Name your favorite films based on true stories.

[SteveZ]

I love all types of movies but the ones based on true stories are my first picks. Here's a couple of my favorites in my personal movie collections on DVD.

THE MISSILES OF OCTOBER ( TV DOCUDRAMA 1974 )

TOO BIG TO FAIL ( HBO MOVIE 2011 )

Any movies that you guys want to mention ?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The Great Train Robbery (1978)
Eight Men Out (1988)
Goodfellas (1990)
Casino (1995)
The Path to 9-11 (2006 TV miniseries)

 

[AmateisGal]

I've always liked Rudy.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The Right Stuff (1983)
-- also featured Harry Shearer (The Simpsons) and an unknown Jeff Goldblume as NASA recruiters.

Is the criteria limited to just movies specifically based on actual persons or events or could it also include ones that are loosely based on them? Because in the latter category would be The Artist (2011) which was very loosely based on the life of Douglas Fairbanks.

 

[SteveZ]

I was thinking of recreations of actual events.

 

[Capesofwrath]

The Harder They Fall. One of the very best boxing pics but usually overlooked because it doesn’t glamourise boxing. Does quite the opposite in fact. Some of the boxers play characters very like themselves but are twenty years too old really. Max Baer plays himself almost exactly.

It was also Bogart’s last film.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Lawrence of Arabia.

 

[highway66blues]

Lawless (2012)

Previously mentioned in a different thread....sorry, Can't get 'nuff of it.

 

[SteveZ]

GANDHI 1982

ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN 1976

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

JFK (1991)

 

[philosophygirl78]

Henry and June
From Here to Eternity
A Royal Affair

 

[SteveZ]

Heres a classic I almost forgot......... THE GREAT ESCAPE 1963

 

[Bushman]

Unbroken
Schindler's List
Leatherheads (not entirely historically accurate, but it's enjoyable nonetheless)
Public Enemies
The Great Escape
Casino
Catch Me if You Can
12 Years A Slave
The Untouchables
The Last King of Scotland
Lincoln
The Butler

 

[DNO]

Zulu
The Longest Day
The Cruel Sea (although based on a work of fiction, the book is commonly viewed as an account of Nicholas Monsarrat's experience as a RN officer in WWII.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, there's always "Battleship Potemkin." And Abel Gance's "Napoleon."

As for talkies --

DeMille's "Cleopatra" with Claudette Colbert is delightfully gamy.

"Pride of the Yankees" was the best performance of Gary Cooper's career.

"Judgement at Nuremburg" is tense and exciting from start to finish, the best "courtroom drama" ever made.

"Norma Rae" was very inspirational.

"Eight Men Out" really captured the story of the Black Sox Scandal.

As far as recent movies go, I really loved "Me and Orson Welles," which, while not a *true story* kind of movie, was a very loving recreation of the whole left-wing/experimental theatre millieu of the late thirties. And the guy who played Welles absolutely nailed him.

And despite its playing fast and loose with a few details, I thought "42," the Jackie Robinson picture of a couple years back, was wonderful.

 

[Edward]

In addition to those above, I'd probably add:

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho, along with Silence of the Lambs - all loosely based on Ed Gein. The eponymous biopic of the latter himself was interesting too.

One that many Loungers might not have seen was The Eichmann Show, made for BBC television in the UK and starring Martin Freeman, it tells the story of the American broadcast team who fought for, gained the right to, and did indeed televise the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Israel in 1961. The televised broadcasts of the trial, edited daily, went out globally under the name The Eichmann Show, and included the first mass screening of films of Nazi atrocities in the deathcamps, emphasising to the world what around 1961/2 was first beginning to be known as "The Holocaust".

Another superb film for anyone interested in twentieth century Irish history is The Treaty. Also made for television, this joint British and Irish production from 1991 tells the story of the negotiation of the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed at 2:10am on December 6th, 1921, which brought an end to the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921) and precipitated the Irish Civil War (1922-1923). I have at one time and another studied that period extensively, and this particular film is among the best, most historically accurate. Not a single factual error in it that I could spot. Far superior to the Hollywood take, Michael Collins, character actor Brendan Gleeson's Michael Collins is a real stand out, but all the performances are amazing. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190088/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

[SteveZ]

SINK THE BISMARK 1960 Even though the book was much much better, this was the ideal film to recognize and salute Englands Royal Navy. I thought this was Kenneth Mores greatest performance also.

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN 1969 Quote ' Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many by so few '. Kudos to our ' family across the pond ' that held off the German threat until America got in the fight. This film would have been several hours long if more details of the greatest air battles in history were included in this story. SALUTE !

 

[Lean'n'mean]

' WILD' - any film which involves hiking & rucksacks gets my vote

'The Last Emperor'

'Bonny & Clyde '

' Gorillas In The Mist '

'L'armée Des Ombres'

'Dersou Ouzala'

I haven't seen 'The Revenant' yet but I have a hunch it's going to join the list.

 

[Fading Fast]

' WILD' - any film which involves hiking & rucksacks gets my vote

'The Last Emperor'

'Bonny & Clyde '

' Gorillas In The Mist '

'L'armée Des Ombres'

'Dersou Ouzala'

I haven't seen 'The Revenant' yet but I have a hunch it's going to join the list.

"That Last Emperor," great call. I always forget about that movie, but it is beautifully filmed and does a reasonably good job of telling an incredible - and true - story.

 

[ChiTownScion]

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN 1969 Quote ' Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many by so few '. Kudos to our ' family across the pond ' that held off the German threat until America got in the fight. This film would have been several hours long if more details of the greatest air battles in history were included in this story. SALUTE !

There were some inaccuracies, but it was a fun film- and it boasted a terrific score ("Aces High March").