Based on a True Story

Yes, the title may attract some funny looks, but it happens to apply to 2 class assignments, 1 I did in high school and another I did in my history class here at Gateway. Yeah, even though I'm going for Graphic Design, basic education classes are required, so I chose World History, since I'm a history buff and I find it infinitely fascinating. In high school, in my U.S. History class, our final assignment was to choose a movie that was based on a true story, whether it was based on a real person, event or time. I wanted to do the movie Casino, which was based on the story of Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal, a famous Italian mobster. The teacher, Mrs. Janet O'Neill, said kindly that she wouldn't feel very comfortable with a movie about the Italian mob so I asked her if I could do my assignment on the topic of Prohibition, and she asked if there were any movies about that, and I told her that the movie The Untouchables was, and she gave me the green light go on it!! And this year, in my history class, I had to do the same thing, only this teacher didn't care about what or who we chose, just as long as we did it. So I did my project on the story of Ned Kelly, who was a famous Australian outlaw who lived in colonial Australia. Here are some movies that are based on a true story and the event/person it's based on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_actual_events
1920's
1926

• The Johnstown Flood. Based on the story of the flood that killed hundreds in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. I think that's what it was about, not much info was given.

1930s
1934 

• Cleopatra. Retelling of the story of the Egyptian queen

1940s
1942

• Pride of the Yankees. Actor Gary Cooper plays NY Yankee player Lou Gehrig

1942

• Yankee Doodle Dandy. Based on the story of George M. Cohan, an actor, singer, dancer, songwriter, producer, theatre owner and choreographer who is known as the Man that Owns Broadway

1945

• Dillinger. Actor Lawrence Tierney plays John Dillinger, a Chicago outlaw who was gunned down by Melvin Purviss, an FBI agent who shot him out outside the Biograph Theatre in Chicago

1950s
1951

• A Place in the Sun. Chester Gillette was executed for drowning pregnant girlfriend

1953

• Houdini. Tony Curtis plays the ill-fated magician during his final days

1955

• The Dam Busters. Based on a story of raids against German dams in WWII required creation of "bouncing bombs"

1958

• A Night to Remember. Based on the story by Walter Lord

1960s
1960

• Sink the Bismarck! German battleship escapes British armada before being bombed and sent to the bottom of the ocean in May 1941

1961

• Judgement at Nuremberg. Spencer Tracy plays a judge at a trial for Nazi war criminals

1962

• The Birdman of Alcatraz. Burt Lancaster plays Robert Shroud, aka, The Birdman of Alcatraz.

1962

• The Miracle Worker. Based on the story of blind and deaf woman Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan

1963

• The Great Escape. Based on a group of Allied prisoners attempting a mass, 175 person breakout of Stalag Luft III

1965

• The Sound of Music. Based on the story of the Von Trapp family, with Julie Andrews as a nun who leaves her Austria convent to go and be with a Naval officer and his 7 children

1967

• Bonnie and Clyde. Based on the story of real life outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow

1967

• In Cold Blood. Based on the murder of the Clutter family in 1959, also the subject of Truman Capote's book of the same name.

1968

• The Boston Strangler. Tony Curtis plays Albert de Salvo, who was known for the Green Man Rapes and suspected of murdering 13 women between 1962-1964

1969

• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Based on the story of 2 actual outlaws who fled the west for Bolivia

1970s
1970

• Patton-Based on the story of US General George Patton
• Tora!Tora!Tora!-Japanese for attack, it is basically another telling of the story of the Japanese Pearl Harbor bombing, told from the Japanese point of view
• Ned Kelly-Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger portrays the famous Australian outlaw

He looks more like the real Ned Kelly than Heath Ledger does!

1971

• Brian's Song- based on the story of Chicago Bears football player Brian Piccolo
• The French Connection- based on the story of drug smuggling from Marseille to New York City in the 1970s

1973

• Dillinger- based on the story of 1930s Chicago gangster John Dillinger
• Serpico- based on the story of New York policeman Frank Serpico, who fought against corruption in the NYPD

1975

• Dog Day Afternoon- based on the story of bank robber John Wojtowicz, which actor Al Pacino, who played him said was only 30% true.

