For those who are housebound due the corona virus there is a treasure trove of older movies now on Youtube. One movie I see shares the title with a Bill Nelson song. Here is "The October Man" for all to see and maybe make your comparisons with the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoH3c2KPoy0
If you look to the right side of the Youtube page you will see a host of other older movies for your viewing pleasure. I've already seen "Detour," "Life at Stake", "The Mob" and the "Big Comb." Detour is an interesting movie for a 50's film. The lead character is a musician that ends up with a crazy woman gangster who dominates and abuses him mercilessly. Both lead characters are off beat and that quality is also evident in "Life at Stake." In "Life at Stake" the lead man doesn't speak in the stereotypical way Americans are known to speak in the 50s -- he doesn't say things like, "Hey mac, beat it, see!" The lead character speaks quite normally, like you would hear Americans speak today. Another anomaly is that he looks like a surf bum from California in the 60s. His love interest is Angela Lansbury who also speaks without a 50's tinge to her voice.
A lot of these are film noir and B or C movies. It's a good way to push in the time if you are not too busy or having to hunker down because of the corona virus.
To kill some time over the corona crisis I'll give my impression of the movie and song. On first impression it seems that the movie hardly relates at all to the song. Maybe there is no relation aside from the common qualities of depression and isolationist. The man in the movie is a nice fellow, makes handkerchief dolls for kids. The man in the song says he dreams of raped angels. Both the movie and the song have their merits, but I see the idea of a direct connection as a bit of a stretch (if there ever was suppose to be a connection). The idea of October Man seems to suggest a life near finality, that October is the last month before winter and the death. We know the movie end wells with the protagonist surviving to live on, but we don't know how the person in the song fares. He speaks of a funeral fire so maybe he knows the end is near. And somehow he seems to revel in it: "These fumes of funeral fire/ this is my celebration." Is this true or is it an overly melodramatic act? Is it all irony, posture and pretense or does he want to escape from this "damnation"? The movie suggests that the hero wants to live a normal life and is encouraged by a woman who loves him. We see nothing like this in the song. The song speaks of "desire" but it is vague and points to many thing. One thing it points to is death, e.g., "this odor of desire/ these fumes of funeral fire." And yet there is the desire for transformation, but it follows from the rape of angels. What transformation would this be? Again, is this serious or just throw away lines of art, designed to produce an effect? I suggest art wins out in the end (when does art ever lose?) and evidence of this is that Bill Nelson is still alive, an older musician who looks like Saint Nick and still loves life. In that respect maybe art has kept Bill alive to write songs for another day and pass them out like never-ending Christmas presents. Bill was born the same year the movie came out (1947) and maybe there is a numerological connection between the two. Does the life path and destiny converge in the immaterial world of numbers? Does the material point to the immaterial? The October Man ends ups with the celebration of the December Man (think Bill's birthday). The transformation points to Bill becoming Saint Nick. And that is a happy ending for both movie and song. So in fact, I go against my first impression and say there is a great connection between the song and the movie. How surprising is that!