10 Best Movies Named After Popular Songs

Stephen King's 1982 coming of age novella, in which four twelve-year-old boys from tough backgrounds trek along the railway tracks to see a dead body, had the very simple, to the point title of The Body.

On adapting the novella to the big screen, however, studio Columbia Pictures became concerned that "Stephen King's The Body" would lead people to expect a gory horror picture rather than a poignant story about growing up in a dead-end town. (Writer Raynold Gideon would add that The Body "sounded like a sex film").

The film was set in 1959 and its soundtrack, designed to conjure the atmosphere of that moment, was filled with period appropriate rock 'n' roll, rhythm and blues, and doo wop tunes. Just a few months before the release of the movie, director Rob Reiner suggested as a new title the name of one of these songs: Ben E. King's gospel-inflected 1961 hit Stand By Me. "It was the least unpopular option", Gideon later commented.

Stand By Me remains one of the best King adaptations and a touchstone for nostalgic coming-of-age narratives whose obvious influence can still be felt on the likes of IT.

Whether or not the spiritual song that it is named for is a thematic match for its story isn't really important. It's certainly a title that feels meaningful in a way that The Body doesn't. And it helped the song back up into the charts 25 years after its original release!