An up-to-date and indispensable guide for film history buffs of all kind, this book surveys more than 500 major films based on true stories and historical subject matter.When a film is described as "based on a true story" or "inspired by true events," exactly how "true" is it?

Introduction to the Second Edition, 1 Military History on Film and Television: Wallace's Rising to the Boer War, Scottish Wars of Independence (1296–1314), Braveheart (1995), The Bruce (1996), English Civil War (1642–1651), Cromwell (1970), To Kill a King (2003), Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648–1654), Second Northern War (1655–1660), and Ottoman Invasion of Poland (1668–1672), Pan Wolodyjowski [Colonel Wolodyjowski] (1969); Potop [The Deluge] (1974); Ogniem i Mieczem [With Fire and Sword] (1999), The Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, Culloden (1964), The Napoleonic Wars (1799–1815), Kolberg [a.k.a. Burning Hearts] (1945), Napoléon (1927; 1981), The Battle of Austerlitz (1960), Waterloo (1970), The Texas Revolution (1835–1836), The Alamo (1960), Viva Max! (1970), The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory (1987), The Alamo (2004), Mexican–American War (1846–1848), One Man's Hero (1999), The Crimean War (1854–1856), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), The American Civil War (1861–1865), The Andersonville Trial (1970), Glory (1989), The Civil War (1990), Gettysburg (1993), Pharaoh's Army (1995), Andersonville (1996), The Hunley (1999), Gods and Generals (2003), American Indian Wars (1622–1924), They Died with Their Boots On (1942), Custer of the West (1967), Son of the Morning Star (1991), Tecumseh: The Last Warrior (1995), Crazy Horse (1996), Geronimo Films, British Colonialism and Wars in Africa (1879–1902), Rhodes of Africa [a.k.a. Rhodes, the Empire Builder] (1936), Zulu (1964), Khartoum (1966), Zulu Dawn (1979), Shaka Zulu (1986), Rhodes (1996), The Spanish–American War and the Philippine Revolution (1898–1901), Rough Riders (1997), The Anglo–Boer War (1899–1902), Breaker Morant (1980), 2 Military History on Film and Television: World War I, Filming the Front Lines, The Battle of the Somme (1916), The Lost Battalion (1919), Films in the Time between the World Wars, All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), The Fighting 69th (1940), Sergeant York (1941), Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940), World War I Films Made after World War II, Paths of Glory (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), World War One (1964–1965), Johnny Got His Gun (1971), Von Richthofen and Brown (1971), Gallipoli (1981), Anzacs (1985), Hedd Wyn (1992), The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century (1996), The Lost Battalion (2001), Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion (2003), Gelibolu [Gallipoli: The Frontline Experience] (2005), The Great War (2007), Passchendaele (2008), The Red Barron [Der Rote Baron] (2008), Beneath Hill 60 (2010), 3 Military History on Film and Television: World War II, Contemporaneous World War II History Films, Wake Island (1942), In Which We Serve (1942), "Why We Fight" Film Series, December 7, 1941 (1943), Bataan (1943), Guadalcanal Diary (1943), The Sullivans (1944), The Purple Heart and Thirty Seconds over Tokyo (1944), The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944), The True Glory (1945), The Battle of San Pietro (1944), The Story of G.I. Joe (1945), They Were Expendable (1945), World War II History Films of the Cold War Era, Your Job in Germany (1945), Our Job in Japan (1946), and Design for Death (1947), Battleground (1949), The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951), Victory at Sea (1952–1953), To Hell and Back (1955), The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955), Nuit et brouillard [Night and Fog] (1955), British World War II Exploits on Film, The Wooden Horse (1950), The Dam Busters (1954), The Colditz Story (1955), The Battle of the River Plate (1956), The Man Who Never Was (1956), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), I Was Monty's Double [a.k.a. Hell, Heaven, or Hoboken] (1958), Dunkirk (1958), Sink the Bismarck! (1960), World War II History Films of the Vietnam Era, Hell to Eternity (1960), The Diary of Anne Frank (1960), The Outsider (1961), Judgment at Nuremberg (1962), The Longest Day (1962), The Great Escape (1963), P.T. 109 (1963), Battle of the Bulge (1965), Anzio (1968), Battle of Britain (1969), Le Chagrin et la pitié: Chronique d'une ville Française sous l'occupation [The Sorrow and the Pity: Chronicle of a French City under Occupation] (1969), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), Patton (1970), The World at War (1973–1974), World War II History Films of the Post-Vietnam Era, The Execution of Private Slovik (1974), Midway (1976), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Ike (1979), Playing for Time (1980), Let There Be Light (1946; 1981), Oppenheimer (1980), Das Boot [The Boat] (1981), Die Wannseekonferenz [The Wannsee Conference] (1984) and Conspiracy (2001), Shoah (1985), The Last Days of Patton (1986), Empire of the Sun (1987), Fat Man and Little Boy (1989), July 20th and The Plot to Kill Hitler (1990), Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis (1991), The Valour and the Horror: The Untold Story of Canadians in the Second World War (1992), Stalingrad (1993), Schindler's List (1993), Dieppe (1993), The Tuskegee Airmen (1995), Paradise Road (1997), Russia's War—Blood upon the Snow (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It (2000), Nuremburg (2000), To End All Wars (2001), Pearl Harbor (2001), Enemy at the Gates (2001), Band of Brothers (2001), The Pianist (2002), Blind Spot (2002) and Der Untergang [Downfall] (2004), The Great Raid (2005), Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), The War (2007), Valkyrie (2008), The Pacific (2010), Third Reich: The Rise & Fall (2010), 4 Military History on Film and Television: Korean War to Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, The Korean War, The McConnell Story (1955), Pork Chop Hill (1959), MacArthur (1977), Inchon (1981), The Korean War on Television, The Cold War (1945–1991), The Missiles of October (1974), The Atomic Café (1982), Cold War (1998), Thirteen Days (2000), The Trials of Henry Kissinger (2002), The Vietnam War, The Mills of the Gods: Viet Nam (1965), Loin du Vietnam [Far from Vietnam] (1967), La Section Anderson [The Anderson Platoon] (1967), In the Year of the Pig (1968), The Selling of the Pentagon (1971), Hearts and Minds (1974), Vietnam: A Television History (1983), Television's Vietnam: The Real Story (1984), The Killing Fields (1984), Hamburger Hill (1987), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (1988), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Diên Biên Phu (1992), Heaven and Earth (1993), Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (1994), Return with Honor (1998), Regret to Inform (1998), A Bright Shining Lie (1998), We Were Soldiers (2002), The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003), The Pentagon Papers (2003), Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal (2004) and Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry (2004), Faith of My Fathers (2005), United States' Somalia Engagement (1993), Ambush in Mogadishu (1998), Black Hawk Down (2001), U.S. Intervention in Bosnia, Behind Enemy Lines (2001), 9/11 Terrorist Attack on the United States and Its Aftermath, 9/11 (2002), Saving Jessica Lynch (2003), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), United 93 (2006), On Native Soil (2006), 9/11: The Falling Man (2006), World Trade Center (2006), No End in Sight (2007), Iraq in Fragments (2007), Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? (2008), The Hurt Locker (2009), The Tillman Story (2010), Zero Dark Thirty (2013), 5 Sports History on Film and Television, Baseball, The Pride of the Yankees (1942), The Babe Ruth Story (1948), The Stratton Story (1949), The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), The Pride of St. Louis (1952), The Winning Team (1952), Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story (1957), It's Good to Be Alive: The Roy Campanella Story (1974), One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story (1978), Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy "Satchel" Paige (1981), A Winner Never Quits (1986), New York Yankees (The Movie) (1987), Eight Men Out (1988), The Babe (1992), Baseball (1994), Cobb (1994), Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream (1995), Soul of the Game (1996), The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (1998), Babe Ruth (1998), 61* (2001), Boxing, The Leonard–Cushing Fight (1894), The Corbett–Courtney Fight (1894), The Corbett–Fitzsimmons Fight (1897), Jeffries–Sharkey Contest (1899), The Johnson–Jeffries Fight (1910), Gentleman Jim (1942), The Great John L. (1945), Day of the Fight (1951), The Joe Louis Story (1953), The Harder They Fall (1956), Somebody up There Likes Me (1956), Legendary Champions (1968), The Great White Hope (1970), Mohammed Ali Films, A.k.a. Cassius Clay (1970), Ali, the Fighter (1971), Mohammed Ali, the Greatest (1974), The Greatest (1977), When We Were Kings (1996), Ali (2001), Post-Vietnam Era Boxing Films, Raging Bull (1980), Broken Noses (1987), Champions Forever (1989), Sonny Liston: The Mysterious Life and Death of a Champion (1995), Don King: Only in America (1997), On the Ropes (1999), Southpaw: The Francis Barrett Story (1999), Joe and Max (2002), Cinderella Man (2005), Tyson (2008), The Fighter (2010), Max Schmeling [a.k.a. Max Schmeling, Fist of the Reich] (2010), Football, Knute Rockne All American (1940), Jim Thorpe—All-American (1951), Crazylegs (1953), Brian's Song (1971), Remember the Titans (2000), Friday Night Lights (2004), We Are Marshall (2006), Harvard Beats Yale 29–29 (2008), Basketball, Hoosiers (1986), Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story (1992), Hoop Dreams (1994), Coach Carter (2005), Quantum Hoops (2007), More Than a Game (2009), Hurricane Season (2010), Olympics Films, Olympia [Olympiad] (1938), The Bob Mathias Story (1954), Tokyo orimpikku [Tokyo Olympiad] (1965), Chariots of Fire (1981), The Jesse Owens Story (1984), Fists of Freedom: The Story of the '68 Summer Games (1999), Prefontaine (1997) and Without Limits (1998), One Day in September (2000), Do You Believe in Miracles? The Story of the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team (2001) and Miracle (2004), Mountaineering Films, Climbing Mount Everest (1922) and Epic of Everest (1924), The Conquest of Everest (1953), Americans on Everest (1963), Everest Unmasked (1978), Into Thin Air: Death on Everest (1997), Everest (1998), Touching the Void (2003), Contemporary Sports History on Film, Surfing, Slippery When Wet (1958); Surf Crazy (1959); Surfing Shorts (1960); Barefoot Adventure (1960); Surfing Hollow Days (1961); Waterlogged (1962), The Endless Summer (1966), Storm Riders (1982); Endless Summer II (1994); Thicker than Water (2000); Step into Liquid (2003), Bodybuilding, Pumping Iron (1977), Professional Wrestling, Hitman Hart, Wrestling with Shadows (1998), Beyond the Mat (1999), Lipstick and Dynamite, Piss and Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling (2005), Skateboarding, Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001), Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator (2002), Golf, Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004), The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005), A Return to Period Topics, Seabiscuit (2003), 6 Music History on Film and Television, Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Motown, and the Swing Era, Jammin' the Blues (1944), Young Man with a Horn (1950), The Glenn Miller Story (1953), The Benny Goodman Story (1955), St. Louis Blues (1958), Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960), Wattstax (1973), Bix: Ain't None of Them Play Like Him Yet (1981), Say Amen, Somebody (1982), Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got (1985), One Night with Blue Note (1985), Louie Bluie (1986) and Sweet Old Song (2002), Let's Get Lost (1988), Bird (1988), Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1989), A Great Day in Harlem (1994), The Genius of Lenny Breau (1995), Wild Man Blues (1996), Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog (1997), Buena Vista Social Club (1999), Jazz (2001), Strange Fruit (2002), Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002), Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues—A Musical Journey (2003), You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story (1990), Night and Day (1946), The Howlin' Wolf Story—The Secret History of Rock & Roll (2003), De-Lovely (2004), Rock Music, Don't Look Back (1967), Monterey Pop (1969), Woodstock (1970), Gimme Shelter (1970), Cocksucker Blues (1972), Jimi Hendrix (1973) and Janis (1974), Renaldo and Clara (1978), The Last Waltz (1978), The Kids Are Alright (1979), History of Rock 'N' Roll (1995), Festival Express (2003), No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005), The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector (2009), Punk (and Grunge) Rock, The Punk Rock Movie (1978), D.O.A. (1980) and The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980), The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), Another State of Mind (1983), Sid and Nancy (1986), Hype! (1996), Kurt and Courtney (1998), Born to Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie (1999), The Filth and the Fury (2000), Songs for Cassavetes (2001), Between Resistance and Community: The Long Island Do It Yourself Punk Scene (2002), End of the Century—The Story of the Ramones (2003), Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007), Pop Singer Biopics, The Jolson Story (1946), The Helen Morgan Story (1957), Lady Sings the Blues (1972), The Buddy Holly Story (1978), La Bamba (1987), Great Balls of Fire! (1989), Truth or Dare (1991), The Doors (1991), What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), Selena (1997), The Cream Will