# 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:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/41 "2002-05-07T06:38:40Z")
The last section of Four Rooms is based on a short story by Roald Dahl. Um… I can’t remember the name. It’s got to be, got a guy who whacks fingers off and everything. I thought “The Talented Mr. Ripley” was actually a full length novel. Tenebras (I’m pretty sure that Armeggadon was based on the Aerosmith song, but since I don’t have any kind of proof, I leave that off my list.) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/42 "2002-05-07T06:51:05Z")
{i]Zoolander\* was based on a sketch from the 1996 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/43 "2002-05-07T06:53:15Z")
_Zoolander_ ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/44 "2002-05-07T08:09:18Z")
The 1980s Australian film “The Man from Snowy River” was based on a poem of the same name by Andrew Barton “Banjo” Patterson. Does Bob Dylan’s song “Hurricane” qualify as the source for the movie with Denzel Washington? The story of Reuben Carter is obviously a true one, but it was Dylan’s song that did much to make the trial a public issue back in the 1970s. Although i believe the movie itself was based on Carter’s own book. > [@](#): > > Kirk Douglas was in an adaption of Homer’s epic poem Ulysses. And the Coen brothers’ film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” was (very loosely) based on Homer’s Odyssey. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/45 "2002-05-07T17:51:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tenebras \* > \*\*The last section of Four Rooms is based on a short story by Roald Dahl. Um… I can’t remember the name. It’s got to be, got a guy who whacks fingers off and everything. \*\* Haven’t seen this myself, but from your description it sounds like “The Man from the South” - which was also used in (IIRC) _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_. **kaykasdad99** “Arena” was written by Fredric Brown. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127/46 "2002-05-07T17:57:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tenebras \* > \*\*The last section of Four Rooms is based on a short story by Roald Dahl. Um… I can’t remember the name. It’s got to be, got a guy who whacks fingers off and everything. \*\* Haven’t seen this myself, but from your description it sounds like “The Man from the South” - which was also used in (IIRC) _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_. **kaykasdad99** “Arena” was written by Fredric Brown. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-poems-other-short-works-made-into-movies/107127.md?page=2)