Historical Events That Would Make Great Movies. - Page 2

Yeah I second the notion of a proper WWI movie. They could center it around this guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_York

PBS is showing a documentary on Jackson called "Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil and the Presidency" which I think just about sums it up...premieres Jan. 2nd.

Agree about Alvin York, although the Howard Hawks movie Sergeant York starring Gary Cooper is a pretty damn good story (although probably not very accurate). As a native Tennessean, I'll take as many versions of that man's story as I can get.

David McCullough's book, "1776" would make a fantastic mini-series. For such an important event, I would say there are too many Americans that know so little about it, I know I did before I read it.

Would love to see an accurate flick about the Civil War in the style of "Saving Private Ryan" with cannonballs blowing off heads and ironclads engaged in battle. No bullshit, just a straight forward bloody history lesson. So many compelling characters to tell the tale, Lee, Sherman, Grant and Prez Lincoln.

Yes. Meant to say that in my original post too, but you said it better than I would have. A great filmmaker needs to step up and take a whack at it. There's so many great books out there to use as source material. I'm not sure if people are just too overwhelmed to take it on or worried about controversy or what, but it needs to happen. I can only watch the Ken Burns doc so many times.

The Battle of Shiloh or The Battle of Antietam, two of the bloodiest days of fighting in American history, is ripe for the picking.

You're contradicting your own argument. First you said that Jackson is "celebrated" and that a negative portrayal would be bad for the electorate. That wewouldn't be able to stand a negative portrayal of a hero president.

Now you admit that most people have no opinion of him one way or another, which is what I've been saying. There's no harm in a "warts and all" portrayal if no one hardly remembers him at all.

You've registered your strong dislike for Andrew Jackson. It's duly noted. Still, while you conveniently ignopred the fact that there has very recently between a very good and very German depiction of Adolf Hitler, the fact is that being a bad man doesn't mean you can't be the subject of a very good, very interesting movie.

The Hindenburg.

EDIT: More specifically, The Hindenburg Disaster.

Seinfeld already did it. Although I wonder if such a project were concieved, would it include some guy on the ground screaming "THAT'S GOTTA HURT!"?

Well, fuck. Someone just outed me as a Kevin Costner non-fan.

Also, as for WWI, I'd like to see a movie dealing with the Battle of the Somme, particularly the devastation of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.

The problem with doing a film about a historical figure the likes of Andrew Jackson, Jefferson, Washingtone, Hitler, Napoleon, etc. is that historians have their own persepective of how their lives unfolded and should be told. It is difficult for Hollywood to make a a historically based film without inducing it with a certain degree of 'Hollywood' cliches.

That being said i'd love to see a film based on the lives of Zachary Taylor and/or John Brown (the abolitionist)

Also, looking very forward to Spielberg's Lincoln film.

That sounds pretty awesome. I'd watch that, if it were a Japanese film, anyway.

Thank you Martin! And thank you, Mantis!

Well, now I gotta pick another one...

1. The sacking of the Roman Empire by Alaric and his barbarian hordes, beginning its fall.
2. The fall of Saigon
3. Howsabout a biopic about Lenin and the rise of Communism?

Seconding Dickson's choice, BTW.

PLEASE someone find out who this guy was, I need to read that story today!

I don't know why historians' opinion would be a factor, but I do agree that too often Hollywood plays loose with the facts in favor of narrative expediency. I don't think it's as terribly difficult to be faithful to history as some claim though, you just have to have the industry juice to stick to your guns.

Around the time "Grindhouse" came out, QT was on the Charlie Rose show and said that his dream project, and maybe he'll save it for his last movie, was a John Brown biopic. He called him his "favorite American ever" and had even thought of playing the role himself. I think that would be a big mistake, but the concept of QT doing the John Brown story is very, very intriguing.

Me too, in a major way. He's such an immensely fascinating historical figure, and depending what direction he takes it in, it could have some extremely interesting supporting roles as well. My hope is that he resists the temptation to focus on the revisionist stuff, as there's so much great material already that it's pretty unnecessary.

Actually, there are several Japanese who held out long after the war ended; a quick google search came up with this site detailing them:

http://www.wanpela.com/holdouts/registry.html

Definitely. As I've mentioned in a few other threads, I'd love to see an adaption of Larsen's Devil in the White City.

Ararat. I can't speak to it's quality as I only passed by it on the Sundance Channel or IFC, but it's something.

