What are the best movies based on true stories?

Cannibal Holocaust

King Arthur

The Martian

A Night to Remember (1958)

Goodfellas

Gus Van Sant's "To Die For."

Zodiac

American Hustle (although technically it was "inspired" by Abscam)

Hidden Figures

A Man For All Season

I, Tonya

Catch Me If You Can

The Big Short

A League of Their Own

All the President's Men

Do "Funny Girl" and "The Sound of Music" count?

Evita

I really love Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

Xanadu starring Olivia Newton-John

Casino (1995). That movie is endlessly entertaining.

Monster

Wicked

[quote] Do "Funny Girl" and "The Sound of Music" count?

Even as a huge fan I think they would better fit the description "inspired by".

Does A Place In The Sun count?

Not Without My Daughter

Titanic

Silkwood

Mommie Dearest

Mask

Bonnie and Clyde

Dance With a Stranger

Cleopatra

Dog Day Afternoon

Andrei Rubelev

Before Night Falls

The Straight Story

Powertool

Meet me in St Louis

Alive 1993.

Goodfellas

The Stepford Wives

Avatar

Society of the Snow

A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story

Great choices

Wife, Mother, Murderer

Citizen Kane

The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking

Mrs. Anna

Casablanca

Spotlight

The Zone of Interest

Spartacus

The Bridge Over the River Kwai

Lady Sings The Blues

Star Wars - Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back

Lawrence of Arabia

OP, great topic, but too many candidates! Currently I'm on a "war and such-like" movie kick, so....

"Enemy At The Gates"---Russia's most proficient sniper of WWII vs. his Nazi counterpart. (Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Ed Harris)

"Breaker Morant"---Boer War murders of POWs. (Edward Woodward, Bryan Brown)

"The Sword of Gideon"---Mossad's hunting down of the perpetrators of the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist massacre of 11 Israeli athletes. (Steven Bauer, Michael York, Rod Steiger, Robert Joy, and Colleen Dewhurst as Golda Meir) (Very similar to Spielberg's "Munich" but minus the internal moral ditherings of the lead avenger (Eric Bana) and the full-frontal nudity of the young woman assassin.)

The Longest Day

Coal Miner's Daughter

Caligula

R4, I agree 100% with your list, too!

"ANTR" is the best "Titanic" movie for characterization, but I think Leo's is the best for depicting the sinking.

I forgot about the political ones, and I include the superb "A Man For All Seasons" in that! "But Richard, it profit a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world, but for Wales?"

The Social Network

Great choices

Joe Gage's Kansas City Trucking Co.

Ben Hur

Quo Vadis

Argo

Dawson’s Fifty Load Weekend

Beckett

A Lion In Winter

Gandhi

Out Of Africa

Birdman Of Alcatraz

The Miracle Worker

The Great Escape

R51 Just what I was looking for.

Christian you people are bad at this

IN COLD BLOOD

Christ*. ;)

[quote] Casino (1995). That movie is endlessly entertaining.

But about an hour too long.

A League of Their Own (story of the Rockford Peaches)

Serpent and the Rainbow

R54, What makes your choice superior to all the previous answers such that you became miffed? (Answer: It isn't. At least not to "A Man For All Seasons.")

No on 9

The Life and Times of Harvey Milk

Cast a Giant Shadow

All The President's Men

The Killing Fields

The Year of Living Dangerously

Invictus

An American Tragedy

Jeez, people. Documentaries are NOT “movies based on…’

They are documentaries —how dumb are you?

R59 AMFAS is a fictional version. ICB is a non-fictional fiction version.

Where did you go to university? Did they not teach literary theory or proper criticism where you came from? Bless…your….heart.

Papillion

Hidden Figures

I'd rather watch a documentary than historical fiction any day.

Well, r63, I learned the meaning of "based on." You?

Moreover, perhaps YOU don't know that Capote conjured dialogue and scenes, such that "In Cold Blood" is rather famously categorized as a "non-fiction novel," a seeming oxymoron but there you have it.

Finally and FYI, I have read more literary criticism and theory than are dreamt of in your philosophy, DEAR.

The best historical fiction is Allan Eckert's novels, which claim to be all of them based on real documents.

In Cold Blood. I still think of the scene where Robert Blake laments how they murdered the teenage girl ( after the other guy raped her ) and said “ murdering a girl for two Kennedy half dollars .”

R67 missed the reference to non-fiction fiction in the post. Some critical reader you are

Thanks for the dime store version of how he wrote it for the New Yorker—

This one

Mississippi Burning

Madame Claude (1977)

Boys Don't Cry

"Hoosiers."

The Elephant Man

Out of Africa

Lawrence of My Labia

Snuff Girls and Ponies 1

Snuff Girls and Ponies2

Etc.

The Green Mile

Steel Magnolias

R81, yep

Stephen Frears Philomena

I'd add:

Pride

Milk

Apollo XIII

Florence Foster Jenkins

The King's Speech

To Sir With Love

The Trouble With Angels

Coal Miners Daughter Goodfellas Monster The Killing Fields At Close Range

Coal Miners Daughter, Goodfellas, Monster, The Killing Fields, At Close Range.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

The People vs. Larry Flynt

Zulu.

