Hit Man is based on an article. That article is based on a true story written by a journalist, as is the documentary Radical Wolfe. So too are the movies Almost Famous, Live Free or Die Hard, Argo, and Top Gun.
It was those first two that I mentioned that were both released in 2023 and most importantly credited the articles they were based on. And the whole thing got me thinking…
Are the few movies that get made these days based on articles, an otherwise melancholy celebration of the journalism that used to exist in greater abundance when I was growing up?
Back in the 90s, we had the rise of Maxim and cheaper less substantive magazines. But, we also had great journalism in Time, Esquire, and Vanity Fair. Heck, even Playboy could churn out an article worthy of comparison to The New Yorker or New York Magazine.
I know as the internet has changed journalism in almost all the wrong ways, namely killing newspapers left and right in a battle royale for clicks, but magazines are holding on for dear life. Good journalism is still something that is getting lost among the clicks.
And the list below that I based my thoughts on is by no means complete, but it is a good sample. While a few are from newspapers, the majority of them have come from magazines.
My Funk & Wagnalls defines magazine as “a periodical publication containing sketches, stories, essays, etc.” I bring the definition because “periodical” represent a legitimate source of news and information, so much so that people of my age had to learn how to cite sources from periodicals. That doesn’t seem as important of a skill anymore.
Then again, I own some magazines, but I can’t even guess what the most recent physical magazine I got myself would have been. I know I get them second hand from my father when he’s done reading them, but he may be the only person I know of that is actively subscribed to magazines.
This just goes to show how much that market has shrunk. Though, you would think more people would be interested in thoughtful longer-form articles that don’t come from a screen. Remember, reading off of a glossy page, or better yet newsprint, is still healthier for your eyes than reading it off something that’s backlit.
But I digress. This medium of periodicals, and mainly magazines, was where an article could take more time and space than if it were published in a newspaper. Sure, they all had regular columns, but there’s a reason that magazines hold a mystique even today.
They were a place to discover something. And as the list below can attest, scriptwriters and directors and producers have found inspiration in them as well.
If it weren’t for magazines and the wonderful and talented journalists that filled their pages, we wouldn’t have The Fast and the Furious franchise, the first movie being based on the article “Racer X” from the May 1998 issue of Vibe written by Kenneth Li.
We wouldn’t have Top Gun, which is now a franchise, if not for the article “Top Guns” in California Magazine, May 1983 written by Ehud Yonay.
Both of those films were released three years after the articles’ publication dates, but my small sample size reveals that from article publication to movie takes an average of about eight and a half years, in several cases about three years, and a minimum of one year in the case of Bigger Than Life in 1956 and a current maximum of 36 years for Ian Frazier’s Coyote vs. Acme based on his 1990 article in The New Yorker.
The point is that these things are not sure things, because this is just the list of movies I found, AND this is the list of those articles that made it into films. I’m sure that you could easily find more films than are on my list. There are likely several hundred more articles that were pitched and never made into movies.
My list reveals some blockbusters, some hidden gems, and some you’ve never heard of. It took Cameron Crowe 27 years to make his article into a movie, even after the successes he had before then which should have given him agency to make it sooner. If that’s the case, then anyone out there can find an interesting story in the library worth filming. After all, you’ve got an ocean of glossy pages from which to find inspiration.
Now, I’m aware “based on the novel” or “based on the book” is a whole different beast and list. “Red Alert” by Peter George, on which Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb is based, is just within arms reach of me here at my desk.
But while the medium of print has changed, I don’t think novels are going anywhere. As newspapers have a hard time maintaining print editions, so, too, are these magazines, which may or may not carry on their legacy of journalistic excellence.
Perhaps, we’ll end up with “based on a blog” or “as seen on Substack” at some point. For now, before they are gone, or make a grand comeback, let us remember that periodicals used to be half of what we went to the newsstand for. If we really liked them, we subscribed and they came to our house in the mail! And they were, and for now, still are, a great source of inspiration for other mediums.
Finally, below is my list of movies inspired by magazines. They’re in alphabetical order based on the movie’s title, so see if anything should make it onto your “To Watch” or – gasp! – “To Read” list.
