Posted on 11/07/2014 5:43:15 PM PST by PJ-Comix
I remember reading about an interview with journalist Lowell Thomas. He was asked what he thought about the movie "Lawrence of Arabia" since he knew T.E. Lawrence and one of the characters in the film was loosely based on him. Thomas replied that he began to take notes when the movie came on the screen but quickly put his notes aside because the Lawrence he knew personally and the one he saw on the screen bore no factual resemblance to each other.
In fact most movies supposedly based on fact in reality are quite inaccurate so it would be easy to ask for your list on factually inaccurate movies. Instead, I am asking for your list of factually accurate movies. That is movies based on real events to come closest to factual accuracy.
Okay, I'll lead off. Because I read the book before seeing the movie, I would say "The Right Stuff." Some liberties with truth were taken but in general the facts of the space program were pretty accurate. Also "Nicholas and Alexandra" for the same reason as before, I read the book and the movie was mostly truthful except perhaps it did not show what a vacuous idiot Nicholas II was.
Doc Holiday was stupendous in Tombstone! You’re right he made the film....
“Tombstone” would have not normally got my attention...I picked it up because I knew the actors would at least be good...I was greatly surprised and still watch it from time to time. You are right to say it’s “entertaining”...that’s exactly right!
That murder suicide in the harracks head didn’t happen. I heard that it was based on an incident in the early 50s. During the time depicted in FMJ your assigned M-14s didn’t have firing pins and you got nowhere near ammo. At the range you were issued a different rifle and every single round was accounted for; no way you had any chance at firing a weapon. Even in infantry training, every round was accounted for. When there was a 1:1000000 accident where a rock from an explosion on a range deflected a round downward, killing a trainee, every trainee in the regiment stripped and every piece of clothing and gear was checked for concealed 5.56 rounds. No chances were taken.
Ok...I jotted it down on my list from this thread as must watch.
Really am enjoying this thread....
Signal 30.
Oh, good. You will enjoy it very much.
Walter Brennan and Gary Cooper were great together in Sgt. York, too.
Brennan stole this picture from Cooper.
Yes, it’s a good thread.
You’re right...who’d of thought a movie would spawn those!
Cease Fire, a 1953 war film about the Korean War. It was filmed in Korea in 1953 during the war. Most of the actors were actually US soldiers who volunteered to do the movie. A couple of the military actors left early to go back to their units to fight. At least one was KIA after he left the filming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1paqosv25Sw#t=11
Another is the German U-Boat movie Das Boot
“A Christmas Story” catches the mood of the times and the culture very well.....
The American Graffiti for the 1970s was Dazed and Confused, it captured 1976 perfectly.
Best war film I’ve seen is the Russian movie “Brest Fortress.”
Would Audie Murphy play the role of himself in a factually inaccurate movie “To Hell and Back”?
The most factually accurate movie: "The Long Riders" It's also my favorite Western.
Brothers in real life play brothers in history. The musicians in the movie are actually playing the songs you're hearing. The dialogue is wonderful and the cinema photography is exceptional - it's not Stanley Kubrick, but it's damn good.
My father is in that movie as one of the soldiers in the pass and review ( parade ) scene. He joked, “that’s me right there.” Of course he clarified that you can’t tell one soldier from the other. He was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington in 1954 and was in Murphy’s former platoon. My father got to meet Murphy when he was there shooting the movie.
Here’s some inaccuracies with Zulu.
http://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/myths/myths.htm
Another one not mentioned is that Trooper Hook in real life was the exact opposite of a malinger as depicted in the film. Hollywood couldn’t have made up a better hero than the real life Hook.
The Battle of Algiers was wickedly accurate and impartial. It was made with both actors and consultants who fought on both sides of the conflict.
If we’re talking about novels - hands down: “The Maltese Falcon”.
Wag the Dog
bkmk
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