Rise (1998), Beyond the Sea (2004), Ray (2004), Folk Music, Bound for Glory (1976), Leadbelly (1976), The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time (1982), The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack (2000), This Machine Kills Fascists (2005) and Woody Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home (2012), Country and Western, Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), Sweet Dreams (1985), Be Here to Love Me: A Film about Townes Van Zandt (2004), Walk the Line (2005), Classical Music, Lisztomania (1975), Amadeus (1984), Thirty Two Short Films about Glenn Gould (1993), Immortal Beloved (1994), Shine (1996), Hilary and Jackie (1998), 7 Art History on Film and Television, Artists' Biopics, Lust for Life (1956), The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), Civilisation (1969), Ciao! Manhattan (1972), Caravaggio (1986), Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent van Gogh (1987), Camille Claudel (1988), Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1990), Vincent & Theo (1990), Crumb (1994), I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), Basquiat (1996), The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (1996), Surviving Picasso (1996), Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998), Pollock (2000), Frida (2002), American Splendor (2003), 8 Labor, Business, and Sociopolitical History on Film and Television, The 1940s, Citizen Kane (1941), Give Us This Day (1949), The 1950s, Salt of the Earth (1954), On the Waterfront (1954), The 1960s, Harvest of Shame (1960), The 1970s, The Molly Maguires (1970), Joe Hill (1971), Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976), All the President's Men (1976), Union Maids (1976), Norma Rae (1979), The 1980s, Reds (1981), Missing (1982), Silkwood (1983), Matewan (1987), Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), Roger & Me (1989), The 1990s, American Dream (1991), JFK (1991), F.I.S.T. (1978) and Hoffa (1992), Nixon (1995), Cradle Will Rock (1999), The New Millennium, Erin Brockovich (2000), The Weather Underground (2002), The Aviator (2004), Kinsey (2004), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Trumbo (2007), Frost/Nixon (2008), The King's Speech (2010), The Social Network (2010), Prohibition (2011), J. Edgar (2011), Argo (2012), Lincoln (2012), 9 History of U.S. Race Relations on Film and Television, Films Made before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963), Black Like Me (1964), Films Made after the Civil Rights Act, King: A Filmed Record…Montgomery to Memphis (1970), Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys (1976), King (1978), Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987), Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years (1954–1965) (1987), Mississippi Burning (1988), Malcolm X (1992), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Amistad (1997), Rosewood (1997), 4 Little Girls (1997), Africans in America: America's Journey through Slavery (1998), Antwone Fisher (2002), With All Deliberate Speed (2004), 10 History of Crime on Film and Television, The 1930s, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), The 1940s, Rope (1948), The 1950s, A Place in the Sun (1951), I Want to Live! (1958), Compulsion (1959), The 1960s, Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Bonnie & Clyde (1967), In Cold Blood (1967), The Boston Strangler (1968), The 1970s, Bloody Mama (1970), The Honeymoon Killers (1970), Manson (1973), Badlands (1973), Dillinger (1945) and Dillinger (1973), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), The Third Memory (2000), and Based on a True Story (2005), Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), The Onion Field (1979), The 1980s, Brubaker (1980), Prince of the City (1981), The Executioner's Song (1982), Shot in the Heart (2001), The Killing of America (1982), Star 80 (1983), Fatal Vision (1984), The Deliberate Stranger (1986), The Thin Blue Line (1988), The Accused (1988), The 1990s, Goodfellas (1990), The Krays (1990), Reversal of Fortune (1990), Bugsy (1991), Brother's Keeper (1992), Swoon (1992), To Die For (1995), Casino (1995), Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996), Killer: A Journal of Murder (1996), Donnie Brasco (1997), The Brandon Teena Story (1998) and Boys Don't Cry (1999), The Hurricane (1999), The New Millennium, Blow (2001), Bully (2001), Auto Focus (2002), Aileen Wuornos on Film, Capote (2005), Zodiac (2007), Changeling (2008), Bibliography, Index, About the Author,

This is a convenient and comprehensive compendium for readers wanting a ready-reference source on the genre of historical film. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.