movies that stretch the meaning of "based on a true story"

[mopinko]

watched "perfect storm" last night. jeez, did i feel ripped off at the end. robbed, suckered, duped. (how did i escape knowing how this movie ends? i do not know.) i thought it had a real everything but the kitchen sink plot, but i got sucked in by the "who got to live to tell this tale" part of it.
so, what movies should i delete from my netflix queue?

[jdsmith]

1. DON'T DELETE IT FROM YOUR QUEUE, BUT "FARGO"

The ascription "Based on a true story" in the opening is a Coen joke.

[lolly]

3. Like "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou"

Which was, according to the opening credits, "based on the Odyssey by Homer?"

[Servo300]

9. That movie sucked big time (n/t)

[FlashHarry]

23. Actually, that movie rocked.

To each his own, I guess.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

7. That's not a stretch, it's a break nt

[Qanisqineq]

21. omg, being a Fargoan living in Washington, DC

you don't know how impossible it was to convince people it was NOT based on a true story. And that the accent was exaggerated. :mad:

[jdsmith]

26. As a South Carolinian living in Kentucky

I have to tell you that most Southerners and most Appalachians were sympathetic with quarrels against the _Fargo_ accents but figured that, hey, after having our accents butchered onscreen since the talkies began, it was a little bit of payback.

Speaking of those accents: George Clooney got an uncle from Kentucky to help him with his lines from _O Brother_. That would have been a fine way of gaining authenticity except that the movie is set in the Deep South.

[lolly]

2. Save me some trouble

Spoil it for me. Who did live to tell the tale?

[mopinko]

5. NO ONE

the ship sank, no survivors. long, involved shaggy dog story, completely made up.

[BigMcLargehuge]

28. not exactly

it was based on Sebastian Junger's book, which he meticulously researched. The film fictionalised the events aboard the ship from the time the wireless fax went out to the end... except for the end, they did all die. There were some events before the antenna snap that were fictionalized too, like the ice machine breaking, and the antagonistic relationship between Dale Murphy (John C. Riley) and Bugsy Moran (John Hawkes).

As for capturing the life and feel of the men and women who fish in this day and age. It was very accurate.

The woman captain, Linda Greenlaw, played my M. E. Mastrontonio, retired from the longline business sometime after the storm and now runs a lobstering business out of Maine.

I saw The Perfect Storm once, and I will only ever see it once. I've lost friends from high school to the sea on little scallop draggers and long liners out on the banks. The book was fantastic and is well worth a read.

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. Fargo - contrary to the opening scene

is apparently NOT "Based on a true story". The text claim is just a "Literary Device".

I kept wondering about more details of the story it was based on. Turned out there wasn't one - or at least one in particular.

Still one the best movies though.

[mopinko]

6. see, i don't mind hearing that

even tho i was sucked in, and didn't know til right now that it was not true. but you don't get to the end of that movie and go, :wtf:
the thing about perfect storm is that once you know it wasn't true, you realize that it was a stupid movie. fargo was a good movie.

[NoPasaran]

8. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"

[mitchum]

14. First one that I thought of

[Westegg]

10. "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians"...

No way in HELL Santa woulda conquered those Martians---not with the technology that was available in the early '60s. Fact is, recently declassified govt. documents make perfectly clear that, while Santa WAS indeed kidnapped to Mars some 40 years ago, he did not "conquer" those horrific, green aliens---truth is, he barely put up a fight, and was all-too-willing to roll right the fuck over, like the tub o' lard he is, and "name names." Which he did.
Two major consequences of this cowardly act: Christmas is now totally commercialized and it sucks, AND, "G.W. Bush," a Martian syntho-human-bot, is president.

Shame, shame on Hollywood.

[Mandate My Ass]

11. Hidalgo

nuff said.

[gmoney]

12. You mean "Sandbiscuit"?

Based on the fact that horses exist...

[Mandate My Ass]

13. Sandbiscuit *snort*

good one :thumbsup:

[mopinko]

20. ok, this one is painful

i thought it was pretty much true. it was seriously researched, no?

[RoyGBiv]

24. The book was...

The book takes some liberties that historians aren't supposed to take, but it was at least heavily researched.

The movie is based on the book and took liberties with the liberties.

[mitchum]

15. "The Passion"

c'mon this is too easy

[Speck Tater]

16. Lord of the Rings, based on the true story

of the time JRR's neighbor found a ring in his garden.

[lolly]

17. Can't remember title

What was that p.o.c. TV movie they made about Georgie's heroics on 9/11?

That HAS to be the winner here.

[EstimatedProphet]

18. The Amityville Horror

The one that started all this nonsense about "based on a true story". Interviews with people that were supposedly characters in the book said it was all nonsense.

[NightTrain]

19. I can think of several....

Bugsy
Ed Wood
Erin Brockovich
Great Balls of Fire
Heartbeat
Hoffa
The Buddy Holly Story
The Hurricane
JFK
La Bamba
Malcolm X
Michael Collins
The People vs. Larry Flynt
The Reagans
Reversal of Fortune
Scandal
Steal This Movie
Wired

[chenGOD]

22. Yeah but out of those movies...

At least 3 are pretty good.

Ed Wood
The People vs. Larry Flynt
The Hurricane


at least in my opinion...

[NightTrain]

25. I never said they were all bad movies.

I merely came up with "fact-based films" that were primarily fiction.

[bif]

27. The Jessica Lynch made for tv thing

Did that big lie ever get made? I don't remember.

[BigMcLargehuge]

29. Here's a good one! "Bloodsport"

based on the fabricated exploits of Frank Dux in a Hong Kong fighting tournament. If they left of the "based on a true story" but it would have been better for everyone involved.