Best movies based on real events & a true story
Movies based on reality and real events. It gets a somewhat tricky to decide what to include as movies pretty often diverge quite a bit from real events. I deemed these to be true enough to be included:
But found that these where primarily made up:
- Lord of War, based on several real characters
- Medicine Man, loosely based on Richard Evans Schultes
- Sunshine, based on two real characters
- The Bank Job, based on reality, but also quite a lot of speculation
- Zero Dark Thirty, claims to be based on true accounts
But found that these where primarily made up:
- Casanova, great movie, but very loosely based on the 18th century autobiography
- Harrison's Flower, based on a real war and events, but fictional characters
- Fargo, completely fabricated story despite the claim in the movie
- The Gladiator, loosely on some real characters, while other are invented
- Rendition, story has similarities to true cases
- Braveheart, loosely based on real characters, but mostly made up in Hollywood
- Titanic, well, the ship did sink...
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- DirectorMatt BrownStarsDev PatelJeremy IronsMalcolm SinclairThe story of the life and academic career of the pioneer Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan, and his friendship with his mentor, Professor G.H. Hardy.
- DirectorSteve McQueenStarsChiwetel EjioforMichael Kenneth WilliamsMichael FassbenderIn the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsRussell CroweEd HarrisJennifer ConnellyA mathematical genius, John Nash made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a harrowing journey of self-discovery.
- DirectorMike McCoyScott WaughStarsAlex VeadovRoselyn SanchezNestor SerranoAn elite team of Navy SEALs embark on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsMichael DouglasMatt DamonScott BakulaA chronicle of the tempestuous six-year romance between megastar singer Liberace and his young lover Scott Thorson.
- DirectorAlan J. PakulaStarsDustin HoffmanRobert RedfordJack Warden"The Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsF. Murray AbrahamTom HulceElizabeth BerridgeThe life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsTom HanksBarkhad AbdiBarkhad AbdirahmanThe true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the U.S.-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsTom HanksBill PaxtonKevin BaconNASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.
- DirectorNigel ColeStarsHelen MirrenJulie WaltersPenelope WiltonA Women's Institute chapter's fundraising effort for a local hospital by posing nude for a calendar becomes a media sensation.
- DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsPaul NewmanRobert RedfordKatharine RossIn 1890s Wyoming, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid lead a band of outlaws. When a train robbery goes wrong, they find themselves on the run with a posse hard on their heels. After considering their options, they escape to South America.
- DirectorAlejandro AmenábarStarsRachel WeiszMax MinghellaOscar IsaacA historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning a slave who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hope of pursuing freedom while falling in love with his mistress, the philosophy and mathematics professor Hypatia of Alexandria.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsAngelina JolieColm FeoreAmy RyanAfter Christine's son goes missing, she reaches out to the LAPD to find him. But when they try to pass off an impostor as her son to quieten public protests, she refuses to accept him or give up hope.
- DirectorLone ScherfigStarsCarey MulliganPeter SarsgaardAlfred MolinaA coming-of-age story about a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London, and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy nearly twice her age.
- DirectorMarek KanievskaStarsSharon StoneRupert EverettJulian WadhamBritish war reporter Leo and American journalist Sally meet on assignment in Beirut. When Leo disappears, Sally begins to uncover his secret life, which leads her behind the Iron Curtain and into the clutches of the KGB. In HD.
- DirectorGlenn JordanStarsJames GarnerJonathan PrycePeter RiegertThe president of a major tobacco company decides to buy the company himself, but a bidding war ensues as other companies make their own offers.
- DirectorMichael WinterbottomStarsSteve CooganLennie JamesJohn ThomsonIn 1976, Tony Wilson sets up Factory Records and brings Manchester's music to the world.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsTom CruiseBryan LarkinRaymond J. BarryThe biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.
- DirectorTerry GeorgeStarsBill PaxtonBo EasonWilliam L. ManseyTrue story of Army man John Paul Vann, whose military success provided him the fulfillment he never found in his personal life.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsBradley CooperSienna MillerKyle GallnerNavy S.E.A.L. sniper Chris Kyle's pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and turns him into a legend. Back home with his family after four tours of duty, however, Chris finds that it is the war he can't leave behind.
- DirectorLukasz PalkowskiStarsTomasz KotPiotr GlowackiSzymon Piotr WarszawskiThe early career of cardiac surgeon Zbigniew Religa. Despite the harsh reality of 1980s Poland, he successfully leads a team of doctors to the country's first human heart transplantation.
- DirectorNika AgiashviliStarsShannon ElizabethEd O'RossBilly ZaneVan Vlahakis left Greece five decades ago with 22 dollars in his pocket. He arrived in the US hoping for a better future for him and his family. Eftichios as is his Greek name not only managed to live the American dream for himself, but also created Earth Friendly Products, a US giant for environmentally friendly cleaning products. His story is not only about transforming his life but also the lives of the ones around him as the owner and CEO of Earth Friendly Products. The story centers on the modern day Vlahakis (played by Ed O'Ross), who is diagnosed with cancer and given only few months to live. During this time, he reflects on his early life as an immigrant (played by George Finn) during the 1950's and ultimately decides to push himself to the limit by closing one final business deal that will concretize his company's success, even if it means taking on a large corporation that is trying to take over his company.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsTom HanksMark RylanceAlan AldaDuring the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
- DirectorJay RoachStarsBryan CranstonAnthony MackieMelissa LeoLyndon B. Johnson becomes the President of the United States in the chaotic aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination, and spends his first year in office fighting to pass the Civil Rights Act.
- DirectorSean EllisStarsJamie DornanCillian MurphyBrian CaspeBased on the extraordinary true story of Operation Anthropoid, the WWII mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution and the Reich's third in command after Hitler and Himmler.