The Mambo Kings, based on The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
The Shawshank Redemption, based on Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King
IIRC, Double Indemnity was based on a James M. Cain novel with a longer title.
More. . . ?
Sir Rhosis
Fried Green Tomatoes onscreen was Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe on paper.
The title of Fanny Flagg’s novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistestop Cafe got shortened to just three words as a movie. The bastards also cut out all the lesbianis, at least according to Cal Thomas.
They also removed the lesbianism. :smack:
We Were Soldiers started as We Were Soldiers Once… And Young
See, I understand the real title is kind of long for a movie name, but it’s so much more intriguing. I’d assume a movie called “We Were Soldiers” was grunt-cheer-stomp-USA!-USA!, whereas I’d think there was an actual story to tell with the other title.
I know it’s not exactly what the OP was thinking about, but the book “Six Days of the Condor” was turned into the film “Three Days of the Condor”. I never read the book, so I’m not sure what happened to the other three days…
That’s wonderful. Perhaps they were saving them for the sequel?
Don’t worry about straying from my OP. In fact, I’m gonna do it now. Which version, prose or movie is these two: “The Bridge OVER The River Kwai” and “The Bridge ON The River Kwai?”
Sir Rhosis
You do N RC, the short book (which makes the movie look like a two-reel comedy!) was also called Double Indemnity.
I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang became simply I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.
The play *Frankie & Johnny In The Clair de Lune * was reduced to Frankie & Johnny for the movie.
And was subsequently remade into a HBO movie with a competely different title.
The prose is Le Pont de la Rivière Kwai; translate that how you will.
The movie title The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders is longer than the book’s ‘common title’ but shorter than its full title.
Oliver Twist ==> Oliver!
Stretching the point a bit, X-Men was from a comic originally called “The Uncanny X-Men.”
Stretching it past the breaking point, The Bible is often titled “The Holy Bible” but the movie was just called The Bible.
That’s because the state of Georgia sued. (The film was still banned in Georgia.)
There’s been at least one movie called Huck Finn instead of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The Princess Bride: S Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure became The Princess Bride.
That one book was originally titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. That other book was originally titled (I think) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Not really a shortening but the book The Circus of Dr Lao was retitled 7 Faces of Dr Lao for the movie.
Technically, the book’s originaly title was, in fact, The X-Men. They added the “Uncanny” in the '70’s, but by the time the movie came out there was also a monthly comic entitled simply “The X-Men” which came out concurrently with Uncanny.
–Cliffy