1
Apollo 13
The True Story It's Based On: In 1970, three American astronauts strapped themselves into a spacecraft. They were heading to the moon on the Apollo 13 mission. It was supposed to be NASA's third attempt at a lunar landing. However, they wouldn't make it. Instead, an onboard explosion wreaked havoc on their rocket, forcing the astronauts to forego their moon landing and head back to earth. They may not have landed on the moon, but they made it home in one piece. The Year It Happened: 1970 The Year The Movie Came Out: 1995 Why This Film Gets It Right: Apollo 13's accurate details impressed NASA scientist Rick Elphic, who marveled at the film's technical excellence. As he told Time: The technical details of zero G[ravity] and the actual explosion on the spacecraft that took place and took out the service module was very realistic. I thought that it captured realism in the flight; I don't think it went to extremes like some films do… to make it more dramatic, because I think the flight was dramatic enough in the first place. I give Apollo 13 high marks for not only drama and a good storytelling endeavor, but the effects and the accuracy. How did the film pull it off? Director Ron Howard arranged for production to use NASA's so-called Vomit Comet, a training aircraft that prepares astronauts for a zero-gravity environment. Another secret ingredient in Apollo 13's success was that it made sure the right people were involved in production. Howard brought on David Scott, an astronaut on the Apollo 15 mission, to advise on many of the technical aspects of the film.
- Actors: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: Ron Howard
493 votes
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2
Gettysburg
The True Story It's Based On: The Battle of Gettysburg was one of the turning points in the American Civil War. Federal and Confederate troops clashed from July 1 to 3, 1863. After days of fighting, Federal troops prevailed, ending a Confederate attempt to invade northern states. It came at a great cost: With 51,000 casualties, the battle was the bloodiest in the entire war. Some of the war's most storied figures participated in the battle, including Maine's Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, who famously led his regiment to defend Little Round Top, a small hill, against Confederate troops. Chamberlain's heroism and courageous leadership won him the Medal of Honor. The Year It Happened: 1863 The Year The Movie Came Out: 1993 Why This Film Gets It Right: With a running time of over four hours, Gettysburg has plenty of time to get the details right – and that's exactly what it does. Historians have praised the film's accuracy, especially when it comes to its inclusion of real-life figures like Joshua Chamberlain. Director Robert F. Maxwell's detail-oriented commitment to accuracy is obvious by the simple fact that he opted to film the movie on the site of the actual battle in Pennsylvania. (The site is now managed by the National Park Service.) He also hired 4,000 Civil War re-enactors as extras and consultants to infuse the film with authenticity. According to Civil War buffs, the film really shines when it comes to its depiction of the battle itself. According to historian Gary Adelman, Gettysburg recreates Little Round Top, one of the stages of the battle, with painstaking accuracy, right down to the look of the landscape, the soldiers' lack of supplies, and Joshua Chamberlain's order for his men to use their bayonets to repel the Confederates once they've run out of bullets.
- Actors: Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Stephen Lang, Jeff Daniels, Sam Elliott
- Released: 1993
- Directed by: Ronald F. Maxwell
341 votes
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3
A Bridge Too Far
The True Story It's Based On: At the start of 1944, Germany still occupied most of western Europe. But the Allies wanted to change that. Part of their large-scale, coordinated effort to beat back the Nazis was Operation Market Garden. As part of the plan, Allied troops would parachute into parts of the Netherlands so that they could control key bridges to prepare for a push into Germany. Unfortunately, the operation failed when German troops clashed with the Allies at a bridge in Arnhem, Netherlands. The Year It Happened: 1944 The Year The Movie Came Out: 1977 Why This Film Gets It Right: Since the movie came out only a few decades after the end of World War II, many veterans were still alive. The filmmakers welcomed their involvement. Indeed, even the film's composer, John Addison, was a veteran of Operation Market Garden. Another veteran, Lieutenant-Colonel John Frost, even gave Anthony Hopkins, who was playing him, suggestions on the set. The inclusion of so many veterans ultimately helped ensure that the film's battle scenes are largely accurate. Additionally, the film pores over virtually every detail of the operation, recreating it with reverential accuracy.
