# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [November 15, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/41 "2004-11-15T22:38:31Z")
> [@Paladud](#): > > Is this a joke? I can’t speak for the combat scenes, as it’s been a while, but the overall environment was farcically halfassed IIRC (not to mention thoroughly ridiculed in every Russian review). From what I understand, the description of battle in the earlier part of the movie was acurate - for a year and a half earlier, when the Germans frst invaded and the Soviets hadn’t yet gotten over Stalin’s purges and their general unpreparedness. By Stalingrad the Russian pretty much had their act together. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/42 "2004-11-16T02:39:08Z")
While _Three Kings_ was hardly accurate, in that it depicted any “actual” event, it _did_ capture the zany/ellubient spirit of the 1991 Gulf War, and I was pretty much able to identify real soldiers I knew from the characters on the screen, especially Ice Cube and Spike Jonze. Another nod for _Titanic._ The story was passable at best, but fairly accurately depicted the collision, and the sinking, and beautifully rendered the ship herself. ---
**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 17, 2004, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/43 "2004-11-17T05:10:56Z")
I wasn’t there at the time… but I’d guess that [Topsy-Turvy](http://imdb.com/title/tt0151568/) shows a pretty accurate portrayal of Gilbert and Sullivan _and_ Victorian era England. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/44 "2004-11-17T09:00:12Z")
This Is Spinal Tap {yes, honestly} is constantly cited by musicians as a horribly accurate depiction of band life “on the road” - the ennui, the egoes, the petty bickering… ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/45 "2004-11-17T10:52:40Z")
**Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas** was pretty accurate in showing what it’s like to be on drugs… as far as I’ve experienced, anyway… ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/46 "2004-11-17T15:36:46Z")
Can anybody weigh in on Samurai movies? I’ve been watching a lot of them recently, thanks to Netflix. In the last two months I’ve watched _Yohimbo_, _Seven Samurai_, Kurosawa’s _Samurai Trilogy_, _Chushingura_, and just today I finished _Ran_. I’ll leave _The Last Samurai_ out of it, because, while I enjoyed it immensely, I understand that it’s fairly innacurate both to history and general Samurai motivations. So, are any of these movies particularly accurate? Particularly innaccurate? Any I’ve missed that I should see? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/47 "2004-11-17T20:10:25Z")
I can’t believe it hasn’t come up yet; **Office Space** nails the modern corporate culture perfectly. The pointless forms and procedures, the consultants, the boss, almost everything. (The technical details about the scam are a bit wonky, but that’s immaterial.) ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/48 "2004-11-17T20:14:22Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Saving Private Ryan was very affecting, especially in the opening and closing battle scenes, but how likely is it that they could be that deep into continental Europe and not meet any British soldiers? They weren’t that deep. They were behind the Normandy Beachheads, and probably wandering around on the western side, consdering they find Ryan guarding a bridge that presumably must be preserved for the assualt on Cherburg or St. Lo. The British troops and beaches were to the east of that and it was (D +3? D+5?), so the fact they didn’t run into any british troops doesn’t seem at all suprising to me. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/49 "2004-11-17T20:15:05Z")
Based on the PBS show last night, **The Great Escape** captured an amazing number of details exactly as they happened. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/50 "2004-11-17T20:23:49Z")
I guess I’m just a purist, but I think the only vampire movie that got it right was _Nosferatu_. What? ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/51 "2004-11-17T20:58:34Z")
> [@Middlecase](#): > > This Is Spinal Tap {yes, honestly} is constantly cited by musicians as a horribly accurate depiction of band life “on the road” - the ennui, the egoes, the petty bickering… I think the best portrayal of a “working class” band, the kind that makes its living playing weddings and bowling alleys and such, is _Georgia_. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/52 "2004-11-17T21:19:23Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > I guess I’m just a purist, but I think the only vampire movie that got it right was _Nosferatu_. > > What? I agree. Just check out _Shadow of the Vampire_–the true story of F W Murnau & Max Schreck–to understand why it achieved such verisimilitude. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821/53 "2004-11-18T01:02:16Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > For look and feel I recommend “Enemy at the Gate.” The town square was a precise reconstruction and the “off the boat, charge the enemy unarmed, and grab a gun off a dead guy,” combat was real. The look and feel is okay, but as far as everything else… Terrible. They tried to cram every myth about the eastern front there is in the span of a few hours, and do a fairly good job at it. They didn’t even get the main story (about the snipers) right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-accurate-movies-in-any-given-genre/273821.md?page=2)