# Historically based movies with gross inaccuracy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 23, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712 "2010-07-23T14:09:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/41 "2010-07-23T19:51:58Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Which would be relevant if we were discussing plots. Sorry, mlees was right, anachorism is the correct term. Point I was making is that these detail errors aren’t fundamental to the film (although they can be jarring if you notice one), unlike historical revisionism. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/42 "2010-07-23T20:50:41Z")
> [@vertizontal](#): > > What was the slogan? He was working for a tobacco company, and the executives were all freaked out by the Surgeon General stating that cigarettes were dangerous, and that they couldn’t tout the health benefits of smoking in ads anymore. So Don came up with a slogan to set their company apart from others: “It’s toasted.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/43 "2010-07-23T21:28:30Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Sorry, mlees was right, anachorism is the correct term. Point I was making is that these detail errors aren’t fundamental to the film (although they can be jarring if you notice one), unlike historical revisionism. “Anachronism”, if you please. 😛 Yeah, I thought it was a nitpick, but thought I should dutifully report it after reading it in the doctor’s waiting room. Although accuracy-wise, a soldier who is a rogue like the lead character in that film would not pull that sort of shit more than once without being relieved of duties (at the very least). ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/44 "2010-07-23T21:33:24Z")
Sorry for my nitpick. I only included IMDB’s definitions just for clarity. I don’t expect anyone to adhere to them if they don’t feel like it. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/45 "2010-07-23T21:33:38Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I couldn’t watch _The Tudors_ because of the costuming. It was actively offensive to my eyes. Also offensive to my eyes was the shrimpy little guy they had playing Henry VIII. I don’t care how good an actor he is, for Great Harry you need a big, huge, ‘eats-the-whole-turkey-leg-in-one-bite’ kind of dude. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/46 "2010-07-23T21:40:19Z")
Not to mention a redhead. How freaking hard is that? Miss Clairol probably makes a hundred shades of red - they couldn’t hop the bus to Walgreen’s? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/47 "2010-07-23T21:43:30Z")
[quote=“RealityChuck, post:2, topic:547712”] My feeling on this is simple: I don’t mind minor inaccuracies if it makes for a better story. The only time I object is if these become major plot points. It’s no big deal if, say, the Little Big Horn Massacre is moved to Arizona (e.g., **Fort Apache** , but if Custer is saved, then there is a problem. [QUOTE] No doubt _Fort Apache_ was meant to recall Little Big Horn, but since it was not actually claiming to portray that event, I wouldn’t have been bothered if Colonel Friday had survived the final massacre. It would’ve defeated the purpose of the story though, since the crux of it was meant to show how unworthy men can become folk heros. So it made a better story when Colonel Friday perished, but not because otherwise would’ve been historically innaccurate. The story was fictional. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/48 "2010-07-23T21:47:45Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > _Braveheart_ is a well-known example of a film that took, uh, “liberties” with actual history. Too many to list. Yeah, it’s always entertaining when someone meets our Scottish group and wants to talk about Braveheart! I don’t know if it counts, but The Other Boleyn Girl couldn’t even get the adaptation of the novel right. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/49 "2010-07-23T22:18:48Z")
One thing I hate is when film makers distort real historical people to something they never were. Like First officer [William McMaster Murdoch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McMaster_Murdoch) who was depicted in James Cameron’s Titanic as a killer and a coward when there’s no proof he was any of the sort. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/50 "2010-07-23T22:43:22Z")
One Million Years BC The dinosaurs had all been extinct long before Home Sapiens came on the scene. The early invention of a bikini for Ms Welch is an inaccuracy I can live with though. > [@](#): > > the last dinosaurs became extinct roughly 65 million years BC, and homo sapiens (modern humans) did not exist until about 200,000 years BC. Ray Harryhausen, who animated all of the dinosaur attacks using his famous stop motion technique, has stated that he did not make One Million Years B.C. for “professors” who in his opinion “probably don’t go to see these kinds of movies anyway.” [One Million Years B.C. - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Million_Years_B.C). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/51 "2010-07-23T23:01:43Z")
