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Historical Events That Would Make Great Movies.

post #1 of 115
12/19/07 at 4:06am
Thread Starter 
I can't be the only one who watches history documentaries thinking of how certain events would appear on film. What historical event do you want to see retold on screen? There's a lot of history out there, heck WWII isn't entirely covered yet.

Henry Berry Lowrie:
He was a Native American who, during the Southern Reconstruction, led an outlaw group of Native Americans, former slaves, and Union soldiers, against the Confederates and Klan members who killed his family.

We need a proper Genghis Khan epic as well. Oh and is there a movie about the Jewish Holocaust resistance fighters? Oh and Napoleon (who's riding a motorcycle in my avatar) is a must.
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post #2 of 115
12/19/07 at 5:57am
The last time someone made a Genghis Khan movie, half of Hollywood contracted cancer. That said, I recently (read: YEARS AGO) purchased a journal-type thing written by some guy who met Genghis Khan and have yet to actually read it. I was fascinated by that Mongolian son of a bitch all throughout middle and high school after having to write a paper on him. The way the Mongols incorporated their hunting tactics into their war tactics would make for a scary, awesome beginning to an epic movie.
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post #3 of 115
12/19/07 at 7:46am
This got me wondering.... are the Founding Fathers too sacrosanct to make a movie out of (and I mean individually, let alone as a single subject)?
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post #4 of 115
12/19/07 at 10:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barzun
Native American history- both involving whites and not- is almost completely unrepresented in movies, this despite its having the added benefit of featuring cultures much more interesting than ours. So, that's a shame.
On a somewhat related note, while bored at work yesterday I was doing some stream-of-consciousness Wikipedia browsing as is my wont, and was reading about the American Bison, and how they went from a Native American staple numbering in the millions to being virtually extinct (there were less than a thousand at one point) in the nineteenth century. While this topic alone probably wouldn't merit its own film, I'd like to see something about that.
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post #5 of 115
12/19/07 at 11:15am
I wouldn't mind seeing a film about the Spanish-American War, particularly something with Teddy Rossevelt and the Rough Riders and the assault at Santiago.
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post #6 of 115
12/19/07 at 11:20am
Too soon.
All of them.
Just too damn soon.
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post #7 of 115
12/19/07 at 11:22am
Battle of San Jacinto. A very important battle for Texas independence, that has an ending that would be absolutely perfect for film. Santa Anna attempting to escape in drag over the (current) Washburn Tunnel.

And to steal Timothy225's idea, any film where the Rough Riders patrol Texas on camels would be awesome.
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post #8 of 115
12/19/07 at 11:40am
The Armenian Genocide.

I wouldn't call it great movie fodder in the strictest sense. It just needs to happen.
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post #9 of 115
12/19/07 at 12:05pm
Fuck Evan Almighty, Noah and the Ark needs the full historical epic treatment. And get some fucking dinosaurs on the boat, stat.
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post #10 of 115
12/19/07 at 12:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Jim Slade
On a somewhat related note, while bored at work yesterday I was doing some stream-of-consciousness Wikipedia browsing as is my wont, and was reading about the American Bison, and how they went from a Native American staple numbering in the millions to being virtually extinct (there were less than a thousand at one point) in the nineteenth century. While this topic alone probably wouldn't merit its own film, I'd like to see something about that.
There was one done several years ago staring Kevin Costner called "Dances With Buffalo". It was a gripping epic of the western life.
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post #11 of 115
12/19/07 at 12:19pm
The siege of the Ole Miss campus when James Meredith tried to enroll in 1962.

300 lightly armed US Marshals hold off snipers and a mob of thousands through a long night until 30,000 federal troops arrive to retake the campus.

This... is... Oxford!
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post #12 of 115
12/19/07 at 12:43pm
I don't know where I read it, but there was always this one story around the time of colonization that I particularly liked. A settlement of Quakers was impeding on some Native American land and the NAs got bullshit and basically sieged the town; the Quakers all rushed into their church and had mass. The cool thing about Quakers is that their masses are done in silence, nobody talks unless the spirit moves them. So they're in there for hours, and the NAs are confused, yet oddly touched. In the end, they manage to outlast the NAs, emerge and everything's okay, each group has a new respect for the other.

Always thought the silence could be a great way for introspection and to see how each party reacted to what could very well be a horrible situation.

