# Historical People/Events Which Would Make Good Movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802 "2003-05-17T00:26:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/41 "2003-05-18T01:37:35Z")
I did see an episode of “Night Gallery” where they had some guy survive the _Titanic_…then his lifeboat is picked up by the _Lusitania_-then THAT lifeboat is picked up by another ship at the end. One of the sailors turns to face the camera, and you see the name on his cap ribbon: _Andrea Doria_. But seriously, a good _Lusitania_ movie would be the best! I think also they did a movie about Ghengis Khan staring Omar Sharif. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/42 "2003-05-18T01:42:16Z")
Has there ever been a movie based on Xenophon’s account of the march of the Ten Thousand? D’artagnan (of _The Three Musketeers_) was based on a real soldier, whose memoirs inspired Dumas’ imagination. It would be interesting to do a movie about the real person. Also, a factual movie about the real Cyrano de Bergerac – soldier, swordsman and science fiction writer – rather than one based on the famous play. The Albigensian Crusade would make for an intense, albeit very sad, movie. Also, speaking of crusades, there was an incident when the Teutonic Knights were attacking the Lithuanians (the last major pagan people in Europe), when the entire population of a fort committed suicide rather than surrender; an old woman chopped off the heads of all the men, then brained herself with the axe. Tough people. Charles VI of France, who was unfortunately insane, could be an interesting subject. (Curious: what the hell would Ptolemy be doing in a movie about Alexander the Great? A movie about Ptolemy and Caesar would be great.) ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/43 "2003-05-18T01:48:19Z")
Please excuse my last idiotic comment. I was thinking of **Pompey** , not **Ptolemy**. Obviously it makes sense for Ptolemy to be in a movie about Alexander. ---
**Author:** ![Nichol\_storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/44 "2003-05-18T02:00:32Z")
There was a [similar thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=169563) a couple of months back that had some great suggestions. For the record I want movies about: **Carlo Gesualdo** **Chevalier d’Eon & Beaumarchais** **Justinian II** **Harald Hardraada** **Aurelian & Zenobia** .:Nichol:. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/45 "2003-05-18T02:41:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*Oh, yeah, a spell-binder. > > “Got it yet?” > “No.” > “Got it yet?” > “No.” > “Got it yet?” > “No.” > “Got it yet?” > “Yes. Now let’s have some tea.” \*\* Is there a middle-finger smiley available? Read the book. If you don’t find each of the three stories compelling, then perhaps you could re-watch The Matrix for something “deep”. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/46 "2003-05-18T03:00:44Z")
Mark Twain, as mentioned above, would be interesting. I’d like to see a movie about the Marx Brothers, especially Groucho - not a documentary with clips, I mean a real story. I always thought [the StraightDope column about Lizzie Borden](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlizzieborden.html) would make a fascinating movie - kind of a dark comic whodunnit with all these competing possibilities. Movies being what they are, perhaps the result would be quite inaccurate, but still… and after all, how many historical crime dramas feature lesbians? 😉 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/47 "2003-05-18T06:48:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NDP \* > **Well, you won’t have to wait much longer. A [new version](http://www.ananova.com/entertainment/story/sm_764664.html?menu=) is on the way.** Given that the cost of production is in pounds, I assume this must be a British production. Any idea of whether they plan to air it in the States? \*\* Marley23 \*\* said: > [@](#): > > I always thought the StraightDope column about Lizzie Borden would make a fascinating movie - kind of a dark comic whodunnit with all these competing possibilities. Movies being what they are, perhaps the result would be quite inaccurate, but still… and after all, how many historical crime dramas feature lesbians? That deplorable Johnny Depp flick \* From Hell \* featured a couple of lesbian prostitutes stalked by Jack The Ripper. The Lizzie Borden story might be best told from different points of view, leaving the viewer to ultimately decide her guilt or innocence. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/48 "2003-05-18T07:17:30Z")
Okay, I guess that’s one. 😉 I think your comment about the multiple perspectives makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/49 "2003-05-18T08:00:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Given that the cost of production is in pounds, I assume this must be a British production. Any idea of whether they plan to air it in the States? I don’t know when but my guess would be that it will probably show up on BBC America and PBS. ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/50 "2003-05-18T12:20:52Z")
