Adaptations of Pulitzer Prize winning novels
by demented_peruvian | created - 03 Feb 2019 | updated - 03 Feb 2019 | PublicAdaptation of each winner, arranged by the year each won the prize.
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1. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Romance
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
Directors: Orson Welles, Fred Fleck, Robert Wise | Stars: Tim Holt, Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter
Votes: 26,737
2. The Age of Innocence (1924)
70 min | Drama
Newland Archer is engaged to May Mingott of a prominent New York family. Shortly after the engagement is announce, Newland finds himself attracted to May's older married cousin Countess Ellen Olenska.
Director: Wesley Ruggles | Stars: Edith Roberts, Elliott Dexter, Willard Louis, Fred Huntley
Votes: 46
3. The Age of Innocence (1934)
Approved | 81 min | Drama, Romance
An engaged attorney and a divorcee fall for each other in 1870s Manhattan.
Director: Philip Moeller | Stars: Irene Dunne, John Boles, Lionel Atwill, Helen Westley
Votes: 522
4. The Age of Innocence (1993)
PG | 139 min | Drama, Romance
A tale of nineteenth-century New York high society in which a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder, Linda Faye Farkas
Votes: 67,733 | Gross: $32.20M
5. Alice Adams (1923)
73 min | Drama
Alice (Florence Vidor) is not satisfied with her family's financial situation and tries to convince others that she comes from a wealthy family. In the end she discovers that she is only ... See full summary »
Director: Rowland V. Lee | Stars: Florence Vidor, Claude Gillingwater, Harold Goodwin, Margaret McWade
Votes: 18
6. Alice Adams (1935)
Passed | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A working-class girl is thwarted and embarrassed in her attempts to move up socially by her gauche family and unstable father.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Fred MacMurray, Fred Stone, Evelyn Venable
Votes: 4,561
7. So Big (1924)
90 min | Drama
Following the death of Selena's father, she's offered a job as a teacher in a small town, and a new chapter of her life begins.
Director: Charles Brabin | Stars: Colleen Moore, Joseph De Grasse, John Bowers, Ben Lyon
Votes: 27
8. So Big! (1932)
Unrated | 81 min | Drama, Romance
After Selina's father dies, she's offered a job as a teacher in a small town and a new chapter of her life begins.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Dickie Moore, Bette Davis
Votes: 1,824
9. So Big (1953)
Approved | 101 min | Drama, Romance, Western
In the late 1890s, a young widow becomes a successful farmer and can send her son, nicknamed 'So Big', to college. After graduating, he finds a job as an architect, but forgoes his dream in favor of an immediate financial success.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Jane Wyman, Sterling Hayden, Nancy Olson, Steve Forrest
Votes: 818
10. Arrowsmith (1931)
Approved | 108 min | Drama
A medical researcher is sent to a plague outbreak, where he has to decide priorities for the use of a vaccine.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Ronald Colman, Helen Hayes, Richard Bennett, A.E. Anson
Votes: 1,991
11. The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929)
86 min | Drama
A rope bridge over a gorge in the Peruvian Andes snaps, sending five people plunging to their deaths. A priest sets out to find out more about the life of each of the victims.
Director: Charles Brabin | Stars: Lili Damita, Ernest Torrence, Raquel Torres, Don Alvarado
Votes: 101
12. The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944)
Passed | 107 min | Drama, Romance
A rope bridge over a gorge in the Peruvian Andes snaps, sending five people plunging to their deaths. A priest sets out to find out more about the life of each of the victims.
Director: Rowland V. Lee | Stars: Lynn Bari, Akim Tamiroff, Francis Lederer, Alla Nazimova
Votes: 216
13. The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2004)
PG | 120 min | Drama, History, Romance
In 1714 Peru, a friar is tried by the Inquisition for questioning God's intentions when five die in the collapse of an Andean rope bridge.
Director: Mary McGuckian | Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Kathy Bates
Votes: 3,682 | Gross: $0.04M
14. Laughing Boy (1934)
Approved | 79 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Laughing Boy, a young Navajo, falls in love with Slim Girl, a Navajo girl who has been raised by white men and has a different way of thinking from her people.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Ramon Novarro, Lupe Velez, William B. Davidson, Chief Thunderbird
Votes: 165
15. The Good Earth (1937)
Passed | 138 min | Drama, Romance
Although married Chinese farmers Wang and O-Lan initially experience success, their lives are complicated by declining fortunes and lean times, as well as the arrival of the beautiful young Lotus.