It's been optioned, in fact there were dueling projects but both are in development hell.

I hope to one day do a movie about Mississippi State trying to go to the NCAA tournament in 63/62. Mainly just to film a scene where the B team goes to an airplane knowing they might be sacrificing themselves to jail or death.

I guess Alan Rudolph's The Moderns is pretty obscure, but it does afford fictionalized glimpses of Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway, among others. The Razor's Edge also spends some time in that world.

P.S. There was a thread like this a year or so ago. I voted War of 1812 then, and I still think it could be amazing. British troops invading D.C.! The Capitol in flames! Plus our old friend Jackson, making deals with pirates-- this was touched on briefly in The Buccaneer, but not memorably.

Some of the 1812 stuff might actually include some mention of Canada. Imagine that! Canada given a place in the history of North America and its wars. Hooee.

Gustavus von Tempsky was a facinating figure in New Zealand history that would be perfect for a movie. He was the son of a strict Prussian army lieutenant-colonel, and later himself joined the Prussian army at a very young age, quickly got bored of nothing but peace time maneuvers, and left for Central America with the British army and led a he led a guerrilla force into Nicaragua late in 1848, and then joined up with British naval units, acting as a guide in forays against up-river Nicaraguan cities. After that he moved to California during the gold rush but couldn't make any money there so moved back to Central America for a while then on to australia where he ran a farm for a while but got bored again and asked to join the army there for campaigns into central Australia but after finding out he'd only be able to serve as a grunt he moved to NZ where he could get the rank of Ensign.

He was put in command of a company of rangers, during the Maori wars. So eager to win distinction he paid for a lot of his troops equipment out of his own pocket, and because of his experience in guerrilla style combat he proved far more effective in fighting Maori than other units. Also around this time one of the leaders of another company was awarded the Victoria cross which became a life long obsession of von Tempsky to have one of his own.

After He was done fighting on the west coast of the North Island he asked to be transferred to the East coast to continue the war, but once he found out he was to take orders from Major Fraser, a man he considered his junior in experience and ability he refused any and all orders and was court martialled and locked away until a change in government saw his release upon which he was allowed to continue to wage the war with his old rank and position, and wouldn't have to take orders from Major Fraser.

His death is a matter of some controversy, an order of retreat was given, during a particularily bloody battle, some accounts say von Tempsky refused because he was so deperate to win the Victoria cross and wanted to win glory for him self (earlier while he was in charge of a fort a messanger rode in desperatly asking for reinforcements after an ambush, and rather than send the cavalry he ordered them to stay put and ran off on foot himself and arrived too late and cost the lives of at least 10 soldiers), Others say he was merely trying to save two of his men who were pinned down, and others say he had grown suicidal.

He also had a much frowned upon affair with his female Maori guide. and Was an accomplished waterclor artist, Journalist and Author

There hasn't been a good MLK movie.

The Battle of the Golden Spurs - 1302 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guldensporenslag)

Was filmed once, with no budget, though it was supposed to depict a massive battle between peasants and the French army at the end. The battle was partially fictionalised in 'The Lion of Flanders', which the movie I referred to was based on.

As a tank nut I'd love to see the battle of Kursk on the big screen.

The fall of Nineveh and the destruction of the Assyrian empire would also be awesome. As epic as Pellenor Fields in LOTR only with the outcome reversed.

Also the battle of Salamis would be great. Suitably epic and bloody as hell.

From Wikipedia: The most deaths in a single crocodile attack incident may have occurred during the Battle of Ramree Island, on February 19, 1945, in what is now Burma. Nine hundred soldiers of an Imperial Japanese Army unit, in an attempt to retreat from the Royal Navy and rejoin a larger battalion of the Japanese infantry, crossed through ten miles of mangrove swamps which contained Saltwater Crocodiles. Twenty Japanese soldiers were captured alive by the British, and almost five hundred are known to have escaped Ramree. Many of the remainder may have been eaten by the crocodiles, although gunfire from the British troops was undoubtedly a contributory factor.

That seems like it could make a pretty decent war/survival movie.

Yes, there was, it was called Boycott and it was pretty stellar. But as it focuses only on the Montgomery Bus Boycott, it does leave the viewer wanting to see the rest of King's life with Jeffery Wright playing him. Because Jeffery Wright is better than you.

From a historical perspective, Gladiator is just one wasted opportunity after another. The real Commodus was a much wilder dude than the Joaquin Phoenix version-- I quote George MacDonald Fraser's The Hollywood History of the World:

This far and no mention of Kubrick's dream? for shame.

