on the conflict of good and evil--yes, but that's pretty clear. more interesting is how modernity and technology have distanced us from a true "knowing" of ourselves. The virus is the catalyst for true introspection. the obsessivenness of Randall Flagg with technology and control reflects our own misdirected need for order and routine. Glen Batemen clariifies much of these conflicts. the movie of course chose to ignore some of these aspects to concentrate on more obvious terrors. Movie was actually boring.

Answer 10

Read the unabridged and uncut version of the book when I was kid, and it's still my favorite book of all time. I thought the movie sucked, but then again, almost all Stephen King movies do.