If you are going to do the LUSITANIA why not the EMPRESS OF IRELAND the third great ship wreck of the decade.? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/51 "2003-05-18T12:48:52Z")
Because the _Lusitania_ had a huge impact on history-more so than the _Empress_. It was during the war, and was a contributing factor towards the US later entering WWI. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/52 "2003-05-18T17:09:49Z")
Well, I’d love to see a good film about Dunkirk and/or the Battle of Britain (I’m not counting John Boorman’s “Hope and Glory,” interesting though it was). Only problem is, if Hollywood made such a film, they’d probably find a way to make all the RAF pilots American! ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/53 "2003-05-18T17:59:48Z")
There was a very good article in today’s newspaper (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 5/18/03) suggesting that a good movie could be made about the life of Col. Charles Young, the highest ranking black US Army officer in the World War I era, and how he was denied promotion to general because of prejudice in that time. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/54 "2003-05-18T19:50:55Z")
The Raft of the Medusa… ok, it’s been done in [French](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0164839) * * * Sci-fi worldbuilding at [http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html](http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html) ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/55 "2003-05-18T22:15:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by syncrolecyne \* > \*\* > > Another interesting figure of the Napoleonioc era was Haiti’s Toussaint L’Ouverture. > \*\* There has been a movie made about him. Unfortunately I can’t give any specifics, since when I watched it I was a young teen, and I forgot everything, title included. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/56 "2003-05-18T22:36:54Z")
I think the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, the first major monotheist in world history, would make a great character for a movie. That story has it all: religion, perverse sex (he married his mother and his daughters, allegedly), power struggles (when he sought to make the Aten the only god, he attempted to end all other worship, which of course angered the powerful priestly class). His doomed son Tutankhamen restored polytheism, but was himself possibly murdered shortly thereafter, his throne taken by one of his generals. Quite a story there. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/57 "2003-05-18T22:45:59Z")
I remember a tv-movie back in the 1970’s about Lizzie Borden, starring Elizabeth Montgomery. It left open the question of actual guilt. I’d like to see a historical movie about the infamous Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary, who literally bathed in the blood of young girls. (There was a horror movie loosely based on her, but the truth is horrible enough.) Speaking of horror, the Sawney Beane family would make an interesting, appalling movie. (Though I guess that’s more legend than history.) John Hawkwood, the famous mercenary, would make a fascinating subject. And how about Niccolo Machiavelli? ---
**Author:** ![Nichol\_storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/58 "2003-05-19T00:14:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Baldwin \* > \*\*And how about Niccolo Machiavelli? \*\* Only problem with Machiavelli is that he was actually a rather nice guy. He didn’t do much to deserve his horrible reputation. A better subject would be Cesare Borgia, who was the inspiration for Machiavelli’s _Il Principe_. Great story there. Cesare was one of Pope Alexander VI’s (many) illegitimate children, and a fierce and ruthless opponent. The Borgias were really the first Mafia family. Cesare murdered his sister Lucrezia’s husband and one of her boyfriends, probably murdered his younger brother Juan, and had an affair with his youngest brother Jofre’s wife – not to mention the alleged incestuous affair with Lucrezia. Throw in Machiavelli, Da Vinci, Caterina Sforza, and some pitched battles and poisoning, and you’d have a movie worth watching! As for wild women, Lola Montez would make a good movie. A dancer more famous for her escapades than her dancing, she practically ruled Bavaria in the name of her boyfriend, King Ludwig, had a romance with Franz Liszt, threw her second husband out a second-story window, and had a penchant for horse-whipping people who pissed her off. Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets! .:Nichol:. ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/59 "2003-05-19T01:21:02Z")
Has anyone ever done Rafael Semmes and the cruise of the CSS Alabama? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802/60 "2003-05-19T01:22:56Z")
How about Mata Hari, the glamorous German spy of WWI? Or the Easter Uprising of 1916? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-people-events-which-would-make-good-movies/175802.md?page=4)