Napoleon
The Rise and Fall

i see it as a trilogy and shot like Lord of the Rings, and I say we get Ridley & Monoghan and lock them in in the Kubrick archives for about a year and see what they come up with.



I'll third an 1812 movie as well, it has some interesting naval action along with the siege of DC and New Orleans.

Also I think Russia from the start of WW1 to Stalin coming out on top needs more than even a trilogy, so give it to the BBC and HBO and unlike the Tudor's it doesn't need any spicing up what so ever, stick to the facts and it would be brilliant.

As a fan of early American history I'm biased, there is a lots of good stuff in this thread. 1776 is a fantastic book. Jackson seems like a good idea. But , if I had to pick one I'm gonna go with the War of 1812. I think centering everything around the Battle of DC would be the way to go. If it's done right it could be great.

The War of 1812 would certainly make for a good film. I wonder if Hollywood would actually draw the conclusion, as many historians have, that this was a war the US actually lost. Still, its debatable.

The Battle of Sziget

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Szigetv%C3%A1r

I recently saw a movie named Brass Target (John Cassavetes, Sophia Loren, Max Von Sydow) which was a reworking of Patton's accidental death at the end of World War II into an assassination thriller that was pretty cool. Also had Robert Vaughn, Edward Herrmann, Patrick McGoohan.

I'd love to see something involving early Chinese history, or for that matter, early history anywhere. Babylon, Assyria, just about anywhere in the Middle East or Asia is filled with compelling events and rising and falling empires that'd make for kickass epic films that just don't seem to be happening.

Don't mind me-- I'm just bumping as many of these post-revamp 'n/a' threads as I can find.

I think it would be obvious, but

The Battle Of Crecy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cr%C3%A9cy

I'm partial to Warren Ellis' vulgar take on it.

There have been a couple, but nobody's nailed it yet. The Magic Box is more interesting than entertaining, and Nickelodeon squanders some great material.

The Santa Claus Bank Robbery

"The Santa Claus Bank Robbery occurred on December 23, 1927 in the Central Texas town of Cisco. Marshall Ratliff, dressed as Santa Claus, along with Henry Helms and Robert Hill, all ex-cons, and Louis Davis, a relative of Helms, held up the First National Bank in Cisco. It is one of Texas' most infamous crimes, having invoked the largest manhunt ever seen in the state, as well as a good laugh. Eyewitness, Boyce House, wrote that this was "the most spectacular crime in the history of the Southwest ... surpassing any in which Billy the Kid or the James boys had ever figured."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus_Bank_Robbery

I should add that I don't really think this is at quite the level as some of the events that have been mentioned. That said, it is historical and I think it could make a really good, pitch black comedy.

Just the thought of all those tanks, in a fly by camera sequence (like the British squares vs French Calvary fly by in the Film Waterloo) has caused me to drool uncontrollably.

Operation High Jump

Operation High Jump. A so called explorer mission of the poles but a whole battlefleet is sent to the poles to map out the icy continent.


Admiral Byrd was actually sent down to Antartica to track down the remains of the Nazi forces in the South Pole. He encounters flying machines with V.T.O.L capabilities and his fleet suffers lots of damages.

Always wanted to make a movie about it.

The story of young Caesar, with particular emphasis on his kidnap by pirates and battle of wills with the Dictator of Rome, Sulla.

 

This would make a great first part of an epic trilogy of the life of Caesar.

 

The second part would deal with his governerships of Spain and Gaul culminating with the Siege of Alesia.

 

The third would cover his triumphant return to Rome, his becoming dictator, his Egyptian campaign and then the lead up to the Ides.

Mel Gibson starring as John Brown during the build-up & aftermath of the raid on Harper's Ferry, 1859.

The Battle of Hastings in 1066, when William defeated Harold and conquered England is just begging to be made as either a Braveheart-esque epic actioner or a Showtime/HBO series a la The Tudors or Rome, depending on how much into the politics of the age you would like to get into.

I'd like a decent viking flick, it could start with the raid on  Lindisfarne and end with how they basically just all settled down over Britain.

I'd love to see the secession of the slaveholding states as a whimsical musical, in the vein of 1776.  Imagine CSA Vice President Alexander Stephens, played by some hoary British theater actor, singing 

 

Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.

 

while doing a soft-shoe.  And it's produced by Spike Lee.