based-on-true-story movies

Serpico (1973)

Monday, October 12th, 2009
Genres: Crime | Drama
Countries: Italy | USA
Actors: Pacino, Al | Randolph, John | Kehoe, Jack | McGuire, Biff | Eda-Young, Barbara | Sharpe, Cornelia | Roberts, Tony | Medici, John | Rich, Allan | Ornellas, Norman | Grover, Edward | Henderson, Albert | Garrett, Hank | Leake, Damien | Bova, Joseph
Directors: Lumet, Sidney
Download: DVD iPod 

Frank Serpico is a young, inexperienced cop who starts out on patrol. Later, he starts to work as an undercover cop who busts all sorts of criminals, but mostly drug dealers and pushers. Since Serpico is a young man living in the 70’s, he lives as one. His image, based on how others look on him, shows him as just a ‘hippie’ and the criminals he busts have no idea he is really an undercover officer. Everything is working out well, except the money situation. Serpico refuses to accept money, as the other officers do. He feels this isn’t right, and wants to expose the situation. Who he thought were his friends now turn into his enemies when Serpico takes the stand on a grand jury investigation. He continues to work undercover, and his life is placed into jeopardy at the hands of his colleagues.

Schindler’s List (1993)

Monday, October 12th, 2009
Genres: Biography | Drama | History | War
Countries: USA
Actors: Neeson, Liam | Kingsley, Ben | Fiennes, Ralph | Goodall, Caroline | Sagall, Jonathan | Davidtz, Embeth | Gebel, Malgoscha | Levy, Shmuel | Ivanir, Mark | Macola, Béatrice | Seweryn, Andrzej | von Thun, Friedrich | Luft, Krzysztof | Nehring, Harry | Weisser, Norbert
Directors: Spielberg, Steven
Download: 720p DVD iPod 

“Schindler’s List” is the based-on-truth story of Nazi Czech business man Oskar Schindler, who uses Jewish labor to start a factory in occupied Poland. As World War II progresses, and the fate of the Jews becomes more and more clear, Schindler’s motivations switch from profit to human sympathy and he is able to save over 1100 Jews from death in the gas chambers.

Redacted (2007)

Monday, October 12th, 2009
Genres: Crime | Drama | War
Countries: Canada | USA
Actors: Alloul, Sahar | Anderson, Happy | Caillaud, Francois | Carroll, Patrick | Cullen, Andrew | Devaney, Rob | Diaz, Izzy | Figueroa, Mike | Freihat, Qazi | Hijazin, Paul | Hussein, Suhail Abdel | Jones, Ty | Kahlil, Dhiaa | Kassay, Yanal | Knoller, Ohad
Directors: De Palma, Brian
Download: 720p DVD iPod 

A montage of stories about U.S. soldiers fighting in the Iraq conflict, focusing on the modern forms of media covering the war.

21 (Twenty One, The Movie) (2008)

Monday, October 12th, 2009
Genres: Drama
Countries: USA
Actors: Sturgess, Jim | Spacey, Kevin | Bosworth, Kate | Yoo, Aaron | Lapira, Liza | Pitts, Jacob | Fishburne, Laurence | McGee, Jack | Gad, Josh | Golzari, Sam | Carey, Helen | Gilpin, Jack | Lows, Donna | Williams, Butch | Campbell, Ben
Directors: Luketic, Robert
Download: 1080p 720p 

Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent, student at M.I.T. in Boston who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine with the desire to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 for the four to five years of school since he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor Micky Rosa into a small but secretive club of five students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Jimmy whom are being trained by Professor Rosa of the skill of card counting at blackjack. Intriged by the desire to make money, Ben joins his new friends on secret weekend trips to Las Vegas where, using their skills of code talk and hand signals, they have Ben make hundreds of thousands of dollars in winning blackjack at casino after casino. Ben only wants to make enough money for the tuition to Harvard and then back out. But as fellow card counter, Jill Taylor, predicts, Ben becomes corrupted by greed and his arrogance at winning which lets his feelings get in the way, and it also puts Professor Rosa, as well as the group, on the radar of a brutal casino security enforcer, named Cole Williams, who holds a personal grudge of some kind against Rosa which threatens to undo everything the students have learned and earned.

Anna and the King (1999)

Monday, October 12th, 2009
Genres: Drama | History | Romance
Countries: USA
Actors: Foster, Jodie | Chow, Yun-Fat | Bai, Ling | Felton, Tom | Alwi, Syed | Kim, Randall Duk | Lim, Kay Siu | Campbell, Melissa | Chin, Keith | Maniam, Mano | Venugopal, Shanthini | Yusoff, Deanna | Palmer, Geoffrey | Firbank, Ann | Stewart, Bill
Directors: Tennant, Andy
Download: 720p 

This is the story of Anna Leonowens, the English schoolteacher who came to Siam in the 1860s to teach the children of King Mongkut. She becomes involved in his affairs, from the tragic plight of a young concubine to trying to forge an alliance with Britain to a war with Burma that is orchestrated by Britain. In the meantime, a subtle romance develops between them.