Another one: if done like 'Elizabeth' or 'A Man for All Seasons', the whole story revolving around the Magna Carta could be some intelligent, thrilling cinema.
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post #13 of 115
12/19/07 at 12:52pm
The Battle of Verdun

The bloodiest face-to-face confrontation in modern warfare. A million people dead in a single day. I'd like to see a film that tackles it for what it was and not as a sidenote to World War I.
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post #14 of 115
12/19/07 at 1:15pm
I think a good movie needs to be made about the Wright Brothers and their first flight. I think you could make it kind of moody and just concentrate on the time they load up on the train to Kitty Hawk to the time they head home after the first flight. The director would need to stay away from the cheesy old timey look and focus on how determined and paranoid the guys were. I’d be happy if the stay away from souring “success music” and making it an “inspirational” tale. I’ve read about half of the Papers of Orville and Wilbur Wright (a huge book put together by the library of congress) and the guys were really worried about competition and people stealing their ideas. Very few people knew what they were up to.
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post #15 of 115
12/19/07 at 1:21pm
The occupation of Alcatraz in 1969 by Native Americans blew my mind when I learned of it recently.

Also, Aleister Crowley.
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post #16 of 115
12/19/07 at 1:22pm
Oh, and the Angel of Death nurses in Vienna, but I'm writing a story based on that so shhhh.
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post #17 of 115
12/19/07 at 1:25pm
We need a good Black Death movie.
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post #18 of 115
12/19/07 at 1:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Savage
Boy, that one would send the Turks into a frenzy.... and that's a good thing. I never forgave them the Turkish Star Wars.
or Turkish Superman for that mater.
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post #19 of 115
12/19/07 at 1:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Jim Slade
On a somewhat related note, while bored at work yesterday I was doing some stream-of-consciousness Wikipedia browsing as is my wont, and was reading about the American Bison, and how they went from a Native American staple numbering in the millions to being virtually extinct (there were less than a thousand at one point) in the nineteenth century. While this topic alone probably wouldn't merit its own film, I'd like to see something about that.
You mean, Dances With Wolves?

ETA: someone beat me to it.

Also, as far as Native American history goes, it's one of those 'no one will see it' issues, since the theme in Hollywood is usually that it needs to have a white lead to work. (Exception being 'black' movies, but they are only supposed to draw 'black' audiences.) I'm not saying that's true; just that it's the way the establishment tends to work.
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post #20 of 115
12/19/07 at 1:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson
We need a good Black Death movie.
It's the feel good movie of the holiday season!
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post #21 of 115
12/19/07 at 1:36pm
It's been languishing in development hell for years and Fincher reportedly wanted to do it but there needs to be a film on the Torso murders in Cleveland.
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post #22 of 115
12/19/07 at 1:39pm
Croatoan

Seriously, has there been any good movies about the Roanoke vanishing?
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post #23 of 115
12/19/07 at 2:43pm
Krakatoa.

I think there's a movie or two out there, old ones, but a new flick based on that could potentially be riveting as hell.
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post #24 of 115
12/19/07 at 2:49pm
Tunguska could make for some riveting stuff. Hell, you don't even need to add aliens, ancient nukes or half-mad superheroes heralding the coming of Gah-Lak-Tus to make it awesome.
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post #25 of 115
12/19/07 at 2:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil!
Sawney Bean.
Don't rent this flick.



Ditto on Aleister Crowley and Roanoke. Tunguska sounds interesting, I'll have to read up on it.

EDIT: Love to see a flick based on the Ergot poisoning that may have led to the witch/werewolf/devil hunts of the 1800's. People tripping on "shrooms" imaging they can fly or shapeshift into beasts, causing mass hysteria, sounds like a Gilliam flick waiting to happen.
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post #26 of 115
12/19/07 at 3:39pm
A film about the Irish 1916 rising could be great. Some say it was the Irish Alamo. It was briefly covered at the begining of Michael Collins.

Also, there was an American secret agent who got deep into the IRA in the 1970s, which is utterly remarkable. A comeback movie for Aidon Quinn perhaps?
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post #27 of 115
12/19/07 at 3:49pm
The story of Hannukah would be pretty cool; a group of priests who band together as warriors to reclaim the Holy Temple from the Greeks, and the ensuing miracle of the oil.

Also, the life of Lev Nussimbaum, AKA Essad Bey, AKA Kurban Said is pretty amazing. Jew from Azerbaijan, son of an oil tycoon, who escapes the rise of communism and invents himself as a Muslim prince who becomes celebrated in Nazi Germany.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurban_Said
http://www.amazon.com/Orientalist-So...8089961&sr=8-1
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post #28 of 115
12/19/07 at 4:00pm
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

True account of a shipwrecked whaler in which a the survivors, most of whom are scattered in various lifeboats, resort to cannibalism to survive. Gut wrenching and very, very moving. It's a book, but it deserves to be a movie! Also, it is part of the inspiration for Moby Dick!
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post #29 of 115
12/19/07 at 4:04pm
Well, shit, why don't we just include every story in the Bible? That shit is real, yo.
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post #30 of 115
12/19/07 at 4:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybeanbag
"THEY FUCKED WITH THE WRONG MESHUGGENER."

