# Most accurate movies in any given genre…? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2004, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821 "2004-11-09T11:27:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/1 "2004-11-09T11:27:15Z")
What, in your opinion, would be the most accurate movie to be made telling a story in or about a specific event / time / culture? Is there one movie that stands out in your mind as being so right, so representative of a particular time or place? What is the definitive movie that captured the spirit of a particular time and place more so than any other? War movies – English /American/ French/ Spanish Civil War, Mexican Wars, WW1 & 2, submarine based drama, Cold War, Vietnam war, Famous sea battles (recent or historical), Army training (boot camps), Air force, Spy / espionage, etc… Historical movies – Ancient Romans, British (Raj, Africa, Colonial wars), Ancient China, Japanese culture, Africa, Great Depression, etc… Modern (western) Culture – London crime / gangs, Underground drug culture, Gang culture in LA, Media coverage, Politics, portrayal of Police training / crime prevention methods etc… Please add in any other field you deem a film you believe to have been (whilst fictional) a truly accurate portrayal of how it was or could have been to have lived through those days. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/2 "2004-11-09T11:31:50Z")
Historical space movies - _Apollo 13_. My dad worked at NASA in Houston in the early 70s, and he and another colleague from that time agree that the movie really captured the atmosphere, habits, and look of the place. Obviously there were a few inaccuracies in the movie, but it captured the zeitgeist perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/3 "2004-11-09T15:37:44Z")
WWII - _Das Boot_, hands down. Age of Sail - _Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World_. Has to be one of _the_ most accurate reconstructions of an historical era that I’ve ever seen. Honorable mention goes to _The Bounty_. Rome - Difficult, as they _all_ have problems. I seem to recall, though, that _Cleopatra_ had the historical aspects down pretty well, but _Gladiator_ came closest to the “look and feel” of the era. ---
**Author:** ![MercyStreet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@MercyStreet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MercyStreet)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/4 "2004-11-09T16:50:07Z")
Modern culture “The Paper” captured the madness that is a big-city newsroom,: general mess, downright filth, the cat who couldn’t use any chair but his own. Newsrooms are populated by freaks. “All the President’s Men” had a grip on the odd work hours, the tense relationship with sources, the meeting with Big Editors when a serious story is heading to print. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/5 "2004-11-09T17:37:14Z")
War: _Gettysburgh_ got lots of details right. Crime: _Casino_ probably fudged the details, but it got the main events right. British Raj: _The Charge of the Light Brigade_ (the Erroll Flynn version) . The second half of the movie is complete bull@#$%. The first half, however, is based on an incident from the Sepoy Mutiny, and it actually gets an unexpectedly large number of details right. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/6 "2004-11-09T17:41:32Z")
Modern (western) Culture: _Lone Star_. Many of the people in this movie are stereotypes. But I live near the border, and I know a heck of a lot of people who fit those stereotypes. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/7 "2004-11-09T21:38:47Z")
WWII \*\*Das Boot \*\* is great and I think \*\*Saving Private Ryan \*\* and \*\*Schindler’s List \*\* are also pretty accurate. Viet Nam Well depending on who you ask but when I worked in a movie theatre showing **Platoon** the Vets seeing it all thought it was really accurate, at least on the feel of the place. Also it should be noted that in \*\*Full Metal Jacket \*\* the Marine Drill Instructor was played by a Marine Drill Instructor. I think that was pretty accurate. In many ways \*\*Napolean Dynamite \*\* was very accurate at getting that ‘very small town in the middle of nowhere’ feel. It kind of creeped me out. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/8 "2004-11-10T01:31:00Z")
WWII: [Stalingrad](http://imdb.com/title/tt0108211/) got pretty high marks for accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/9 "2004-11-10T01:45:55Z")
_Andrei Rublev_ captured very well, I thought, the look and feel of medieval Russia. And they got the period clerical clothing correct as well (yay! octogonal mitres!) _Barry Lyndon_ was really good with 18th century Europe - iirc some of the costuming was actual clothing from that period. It captured well the stifling atmosphere and cultural stasis that was shortly to blow up. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/10 "2004-11-10T01:52:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Rome - Difficult, as they all have problems. I seem to recall, though, that Cleopatra had the historical aspects down pretty well, but Gladiator came closest to the “look and feel” of the era. _Cleopatra!!!