- Actors: Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Edward Fox
- Released: 1977
- Directed by: Richard Attenborough
378 votes
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4
Society of the Snow
The True Story It's Based On: Members of an amateur Uruguayan rugby team, along with their friends and family, were flying to Chile for a game. Unfortunately, they didn't make it: Their plane crashed in the Andes. Many of the 45 people on the plane died during the crash or in the days following it. The survivors quickly ran out of food and had to withstand freezing conditions on top of a mountain without proper clothes or shelter. Eventually, they had no choice but to eat their deceased friends to survive. By the time all 16 survivors were rescued, they had been lost in the Andes for 72 days. The Year It Happened: 1972 The Year The Movie Came Out: 2023 Why This Film Gets It Right: Society of the Snow focuses on the lives of the people who survived being stranded in the Andes – and the ones who didn't. To that end, director J.A. Bayona and his team wanted to make sure they got everything right. So they actually shot the film in a mountain range in Spain. We planned to shoot the story almost like a documentary. We prepared the actors; we gave them all the information; we rehearsed the script for almost two months; we went through all the scenes. They read the book [that the film is based on]; they got in contact with the survivors or the families of the victims. And they spent 72 days in the mountains. We shot for 140 days. We took the time to go through all the important moments. We were ready with our cameras as if we were shooting a documentary to capture that. This attention to detail ensured that the filmmakers told an incredibly accurate story, which included harrowing real-life moments like the horrific plane crash, the avalanches, the clever hacks that the survivors used to stay warm and hydrated, and their final decision to look for help. Some of the lines and specific scenes came directly from the survivors' memoirs, and the film even recreates pictures that the survivors took at the site of the crash.
- Actors: Enzo Vogrincic, Agustín Pardella, Esteban Kukuriczka, Simón Hempe, Rafael Federman
- Released: 2023
- Directed by: Juan Antonio Bayona
325 votes
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5
A Night To Remember
The True Story It's Based On: When the RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, in 1912, the massive ocean liner was heralded as the biggest ship in the world. Its April crossing to New York City would be the ship's first voyage – and its last. On April 14, shortly before midnight, the ship hit an iceberg. Hours later, the Titanic slipped below the icy waters of the North Atlantic, taking with her more than 1,500 souls. Less than one-third of the people on board the ship survived. The Year It Happened: 1912 The Year The Movie Came Out: 1958 Why This Film Gets It Right: The film is based on Walter Lord's 1955 non-fiction book about the Titanic. Like the book it's based on, A Night to Remember largely focuses on actual people who were on the ship. Many of the scenes in the film are based directly on eyewitness accounts. Survivors and their families collaborated with filmmakers. They shared what the final hours of their loved ones were like. The film even captured what survivors experienced on lifeboats. Their perspectives ensured that A Night to Remember remains widely regarded as the most historically accurate depiction of the Titanic's sinking on film.
- Actors: Kenneth More, David McCallum, Honor Blackman, Jill Dixon, Laurence Naismith
- Released: 1958
- Directed by: Roy Ward Baker
321 votes
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6
The Pianist
The True Story It's Based On: Władysław Szpilman was a successful Jewish Polish pianist in the years leading up to World War II. After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Szpilman's career and life became increasingly precarious. Szpilman and his family were forced into the Warsaw Ghetto, a compact corner of the city where 138,000 Jewish residents were sent to live. He ultimately escaped the ghetto and survived the war. In 1946, he published a memoir about his experiences, which ultimately became the basis of The Pianist. The Years It Happened: 1939-1945 The Year The Movie Came Out: 2002 Why This Film Gets It Right: The film accurately depicts the persecution and violence that Jewish Europeans faced under the Nazi regime, especially in the Warsaw Ghetto. It also accurately portrays Szpilman's incredible journey during the war. It also highlights how he survived by hiding in an abandoned building. Eventually, help comes in an unlikely form: a German officer. Instead of turning in Szpilman, the officer – whose real name was Wilm Hosenfeld – helps him by bringing food and clothing.
- Actors: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox
- Released: 2002
- Directed by: Roman Polanski
307 votes
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