"You've got some serious CHUTZPUH to come in here with that bullshit!"

I guess Al Pacino is playing the leader of the Maccabees then.
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post #31 of 115
12/19/07 at 4:13pm
A Hannukah movie would make me all verklempt. Also, yeah, an Easter Uprising movie could be epic and tragic and awesome.
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post #32 of 115
12/19/07 at 4:24pm
Pancho Villa, with a 2 movie treatment, one from the Mexican side, one from the American side. Not only do you get a cool story, but a potentially excellent Western.
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post #33 of 115
12/19/07 at 4:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Jim Slade
On a somewhat related note, while bored at work yesterday I was doing some stream-of-consciousness Wikipedia browsing as is my wont, and was reading about the American Bison, and how they went from a Native American staple numbering in the millions to being virtually extinct (there were less than a thousand at one point) in the nineteenth century. While this topic alone probably wouldn't merit its own film, I'd like to see something about that.
Watch the first ten minutes of Dead Man.
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post #34 of 115
12/19/07 at 4:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc Happenin
Well, shit, why don't we just include every story in the Bible? That shit is real, yo.
Whether people believe it or not the Old Testament has some violent battles. I think a Jewish soldier takes out 800 Persians encircling him using just a spear.

What happened to that Hannibal of Carthage movie?
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post #35 of 115
12/19/07 at 5:05pm
Has there been a movie yet about the Ukrainian famine? If not, there really needs to be.
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post #36 of 115
12/19/07 at 5:05pm
Thread Starter 
The Bolshevik Revolution, through the Russian Civil War, ending on the formation of the Soviet Union.

More WWII movies involving the Russian perspective as well, like the Reichstag takeover.
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post #37 of 115
12/19/07 at 5:15pm
I can't believe I forgot about this incredibly obvious one... USS Indianapolis
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post #38 of 115
12/19/07 at 5:31pm
Nothing could touch Quint's speech from Jaws. As perfect an account of the Indianapolis as any film could hope for.
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post #39 of 115
12/19/07 at 5:40pm
I've always been shocked that the Great Chicago Fire hasn't been turned into a giant Roland-Emmerich-style disaster movie. First half is the fire, second half is the aftermath, and the anti-Irish anti-immigrant anti-bovine backlash that was the scapegoating of Catherine O'Leary and her livestock.
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post #40 of 115
12/19/07 at 6:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTSMGL
I can't believe I forgot about this incredibly obvious one... USS Indianapolis
Yeah, here's a link to an AICN story from a couple of years ago (I'm guessing) that details two different USS Indianapolis projects that were in the works, one with JJ Abrams at the helm and one with Richard Kelly writing the script:
http://www.aintitcool.com/?q=node/19885
I'm guessing they've fallen by the wayside at this point, but I agree it needs to happen.

There seems to be a relative dearth of biopics on presidents (which might not be a bad thing considering they often suck). Sure there's Nixon and the upcoming Lincoln, but how about one on Andrew Jackson? An immensely interesting figure in American history and someone that both liberals and conservatives criticize and point to as a model. And something better than Jefferson in Paris or the various TV movies for Thomas Jefferson. Come to think of it, the Revolutionary War hasn't had a great, definitive movie made about it (sorry if anyone's a fan of The Patriot).
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post #41 of 115
12/19/07 at 6:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JuddL
This got me wondering.... are the Founding Fathers too sacrosanct to make a movie out of (and I mean individually, let alone as a single subject)?
I mentioned this in another thread, but one of the most brilliant nonfiction accounts of the Founding Fathers and the "Revolutionary Generation" is the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Founding Brothers" by Joseph Ellis. It simultaneously expresses why they were so significant and why they are in many ways deserving of the reputation they deserve, while simultaneously knocking their halos off a bit by presenting them within the context of a far more partisan, politicized environment than most kids learn about in school. It gives equal time to several main players in a very cinematic way which would be ripe for the sort of concurrently running narratives that have been popular recently.

Highlights include the Burr v. Hamilton duel, backroom deals to locate Washington D.C. in a swamp, the collapse and ultimate rekindling of the friendship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (two of the longest surviving members of the generation) and much more.

