# Songs, poems, other "short" works made into movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 3, 2002, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127 "2002-05-03T18:54:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/1 "2002-05-03T18:54:12Z")
The only one I can think of is _Ode to Billy Joe_, which was first a song by Bobbie Gentry and then inspired a movie starring the venerable Robbie Benson as a young fella who killed himself because he had horrible taste in shoes… Can you think of any? ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/2 "2002-05-03T19:03:49Z")
I am pretty certain that \*\*“Alice’s Restaurant” \*\*as a song preceded the film version. Oh - wonderful song! 🙂 \ ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/3 "2002-05-03T19:07:18Z")
_Gunga Din_ ---
**Author:** ![Morgainelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Morgainelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgainelf)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/4 "2002-05-03T19:07:47Z")
**Jabberwocky**. Lewis Carroll poem, made into a movie with Michael Palin. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/5 "2002-05-03T19:13:12Z")
R.E.M.'s - Man on the Moon qualifes sorta. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/6 "2002-05-03T19:14:45Z")
Stephen King’s short story _Dolan’s Cadillac_ will be made into a movie. Not sure when it’s coming out, but supposedly Kevin Bacon and Sylvester Stallone are going to be in it. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/7 "2002-05-03T19:18:48Z")
“A Fool There Was.” Started as a painting (“The Vampire”) by Philip Burne-Jones, which inspired a poem (“The Vampire”) by Rudyard Kipling, which became a play (“A Fool There Was”), which in turn was filmed in 1915. There have also been a couple films based (quite loosely) on “Frankie and Johnny” and “St. Louis Blues.” ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/8 "2002-05-03T19:23:12Z")
Jeanne Riley’s song “Harper Valley P.T.A.” became a movie, then TV series starring Barbara Eden. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/9 "2002-05-03T19:27:18Z")
Well if we’re counting movies based on short stories by Stephen King: _Maximum Overdrive_ (short story “Trucks”) _Children of the Corn_ _Stand By Me_ _The Shawshank Redemption_ and a bunch of other less successful ones. ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/10 "2002-05-03T19:34:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bordelond \* > \*\*Jeanne Riley’s song “Harper Valley P.T.A.” became a movie, then TV series starring Barbara Eden. \*\* OMG, that’s RIGHT! Ahhh, the mem’ries…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/11 "2002-05-03T19:35:10Z")
How the Grinch Stole Christmas \*\* SpilerVirgin\*\* don’t forget The Running Man. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Maximino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mighty\_Maximino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Maximino)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/12 "2002-05-03T19:37:28Z")
Did anyone else see the movie based on “A Rose for Emily”? Man, that was creepy. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/13 "2002-05-03T19:46:42Z")
There are thousands of short stories adapted into movies, so I’ll skip those. Let’s stick to songs and poems. 1. Sean Penn’s “Indian Runner” was a feature length version of Bruce Springsteen’s dreary song “Highway Patrolman” (from the godawful “Nebraska” album 2. Sam Peckinpah made a terrible movie, “Convoy,” based on C.W. McCall’s CB radio novelty song. 3. Elvis Presley made a horrible movie (what a surprise!) based on the old song “Frankie & Johnny” ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/14 "2002-05-03T19:48:25Z")
_Short Cuts_ was based on ( I think) eight short stories and a poem by Raymond Carver. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/15 "2002-05-03T23:19:14Z")
Several of Roger Corman’s horror films from the 60s were supposed to be based on Edgar Allen Poe poems and stories. But many, like _The Raven_, had little if anything to do with the source works. Kirk Douglas was in an adaption of Homer’s epic poem _Ulysses_. If only I could forget that shitty adaption of William Gibson’s short story, _Johnny Mnemonic_. Terrible movie, and Gibson even wrote the screenplay. Urgh! ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/16 "2002-05-04T01:01:55Z")
A couple other movies which were turned into songs: [Coal Miner’s Daughter](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0080549) [Take This Job and Shove It](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0083163) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/17 "2002-05-04T03:18:32Z")
Seeing the thread title, I thought of _Ode to Billy Joe_, _Harper Valley PTA_, and _Convoy_. All of which have already been mentioned. The movie _The Wild Party_ was based on a narrative poem. And if you define short work loosely enough, there was at least one movie based on a TV commercial. The commercial was for Coke or Pepsi and had a small kid offering his drink to football player Mean Joe Greene. I personally don’t see a lot of story potential here but I didn’t see the finished product. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/18 "2002-05-04T04:37:56Z")
_Nine To Five_ ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/19 "2002-05-04T06:20:55Z")
_Field Of Dreams_ _ **National Lampoon’s** Vacation_ _Enemy Mine_ if novellas get to count as short enough. Speaking of movies made from the individual stories in Stephen King’s _Different Seasons_, _Apt Pupil_ Also Stephen King: _The Mangler_ ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/20 "2002-05-04T06:25:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mighty Maximino \* > \*\*Did anyone else see the movie based on “A Rose for Emily”? Man, that was creepy. \*\* * * * I’ve got the video; I have college students read the story and then watch the creepy thing. Also, the 90-minute film _Smooth Talk_ , with Laura Dern and Treat Williams, was based on Joyce Carol Oates’ story “Where are you going, where have you been?” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127.md?page=2)