1976

• Helter Skelter- based on the story of the Tate/LaBianca murders in 1969 by Charles Manson and his "family"

1980s

• Coal Miner's Daughter- Actress Sissy Spacek portrays Loretta Lynn
• The Elephant Man-Story of Joseph Merrick, aka, the Elephant Man
• Raging Bull- story of famous boxer Jake LaMotta

1982

• Gandhi- based on the story of Mahatma Gandhi

1986

• Hoosiers- based on the story of Milan High School, winner of the 1953-1954 Indiana State H.S. basketball championship despite the school only having 160 students

1987

• Cry, Freedom- based on the story of South African anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko

• La Bamba- based on the story of Ritchie Valens, thte first noted Latino rock star

• The Untouchables- based on the story of Elliot Ness and his gang of Prohibition agents and their 1930s crackdown on gangster Al Capone

1988

• Mississippi Burning- based on the investigation made by the FBI into the 1964 slaying of 3 civil rights workers

1990s

• Goodfellas- based on the story "Wiseguy" buy Nicholas Pileggi, on the story of Henry Hill, an Irish-Sicilian member of the New York mob

1993

• Schindler's List- based on the person Oskar Schindler, who saved over 1,000 Jews from certain death in the Holocaust, and he said his only regret was that he couldn't save more

• Cool Runnings- based on the story of the first Jamaican bobsled team to go to the Winter Olympics

1994

• Ed Wood- based on the story of schlock director Ed Wood, played by Johnny Depp.

1995

• Braveheart- based on the story of Scottish rebel William Wallace
• Casino- based on a fictional story by Nicholas Pileggi about the last mob-run casino in Vegas, the Tangiers

1996

• Ghosts of Mississippi- based on the event of civil rights activist Medgar Ever's murder in his own driveway and the 1994 3rd re-trial of KKK member Byron de La Beckwith

1997

• Donnie Brasco- based on the life of Joseph D. Pistone, aka 'Donnie Brasco' who infiltrated the Bonanno mob family in New York for 6 years in the 1970s

• Rosewood- based on a horrific lynch mob attack on a black community in 1923
• Selena- based on the life of Tejano musician Selena Quintanilla-Perez

• Titanic- based on the sinking of the RMS Titanic

1998

• Patch Adams- based on a doctor of the same name who was a doctor, clown, social activist

1999

• Boys Don't Cry- based on the life of Brandon Teena, who was born Teena Renae Brandon. He underwent a sex change operation to become a boy and he was raped and murdered

• The Pirates of Silicon Valley- based on the lives of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and their rivalry

2000+

• Men of Honor- based on the life of Carl Brashear, the US Navy's first black diver
• Remember the Titans- based on the story of T.C. Williams High School's white and black integrated football team in 1971

2001

• Ali- based on the life of boxing legend Muhammad Ali
• Blow- based on the life of cocaine smuggling legend George Jung

• Pearl Harbor- based on the story of the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Doolittle Raids
• From Hell- based on the story of Inspector Fred Abberline, and his investigation into the Jack the Ripper murders in Whitechapel in London

2002

• Catch Me If You Can- based on the life of con artist Frank Abagnale
• Dahmer- based on the life of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer

2003

• Ned Kelly- Heath Ledger portrays the famous Australian outlaw

Heath Ledger as Ned Kelly

The REAL Ned Kelly

2004

• Hotel Rwanda- based on the story of the Rwandan Genocide
• Finding Neverland- based on the life of J.M. Barrie, best known for writing the story Peter Pan

2005

• Capote- based on the life of author Truman Capote, who researches the murder of the Clutter family and befriends Perry Smith, one of the killers

2006

• The Zodiac- based on the story of the Zodiac killer, who terrorized San Francisco's Bay Area in the 1960s
• The Black Dahlia- based on the murder of actress Elizabeth Short
• Hollywoodland- based on the suspicious murder of Superman actor George Reeves
• Lonely Hearts- based on the investigation by homicide detective Elmer C. Robinson into the so-called Lonely Hearts Killers
• Take the Lead- based on the life of Pierre Dulaine, who taught high school dropouts how to ball room dance to raise their self respect and confidence

2007

• An American Crime- based on the torture and murder of Sylvia Maria Likens

• The Killing of John Lennon- based on the life of killer Mark David Chapman's plan to kill John Lennon

2008

• Valkyrie- based on the life of Col. Claus von Stauffenberg and his attempt to kill Adolf Hitler

2009

• The Blind Side- based on the life of Michael Oher, a black teen taken in by a white football loving family and raised by them who goes on to become a famous football player
• Coco Before Chanel- the life of fashion designer Coco Chanel before she gets famous
• Notorious- based on the life of rapper Biggie Smalls before he was murdered
• Public Enemies- based on the life of Melvin Purviss, and the FBI's attempt to capture John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during the 1930s

2010

• Bonded by Blood- based on Italian mob activity in the US