Obviously, I too am a little irritated by the dearth of movies on presidents and major moments in American history.
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post #42 of 115
12/19/07 at 6:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barzun
Andrew Jackson was a monster. So the film would either treat a monster as a figure worthy of respect/celebrate him, or else it would show an American president, whose face is on the 20, as a monster- either way it would be a disaster.
This is a very simplistic way to look at a very complex historical figure. I don't think it's debatable that his policies towards Native Americans were horrific (even to many of his contemporaries in his own party), but to say that it makes him unworthy of a biopic is way off the mark. The man was an enormously successful politician who sort of kick-started the two-party system in America again and whose election and campaign first made use of the common man in American electoral politics. That's not even counting his personal eccentricities (got shot, then disarmed the attacker with his cane while an old man) and War of 1812 days. Even if you think the guy was wholly evil, that's never meant you can't do a compelling, interesting movie about him.
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post #43 of 115
12/19/07 at 6:35pm
Also, I remember seeing a great Dateline segment on the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted Timothy McVeigh after the Oklahoma City bombings. He had MS and lived in Illinois, but when he heard about the attack he asked to be assigned to the case and saw it through to the end. They interviewed him and he admitted that his health rapidly deteriorated under the strain, but he felt strongly about convicting McVeigh. I think that could work as a framework for the movie. Show the planning and attack in flashback, end with his conviction. Always liked that idea, personally.
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post #44 of 115
12/19/07 at 6:47pm
1609 to 1610 in the Jamestown Settlement. Called the "Starving Time", more than 80 percent of the settlement died during this era, some as a consequence of having been cannibalized by their fellow settlers.

I'd love to see a movie detailing the relationship the US struck with Lucky Luciano to have the Five Families protect the New York waterfront during World War II, as well.
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post #45 of 115
12/19/07 at 7:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barzun
It's also the correct way to look at him. And the bulk of your post shows you perhaps didn't see what my post was getting at- either you don't show him as he was, in which case you're treating a monster as something other than he was- or else you're showing a celebrated US president as a monster- which is not what we need in an era already lacking faith in politics/ pride in country. If it were not a US president, I would say make the picture. But an Andrew Jackson biopic seems a lose-lose to me. It'll happen around the time the Hitler biopic hits the big screen in Berlin.
You apparently haven't seen the masterful "Downfall", the 2005 German film about Hitler's last days.

I'm not going to debate the degree to which Andrew Jackson was a "monster", but I think acting like he's reprehensible to the point that he can't be portrayed onscreen is a major overreaction.

And your stance that he's somehow this "celebrated" president isn't exactly true. Jackson's reputation has taken a significant tumble over the course of the 20th century, justifiably so and due to his Indian policy. Either way, why would a somewhat negative portrayal be so earth-shattering? I don't think a president who left office more than 150 years ago really has much bearing on the political environment or electoral mood of the country in 2007.
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post #46 of 115
12/19/07 at 7:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin K
I've always been shocked that the Great Chicago Fire hasn't been turned into a giant Roland-Emmerich-style disaster movie. First half is the fire, second half is the aftermath, and the anti-Irish anti-immigrant anti-bovine backlash that was the scapegoating of Catherine O'Leary and her livestock.
You could bring in the geeks with a cameo appearence by Bill Paxton and Lance Hendricksen.
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post #47 of 115
12/19/07 at 7:06pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy225
I wouldn't mind seeing a film about the Spanish-American War, particularly something with Teddy Rossevelt and the Rough Riders and the assault at Santiago.
Thank Scorsese, though Leo as Roosevelt sounds kinda meh.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0480046

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattioli
I'd love to see a movie detailing the relationship the US struck with Lucky Luciano to have the Five Families protect the New York waterfront during World War II, as well.
I just looked this up, WWII and the Mafia? Just give the tagline the Oscar.
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post #48 of 115
12/19/07 at 7:08pm
I celebrate Jackson every time I withdraw money. He may be reprehensible, but he sure as shit got the last laugh when we stamped his face on the $20 bill!
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post #49 of 115
12/19/07 at 7:14pm
Can't remember the name, but there was a Japanese officer in World War II who took his men into the jungle to continue a guerilla campaign against the Americans on the island he was stationed on after the Americans conquered it. And continued to do so well into the 1970s, refusing to believe any and all exhortations that the war was over. Even his dying father was brought to the island and pleaded over a bullhorn for his son to stop fighting, but he thought it was a trick. He finally surrendered and became a cult hero in Japan as a living embodiment of the bushido code. Ken Watanabe, your Oscar is waiting for you.
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post #50 of 115
12/19/07 at 7:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barzun
This man was from hell.
He may be a monster, but just look at that coiffure!
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