In 1997, the novel was adapted into a film starring John Hurt, Jason Priestley, and Fiona Loewi.
Love and Death on Long Island contains examples of:
- Altar the Speed: The acceleration of Ronnie's wedding plans goads Giles into desperate action.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Giles blurts this out after trying and failing to talk Ronnie into an artistic partnership.
- Butt-Monkey/
The Woobie: Giles notices that Ronnie is typecast as "one of nature's victims, as one whose blood is meant for shedding." - Celeb Crush
- A Date with Rosie Palms: Giles attempts this creatively by cutting and pasting images of Ronnie's head onto a gay porn magazine.
- Diner Brawl: Happens in the movie scene where Giles first sees Ronnie.
- Hopeless with Tech: When Giles eventually learns of the existence of home video, he orders a VCR without realizing that he needs a television to plug it into.
- If It's You, It's Okay: Giles says he had no sexual interest in men before meeting Ronnie, despite the fact that his British boys' school upbringing gave him plenty of opportunities.
- Knuckle Tattoos: Giles is a regular customer at a (nonsexual) massage parlor, where the masseur has the classic LOVE-HATE tattoo.
- Lighter and Softer: Adair took the pedophilia and disease out of Death in Venice and turned it into a humorous tale of culture clash. The film makes it lighter still.
- Longing Look: In the film, Ronnie's fiancée starts suspecting Giles' motives when she sees him doing this.
- Lover and Beloved: Giles aspires to this. He even mentions the tradition of great artists taking younger male lovers.
- Older Than They Look: Ronnie
plays teenagers in movies and Giles at first assumes he is one, but Ronnie is actually in his 20s. - Punny Name: Giles De'Ath, for Pete's sake.
- Shout-Out: In the film, Ronnie's pose at the end of the Diner Brawl resembles Henry Wallis' painting The Death of Chatterton
- Stalker with a Crush: Pretty much the whole plot.
- Stylistic Suck: The clips of Ronnie's terrible movies.
- Teen Idol: Ronnie.