> [@Rrose\_Selavy](#): > > One Million Years BC > > The dinosaurs had all been extinct long before Home Sapiens came on the scene. The early invention of a bikini for Ms Welch is an inaccuracy I can live with though. > > [One Million Years B.C. - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Million_Years_B.C). Well, if we’re doing low-hanging fruit here, what about _The Passion of the_— no. No. Mustn’t go there. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/52 "2010-07-23T23:21:21Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve noted this before. Peter Schaeffer wasn’t interested in telling historically accurate stories – he wrote plays about The Relationship Between God and Man, basing them on historical events, but making up the story to suit his purposes. He’s admitted to doing this. > > So **The Royal Hunt of the Sun** isn’t about Francisco Pizzaro and the conquest of the Incas and Attahualpa – it’s about God and Man. **Equus** isn’t about the real case of the british boy who blinded six horses in his care – it’s about God and Man. And **Amadeus** isn’t about Salieri and Mozart. It’s very definitely about God and Man. That’s why the title isn’t _Mozart_ or even _Salieri_. “Amadeus” means “beloved of God” – which is what Mozart, in Schaeffer’s play, was, and Salieri is waging war against what he sees as an Unjust God, with Mozart as the battlefield. Schaeffer couldn’t care less that his play isn’t accurate, except as it helps the play and its point. > > And the movie differs materially from the play. I prefer the play, myself. But i don’t confuse it with history. I would think that seeing _Amadeus_ the play–in a slightly abstract production–would make Schaeffer’s point clearer. But the movie seduces viewers, with beautiful unbombed Prague standing in for Vienna. It all seems so real. I knew enough to realize artistic liberties were taken & could understand what Shaeffer was trying to say. But, in the end, the music did it for me. And it was all real. _Mad Men_ is not a documentary on the early 1960’s. (I was in high school back then & learned about Mad Ave from Mad Magazine.) It’s art. (And the 4th season begins this Sunday night!) I’d think the greatest culprits might be movies _not_ based on plays or novels–original stories that purport to inform us about historical events. I enjoyed _Tora Tora Tora_ but haven’t bothered to see _Pearl Harbor_. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/53 "2010-07-23T23:21:46Z")
**Mutiny on the Bounty** : Yes, there was such a mutiny. They got the locales and basics right enough. Then the film portrays Bligh as a sadist and Christian as a hero. The facts: Bligh and Christian were friends before and during the voyage. Bligh was not regarded as a sadist and in fact did not flog nearly as often as many of his colleagues did. The reasons for the mutiny are more complex and mysterious than the original film would have us believe. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/54 "2010-07-23T23:28:43Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > One thing I hate is when film makers distort real historical people to something they never were. Like First officer [William McMaster Murdoch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McMaster_Murdoch) who was depicted in James Cameron’s Titanic as a killer and a coward when there’s no proof he was any of the sort. That bugs me as well. In the film Cinderellaman they made Max Baer out to be a heatless arrogant bastard unconcerned about killing other boxers. His son says that’s a long way from the truth and the death of those boxers haunted him for years. I believe him, cause he’s Jethro. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/55 "2010-07-24T00:22:42Z")
The two worst distortions/inventions of history on my list are _JFK_ and _Birth Of A Nation_ (wherein the South is rescued by the KKK from the depredations of sex-crazed Negroes). Virtually all Civil War movies (with the exception of the most recent ones) are glaringly inaccurate in their moonlight and magnolia-colored views of the antebellum South. Obligatory U-571 correction: This film is fantasy, not mainly because Americans were the heroes, but due to the fact that nothing like the incidents portrayed in the film ever took place. A prosaic (if risky) recovery of an Enigma machine IRL from a captured sub (something the British accomplished first and most crucially, but Americans also did later) gets turned into an elaborate military deception operation that never actually existed. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/56 "2010-07-24T00:25:24Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Sorry for my nitpick. I only included IMDB’s definitions just for clarity. I don’t expect anyone to adhere to them if they don’t feel like it. Oops. I wasn’t referring to you as the nitpick, but rather the article I read. Sometimes me Engrish no bueno. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/57 "2010-07-24T00:47:01Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The movie also completely omits any mention at all of Nash’s [homosexuality](http://www.slate.com/id/2060110) – which might not be the most important thing about a person’s life story, but can’t fairly be left out if the story purports to cover his love life. I kind of give them a pass for that since it was not important to the main theme of the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/58 "2010-07-24T00:52:09Z")
> [@Rrose\_Selavy](#): > > One Million Years BC > > The dinosaurs had all been extinct long before Home Sapiens came on the scene. The early invention of a bikini for Ms Welch is an inaccuracy I can live with though. Little known fact: breasts the size of Ms. Welch’s hadn’t been invented in One Million Years BC. And, as far as I could tell, they were the point of the plot. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/59 "2010-07-24T02:08:09Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Little known fact: breasts the size of Ms. Welch’s hadn’t been invented in One Million Years BC. > > And, as far as I could tell, they were the point of the plot. I broke the rewind on my VCR for her. That’s devotion. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/60 "2010-07-24T02:51:41Z")
Any movie set in the Middle Ages has about 500 years and multiple nationalities of plate mail armor styles in any one scene. Always bugs me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712.md?page=4)