Most Historically Accurate Movies

Mott the Hoople said:
Though the book is a first rate account of the battle of Stalingrad, as an account of that battle, the movie "Enemy at the Gates" blew chunks royally. The 1993 German made film "Stalingrad" is far better.
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I should check the book out.

In my opinion, every military buff and every student of history should know something about the Battle of Stalingrad. Which arguably might be the most important battle in human history. Not only for its scale and ferocity, but for changing the trajectory of history. It was at Stalingrad that the Hitler's window of opportunity for world domination was forever slammed shut; where the very real risk of a fascist-dominated Eurasia was terminated at the cost of oceans of blood and boundless human sacrifice.
 
Cypress said:
I should check the book out.

In my opinion, every military buff and every student of history should know something about the Battle of Stalingrad. Which arguably might be the most important battle in human history. Not only for its scale and ferocity, but for changing the trajectory of history. It was at Stalingrad that the Hitler's window of opportunity for world domination was forever slammed shut; where the very real risk of a fascist-dominated Eurasia was terminated at the cost of oceans of blood and boundless human sacrifice.
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It wasn't much better on the other side of the world. Most people seem to have forgotten that the Japanese were as cruel as the Germans and caused as great a loss of life as the Nazi's did. Read the accounts of the battle of Luzon/Manila and you will hear echos of Stalingrad. In Luzon, an Island about the size of Ohio, nearly a million Filipinos died, around 200,000 Japanese died but only around 10,000 Americans died. During the battle of Manila, a city who's population was around a million at the time, the population was trapped by the Japanese who held the roads and bridges that prevented the population from escaping the city. The Japanese were determined to fight to the death and there are lots of examples of the Japanese Army machine gunning entire roads filled with civillians who were trying to flee the battle. The Americans continued to bombard the city with aircraft and artillary in attacking the Japanese strongholds in the city knowing full well that Filipino civilians were taking staggering casualties. Around 100, 000 Japanese soldiers were killed at Manila but nearly 250,000 civilians died in the city. Which was greater than the civilian casualties at Stalingrad.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
I'm a huge history buff and there is nothing I detest more than a very interesting and/or influential historical event being absolutely butchered by Film Makers. I do understand why it happens...if historical movies were accurate then they probably wouldn't appeal to a mass audience.

However when a film maker gets it right then it's really a treat. So I just wanted to discuss on what you think are the best historically accurate films you have seen.

My all time favorite is "The Long Riders" produced by Frank and Stacy Keach. It has four sets of acting brothers, The Keach (James Brothers) , Carridine (Younger brothers), Guest (Ford brothers) and Quaid (Miller brothers) brothers. There's only one BS scene in the entire movie (the knife fight between Cole Younger and Sam Starr) but the rest of the movie is spot on accurate.

My most recent historically accurate move was The Homesman with Hillary Swank and Tommy Lee Jones. Set on the edge of the frontier in Western Nebraska in 1850 it's about how the hardships of frontier life drove some women to insanity. Swank's character plays a hard as steel frontier woman who takes the lead in taking these women back east to be helped. To assist her a mule driver, played by Lee, is assigned the job of Homesman to take these insane lady's back east.

It didn't do well on the box office but was a great movei.
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Thank you for recommending this movie. I just finished watching it. I am still processing it. Damn.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
I'm a huge history buff and there is nothing I detest more than a very interesting and/or influential historical event being absolutely butchered by Film Makers. I do understand why it happens...if historical movies were accurate then they probably wouldn't appeal to a mass audience.

However when a film maker gets it right then it's really a treat. So I just wanted to discuss on what you think are the best historically accurate films you have seen.

My all time favorite is "The Long Riders" produced by Frank and Stacy Keach. It has four sets of acting brothers, The Keach (James Brothers) , Carridine (Younger brothers), Guest (Ford brothers) and Quaid (Miller brothers) brothers. There's only one BS scene in the entire movie (the knife fight between Cole Younger and Sam Starr) but the rest of the movie is spot on accurate.

My most recent historically accurate move was The Homesman with Hillary Swank and Tommy Lee Jones. Set on the edge of the frontier in Western Nebraska in 1850 it's about how the hardships of frontier life drove some women to insanity. Swank's character plays a hard as steel frontier woman who takes the lead in taking these women back east to be helped. To assist her a mule driver, played by Lee, is assigned the job of Homesman to take these insane lady's back east.

