# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/81 "2010-07-26T16:51:52Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > …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. Very interesting, and now it makes sense to me. 10-Q veddy much! ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/82 "2010-07-26T17:12:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Jumping a motorcycle over the border fence? Please. [Rule of cool.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool) ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/83 "2010-07-26T17:49:35Z")
Although there are many anachronisms in the 2010 Robin Hood, I did manage to get one of the IMDb “goofs” corrected. :- _Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Several characters speak of seed corn. Many viewers interpret this as maize which wasn’t introduced to England until the 15th or 16th century. However, the word corn in 1199 England was used for many different cereal grains (wheat, rye, oats, etc.), not the corn-on the-cob we think of today._ This is still true in England. When we speak of a corn field this could refer to any cereal crop. We call maize “sweet-corn”. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/84 "2011-04-24T06:35:14Z")
Bloody Sunday shows PIRA firing at the British Army, which we now know did not happen. In the name of the Father, \*a Solicitor \*arguing in Court!!! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/85 "2011-04-24T12:36:48Z")
RealityChuck writes: \> There was actually a book out that discussed this: Future Imperfect: History \> According to Hollywood. And _History Goes to the Movies_. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/86 "2011-04-24T12:53:49Z")
I’ve always been a fan of spaghetti westerns. **The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly** is a lot of fun to watch, but um… No, the Civil War was not fought in what is supposed to be the American West. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/87 "2011-04-24T13:09:13Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > 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? Queen Catherine was a redhead too, but no one (except the BBC once) picks up on that. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/88 "2011-04-24T13:53:33Z")
[The Long Ships (1964)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057259/)The Vikings were never in possession of a 12-foot tall golden bell known as “The Mother of Voices,” and the Moors never forced people to “ride the steel mare.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/89 "2011-04-24T14:04:07Z")
> [@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. Not quite. There is one scene (I think it was at a party) where Nash and some guy exchange some pretty meaningful glances (or one glance). It’s very minor, but it’s definitely there, and it’s pretty clearly meant to be a gay reference. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/90 "2011-04-24T16:42:02Z")
Every movie made about the battle of the Alamo has sucked. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/91 "2011-04-24T16:50:45Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I’ve always been a fan of spaghetti westerns. > > **The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly** is a lot of fun to watch, but um… No, the Civil War was not fought in what is supposed to be the American West. The fighting in that movie was actually based on a real incident in New Mexico. There is a monument to it or similar action in Albuquerque’s Old Town, but IIRC it scotched the Rebs’ ambitions of taking the war into the Southwest and maybe even California. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/92 "2011-04-24T16:59:42Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I’ve always been a fan of spaghetti westerns. > > **The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly** is a lot of fun to watch, but um… No, the Civil War was not fought in what is supposed to be the American West. > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > The fighting in that movie was actually based on a real incident in New Mexico. There is a monument to it or similar action in Albuquerque’s Old Town, but IIRC it scotched the Rebs’ ambitions of taking the war into the Southwest and maybe even California. Ah yes, here we go: [The New Mexico Campaign of 1862](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico_Campaign) by Confederate General Sibley, who I believe is mentioned in the film. A lot of Americans don’t realize how much of the war was fought west of the Mississippi or even in New Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/93 "2011-04-24T17:29:46Z")
[The Perfect Storm](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177971/) chronicles the last voyage of the Andrea Gail, a fishing boat that is sunk during a massive weather catastrophe, and everyone on board drowns. So how do the filmmakers know that the events on the boat (which, IIRC, has never been recovered) actually happened the way they are portrayed? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/94 "2011-04-24T17:55:12Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > [The Perfect Storm](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177971/) chronicles the last voyage of the Andrea Gail, a fishing boat that is sunk during a massive weather catastrophe, and everyone on board drowns. > > So how do the filmmakers know that the events on the boat (which, IIRC, has never been recovered) actually happened the way they are portrayed? Its more or less impossible to make a historically based movie without filling in large gaps, unless you happen to be filming an event where more or less everything was recorded (Apollo 13, maybe?). I don’t really think those things are the same as gross inaccuracies though, which I’d associate more with additions that actually _contradict_ the historical record. Had the _Andrea Gail_ in the movie happily steamed into port after the strom, then that would be a gross inaccuracy. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/95 "2011-04-24T18:14:26Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > Henry wasn’t a big huge guy until a severe jousting injury in his 40s which kept him off his feet, off his horse, out of the tennis court and out of his various mistresses’ beds. The show was drawing to a close right at the period of his life where he was starting to feel the effects of that injury and the incapacitation that followed, including the weight gain. What? _The Tudors_ ran all the way to Henry’s death. They occasionally depicted him having trouble with his leg, and they made him look a little bulkier with costuming. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/96 "2011-04-24T18:31:17Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > What? _The Tudors_ ran all the way to Henry’s death. They occasionally depicted him having trouble with his leg, and they made him look a little bulkier with costuming. And it is really hard to make Jonathan Rhys Meyers look unattractive. Even in the scenes where they were draining his boils I kept getting distracted by the fact that it’s still Jonathan Rhys Meyers lying there naked and sweaty with only a washcloth to protect his modesty. :o ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/97 "2011-04-24T18:50:29Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > Queen Catherine was a redhead too, but no one (except the BBC once) picks up on that. Catherine of Aragon has almost never to my knowledge been portrayed by an actress who resembled her known portraits in the slightest; the historical Catherine was short, plumpish, very fair skinned, and strawberry blonde. They almost always cast tall, think, dark-haired types for her, though. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/98 "2011-04-24T19:08:35Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Its more or less impossible to make a historically based movie without filling in large gaps, unless you happen to be filming an event where more or less everything was recorded (Apollo 13, maybe?). I don’t really think those things are the same as gross inaccuracies though, which I’d associate more with additions that actually _contradict_ the historical record. > > Had the _Andrea Gail_ in the movie happily steamed into port after the strom, then that would be a gross inaccuracy. To each their own, certainly, but I disagree to an extent. Without knowing for sure what actually _did_ happen, it’s certainly possible that the events portrayed ARE grossly inaccurate. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/99 "2011-04-24T19:48:14Z")
> [@GythaOgg](#): > > Catherine of Aragon has almost never to my knowledge been portrayed by an actress who resembled her known portraits in the slightest; the historical Catherine was short, plumpish, very fair skinned, and strawberry blonde. They almost always cast tall, think, dark-haired types for her, though. I think movie makers think that all Spaniards are stereotypically dark. Catherine of Aragon had English ancestry, through the house of Lancaster. Maybe the red-headed genes came from a common ancestor, as Henry and Catherine were distant cousins. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712/100 "2011-04-24T20:00:05Z")
I think far more short, plump, very fair-skinned, strawberry-blond actors should be cast in movies. In fact, I think they should be cast in every conceivable part. You’ve got my E-mail address. Let me know when you’re ready to start filming. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historically-based-movies-with-gross-inaccuracy/547712.md?page=6)