# Are all movies named after a hit pop song terrible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2007, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941 "2007-08-09T01:08:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/21 "2007-08-09T13:45:21Z")
How about **Leaving Las Vegas**? Fantastic movie. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/22 "2007-08-09T14:06:50Z")
Tommy and Hair were turned into great movies. Broadway has Mamma Mia! ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/23 "2007-08-09T14:57:25Z")
[QUOTE=I’m Ron Burgundy?] Bang on! It seems like they just slapped the name on the movie because it wasn’t really about much, or they couldn’t think of a palatable title. Hooker makes good? New York Prostitute? No, _Pretty Woman._ [/QUOTE] Supposedly the working title was _3000_ for the dollar amount he paid her for the week, but Garry Marshall thought it sounded too science fictiony. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/24 "2007-08-09T15:06:29Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Supposedly the working title was _3000_ for the dollar amount he paid her for the week, but Garry Marshall thought it sounded too science fictiony. [/QUOTE] That was the original title, and the overall tone of the script was much darker and had a more realistic ending. Then it got Disneyfied! _Dazed and Confused_ is a great movie. Does the song count as a pop hit? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/25 "2007-08-09T16:01:40Z")
Another Julia Roberts movie: _Something To Talk About_. not so good ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/26 "2007-08-09T16:08:59Z")
[QUOTE=cbawlmer] _Dazed and Confused_ is a great movie. Does the song count as a pop hit? [/QUOTE] Yes, and so does **Can’t Hardly Wait**. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/27 "2007-08-09T16:18:36Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] “[I Wanna Hold Your Hand](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077714/)” is supposed to be pretty good. [/QUOTE] A little on the silly side–especially the nerdy male Beatles fan, who is channelling Jerry Lewis throughout–but I love it. **RickJay** , _A Hard Day’s Night_ was not named for the song. Lennon and McCartney wrote the song to order after the title had been decided. _Mystery Train_ is a great film. For non-rock ‘n’ roll “pop songs,” there are _Round Midnight_ and _De-Lovely_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/28 "2007-08-09T16:21:23Z")
Well, if we’re counting movies whose title songs were big hits, there are things like **Goldfinger** or **Live and Let Die**. Not to mention all film versions of Broadway musicals. But I don’t think the OP means the songs were created for the movie (or that the movie inspired a popular song, like **Key Largo** ). However, the Gene Kelly **An American in Paris** would qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/29 "2007-08-09T16:23:26Z")
_Brazil, where hearts were entertaining June… We stood beneath an amber moon…_ Tell me that’s a terrible movie and I’ll poke you in the eye! ---
**Author:** ![Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b782af/32.png) [@Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clockwork_And_Candy)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/30 "2007-08-09T16:27:18Z")
[Just Like Heaven](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425123/) wasn’t too terrible, for what it was. Well, okay, yeah it was. Only goes to reinforce the OP’s theory. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/31 "2007-08-09T17:53:04Z")
Blue Velvet [http://www.lynchnet.com/bv/](http://www.lynchnet.com/bv/) ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/32 "2007-08-09T17:56:44Z")
[QUOTE=Zoggie] I’m pretty sure the song Pretty in Pink by the Psychedelic Furs already existed. They’re both quite good. Pretty in Pink is probably my favorite of those Molly Ringwald-John Hughes movies. [/QUOTE] I am absolutely sure Pretty in Pink was a song first. I’m also sure the song (and the remake used in the movie also made by the aformentoined Furs) is not as good as the orginal, or the movie as good as the original video. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/33 "2007-08-09T17:58:38Z")
**Seven** was pretty good. Wait, that wasn’t named after the Prince song? Never mind… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Hildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/34 "2007-08-09T18:43:01Z")
[Love Potion No. 9](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102343/) had its fair share of chuckles. Tate Donovan and Sandra Bullock star as two nerdy research scientists who unknowingly create the most power aphrodisiac the world has ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/35 "2007-08-09T18:56:35Z")
Wasn’t **Star Wars** named after Nick Winter’s song? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/36 "2007-08-12T13:35:17Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] And though I detest the film, a lot of people like **White Christmas**. . [/QUOTE] It’s worth noting that the song **White Christmas** was actually introduced 12 years earlier, in the 1942 film **Holiday Inn** , which is (imho) a much better movie. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/37 "2007-08-12T16:25:07Z")
I came in here to post _I Wanna Hold Your Hand_, but **Reality Chuck** beat me to it. Not a great movie, but a sometimes charming and funny comedy about Beatlemania in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/38 "2007-08-12T16:28:07Z")
[QUOTE=Valgard] My corollary to this is that if the ads for the movie include a blurb for the soundtrack (“Buy the new hit single Tune Q by Artist X featuring Another Artist Z!!!”), the movie will suck more ass than a donkey vacuum. [/QUOTE] May I add to your corollary my own Subsection D (AKA the Disney clause)? _If Artist X and/or Artist Z are **actors from the movie** , the movie will suck more ass than a Boeing 747 taking off through an atmosphere made up of pure donkey._ ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/39 "2007-08-12T18:15:09Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Whatever you think of My Own Private Idaho, it wasn’t a formulaic romantic comedy. At least, not to the average person 🙂 [/QUOTE] I am trying to remember the lyrics, could you dance to it? ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941/40 "2007-08-12T18:22:01Z")
Who’ll Stop the Rain - not a formulaic comedy and not terrible, in fact one of my favorites. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-movies-named-after-a-hit-pop-song-terrible/414941.md?page=3)