It didn't do well on the box office but was a great movei.
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I just watched the Homesman on your recommendation, thank you... that was a good one.
 
I'm not out to hi-jack this nice thread, but, something came to mind.

The most accurate movie played out in real life is The Godfather!

We've all seen this movie before!

Donald Trump is the "Godfather" Don Corleone.

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And Michael Cohen is the Consigliere, or crooked lawyer or "Fixer" played in the movie by Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen.

The Trump Empire is a crime family very similar to the Corleone's fiction model, only it doesn't operate with violent crimes. No! It don't have to. It operates through defrauding investors, contractors, financial institutions, the IRS, and thus the American Voting Public.

Donald Trump is a mobster and a con man. Con artists make money through deception. They lie, cheat and fool people into thinking they've happened onto a great deal or some easy money, when *they're the ones who'll be making money. If that doesn't work, they'll take advantage of our weaknesses- distrust in the media, distrust in our legal system, distrust in our government, racism, hatred, misogyny, religious indifference, the lust for easy money, insecurities, and plain old-fashioned ignorance.

The term con artist is short for confidence artist -- they gain your confidence just long enough to get their hands on your money. They can be very charming and persuasive. A good con artist can even make you believe he is the only one who can make you rich, keep you safe, and look after your best interests- when in fact, the con artist is looking to make himself rich, keep himself safe, and look after his own best self interests.

The only thing more important to a con artist than perfecting a con is perfecting a total lack of conscience, never admitting to guilt, never saying they are sorry, and never having any remorse- And of course winning at any cost, no matter what dirty or illegal deeds they have to pull off to get there.

A con man will build his empire upon hiring shady and precarious characters to help him carry out his con games who will be loyal to the very end.

That is why mobsters keep their organizations very small involving mainly their own children as the operating officers, as they will remain loyal out of knowing which side their bread got buttered on, and they know they will eventually inherit the empire.
 
Phantasmal said:
Thank you for recommending this movie. I just finished watching it. I am still processing it. Damn.
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Glad you liked it. I thought it was a good move. One hell of a cast. Swank, Jones, Jesse Plemons (Todd from Breaking Bad), Lithgow, Meryl Streep. The three ladies who play the insane women do an incredible job of acting.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Glad you liked it. I thought it was a good move. One hell of a cast. Swank, Jones, Jesse Plemons (Todd from Breaking Bad), Lithgow, Meryl Streep. The three ladies who play the insane women do an incredible job of acting.
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They all did, is right, it was superbly acted. Jones is a great director.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
It wasn't much better on the other side of the world. Most people seem to have forgotten that the Japanese were as cruel as the Germans and caused as great a loss of life as the Nazi's did. Read the accounts of the battle of Luzon/Manila and you will hear echos of Stalingrad. In Luzon, an Island about the size of Ohio, nearly a million Filipinos died, around 200,000 Japanese died but only around 10,000 Americans died. During the battle of Manila, a city who's population was around a million at the time, the population was trapped by the Japanese who held the roads and bridges that prevented the population from escaping the city. The Japanese were determined to fight to the death and there are lots of examples of the Japanese Army machine gunning entire roads filled with civillians who were trying to flee the battle. The Americans continued to bombard the city with aircraft and artillary in attacking the Japanese strongholds in the city knowing full well that Filipino civilians were taking staggering casualties. Around 100, 000 Japanese soldiers were killed at Manila but nearly 250,000 civilians died in the city. Which was greater than the civilian casualties at Stalingrad.
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I can always count on learning something from my liberal friends here.

I recently saw a movie about the Tokyo War trials, which I was barely aware of. Everyone has heard of the trials at Nuremburg. I have seen some good Chinese and Korean movies about world war two from the perspective of nationalist China and occupied Korea. Let's face it, the war in east Asia takes a second fiddle to the preoccupation with the European theater in the western mind. It is barely possible to learn about the war on mainland China, let alone the campaign and atrocities in south east asia - unless one commits to learning about them. American film and historical scholarship gives the short end of the stick to the Asian theater. My father told me his experiences as a young boy living in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. Some pretty harrowing stuff. That kind of knowledge about the war in east Asia would have never come to me from the garden variety American educational and cultural milieu, which is mostly focused on the triumphs of D-Day and the European theater., with a little Midway sprinkled in
 
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