# What's the most important event or person that nobody's made a movie about? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 11, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814 "2015-05-11T22:02:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/61 "2015-05-13T04:23:01Z")
Chang and Eng Bunker. The original “Siamese” Twins. They worked for PT Barnum for many years then retired to a farm in North Carolina where each then married and had 21 children. One of their sons served in the Confederate army in the Civil War and they lost most of there money and had to return to show business. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/62 "2015-05-14T06:00:40Z")
The Muslim conquest, rape and pillage of India. The Pakistani deparadations in (then) East Pakistan. The unspeakably brutal Goa Inquisition. The East India Company’s atrocities in India. How about the Chinese Great Leap Backward oops… \*Forward? \*The blood-soaked history of Islam, and the life of its colorful “prophet”? British imperialism? Church-funded evangelization and social engineering projects all over Asia? Take your pick, but good luck getting them released to the public, or if you choose an Islam-related one, keeping your head on your shoulders. There’s a reason no one has made movies about these events. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/63 "2015-05-14T09:32:42Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > I would like to see a movie about the Battle of Lepanto. They did make one, but you wouldn’t like to see it. It had Horst Bukhholz as Cervantes, Gina Lolobrigida as the girlfriend, and Jose Ferer as the Turk (but this time he doesn’t rape the protagonist). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/64 "2015-05-14T16:29:16Z")
There has been an astonishing lack of attention to [Nellie Bly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly). She had one of the most remarkable lives of any person ever, nevermind for a woman in her time. The only “movie” listed about her is a 1981 TV movie. Why Hollywood continues to almost completely ignore this woman is baffling. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/65 "2015-05-14T17:51:46Z")
The Haitian Revolution? The only successful slave revolt that led to the founding of a nation. Considering the dates ( it began in 1791 and ended with the defeat of the French in 1804) and the region, I’m surprised how little attention it gets. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/66 "2015-05-14T18:57:18Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > I would like to see a movie about the Battle of Lepanto. Saving western Europe from the Turks seems fairly important. They just did, only they used Salamis, a battle 2000 years earlier, in _300: Rise of an Empire_. ---
**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:** [May 14, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/67 "2015-05-14T18:59:43Z")
**The explosion of Santorini/Thera** – bigger than Krakatoa, and in a much more populated area. May have caused the downfall of Minoan civilization. I’ll second **The Peasant’s REvolt**. I wrote a play about that, many years ago. As far as I know, nobody’s made a film about **John Brown and the raid on Harper’s Ferry** **Ibn Battuta** and his travels – he went a LOT further than Marco Polo It’s not a provable event, but it’s likely enough, and it’d make a great offbeat movie – L. Sprague de Camp’s historical novel **An Elephant for Aristotle** about a Greek army officer charged by Alexander the Great to shepherd an elephant all the way from India back to Greece (as a gift for his tutor, Aristotle). Aristotle certainly observed and reported on the Indian elephant, so somehow one got back to Greece. de Camp speculates that his former pupil may have been responsible. Getting an unwilling pachyderm to walk a thousand miles through hostile country with no bridges that could bear him must have been a spectacular undertaking. > **[An Elephant for Aristotle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Elephant_for_Aristotle)** > > An Elephant for Aristotle is a 1958 historical novel by American writer L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in hardback by Doubleday, and in paperback by Curtis in 1971. The first British edition was published by Dobson in 1966. The book was reissued with a new introduction by Harry Turtledove as a trade paperback and e-book by Phoenix Pick in March 2013. It is the first of de Camp's historical novels in order of writing, and the third chronologically. > The novel concerns the adventures of... In fact, another of de Camp’s historical novels fits this topic as well – **The Bronze God of Rhodes** , about the events leading up to, and the actual building of, The Colossus of Rhodes. (There was a 1960s Italian epic called _The Colossus of Rhodes_, but accurate history it ain’t) > **[The Bronze God of Rhodes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bronze_God_of_Rhodes)** > > The Bronze God of Rhodes is a historical novel by American writer L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in hardcover by Doubleday in 1960, and in paperback by Bantam Books in 1963. A trade paperback edition was projected by The Donning Company for 1983, but never published. The book was reissued with a new introduction by Harry Turtledove as a trade paperback and ebook by Phoenix Pick in June 2013. It is the second of de Camp's historical novels in order of writing, and fourth The novel is w... > **[The Colossus of Rhodes (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colossus_of_Rhodes_(film))** > > The Colossus of Rhodes (Italian: Il Colosso di Rodi) is a 1961 Italian sword and sandal film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone. Starring Rory Calhoun, it is a fictional account of the island of Rhodes during its classical period in the late third century BCE before coming under Roman control, using the Colossus of Rhodes as a backdrop for the story of a war hero who becomes involved in two different plots to overthrow a tyrannical king: one by Rhodian patriots and the other by Phoenician ag... ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/68 "2015-05-14T20:42:56Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > \*\ ***Ibn Battuta** and his travels – he went a LOT further than Marco Polo. Not a Hollywood feature, but an IMAX film was made about him and his travels in 2009: [_Journey to Mecca._](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235836/combined) At 40 minutes, it’s necessarily compressed, but the photography is spectacular. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/69 "2015-05-15T08:23:48Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > There has been an astonishing lack of attention to [Nellie Bly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly). She had one of the most remarkable lives of any person ever, nevermind for a woman in her time. > > The only “movie” listed about her is a 1981 TV movie. > > Why Hollywood continues to almost completely ignore this woman is baffling. She does sound absolutely amazing! I’d only heard her name before, knew nothing about her. The Wiki page does say there’s a film about her experiences in the asylum coming out later this year, though the cast list isn’t stellar. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/70 "2015-05-15T09:06:01Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > The Big Bang. > The origin of the Solar System. The characters seemed flat and one dimensional. Also Earth and Venus have evidently no chemistry so trying to shoe in a love story between them was less than inspired. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/71 "2015-05-15T09:46:22Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It’s not a provable event, but it’s likely enough, and it’d make a great offbeat movie – L. Sprague de Camp’s historical novel **An Elephant for Aristotle** about a Greek army officer charged by Alexander the Great to shepherd an elephant all the way from India back to Greece (as a gift for his tutor, Aristotle). Why would he have bothered when there were African elephants readily available? ---
**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:** [May 15, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/72 "2015-05-15T13:41:20Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Why would he have bothered when there were African elephants readily available? Possibly because Indian elephants and African ones differ, and the differences were part of the interest. Aristotle’s description is definitely of an Indian elephant – which prompts the question of how it got there. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/73 "2015-05-15T13:52:11Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > There has been an astonishing lack of attention to [Nellie Bly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly). She had one of the most remarkable lives of any person ever, nevermind for a woman in her time. > > The only “movie” listed about her is a 1981 TV movie. > > Why Hollywood continues to almost completely ignore this woman is baffling. I agree that she’s fascinating. I learned about her from a children’s biography by Iris Noble, **Nellie Bly: First Woman Reporter**. ---
**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:** [May 15, 2015, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/74 "2015-05-15T14:23:35Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > I agree that she’s fascinating. I learned about her from a children’s biography by Iris Noble, **Nellie Bly: First Woman Reporter**. She may not have had a major movie about her made, but last week she had an exctensive Google Doodle about her, celebrating what would have been her 151st birthday: > **[Nellie Bly's 151st Birthday Doodle - Google Doodles](https://doodles.google/doodle/nellie-blys-151st-birthday/)** > > Learn more about the creation of Nellie Bly's 151st Birthday Doodle and discover the story behind the unique artwork. ---
**Author:** ![BlueOhio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@BlueOhio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueOhio)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/75 "2015-05-15T14:56:21Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Most movie (or quality cable TV) producers don’t base projects on Historical Personages (or Great Events). Unless there is a well-connected auteur with a vision in charge, a Story is generally required. > > David McCullough just published a book on [The Wright Brothers](http://www.amazon.com/Wright-Brothers-David-McCullough/dp/1476728747/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431463527&sr=8-1&keywords=wright+brothers). It’s