MovieChat Forums > The Osterman Weekend (1983) Discussion > True to the book?

True to the book?

posted 15 years ago by sanddragon939
4 replies | jump to latest

I just read this book a while back, and I've always wondered whether the movie was faithful to it. I've seen the Matt Damon Bourne films which are nothing like the books, but thats because of the length of the books and the different time-frame (which made elements like Carlos, Bournes Vietnam War background etc) impossible to adapt.

But considering that The Ostermand Weekend is a pretty small book and easily adaptable as such and as the time frame of the movie was more or less the same as the book (Cold War era), was it faithful?

[–] connorarroyo-1 14 years ago

I have no idea, I just read the book a couple of days ago, the book was a fascinating look back into 1971 or so when it was written.. it seemed almost quaint reading it today.. It was a simpler era..

[–] GeneNash_com 13 years ago

I've always wondered whether the movie was faithful to it.

Not very faithful, at all. The main similarities are that there is an Osterman Weekend and a bunch a tax cheats are accused of being spies for someone else's nefarious purposes. Other than that, the action and motivations are almost totally different.The ending is COMPLETELY different.

Being familiar with the film after seeing it several times in the early 80s, when I read the book I was shocked by how different it was.

[–] clark_gillies 10 years ago

Read the book after the movie, and there is very little from the book that was used in the movie.

People talk about the Jason Bourne movies not being true to the book, but Identity is a lot closer tied than this movie is to its book.

Also have to say that I did not enjoy the book all that much. Its one of Ludlums shorter books (usually a good RL book is 900+ pages) and this one is only 150 or so pages, yet is so tiring to get through.

[–] glenmusher 8 years ago

No, it's only really loosely based on the book.

Everything will be OK in the end, if it aint OK,it aint the end.