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April 27, 2007 2:26 PM   Subscribe

What are some good (not science fiction or fantasy) films that started as short stories?

I know Brokeback Mountain is one-- how about some others? Can you link me to their short story form? Thanks so much.
posted by time to put your air goggles on! to Media & Arts (33 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Birds was based on a short story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. I never knew that until I studied the film in school. Doesn't look like the story is online anywhere, but I only did a very cursory search.
posted by autojack at 2:37 PM on April 27, 2007


How broad is your definition of good?

Two movies popularly regarded as "good", Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption, started life as novellas by the similarly "good" Stephen King. They were written under the names "The Body" and "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption", and are both in the collection Different Seasons.

For "great" movies/films, Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen: 35 Great Stories That Have Inspired Great Films may be worth looking at.
posted by marionnette en chaussette at 2:42 PM on April 27, 2007


Stand By Me and Shawshank Redemption are from short-ish stories by Stephen King, from the book Different Seasons.
posted by goo at 2:42 PM on April 27, 2007


Yes! Preview is grand :)
posted by goo at 2:42 PM on April 27, 2007


Alan Sillitoe's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner was made into a film in 1962.

There's a list on Amazon called Coolest Movies Based on Short Stories.
posted by djb at 2:43 PM on April 27, 2007


Secretary is based on the short story of the same name by Mary Gaitskill. In the Bedroom is based on a short story by Andre Dubus.
posted by birdie birdington at 2:45 PM on April 27, 2007


Shop Girl is from Steve Martin's novella of the same title. Not sure if that fits the definition of "good-ness" though.
posted by awegz at 2:46 PM on April 27, 2007




Amazon also lists this book, for which the reviews claim All About Eve, High Noon, Jazz Singer, Rear Window and It Happened One Night are based on stories.
posted by goo at 2:47 PM on April 27, 2007


Odyssey, obviously; although that's science fiction. So i correct myself on two accounts.

I was loose with the 'good' qualifier too, I guess.
posted by Kololo at 2:47 PM on April 27, 2007


Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen: 35 Great Stories That Have Inspired Great Films

Memento
"Memento Mori" by Jonathon Nolan


Short Cuts
"Jerry and Molly and Sam" by Raymond Carver

Blow-Up
"Blow-Up" by Julio Cortazar

A Face in the Crowd
"Your Arkansas Traveler" by Budd Schulberg

Rear Window
"It Had to be Murder" by Cornell Woolrich

2001: A Space Odyssey
"The Sentinel" by Arthur C. Clarke

AI: Artificial Intelligence
"Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" by Brian Aldiss

Freaks
"Spurs" by Tod Robbins

The Fly
"The Fly" by George Langelaan

Re-Animator
"Herbert West--Reanimator: Six Shots by Moonlight" by H.P. Lovecraft

Stagecoach
"Stage to Lordsburg" by Ernest Haycox

Smoke Signals
"This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" by Sherman Alexie

American Splendor
"The Harvey Pekar Name Story" by Harvey Pekar

Ghost World
"Hubba Hubba" by Dan Clowes

All About Eve
"The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr

Meet John Doe
"A Reputation" by Richard Connell

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
"Mr. Blandings Builds His Castle" by Eric Hodgins

The Wild One
"Cyclists' Raid" by Frank Rooney

Tomorrow
"Tomorrow" by William Faulkner

Bringing Up Baby
"Bringing Up Baby" by Hagar Wilde

The Last Time I Saw Paris
"Babylon, Revisited" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Swimmer
"The Swimmer" by John Cheever

The Fallen Idol
"A Basement Room" by Graham Greene

My Friend Flicka
"My Friend Flicka" by Mary O'Hara

A Christmas Story
"Red Ryder Nails the Hammond Street Kid" by Jean Shepherd

Field of Dreams
"Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa" by W.P. Kinsella

Rashomon
"In a Grove" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Dark Eyes/The Lady with the Dog
"The Lady with the Pet Dog" by Anton Chekhov

Smooth Talk
"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" by Joyce Carol Oates

Smoke
"Auggie Wren's Christmas Story" by Paul Auster

Jesus' Son
"Emergency" by Denis Johnson

In the Bedroom
"Killings" by Andre Dubus

via
posted by ND¢ at 2:48 PM on April 27, 2007


Stephen King's "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption: Hope Springs Eternal" was originally published in Different Seasons and subsequently made into the film The Shawshank Redemption.
posted by Jeff Howard at 2:50 PM on April 27, 2007


Huh? My Friend Flicka is definitely a novel, not a short story.