Directors: Sidney Franklin, Victor Fleming, Gustav Machatý, Sam Wood | Stars: Paul Muni, Luise Rainer, Walter Connolly, Tilly Losch
Votes: 5,407
16. Gone with the Wind (1939)
Passed | 238 min | Drama, Romance, War
A sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.
Directors: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood | Stars: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 334,116 | Gross: $198.68M
17. The Late George Apley (1947)
Passed | 93 min | Comedy, Romance
George and Catherine Apley of Boston lead a proper life in the proper social circle, as did the Apleys before them. After grown daughter Eleanor falls in love with Howard (from New York!), ... See full summary »
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Ronald Colman, Vanessa Brown, Richard Haydn, Charles Russell
Votes: 941
18. The Yearling (1946)
Approved | 128 min | Drama, Family, Western
A boy persuades his parents to allow him to adopt a young deer, but what will happen if the deer misbehaves?
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman, Claude Jarman Jr., Chill Wills
Votes: 6,465 | Gross: $5.20M
19. The Yearling (1994 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 90 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
A pet deer changes Florida farm family.
Director: Rod Hardy | Stars: Peter Strauss, Jean Smart, Wil Horneff, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Votes: 340
20. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Passed | 129 min | Drama
An Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin
Votes: 99,907 | Gross: $0.06M
21. In This Our Life (1942)
Approved | 97 min | Drama
The day before her wedding, a pampered young woman absconds with her sister's husband. Her sister begins seeing the woman's former fiancé.
Directors: John Huston, Raoul Walsh | Stars: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, George Brent, Dennis Morgan
Votes: 5,256
22. A Bell for Adano (1945)
Approved | 103 min | Drama, War
During WWII, U.S. Army Major Joppolo and his troops are tasked with administering the war damaged Italian town of Adano where the locals decry the loss of the town bell.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Gene Tierney, John Hodiak, William Bendix, Glenn Langan
Votes: 862
23. A Bell for Adano (1967 TV Movie)
90 min | Drama
A U.S. army officer, the military governor of an Italian town during World War II, tries to reintroduce democracy, but his efforts are hindered by his commanding general. Placing his career... See full summary »
Director: Mel Ferber | Stars: John Forsythe, Brian Avery, Dick Balduzzi, Harry Bellaver
Votes: 15
24. All the King's Men (1949)
Approved | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir
The rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.
Director: Robert Rossen | Stars: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Joanne Dru, John Derek
Votes: 16,574
25. All the King's Men (2006)
PG-13 | 128 min | Drama, Thriller
Based on the Robert Penn Warren novel. The life of populist Southerner Willie Stark, a political creature loosely based on Governor Huey Long of Louisiana.
Director: Steven Zaillian | Stars: Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins
Votes: 25,578 | Gross: $7.22M
26. South Pacific (1958)
Approved | 157 min | Musical, Romance, War
On a South Pacific island during World War II, love blooms between a young nurse and a secretive Frenchman who's being courted for a dangerous military mission.
Director: Joshua Logan | Stars: Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr, Ray Walston
Votes: 9,798
27. South Pacific (2001 TV Movie)
135 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
During World War II, love is found between a career Navy nurse (Glenn Close) and an enigmatic French plantation owner (Rade Serbedzija), while a Princeton-educated marine (Harry Connick, Jr... See full summary »
Director: Richard Pearce | Stars: Glenn Close, Harry Connick Jr., Rade Serbedzija, Jack Thompson
Votes: 1,006
28. The Way West (1967)
Approved | 122 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
In 1843, a former U.S. Senator leads a wagon train of settlers to Oregon, but his megalomania leads to growing dissatisfaction with his leadership.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Richard Widmark, Lola Albright
Votes: 3,564
29. The Caine Mutiny (1954)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama, War
When a U.S. Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardises the ship, the first officer is urged to consider relieving him of command.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson, Fred MacMurray
Votes: 29,874 | Gross: $21.75M
30. The Old Man and the Sea (1958)
Not Rated | 86 min | Adventure, Drama
An old Cuban fisherman's dry spell is broken when he hooks a gigantic fish that drags him out to sea.
Directors: John Sturges, Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Felipe Pazos, Harry Bellaver, Richard Alameda
Votes: 8,636
31. The Old Man and the Sea (1990 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama
Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. Santiago goes out on his usual fishing trip and makes a huge catch, the biggest of his life. Then a shark attacks and tries to steal his catch. ... See full summary »
Director: Jud Taylor | Stars: Anthony Quinn, Gary Cole, Patricia Clarkson, Joe Santos
Votes: 1,697
32. All the Way Home (1963)
Not Rated | 97 min | Drama, Romance
Mary Follet, a wife and mother in 1915 Tennessee, copes with the loss of her husband and the necessity of raising their children alone.