- A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) – “Can You Say Hero, ” Esquire, November 1998, Tom Junod
- Almost Famous (2000) – “The Allman Brothers Story” Rolling Stone, December 6, 1973 – Cameron Crowe
- Argo (2012) – “How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans From Tehran,” Wired, April 2007 – Josh Bearman
- Bad Education (2019) – “The Bad Superintendent,” New York Magazine, September 17, 2004 – Robert Kolker
- Bigger Than Life (1956) – “Ten Feet Tall”, The New Yorker, September 10, 1955 – Berton Roueche
- Biker Boyz (2003) – “Biker Boyz”, New Times Los Angeles, April 2000 – Michael Gougis
- The Bling Ring (2013) – “The Suspects Wore Louboutins”, Vanity Fair, March 2010 – Nancy Jo Sales
- Blue Crush (2002) – “Life’s Swell”, Women Outside, September 1998 – Susan Orlean
- The Butler (2013) – “A Butler Well Served by this Election”, The Washington Post, November 7, 2008 – Wil Haygood
- City by the Sea (2002) – “Mark of a Murderer”, Esquire, September 1997 – Michael McAlary
- Coyote Ugly (2000) – “The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon”, GQ, March 1997 – Elizabeth Gilbert
- Coyote vs. Acme (2026) “Wile E. Coyote v. Acme Company”, The New Yorker, February 18, 1990 – Ian Frazier
- Dog Day Afternoon (1975) – “The Boys in the Bank”, Life, September 22, 1972 – P. F. Kluge & Thomas Moore
- The Fast and the Furious (2001) – “Racer X”, Vibe, May 1998 – Kenneth Li
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) – “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, Rolling Stone, November 11 & November 25, 1971 – Hunter S. Thompson ** article then book then movie
- Four Good Days (2020) – “How’s Amanda? A Story of Truth, Lies and an American Addiction”, Washington Post, July 23, 2016, – Eli Saslow
- Hit Man (2023) – “Hit Man” Texas Monthly October 2001 Skip Hollandsworth
- Hustlers (2019) – “The Hustlers at Scores” New York Magazine, December 28, 2015 – Jessica Pressler
- The Insider (1999) – “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, Vanity Fair, May 1996 – MAry Brenner
- Into the Wild (2007) – “Death of an Innocent”, Outside, January 1993 – Jon Krakauer **article, then book, then movie.
- Live Free or Die Hard (2007) – “A Farewell to Arms”, Wired, May 1997 – John Carlin
- Only the Brave (2017) – “No Exit”, GQ, September 27, 2013 – Sean Flynn
- Our Friend (2019) – “The Friend: Love Is Not a Big Enough Word”, Esquire, May 10, 2015 – Matthew Teague
- A Private War (2018) – “Marie Colvin’s Private War” Vanity Fair, August 2012 – Marie Brenner
- Radical Wolfe (2023) – “How Tom Wolfe Became … Tom Wolfe,” Vanity Fair, November 2015 – Michael Lewis
- Radio (2003) – “Someone to Lean On”, Sports Illustrated, December 16, 1996 – Gary Smith
- The Sessions (2012) – “On Seeing a Sex Surrogate” The Sun Magazine, May 1990– Mark O’Brien
- Shattered Glass (2003) – “Shattered Glass”, Vanity Fair, September 1998 – Buzz Bissinger
- Spare Parts (2015) – “La Vida Robot”, Wired, April 2005 – Joshua Davis
- Spotlight (2015) – “Church Allowed Abuse by Priest for Years”, Boston Globe, January 6, 2002– Boston Globe Spotlight Team
- Top Gun (1986) – “Top Guns”, California, May 1983 – Ehud Yonay
- Urban Cowboy (1980) – “The Ballad of the Urban Cowboy: America’s Search for True Grit”, Esquire, September 12, 1978 – Aaron Latham
- War Dogs (2016) – “The Stoner Arms Dealers: How Two American Kids Became Big-Time Weapons Traders”, Rolling Stone, March 16, 2011 – Guy Lawson