The Best Movies Based on Short Stories
Some of the greatest movies in the history of film were based on a short story. Authors like Edgar Allan Poe have inadvertently shaped the film industry with their literary classics that were eventually turned into movies. What are the best movies based on short stories? Vote up the best films below and see where your favorites rank!
The movies on this list were all based on short stories or novellas and have been ranked by users as the best. The genres featured here range from classic black and white films to more recent box office hits. You might have read the short fiction or novella these films were based on, or maybe you are just learning that these movies were based on one.
This list features the best movies based on short stories including, The Shawshank Redemption, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Million Dollar Baby, Brokeback Mountain, and Minority Report. Vote up the best movies below or add one you love that isn't already on the list.
- Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman
Released: 1994
Directed by: Frank Darabont
Based on Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison for the murders of his wife and her lover and is sentenced to a tough prison. However, only Andy knows he didn't ...more - Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix
Released: 1986
Directed by: Rob Reiner
Based on Stephen King's novella, The Body.After learning that a stranger has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four Oregon boys decide to go see the body. On the way, Gordie Lachance (Wil Wheaton), Vern Tessio (Jerry ...more - Grace Kelly, James Stewart
Released: 1954
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Rear Window is a 1954 American mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story. Originally released by Paramount ...more - Bette Davis, Anne Baxter
Released: 1950
Directed by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Backstage story revolving around aspiring actress Eve Harrington. Tattered and forlorn, Eve shows up in the dressing room of Broadway mega-star Margo Channing, telling a melancholy life story to ...more - Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood
Released: 1968
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Based on Arthur C. Clarke's short story, The Sentinel.An imposing black structure provides a connection between the past and the future in this enigmatic adaptation of a short story by revered sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke. When Dr. Dave Bowman (Keir ...more - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin
Released: 1990
Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Based on Philip K. Dick's story, We Can Remember It For You Wholesale.Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a bored construction worker in the year 2084 who dreams of visiting the colonized Mars. He visits "Rekall," a company that plants false memories into people's ...more - Glenn Ford, Van Heflin
Released: 1957
Directed by: Delmer Daves
3:10 to Yuma is a 1957 American western film starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin and directed by Delmer Daves. The film was based on a 1953 short story by Elmore Leonard. In 2012, the film was ...more - Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci
Released: 1999
Directed by: Tim Burton
Based on Washington Irving's short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.Set in 1799, "Sleepy Hollow" is based on Washington Irving's classic tale "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Faithful to the dreamy custom-bound world that Irving paints in his story, the film mixes ...more - Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen
Released: 1979
Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Based on Joseph Conrad's novella, Heart of Darkness.In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a once-promising officer who ...more - Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell
Released: 2002
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Based on Philip K. Dick's short story of the same name.Based on a story by famed science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, "Minority Report" is an action-detective thriller set in Washington D.C. in 2054, where police utilize a psychic technology to arrest ...more - Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren
Released: 1963
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Based on Daphne du Maurier's short story of the same name.Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a San Francisco pet store and decides to follow him home. She brings with her the gift of two love birds and they strike up a ...more - Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank
Released: 2004
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Based on the short stories of Jerry Boyd.Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) is a veteran Los Angeles boxing trainer who keeps almost everyone at arm's length, except his old friend and associate Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris (Morgan Freeman). When ...more - Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss
Released: 2000
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Based on Jonathan Nolan's short story, Memento Mori.Leonard (Guy Pearce) is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty, however, of locating his wife's killer is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, ...more - John Wayne, James Stewart
Released: 1962
Directed by: John Ford
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a 1962 American Western film directed by John Ford starring James Stewart and John Wayne. The black-and-white film was released by Paramount Pictures. The ...more - Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis
Released: 1986
Directed by: David Cronenberg
Based on George Langelaan's film of the same name.When scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) completes his teleportation device, he decides to test its abilities on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a housefly slips in during the process, leading to a ...more - Christian Bale, Russell Crowe
Released: 2007
Directed by: James Mangold
Based on the short story of the same name by Elmore Leonard3:10 to Yuma is a 2007 western film directed by James Mangold and produced by Cathy Konrad, and stars Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in the lead roles, with supporting performances by Peter Fonda, ...more - Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard
Released: 1961
Directed by: Blake Edwards
Based on Truman Capote's novella of the same name.Based on Truman Capote's novel, this is the story of a young woman in New York City who meets a young man when he moves into her apartment building. He is with an older woman who is very wealthy, but ...more - Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck
Released: 1944
Directed by: Billy Wilder
Based on James M. Cain's story of the same name.Double Indemnity is a 1944 film noir crime drama directed by Billy Wilder, co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, based on James M. Cain's 1943 novella of the same name, which originally appeared ...more - Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal
Released: 2005
Directed by: Ang Lee
Based on Annie Proulx's short story of the same name.In 1963, rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and ranch hand Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) are hired by rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) as sheep herders in Wyoming. One night on Brokeback ...more - Ed Norton, Paul Giamatti
Released: 2006
Directed by: Neil Burger
Based on Steven Millhauser's short story, Eisenheim the Illusionist.A master magician named Eisenheim (Edward Norton) vies with Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) of Vienna for the hand of noblewoman Sophie (Jessica Biel), the girl he once loved. He brings his ...more - Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden
Released: 2007
Directed by: Frank Darabont
After a powerful storm damages their Maine home, David Drayton (Thomas Jane) and his young son head into town to gather food and supplies. Soon afterward, a thick fog rolls in and engulfs the town, ...more - Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren
Released: 1995
Directed by: Robert Longo
In this film based on the William Gibson story, Johnny (Keanu Reeves) is a data courier who has a secret stash of information implanted into his mind. However, the data will kill Johnny if he cannot ...more - Adam Beach, Evan Adams
Released: 1998
Directed by: Chris Eyre
Arnold (Gary Farmer) rescued Thomas (Evan Adams) from a fire when he was a child. Thomas thinks of Arnold as a hero, while Arnold's son Victor (Adam Beach) resents his father's alcoholism, violence ...more - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Brown
Released: 1987
Directed by: Paul Michael Glaser
"Based on a short papeback story by Richard Bachman aka Steven King"The Running Man is a 1987 American science fiction action film loosely based on the 1982 novel The Running Man, written by Stephen King and published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Directed by ...more - Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten
Released: 1949
Directed by: Carol Reed
Based on Graham Greene's novella of the same name.Set in postwar Vienna, Austria, "The Third Man" stars Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, who arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime (Orson Welles), only ...more
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