A list of films that are based on books about common topics and issues in social science and political science.
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Devdas देवदास |
1936 | P.C. Barua | India | Devdas | Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায় |
1917 | Novella | - |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Under the Volcano ♠ | 1984 | John Huston | USA | Under the Volcano | Malcolm Lowry | 1947 | Novel | - |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Lost Weekend | 1945 | Billy Wilder | USA | The Lost Weekend | Charles Jackson | 1944 | Novel | - |
Leaving Las Vegas | 1995 | Mike Figgis | USA | Leaving Las Vegas | John O'Brien | 1990 | Novel/ Memoir |
John O'Brien (simulacrum) |
The Doors | 1991 | Oliver Stone | USA | notes [1] (unpublished) for No One Here Gets Out Alive (uncredited) | Jerry Hopkins & Danny Sugerman (both uncredited) | 1980 | Non-fiction | Jim Morrison |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Christiane F. | 1981 | Uli Edel | West Germany | Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo ♠ | Christiane F. with Kai Herrmann & Horst Rieck (ghostwriters) | 197? | Non-fiction | Christiane F. |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trainspotting | 1996 | Danny Boyle | UK | Trainspotting | Irvine Welsh | 1993 | Novel | - |
The Seven Percent Solution | 1976 | Herbert Ross | UK & USA | The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. | Nicholas Meyer | 1974 | Novel | Sherlock Holmes |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Boost | 1988 | Harold Becker | USA | Ludes | Ben Stein | 1982 | Novel | - |
The Basketball Diaries | 1995 | Scott Kalvert | USA | The Basketball Diaries | Jim Carroll | 1978 | Diary | Jim Carroll |
Permanent Midnight | 1998 | David Veloz | USA | Permanent Midnight | Jerry Stahl | 1995 | Memoir | Jerry Stahl |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Auto Focus | 2002 | Paul Schrader | USA | The Murder of Bob Crane: Who Killed the Star of Hogan's Heroes? | Robert Graysmith | 199? | Biography | Bob Crane |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cry Freedom | 1987 | Richard Attenborough | UK | Biko | Donald Woods | 1978 | Memoir | Steve Biko, Donald Woods |
In My Country | 2004 | John Boorman | UK ? | Country of My Skull | Antjie Krog | 1998 | Memoir | - |
Goodbye Bafana aka The Color of Freedom | 2007 | Bille August | UK, South Africa, Germany | Goodbye Bafana: Nelson Mandela, My Prisoner, My Friend | James Gregory & Bob Graham | 199? | Memoir | Nelson Mandela |
For slave revolts, see List of films based on war books — 1775–1898.
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Boycott * | 2001 | Clark Johnson | USA | Daybreak of Freedom: the Montgomery Bus Boycott |
Stewart Burns (editor) | 1997 [2]¤ | Non-fiction | Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Rosa Parks |
Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan * | 1975 | Marvin J. Chomsky | USA | Attack on Terror: The F.B.I. Against the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi | Don Whitehead | 1970 | Non-fiction | Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman |
(Print and television)
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Culloden [3] ♠ * | 1964 | Peter Watkins | UK | Culloden | John Prebble | 1962 | Non-fiction | - |
All the President's Men | 1976 | Alan J. Pakula | USA | All the President's Men | Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward | 1974 | Memoir | Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All the President's Men | 1976 | Alan J. Pakula | USA | All the President's Men | Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward | 1974 | Memoir | Ben Bradlee |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All the President's Men | 1976 | Alan J. Pakula | USA | All the President's Men | Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward | 1974 | Memoir | Katharine Graham ♠ |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Daens | 1992 | Stijn Coninx | Belgium, France, Netherlands | Pieter Daens | Louis Paul Boon | 1971 | Novel | Adolf Daens |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Grapes of Wrath [4] | 1940 | John Ford | USA | The Grapes of Wrath [5] | John Steinbeck[6] | 1939 | Novel | Okies |
Mr. Majestyk | 1974 | Richard Fleischer | USA | Mr. Majestyk | Elmore Leonard | 1974 [2] | Novel | - |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal * | 1979 | Mel Stuart | USA | The Triangle Fire (unofficial) | Leon Stein (unofficial) | 1962 | Non-fiction | Triangle Shirtwaist |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
North Country | 2005 | Niki Caro | USA | Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law | Clara Bingham & Laura Leedy Gansler | 196? | Non-fiction | Lois Jenson |
One of the Hollywood Ten | 2000 | Karl Francis | Spain & UK | Salt of the Earth: The Story of a Film | Herbert Biberman | 1965 | Non-fiction | Salt of the Earth [7] |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Eight Men Out | 1988 | John Sayles | USA | 8 Men Out | Eliot Asinof | 1963 | Non-fiction | Black Sox |