Director: Alex Segal | Stars: Jean Simmons, Robert Preston, Pat Hingle, Aline MacMahon
Votes: 462
Adaptation of "A Death in the Family"
33. A Death in the Family (2002 TV Movie)
91 min | Drama
A young wife's religious faith is shaken when her husband dies in a car accident.
Director: Gilbert Cates | Stars: Annabeth Gish, John Slattery, Austin Wolff, Kathleen Chalfant
Votes: 116
34. The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963–1964)
60 min | Western
Twelve-year-old Jamie McPheeters, along with his ne'er-do-well father and a ragtag group of pioneers, travel westward from Paducah, Kentucky to the California gold fields in 1849.
Stars: Dan O'Herlihy, Kurt Russell, Mark Allen, Meg Wyllie
Votes: 191
35. Advise & Consent (1962)
Not Rated | 139 min | Drama, Thriller
The polarizing search for a new Secretary of State has far-reaching consequences.
Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Franchot Tone, Lew Ayres, Henry Fonda, Walter Pidgeon
Votes: 7,505
36. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Approved | 129 min | Crime, Drama
Atticus Finch, a widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama, defends a Black man against an undeserved rape charge, and tries to educate his young children against prejudice.
Director: Robert Mulligan | Stars: Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy
Votes: 332,725
37. The Reivers (1969)
PG-13 | 107 min | Comedy, Drama
In turn-of-the-century Mississippi, an 11-year-old boy comes of age as two mischievous adult friends talk him into sneaking the family car out for a trip to Memphis and a series of adventures.
Director: Mark Rydell | Stars: Steve McQueen, Sharon Farrell, Ruth White, Michael Constantine
Votes: 3,292 | Gross: $18.70M
38. House Made of Dawn (1972)
90 min | Drama
Director: Richardson Morse | Stars: Larry Littlebird, Judith Doty, Jay Varela, Mesa Bird
Votes: 34
39. A River Runs Through It (1992)
PG | 123 min | Drama
Two sons of a stern minister - one reserved, one rebellious - grow up in rural 1920s Montana while devoted to fly fishing.
Director: Robert Redford | Stars: Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt, Tom Skerritt, Brenda Blethyn
Votes: 65,443 | Gross: $43.44M
Selected as the winner by the committee, but not officially awarded.
40. The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky (1995 TV Movie)
PG | 94 min | Drama, Western
In 1919, a cocky sophomore in the forest service has to learn life the hard way.
Director: John Kent Harrison | Stars: Sam Elliott, Jerry O'Connell, Ricky Jay, Molly Parker
Votes: 665
Adaptation of another story within "A River Runs Through It".
41. Roots (1977)
TV-14 | 74 min | Biography, Drama, History
A dramatization of author Alex Haley's family line from ancestor Kunta Kinte's enslavement to his descendants' liberation.
Stars: LeVar Burton, Robert Reed, John Amos, Louis Gossett Jr.
Votes: 18,865
42. Roots (2016)
TV-MA | 388 min | Drama, War
An adaptation of Alex Haley's "Roots." Chronicles the history of an African man and his descendants sold into slavery in America.
Stars: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Malachi Kirby, Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne
Votes: 8,464
43. The Swimmer (1968)
M/PG | 95 min | Drama
A man spends a summer day swimming as many pools as he can all over a quiet suburban town.
Directors: Frank Perry, Sydney Pollack | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Janet Landgard, Janice Rule, Tony Bickley
Votes: 13,752
From "The Stories of John Cheever".
44. The Executioner's Song (1982 TV Movie)
Unrated | 135 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Gary Gilmore, a convicted murderer who lobbied for his own execution.
Director: Lawrence Schiller | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Christine Lahti, Rosanna Arquette, Eli Wallach
Votes: 2,077
45. Birdy (1984)
R | 120 min | Drama, War
After two friends return home from the Vietnam War one becomes mentally unstable and obsesses with becoming a bird.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Matthew Modine, Nicolas Cage, John Harkins, Sandy Baron
Votes: 24,903 | Gross: $1.46M
Runner-up in 1980.
