On Not Seeing the Movie

I have a confession to make.  I've never seen The Godfather.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Marlon Brando as much as the next person. Bear with me here.

We've all heard the clichéd saying.  You know the one:  "The book is always better than the movie."

And I'm sure 95% of you would agree with that.  I know I do.

But, have you ever contemplated a tweak on the whole book/movie idea?  I mean opting out of even seeing the movie?

Not necessarily by design, or for some lofty, pseudo-pretentious philosophy about movies and books.

More like by default.  Just one of those things you never got around to doing.  This of course usually results in some form of the following exchange:

"You've never seen fill in the blank movie that everyone and their brother has seen already?  Whaaaat??"

And then it's time to cue the look of confusion and disbelief on the other person's face.

If you're like me, you've had this exchange more than once.  What's unusual is that plenty of the movies that I haven't seen and have only read the book are some pretty classic films.

Quintessential flicks like, um The Godfather.  Yeah.  As I mentioned, I've never seen it.  Or Part 2.  Or 3.  But I read the book!

Most folks are downright incredulous if that ever comes up.  But if you've read The Godfather, you'd know that it's all three movies wrapped up into one superb, unforgettable book.

And I have to think, waaay better than the movies.

Not that I would know.  But hey - that book/movie cliché is true more often than not, right?  Maybe one of these days I'll get around to seeing it.  I hear Francis Ford Coppola is talented.  Ha.
 
Or maybe I'll just re-read one of my all time favorite gangster books instead.

What about you?  Do you have any outrageous  "I've never seen the movie, but I've read the book" examples that even Marlon Brando would gasp over?

Ta-ta for now.