Patriot, The (2000)

Monday, October 12th, 2009
Genres: Action | Drama | War
Countries: Germany | USA
Actors: Seagal, Steven | Sartain, Gailard | Jones, L. Q. | Mitchell, Silas Weir | Belle, Camilla | Beene, Dan | Damon Collazo | Whitney Yellow Robe | Leland, Brad | Molly McClure | Winchester, Philip | Sebern, Douglas | Loney, Ross | O'Connor, Bernard | Mountain Chief, Leonard
Directors: Dean Semler
Download: DivX iPod 

The movie takes place in South Carolina in 1776. Benjamin Martin, a French-Indian war hero who is haunted by his past, is a patriot who wants no part in a war with Britian. Meanwhile, his two eldest sons, Gabriel and Thomas, can’t wait to go out and kill some Redcoats. When South Carolina decides to go to war with Britain, Gabriel immediatly signs up to fight…without his father’s permission. But soon, Colonel Tavington, British solder infamous for his brutal tactiks, captures Gabriel and sentences him to be hanged. As Gabriel is taken away, Thomas tries to free him, only to be killed by Tavington, in front of Benjamin. Now, seeking revenge for his son’s death, Benjamin leaves behind his 5 other children to bring independence to the 13 colonies.

Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Monday, October 12th, 2009
Genres: Drama | History | Thriller | War
Countries: Italy | South Africa | UK | USA
Actors: Mali, Xolani | Cheadle, Don | Dube, Desmond | Kae-Kazim, Hakeem | Kgoroge, Tony | Motene, Rosie | McCarthy, Neil | Sithole, Mabutho 'Kid' | Nolte, Nick | Mokoena, Fana | Ndlovu, Jeremiah | Okonedo, Sophie | Mashile, Lebo | Lyons, Antonio David | Khumalo, Leleti
Directors: George, Terry
Download: 720p 

Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda–and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages.

Elephant Man, The (1980)

Monday, October 12th, 2009
Genres: Biography | Drama
Countries: UK | USA
Actors: Hopkins, Anthony | Hurt, John | Bancroft, Anne | Gielgud, John | Hiller, Wendy | Jones, Freddie | Elphick, Michael | Gordon, Hannah | Ryan, Helen | Standing, John | Fletcher, Dexter | Dunlop, Lesley | Nicholls, Phoebe | Gorman, Pat | Davenport, Claire
Directors: Lynch, David
Download: 720p 

Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick, a 19th-century Englishman afflicted with a disfiguring congenital disease. With the help of kindly Dr. Frederick Treves, Merrick attempts to regain the dignity he lost after years spent as a side-show freak.

Chicago (2002)

Monday, October 12th, 2009
Genres: Comedy | Crime | Drama | Musical
Countries: Germany | USA
Actors: Diggs, Taye | Saunders, Cliff | Zeta-Jones, Catherine | Zellweger, Renée | West, Dominic | Gere, Richard | Eastwood, Jayne | Beaton, Bruce | Baranski, Christine | Podhora, Roman | Reilly, John C. | Feore, Colm | Smith, Rob | Wayne Doyle, Shawn | Behal, Steve | Rox, Robbie | Rivera, Chita
Directors: Marshall, Rob
Download: 720p 

Fame hungry Roxie Hart dreams of a life on the Vaudville stage, and spends her nights jazzing it up in the bright lights of Chicago, continually hoping that she’ll find her lucky break, and be shot into 1920’s stardom, so able to flee her boring husband Amos. In awe of seductive club singer Velma Kelly (who is subsequantly arrested for the murder of her husband and sister - after discovering their affair), Roxie meets Fred Cassely a man who convinces her he can ‘make her showbiz career take off’. However after Roxie has undergone the ‘casting couch’ treatment, and Fred has had his wicked way with her, he reveals that he has no more connections in showbusiness than she does. This is the final straw for Roxie, and her constant anger at rejection explodes. She shoots Fred Cassely and kills him. Upon discovering her infidelity, Roxie’s husband Amos refuses to take the blame for the murder and Roxie is sent to jail, pending hanging. In jail she finally meets tabloid darling Velma Kelly, currently receiving huge media attention for the double murder she committed earlier in the tale. Sharing the clink with Velma, are a collection of other sly females, all awaiting trial for the murders of their own partners. Velma is aloof to Roxie, however the prison Warden Mrs Morton offers Roxie the opportunity of representation by slick Chicago lawyer Billy Flynn. Billy is more a showbiz P. R agent than a legal lawyer and minipulates the tabloids into thinking Roxie is no more than an innocent ‘good time girl’ who took the wrong path, than a scheming murderess. The tabloids go crazy for the new girl on the cell block, and Roxie finally becomes a star. However due to Roxie’s new found fame, Velma is forgotten about. She is forced to approach Roxie with an offer of a part in her Vaudville act (filling the gap left by her murdered sister), but Roxie turns down her offer flat, thinking she needs no support in topping the bill. However, just as Velma’s star fell, so does Roxie’s, when Go-to-hell Kitty arrives at the jail on a multiple murder charge, the press forget Roxie and now she and Velma are in the same boat. With one more trick up her sleave Roxie manages to bring the media attention back onto her, and her day in court arrives. Billy is now ready to play the ultimate showman!

French Connection, The (1971)

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Genres: Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller
Countries: USA
Actors: Hackman, Gene | Rey, Fernando | Scheider, Roy | Lo Bianco, Tony | Bozzuffi, Marcel | Pasquale, Frédéric de | Hickman, Bill | Rebbot, Ann | Gary, Harold | Farber, Arlene | Egan, Eddie | Ernotte, André | Grosso, Sonny
Directors: Friedkin, William
Download: 720p DivX iPod 

William Friedkin’s gritty police drama portrays two tough New York City cops trying to intercept a huge heroin shipment coming from France. An interesting contrast is established between ‘Popeye’ Doyle, a short-tempered alcoholic bigot who is nevertheless a hard-working and dedicated police officer, and his nemesis Alain Charnier, a suave and urbane gentleman who is nevertheless a criminal and one of the largest drug suppliers of pure heroin to North America. During the surveillance and eventual bust, Friedkin provides one of the most gripping and memorable car chase sequences ever filmed.