# Historical figures who you would like to see a movie made about **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094 "2008-08-06T23:39:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/41 "2008-08-07T20:42:06Z")
[A.P. Giannini](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5829392&highlight=Giannini#post5829392). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/42 "2008-08-07T21:05:29Z")
[QUOTE=Gulo gulo] I’ve always wanted to see someone tackle a movie about [Orde Wingate and his Chindits](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Longcloth#Operation_Longcloth). [/QUOTE] Just so long as it also covers his time in Mandatory Palestine - he’s something of a national hero here in Israel. ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/43 "2008-08-07T21:31:03Z")
[QUOTE=Malthus] I highly recommend _Out of the Blue_ and _The Moonlight War_ (the former about the Chindits); written by Terence O’Brien, an air liason officer who went in with the Chindits. He died recently. ☹ They are out of print but well worth tracking down at the library. [/QUOTE] Library? Feh. I’m beyond libraries. (In other words, I am an obsessive book freak that probably owns more books than our local library stocks!) Thank you so much for the recommendations. I’ve ordered _The Moonlight War_ and saved the other two books you mentioned on my wishlist for future purchases. I first read about him in an old WWII short-stories book that I’ve had since I was a kid. He was definitely a character. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/44 "2008-08-07T21:35:15Z")
I’d love to see a movie made about the Judean king Josiah. If it’s written true to the Biblical and Midrashic narratives, it makes for a very powerful and tragic story. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/45 "2008-08-07T21:49:10Z")
[QUOTE=Tijuana\_Golds] Also, Magellan. 1492 is one of my favorite historical movies and Magellan’s voyage around the world would make a pretty good film. [/QUOTE] Call it 1521. An entire nation of 90 million people would watch it just to see Magellan get hacked to pieces. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/46 "2008-08-07T22:43:56Z")
[Otto Skorzney](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Skorzeny): “the most dangerous man in Europe”. Not that I’d _want_ to see it, but it would make an interesting story. Amazed the History channel hasn’t done one yet. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/47 "2008-08-07T22:47:43Z")
[QUOTE=Love Rhombus] [Otto Skorzney](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Skorzeny): “the most dangerous man in Europe”. Not that I’d _want_ to see it, but it would make an interesting story. Amazed the History channel hasn’t done one yet. [/QUOTE] Tom Berenger, where are you? ---
**Author:** ![MerryMagdalen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@MerryMagdalen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MerryMagdalen)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/48 "2008-08-07T23:01:08Z")
[John Hunter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hunter_%28surgeon%29), the father of modern surgery. Have no suggestions for how to make it or who would play who, but he was a fascinating guy I think more people should know about. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/49 "2008-08-07T23:09:17Z")
[QUOTE=Love Rhombus] [Otto Skorzney](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Skorzeny): “the most dangerous man in Europe”. Not that I’d _want_ to see it, but it would make an interesting story. Amazed the History channel hasn’t done one yet. [/QUOTE] Would also (allegedly) have some really great sex scenes with Eva Peron. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/50 "2008-08-07T23:35:10Z")
I’ve mentioned this before in similar threads, but I think it’s worth repeating: [Mustafa Kemal Ataturk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ataturk)’s life would make for a great biopic, or even a sweeping miniseries. For a completely wide-open “historical” tragedy someone could do a pic claiming to be about [Franklin’s 1845 Northwest Passage expedition](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin%27s_lost_expedition). Lost with all hands, and scanty records have been found, any thing horrifying one could imagine as happening would be plausible. I’d think that using [Crozier](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Crozier) for the view point character would go well, since all I’ve read suggests he was a likable man, and a bit of an outsider from the officers that the RN forced on him and Franklin. I’d also love to see a pic about [Donald “Kirby” Ross](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_K._Ross), a man who earned the Medal of Honor at Pearl Harbor by fighting to keep the _Nevada_ with power from her turbogenerators. One of the interesting things I’ve found out about him: He got married to his sweetheart on Dec 10, 1945. I _suspect_ this was in response to the attack three days earlier. Among other things it would be easy to make a love triangle involving Ross, his (eventual) wife, and [this man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_J._Hill), who also earned the Medal of Honor at Pearl Harbor, and died doing it. I have no reason to believe that such a relationship existed in fact, but it would meet the Hollywood need to have some kind of troubled love affair to hang the historical story on. Damn you, Michael Bay. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/51 "2008-08-07T23:44:07Z")
[QUOTE=Gulo gulo] Library? Feh. I’m beyond libraries. (In other words, I am an obsessive book freak that probably owns more books than our local library stocks!) Thank you so much for the recommendations. I’ve ordered _The Moonlight War_ and saved the other two books you mentioned on my wishlist for future purchases. I first read about him in an old WWII short-stories book that I’ve had since I was a kid. He was definitely a character. [/QUOTE] Hey, I hear you - I like to buy my books too. 🙂 He certainly was a character. Opinions differ - messianic genius, or lunatic? Or a bit of both? Please let me know what you think of the book … Another famous autobiography to come out of the war in Burma, albeit not the Chindits, is _Quartered Safe Our Here_ by George MacDonald Fraser. He’s better known for the _Flashman_ series. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/52 "2008-08-08T00:04:44Z")
What about [Wilhelm Canaris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Canaris)? I dunno, I’m on a Nazi kick today. Wait, I see it’s already been done. ---
**Author:** ![three\_feline\_household](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@three\_feline\_household](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/three_feline_household)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094/53 "2008-08-08T08:22:53Z")
A honest HBO miniseries about Andrew Jackson. Bill James said the best material ever for a baseball movie would be St Louis in the 1880s and Chris von der Ahe. Xenophon’s “March of the 10,000” I second the suggestions about Frederick Douglass and the murder of William Desmond Taylor [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-who-you-would-like-to-see-a-movie-made-about/459094.md?page=2)