All the President's Men

I do like Zulu.

If you’re interested in mountain climbing:

Touching the Void

North Face (a German film about the Eiger)

Do NOT read anything about them before you watch.

Also, Seven Years in Tibet

R91, why not read before?

Madeleine

Yours Mine and Ours

October Sky

Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows

Another "Paid 25 Cents for New Threads" OP.

I liked Coal Miner's Daughter a lot, but the real husband of Loretta Lynn was the opposite, in looks, compared to Tommy Lee Jones.

R92 because it’s all about the suspense

A Place In The Sun

I somewhat enjoyed Capote. I think Phillip Seymour Hoffman did a good job as Capote.

Monster

Boys Don't Cry

The Boston Strangler

Glory

Reversal of Fortune

Bonnie and Clyde

Philomena

1776!

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐨𝐠𝐠𝐲 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐤 (1972).

It says '𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑆 𝐼𝑆 𝐴 𝑇𝑅𝑈𝐸 𝑆𝑇𝑂𝑅𝑌' right at the beginning. ;)

Helter Skelter, LaBamba and Sweet Dreams, are also very good in addition to many mentioned (Alive, Casino, Goodfellas) Blow was also fantastic, also enjoyed Wonderland.

Write in #1: Valley of the Dolls (for best fiction based on real people and lives, going so far as to require a disclaimer due to the parallel with Garland).

Write in: #2Network for best prophetic fictional movie come to life.

Write in:#3 3 Days of the Condor, fiction that mirrored current political scandal, feels more real than some mentioned directly above.

R108 again

Write in for WORST movie based on a true story: Cocain Bear

Braveheart

lol kidding, I love the movie to death but 80% of the film is fiction.

It’s an easy pick —-Fargo. They did change some names.

Zulu was a very good film that could have been a great film. Some of the battle scenes were painfully bad on reviewing.

The movie whose name I am blanking on which stars Burt Lancaster, that shows the prequel to Zulu , on rewatching may actually be better.

The Brits really don’t d have some piss poor generals.

“ really do have some piss poor…”

Wilde, Zulu, Betty Broderick, Helter Skelter, Guyana tragedy (I think that's the name of it, with Powers Boothe), Zodiac

Summer Of Sam

Butterfield 8

My Left Foot.. Out of Africa Schindlers List Argo Dallas Buyers Club Hidden Figures

Romeo And Juliet

Soldier's Girl

Who agrees that movies based on real life stories are the best?

Star Wars

Into The Wild.

R119, I know those are the ones I enjoy the most, particularly those involving espionage, bravery in war, decisive battles, and the like. My cowardly self appreciates the courage of others.

R121, Wasn't that a bizarre tale?! Emile Hirsch was rather astounding as the hippie-dippy protagonist.

R116, "Hidden Figures" is one of the greatest modern historical movies because of its story about events so incredibly significant yet amazingly virtually unknown!

We knew all about our space program, right, what with "The Right Stuff" and "Apollo 13"?

No, we did not. "Hidden Figures" makes me ashamed and angry, dammit, that without this film we STILL wouldn't know the full story, the GENIUS of---and the MISOGYNY and RACISM and HUMILIATION forced upon---these Black women working under Jim Crow to the glory of the United States of America.

Should be required high school viewing for seniors every January.

Godzeella is great! It’s about that reptile that injured some people in Japan in the 1930s. His name has eel in it but I don’t think he’s an eel.

I read that Godzilla was fictional.

Well, Missy, you read WRONG!

The Big Short

Chernobyl (not a movie, but miniseries)

Argo

The Man who would be King

The Blind Side. Love Sandra Bullock. My partner loves this film.

Born Free

Purple Rain

Ferngully: The Last Rain Forest

"All About Eve" Elizabeth Bergner was appearing in "The Two Mrs. Carrolls" on Broadway in 1943.

12 Years a Slave

Battleship Potemkin

Gomorrah

A Man for all Seasons

Kate’s Secret

The Miracle Worker

Inherit the Wind

Judgment at Nuremberg

The Diary of Anne Frank

An American Tragedy

Great choices

Bridge of Spies

The Post

Schindler's List'

Zone of Interest

The Wizard of Oz.

Any more choices?

All This, And Heaven Too

Metropolis

Scott of the Antarctic

Selena

In Cold Blood Don’t know if already mentioned

Whenever I see a Kennedy half dollar, I think of Robert Blake saying ( paraphrasing )….raping and killing a girl for a Kennedy half dollar

In the olden days these half dollars were a big deal and Robert Blake was a beloved actor often appearing in Johnny Carson holding a trademark unlit cigarette

Glory

American Gangster. It really captured an era.

"Dick", the Watergate scandal through the eyes of a pair of ditzy schoolgirls. Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams are hilarious. Also features a young Ryan Reynolds with baby fat.

The Magdalene Sisters.

Truly horrific abuse. Here's the trailer.

Mississippi Burning

Meet the Feebles

Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975)

Since I just watched it as part of my Oscar movies week, I have to say 12 Years a Slave. it was based on a true story, and an autobiography written by Solomon Northrup.

Roots

The Mirror Crack’d 1980

Serial Mom