Net Worth ♠ * | 1995 | Jerry Ciccoritti | Canada | Net Worth: Exploding the Myth of Pro Hockey |
David Cruise & Alison Griffiths |
1991 [8] | Non-fiction |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Beautiful Dreamers | 1990 | John Kent Harrison | Canada | Walt Whitman | Dr. Maurice Bucke | 1883 | Biography | insane asylum |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Frances | 1982 | Graeme Clifford | USA | Shadowland | William Arnold | 198? | Fictional biography | Frances Farmer, lobotomy |
Mister Buddwing | 1966 | Delbert Mann | USA | Buddwing | Evan Hunter | 1964 | Novel | amnesia |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rabbit-Proof Fence | 2002 | Phillip Noyce | Australia | Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence | Doris Pilkington Garimara | 1996 | Non-fiction | Molly Craig |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Outsider ♠ | 1961 | Delbert Mann | USA | "The Outsider" from Wolf Whistle and Other Stories |
William Bradford Huie | 1959 | Non-fiction | Ira Hayes |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barabbas | 1961 | Richard Fleischer | Italy | Barabbas | Pär Lagerkvist[9] | 1950 | Novel | Barabbas |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Carandiru Carandiru |
2003 | Hector Babenco | Brazil & Argentina | Carandiru Station [10] Estação Carandiru |
Dr. Dráuzio Varella | 1999 | Non-fiction/ Memoir |
Carandiru massacre |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Papillon | 1973 | Franklin J. Schaffner | USA | Papillon | Henri Charrière | 1969 | Memoir/ Novel |
Henri Charrière |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Goodbye Bafana aka The Color of Freedom | 2007 | Bille August | UK, South Africa, Germany | Goodbye Bafana: Nelson Mandela, My Prisoner, My Friend | James Gregory & Bob Graham | 199? | Memoir | Nelson Mandela |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Boy A | 2007 | John Crowley | UK | Boy A | Jonathan Trigell | 2004 | Novel | - |
A Clockwork Orange | 1971 | Stanley Kubrick | UK | A Clockwork Orange ♠ | Anthony Burgess | 1962 | Novel | - |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pierrepoint | 1995 | Adrian Shergold | UK | Executioner: Pierrepoint | Albert Pierrepoint | 1974 | Memoir | Albert Pierrepoint |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Birdman of Alcatraz | 1962 | John Frankenheimer | USA | Birdman of Alcatraz | Thomas E. Gaddis | 1955 | Non-fiction | Robert Stroud |
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang [11] | 1932 | Mervyn LeRoy | USA | I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang | Robert Elliott Burns | 1932 | Autobiography | Robert Elliott Burns |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Executioner's Song * | 1982 | Lawrence Schiller | USA | The Executioner's Song [12] | Norman Mailer | 1980 | Novel | Gary Gilmore |
Shot in the Heart * | 2001 | Agnieszka Holland | USA | Shot in the Heart | Mikal Gilmore | 1995 | Non-fiction | Gary Gilmore |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich | 1970 | Caspar Wrede | UK & Norway | One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn[13] | 1962 | Novel | - |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cell No. 5 ♠ To kelli miden × |
1975 | Yannis Smaragdis | Greece | The Method: A Personal Account of the Tortures in Greece Ανθρωποφύλακες (Anthropofylakes) |
Periklis Korovesis Περικλής Κοροβέσης |
1969 | Memoir | Periklis Korovesis |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Goodbye Bafana aka The Color of Freedom | 2007 | Bille August | UK, South Africa, Germany | Goodbye Bafana: Nelson Mandela, My Prisoner, My Friend | James Gregory & Bob Graham | 199? | Memoir | Nelson Mandela |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barren Lives Vidas Secas |
1963 | Nelson Pereira dos Santos | Brazil | Vidas Secas | Graciliano Ramos | 1938 | Novel | sertão |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Broken Blossoms [15] | 1919 | D. W. Griffith | USA | "The Chink and the Child" from Limehouse Nights |
Thomas Burke | 1916 | Story | Limehouse |
Love on the Dole | 1941 | John Baxter | UK | Love on the Dole: a Tale of Two Cities | Walter Greenwood | 1933 | Novel | Salford |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn | 1945 | Elia Kazan | USA | A Tree Grows In Brooklyn | Betty Smith | 1943 | Novel | Brooklyn |
Last Exit to Brooklyn | 1989 | Uli Edel | USA, UK, West Germany |
Last Exit to Brooklyn | Hubert Selby Jr. | 1964 | Novel | Brooklyn |
Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work |
Author | Date | Type | Basis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Beggars of Life | 1928 | William A. Wellman | USA | Beggars of Life | Jim Tully | 1924 | Novel | hobos |
The Grapes of Wrath [4] | 1940 | John Ford | USA | The Grapes of Wrath [5] | John Steinbeck[6] | 1939 | Novel | Okies |
Sounder | 1972 | Martin Ritt | USA | Sounder [16] | William H. Armstrong | 1969 | Novel | sharecroppers |
Conrack | 1974 | Martin Ritt | USA | The Water Is Wide | Pat Conroy | 1972 | Memoir | Sea Islands |
Lavington, Stephen. Virgin Film: Oliver Stone, Virgin Books, London, 2004.
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