The book follows the lives of a group of professional junkies as they avoid work, get high, and hallucinate babies on the ceiling -- the usual pastimes of the drug-addled. The movie is a great adaptation, cutting out some of the weirder parts and accentuating others, and it made Ewan McGregor a star so he could go on to play Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Miramax Films
"You were my hook-up, Anakin. I loved you!"
Remember the scene in the movie in which Renton and Sick Boy are hanging out at the park and Renton shoots a pit bull in the balls? Well, in the book, it's Simon who takes the shot, the dog mauls its owner, and Sick Boy runs over and chokes the dog to death with a baseball bat. You know, just for kicks.
Miramax Films
Welcome to the only time when shooting a dog and leaving it at that is the humane option.
Strangely, that's not the most horrifying part ...
The Scene From The Book:
The single most fucked-up part of the book that didn't make it to the cinema comes when Renton attends his brother's wake at his parents' house. His brother just died doing a tour of duty in Belfast, and has left behind a very pregnant, very messed-up widow. So Renton does the gentlemanly thing and ... well:
Harvill Secker
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