gotten some good reviews & might whip up interest. > > His book on John Adams inspired the HBO series… It is in the works: [http://www.avclub.com/article/tom-hanks-and-hbo-team-miniseries-about-wright-bro-218059](http://www.avclub.com/article/tom-hanks-and-hbo-team-miniseries-about-wright-bro-218059) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/76 "2015-05-15T19:26:32Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Isaac Newton Years ago, there was a book listing the most important people of all time. Newton was #2, right after Muhammad. We KNOW why there hasn’t been a movie about Muhammad (directors like their heads), but Newton is still a definite possibility. ---
**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:** [May 15, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/77 "2015-05-15T19:48:43Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Why would he have bothered when there were African elephants readily available? What makes you think African elephants were “available”, by the way? They live in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is itself a pretty good slog from Greece. The story of someone bringing an African elephant to Greece, it seems to me, would make about as interesting a story as getting one there from India. And if you say “Hannibal had them!”, well, exactly where he brought them from isn’t exactly clear: > **[THE MYSTERY OF HANNIBAL'S ELEPHANTS (Published 1984)](https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/18/science/the-mystery-of-hannibal-s-elephants.html)** ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/78 "2015-05-15T22:13:42Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Has anyone done a drama of Burr/Hamilton? That could be damn fun! > > (Ah, yes! 1984, “Duel.” I need to find this!) Is this a movie or a book?? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/79 "2015-05-15T22:20:48Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814/80 "2015-05-16T00:08:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > What makes you think African elephants were “available”, by the way? They live in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is itself a pretty good slog from Greece. The story of someone bringing an African elephant to Greece, it seems to me, would make about as interesting a story as getting one there from India. > And if you say “Hannibal had them!”, well, exactly where he brought them from isn’t exactly clear: > > [http://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/18/science/the-mystery-of-hannibal-s-elephants.html](http://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/18/science/the-mystery-of-hannibal-s-elephants.html) Huh? This makes it sound like African elephants were unusual in the ancient Mediterranean world. Which they [weren’t, particularly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_elephant#The_Mediterranean). There were certainly [elephants in North Africa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_African_elephant) well into Roman times. Carthage used them in several battles in both the First and the Second Punic Wars, the ones brought across the Alps weren’t unique in that respect. Hannibal used them again at [Zama](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Zama). The Romans would themselves use elephants, brought from Africa, when they went to fight in Macedonia and Greece. King Juba of Numidia brought some along to face Caesar at [Thapsus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thapsus) (where Juba was on the side of Caesar’s enemies in the civil war) as late as 46 BC. So, it’s only a “mystery” where Hannibal got them if you ignore the obvious explanation: They were living in North Africa. Which, BTW, your (rather confusingly written) linked article doesn’t even deny. It just says that Hannibal’s local elephants were smaller than the ones living further south, and cites a dude that finds the idea of Hannibal using “small” elephants “unsatisfying”. Well, whatever. I think “small” is a relative term. They’re freaking _elephants!_ BTW, Hannibal also wasn’t the first to bring elephants into Italy, by a long shot. The Romans first encountered them in the armies of Pyrrhus, when he [invaded Italy way back in 280 BC](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Heraclea). Apparently, Pyrrhus got his from Egypt. As far as I know, there aren’t any mentions of use of African war elephants after Thapsus, but that’s probably mostly because they often kind of sucked in battle, certainly by that point in history. At Thapsus they panicked and trampled Juba’s own troops, which was the kind of thing they had a reputation for doing. And they did disappear from the area during the Roman Empire, probably hunted to extinction (the Roman Empire was something of an extinction event for North Africa in general). Or, well, at least there’s no mention of them in a major way. They do pop up here and there. Claudius is said to have brought along elephants (or at least one elephant) when he invaded Britain (for, presumably, shits and giggles). I do agree, though, that they probably weren’t exactly “readily available” in Greece at the time of Aristotle. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-important-event-or-person-that-nobodys-made-a-movie-about/719814.md?page=5)