"Based on a true story...."

Amadeus was never intended to be taken as an accurate biography of Mozart. It is about the relationship of extraordinary genius to divine inspiration, historical accuracy be damned. The very title of the film is a give-away inasmuch as 'amadeus' means 'given by God.' Peter Shaffer's stage play probably made this fact more clear than the Miloš Forman film: the Broadway production had the Mozart character wearing a pink wig and the costuming in
general was on the bizarre side. The movie version opted for more visual realism.

I enjoyed the interplay between Amadeus and Antonio Salieri, and of coarse the music. It did win many awards, and even in hindsight that's understandable.

In Havana, there's a statue (bust) of Mozart in a small quiet park. I took this picture in 2012.

Patton. George C. Scott was brilliant.

The Miracle Worker. Great performances and a true and remarkable story.

Agree; both movies were excellent. I also had the opportunity to visit George Patton's grave at the American cemetery in Luxembourg last year.

I hadn't thought about Patton yet, but I loved that film.

I liked J Edgar, but, for me, it took too many liberties with the truth to be on the list.

Patton was my father's favorite movie, well, one of them.

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

In 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazi judges for war crimes.

Director: Stanley Kramer
Writers: Abby Mann, Abby Mann (based on his original story by), 1 more credit »
Stars: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark

This is where the Nuremberg trials were held.


Room 600 in the east wing where the trial was held.

Inherit the Wind (1960)
Based on a real-life case in 1925, two great lawyers argue the case for and against a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution.

Director: Stanley Kramer
Writers: Nedrick Young (screenplay), Harold Jacob Smith (screenplay), 2 more credits »
Stars: Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly

Here is an arbitrary list of based-on-a-true-story that I really enjoy.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Memories of Murder (2003)
American Hustle (2013)
City of God (2002)
Philomena (2013)
The Wind Rises (2013)

Boomerang? As for Badlands? I forgot it was based on a real couple. The style and aesthetic is all Terrence Malick, a rarebird of a film director because he is quite antiprolific. What other movies f r on him have you seen? He has a very strong love or hate relationship with his movie goers. Either you love his languid and deliberate sensibilities or you think he's monstrously pretentious and overhyped.

Just got it. Excellent

I just looked him up and it turns out I haven't seen anything else by him. That doesn't stop "Badlands" from being one of my favorite movies -- of any genre.

"Languid and deliberate" are two of the things I really liked about it. It seemed to fit with the simpleminded anti-heroes it was about. I love any movie with a narrator and Sissy Spacek did an amazing job with them.

By the time I saw it I was already heavy into photographers like Mary Ellen Mark, Robert Frank, and Larry Clark and "Badlands" seemed like their photos come to life.

Reading up on Malick I'm wondering if he might have known Larry Clark. They were born in the same year and both lived in Oklahoma....

Oh yeah, I agree Frank. We really loved that series. They didn't pretty up everything.

(I loved when they crossed the Rubicon, and it was some little muddy stream)

Seeing "Patton" on here made me (for some reason) remember another favorite -- "Papillion"!

The Libertine.

Based on the life of John Wilmot, the 2nd Earl of Rochester


I liked it when his nose fell off from syphilis (and of course the carriage scene)

Piss off

Malick - I was drawn in to Days of Heaven, which Malick did the screenplay for.
I would be, eh.