One of the vignettes in Four Rooms is based on a Roald Dahl story, "The Man from the South".
posted by goo at 2:52 PM on April 27, 2007


Donnie Darko
Rio Bravo
The Killers
Sleepy Hollow

Mentioning Roald Dahl reminds me: There are tons of Childen's/Family films that fit the bill here, his and Wes Anderson's upcoming Fantastic Mr. Fox

Take a look at the imdb's results for keyword "based on".
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 3:07 PM on April 27, 2007


Also from the Stephen King 'Different Seasons' collection is 'Apt Pupil', which was made into a film with Ian McKellen I believe.
posted by Happy Dave at 3:30 PM on April 27, 2007


Shrek
posted by JPowers at 3:31 PM on April 27, 2007


Brokeback Mountain by E. Annie Proulx
posted by lannanh at 3:44 PM on April 27, 2007


I can't believe nobody's mentioned The Shawshank Redemption yet. :)

There are a bunch of film adaptations of King's short stories, few of which qualify as "good".
posted by jjg at 4:03 PM on April 27, 2007


One of the stories covered by Short Cuts (which incorporates a shitload of Raymond Carver stories) is coming out as its own movie this weekend: it's called Jindabyne, and the story it's based on is called "So Much Water So Close To Home."
posted by granted at 4:15 PM on April 27, 2007


Link to the aforementioned Auggie Wren's Christmas Story.
posted by alana at 4:24 PM on April 27, 2007


I liked Babette's Feast, which started out as a short story.
posted by small_ruminant at 4:27 PM on April 27, 2007


John Houston filmed an adaptation of James Joyce's The Dead.
posted by treepour at 5:22 PM on April 27, 2007


The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and A Man Called Horse, by Dorothy M. Johnson)
posted by Guy Smiley at 5:38 PM on April 27, 2007


You can go ahead and give NDCent best post, but I'll still mention that Enders game is becoming a movie and started as a short story.

I, Robot started as several short stories (sort of).

Electric Dreams was a short story first, but I'll be damned if I can recall what it was.
posted by Four Flavors at 5:38 PM on April 27, 2007


Most of Sherlock Holmes was short stories, but have there been any decent Holmes movies?
posted by JaredSeth at 5:47 PM on April 27, 2007


3:10 to Yuma
Valdez is Coming

Elmore Leonard

I believe the Valdez novel is sequel to a short story.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:19 PM on April 27, 2007


The Man Who Would Be King, starring Connery and Caine, from a story by Kipling of the same name.
posted by jamjam at 6:29 PM on April 27, 2007


Million Dollar Baby was originally a short story from this book.
posted by micketymoc at 6:55 PM on April 27, 2007


Fight Club (by Chuck Palahniuk) was originally a short story, later expanded.

From wikipedia: After initially publishing it as a short story (which became chapter 6 of the novel) in the compilation Pursuit of Happiness, Palahniuk expanded it into a full novel, which, contrary to what he expected, the publisher was willing to publish.

Bloody good movie.
posted by kisch mokusch at 7:48 PM on April 27, 2007


Does"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" count as a short story? Blade Runner is pretty good.

Also, I think Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption are great movies, and I firmly believe that while he has his rough moments, Stephen King also has some brilliant work. Have a look at Wizard and Glass from his Dark Tower series sometime.
posted by ZakDaddy at 7:49 PM on April 27, 2007


Kissed was based on a Barbara Gowdy story called "We So Seldom Look On Love."
posted by carmen at 10:01 PM on April 27, 2007


Full Metal Jacket is based on the novella The Short Timers.
posted by furtive at 2:41 PM on April 28, 2007


Breakfast at Tiffany's was based on a short story.
posted by Flamingoroad at 10:17 AM on April 29, 2007


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