The movie version of "The Last Don" was way better than the novel because it dispensed with most of the Hollywood BS that Puzo loaded in the novel, and because Danny Aiello was so convincing.

The movie version of "Honor Thy Father" (a vastly underrated TV film from the Seventies starring Joseph Bologna, Raf Vallone and Brenda Vaccaro) was a lot better than the book (by Gay Talese) because it dealt with the "Banana War" straightforwardly, and avoided all the Mafia "honor" BS that Bill Bonanno loaded on the author.