46. The Color Purple (1985)
PG-13 | 154 min | Drama
A tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery
Votes: 97,264 | Gross: $98.47M
47. Ironweed (1987)
R | 143 min | Drama
An alcoholic drifter spends Halloween in his hometown of Albany, New York after returning there for the first time in decades.
Director: Hector Babenco | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Carroll Baker, Michael O'Keefe
Votes: 9,915 | Gross: $7.39M
48. Foreign Affairs (1993 TV Movie)
PG | 100 min | Comedy, Romance
Two couples find love and comfort in London. A reserved, but lonely aging American female college professor meets a self-confident, married, but disillusioned aging American and aging English actress meets a young lively American.
Director: Jim O'Brien | Stars: Joanne Woodward, Brian Dennehy, Eric Stoltz, Stephanie Beacham
Votes: 172
49. Lonesome Dove (1989)
TV-14 | 96 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Two former Texas Rangers renew their spirit of adventure as they and several other residents of a small Texas town join a cattle drive to the Montana Territory.
Stars: Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Diane Lane
Votes: 25,887
50. The Accidental Tourist (1988)
PG | 121 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An emotionally distant writer of travel guides must carry on with his life after his son is killed and his marriage crumbles.
Director: Lawrence Kasdan | Stars: William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Geena Davis, Amy Wright
Votes: 17,269 | Gross: $32.63M
Runner up in 1986.
51. Beloved (1998)
R | 172 min | Drama, History, Horror
A slave is visited by the spirit of a mysterious young woman.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Yada Beener, Emil Pinnock
Votes: 9,580 | Gross: $22.85M
52. Breathing Lessons (1994 TV Movie)
PG | 93 min | Drama
A married couple review their lives and renew their love for one another while driving to a friend's funeral.
Director: John Erman | Stars: James Garner, Joanne Woodward, Kathryn Erbe, Joyce Van Patten
Votes: 439
53. The Mambo Kings (1992)
R | 104 min | Drama, Music
Two Cuban brothers bring a new music to the 1950s USA. They are as different as the problems that await them.
Director: Arne Glimcher | Stars: Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas, Pablo Calogero, Scott Cohen
Votes: 5,952 | Gross: $6.74M
54. Billy Bathgate (1991)
R | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In the year 1935, a teen named Billy Bathgate finds first love while becoming the protégé of fledgling gangster Dutch Schultz.
Director: Robert Benton | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman, Loren Dean, Bruce Willis
Votes: 12,738 | Gross: $15.97M
The runner up in 1990.
55. A Thousand Acres (1997)
R | 105 min | Drama
A family is torn apart after a father gives his valuable farm land to his daughters.
Director: Jocelyn Moorhouse | Stars: Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jason Robards
Votes: 5,812 | Gross: $7.94M
56. The Shipping News (2001)
R | 111 min | Drama
An emotionally beaten man with his young daughter moves to his ancestral home in Newfoundland to reclaim his life.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett
Votes: 33,917 | Gross: $11.43M
57. American Pastoral (2016)
R | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An All-American college star and his beauty queen wife watch their seemingly perfect life fall apart as their daughter joins the turmoil of '60s America.
Director: Ewan McGregor | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, Peter Riegert
Votes: 18,047 | Gross: $0.54M
58. The Hours (2002)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Romance
The story of how the novel "Mrs. Dalloway" affects three generations of women, all of whom, in one way or another, have had to deal with suicide in their lives.
Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane
Votes: 138,473 | Gross: $41.68M
59. Empire Falls (2005)
TV-14 | 99 min | Drama, Romance
A decaying New England town is the backdrop for its unique citizens, led by unassuming restaurant manager Miles Roby.
Stars: Ed Harris, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Helen Hunt, Paul Newman
Votes: 6,328
60. The Road (I) (2009)
R | 111 min | Drama, Thriller
In a dangerous post-apocalyptic world, an ailing father defends his son as they slowly travel to the sea.
Director: John Hillcoat | Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall
Votes: 254,077 | Gross: $0.06M
61. Olive Kitteridge (2014)
TV-14 | 60 min | Drama
A middle-school math teacher Olive and her marriage with Henry which spans 25 years.
Stars: Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins, Ann Dowd, Ken Cheeseman
Votes: 26,087
62. The Goldfinch (2019)
R | 149 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A boy in New York is taken in by a wealthy family after his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In a rush of panic, he steals 'The Goldfinch', a painting that eventually draws him into a world of crime.
Director: John Crowley | Stars: Oakes Fegley, Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Jeffrey Wright
Votes: 26,988 | Gross: $5.33M
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