Best Movie that Portrayed a Historical Event or Character

I guess it can't be a picture that has a "background" of some big historical event--although SAVING PRIVATE RYAN has surely the most incredible D-DAY footage. Like I really like GALLIPOLLI. The action takes place during a really brutal war but the story itself is fictional.

Examples would be ELIZABETH--about the queen-- ELIZABETH I, HENRY VIII, AMISTAD, Mutiny on the Bounty, GANDHI, SCHINDLER's LIST.

I personally like TOMBSTONE with Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday and Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp. It revolves around the gunfight at the OK Corral. (The Kevis Costner version was a bust. He has the acting talent of a road bump.) Also PERFECT STORM was exciting.

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Blonde Klingons: Because it was a good day to dye!

I would have to say Patton.

Patton was very good.

I also liked To Hell and Back (starring the actual guy it was portraying).

All the President's Men is one of my favorites.

I know there are others that I just can't think of off hand.

THE BOUNTY. This is the Hopkins version, not the awful Laughton one, in which Bligh was depicted as a totally one-dimensional martinet. Although I am sure the original Bligh was something of a petty tyrant, he was also a courageous and highly skilled navigator, a fact which was completely ignored by Laughton and his director. Hopkins saves Bligh's reputation.

SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC (starring John Mills, 1949) was interesting too, although it made Scott too much of a hero.
I mean, what chance did he give his team, man-hauling their sleds all the way to the Pole? And he even chose ponies, not dogs! Duhhh! Still, I know this movie makes many English feel all-teary eyed & super patriotic, and I do admit to a wee bit of moisture in me eye when a dying expedition members says to Scott before he crawls out of the tent to his frozen doom, "I may be gone a little while." :bawl:

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Pigsnie, Vicar of Fries!

Yeah, Gallipoli is where us Aussies got our butts kicked in WWII, but I can't remember much of the movie (it launched Mel's career I think)...

Saving Private Ryan does indeed have some of the most horrific (and accurate too unfortunately) scenes of war that I have ever seen, but it's not much of a story either...And the scene in Spartacus where the Roman army clashes with the slave rebels must have been pretty accurate as well?!

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Black Holes Suck!

Patton & All The Presidents Men are great examples of the genre. Some of my favourite films based on true stories or events:

Scorcese's GOODFELLAS based on the novel WISEGUYS by Nicholas Pillegi.

LUST FOR LIFE with Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh

Milos Foreman's AMADEUS/PEOPLE VS LARRY FLYNT/MAN ON THE MOON

BIRD with Forrest Whitaker

ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ with Clint

Oliver Stone's JFK/NIXON

BACKBEAT with Stephen Dorff

MISSISIPPI BURNING (SP? Sorry Im Australian)

GENTLMAN JIM with Errol Flynn

SID & NANCY/THE DOORS cool rock bios

BONNIE & CLYDE with Warren Beatty

THE GLEN MILLER STORY with James Stewart.

HENRY:PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER starring Micheal Rooker

Richard Fleischer's THE BOSTON STRANGLER

CITIZEN KANE???? based on the life of William Randolph Hearst?


Loads more great films based on true stories I love but I will let someone else have go.

Two of the WORST films based on a true story because they are so inaccurate are:

BRAVEHEART
PERFECT STORM

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******"The Majority Is Always Wrong" Steve Mcqueen in Enemy Of The People******

Oops Deckard, you're gonna get a slamming for Braveheart, it's one of Chris' favourite movies!

LOL, chris should read the real story, it is a thousands times more interesting.

Not that Im pulling down my pants and declaring war though.

Soul of the Game (an HBO original movie) is another that I like.