_ While I want to give the film its due (I think it’s lot better than its given credit for – I think everyone cncentrated too much on the scandals), the film looks way too clean. Like a film set, in fact. My choices for best Rome – **Spartacus** and **a Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum**. Especially the latter. The homes really _do_ look like the homes preserved in Pompeii, not some Hollywood version of them. he streets are genuinely crowded, with shops and stals jostling each other and pedestrians running int each other. Star Zero Mostel even omplained about all the squalor, saying that he didn’t ike all he shots of donkeys pooping in the streets (although, AFAIK, there isn’t a single shot of that. Lotsa donkeys, 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:** [November 10, 2004, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/11 "2004-11-10T02:10:06Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Viet Nam Well depending on who you ask but when I worked in a movie theatre showing **Platoon** the Vets seeing it all thought it was really accurate, at least on the feel of the place. Also it should be noted that in \*\*Full Metal Jacket \*\* the Marine Drill Instructor was played by a Marine Drill Instructor. I think that was pretty accurate. I’ll give you **Platoon**. But let me relate an anecdote that I heard my father say (and I later found out that it was from a comic named Glenn Steer, but it still applies): My father and I were Christmas shopping several years ago, and he was wearing his old Vietnam jacket (he served a two-year stint in artillery), and was approached by an older woman, who told him, “Sir, I just want you to know that I can appreciate all you went through in Vietnam. I saw **Full Metal Jacket**.” My father, without missing a beat, responded, “Ma’am, I can appreciate everything you went through in childbirth. I saw **Look Who’s Talking**.” ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/12 "2004-11-10T02:11:53Z")
In a way _Titanic_ was very accurate. The main character plot line was of course totally made-up but the details of the ship itself (design, look, feel) as well as how it went about sinking were very faithfully recreated and adhered to. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/13 "2004-11-10T02:42:59Z")
_Plan 9 From Outer Space_ contains the most jaw-droppingly accurate depiction of an attempted alien colonization of the earth ever filmed. ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/14 "2004-11-10T02:48:45Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > _Plan 9 From Outer Space_ contains the most jaw-droppingly accurate depiction of an attempted alien colonization of the earth ever filmed. I don’t think documentries count. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/15 "2004-11-10T02:52:56Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > War: _Gettysburgh_ got lots of details right. As did _Gods and Generals_, ignoring the obsession with lemonade of Gen. Jackson. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/16 "2004-11-10T02:55:47Z")
For Ancient China, let me recommend **Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders** , based on Robert Hans Van Gulik’s book “The Haunted Monastery”, one in a series of adventures of the T’ang dynasty magistrate Djien Djieh Dee(who really did exist, and had a reputation as a detective). The TV-movie is faithful to the book, written by the scholarly nd meticulous Van Gulik, so one assumes it’s fairly faithful in its depiction of a Buddhist monastery and a Chinese district magistrate. The sets re pretty impressively convincing, especially for a TV movie, and the cast is entirely Asian (and, I think, of Chinese ancestry), a pretty impressive thing in a town that usually tried to pass off Caucasians as Chinese. Nicholas Meyer (the underapreciated King of TV Movies) wrote and may have directed. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/17 "2004-11-10T08:10:01Z")
Most certainly the most accurate asteroid impact movie, and one of the most accurate I’ve seen in the general category of Man vs. Nature, is _Deep Impact_. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/18 "2004-11-10T08:40:54Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Crime: _Casino_ probably fudged the details, but it got the main events right… Casino and Goodfellas are both fairly close to their source books(which are supposed to be rather accurate with lots of first-hand material) other then changing some names and combining a character or two. However, I can’t speak to the technical details. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/19 "2004-11-10T09:47:57Z")
A friend of mine who is an Asian scholar mentioned that in _The Last Emperor_, the child emperor stepped around a mosaic floortile that said “dragon” on the doorstep of the Forbidden City as he entered. He said this was a very accurate cultural observation, but that wasn’t highlighted - it was a subtle detail that conveyed to him the accuracy of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/20 "2004-11-10T10:05:12Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > WWII - _Das Boot_, hands down. Amen. This movie was the reason I entered into this thread. Now if I could just work up the ire to pit anyone that says \*Crimson Tide \* was better. Note to those whom watch only what gets to your local cinema every Friday. _Das Boot_ is the standard-bearer by which any and all submarine-based war movies will be judged. Bar none. If you like historic war movies and haven’t seen this, well, you don’t like historic war movies. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821.md?page=2)