I noticed quite a few bloggers like to have a weekly item where they either post some links, or post links about their tweets, or ask poll-type questions. Never one to not follow a crowd, I figured I would start tossing out my own weekly question if for no other reason than to take my mind of the fact that we are well over halfway to Dow Zero.
I love movies. Seriously move them. I could watch movies all day long. I often find myself recasting movies, or casting an updated version, or movies based on TV shows (like, who should star if and when they finally make a movie about the A-Team?)
With all that in mind, my question for today is:
What movies can you name that were inspired by a song?
Now, just to be clear, I am NOT talking about movies that had a song that was part of it’s soundtrack become a hit. No, I am talking about a song that was a hit and after a period of time the story in the song became a movie.
Two songs immediately come to mind. The first is “Harper Valley PTA“. It was a song in 1968, and the story behind the song was the inspiration for a movie by the same name in 1978, starring Jeannie Barbara Eden. It also became a TV show, which is like the Triple Crown of merchandising, they should probably have awards or a Hall of Fame for stuff like that. The second song is “The Gambler“, first a song in 1978, then a TV movie in 1980.
And I am trying to focus on fictional stories and events, so leave “The Hurricane” out of any responses below, as real-life events inspired the song (although some say distorted a lot of facts to the point it should be considered fiction anyway). The movie was actually inspired by a book moreso than by Dylan anyway.
So, any others? Leave them in your comments below. I am wondering how many of them I may have seen already.
But there is another story that involves Disney and copyright. Here is how the story goes:
In 1900 there was a train crash that killed the train engineer named Cayce Jones . Jone’s fireman, Sim Webb , survived the accident.
Train engineers made a song about the crash.
The song became popular and two Vaudeville performers published. Casey Jones, the brave engineer in 1909
Then came a song ( a remix of Casey Jones ) about Steamboat Bill that has a verse about Casey Jones and was based on the Casey Jones song
1920s the Performo Toy Company releases a toy ” Micky Mouse ” which was sold in NYC where Disney could have seen it. PBS History Detectives have a show on Micky Mouse. He was apparently not the only toy mouse of his time.
May 15, 1928: Disney releases Mickey Mouse in Plane Crazy , a film based on the flight of Lindberg. It was Mickey’s first film and was a failure.
In 1928, Buster Keaton released the movie based on the song: Steamboat Bill, Jr. [ Archive.org ] [ IMDb ]
After Steamboat Bill came Disney’s Steamboat Willie ( MOV ) featuring Mickey Mouse (1928). Steamboat Willie has been described as a ” cartoon parody ” of Steamboat Bill, Jr., with Mickey whistling the song “Steamboat Bill.” This film was a great success.
um…yeah…what?
So, the song “Casey Jones” became the cartoon “Steamboat Willie”? Sorry, not following you here. From what I found, Steamboat Bill, jr. is not based on any song, so I do not see a connection between the stories. I do, however, believe that Walt Disney was inspired by his environment, and he was good at marketing, promotion, and making money.
Convoy starring Kris Kristoferson
Coward of the County (another Kenny Rogers)
Take This Job and Shove It
9 to 5
9 to 5 was written for the movie, so that does not count.
Convoy is a wonderful example, i cannot believe i missed that one, thanks!
FWIW, I have seen all four of those movies…
Both Disney’s movie “Steamboat Willie” and some other guys movie “Steamboat Bill, Jr” were based on the song “Steamboat Bill”.
Gets me fired up because Disney is so aggressive in copyright protection now, and seems to have forgotten their history.
Oh, i get it now, thanks Steve.
Stand By Me?
ahh nevermind. I misread and mis-reread the post… That wasn’t inspired by the song as far as I know.
right, Stand By Me was actually based on the book “The Body” by Stephen King, a fact that always amazes people who do not like King, but loved that movie.
Does “Yellow Submarine” count? The movie was kind of on the heels of the song, but I believe the song did, in fact precede the movie.
absolutely, thanks! and i just checked on this, but so would “The Wall”, as well as “Tommy”, I suppose.
If you are going to bring up Tommy, you can’t leave out Quadrophenia. I would rather listen to the latter than the former most days.
Convoy and Gambler were the first to pop into my mind. It started me thinking that most of the songs in this category were going to be good story telling songs which seem to come from the country music section.
Alice’s Restaurant was released in 1967 and, according to IMDB, a movie was made in 1969. I thought I saw a movie back in the 80s based on The Devil Went Down to Georgia but can’t confirm that.
Surprisingly, I can’t think of a single Johnny Cash song that was turned into a movie and he was one of the best story telling singers ever.