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Explore films

1990-1999

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Movies inspired by and based on true stories.

View film trailers, reviews, and facts.

 

Most films are highly rated on Rotten Tomatoes and the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). They have at least a 70% or 7/10 rating from critics and audiences alike, many with 80% or 8/10 or above. Enjoy the best true story films of the 1990s!

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1999

Best True Story Films of 1999

The Insider (1999) movie based on a true about Big Tobacco, Lowell Bergman, 60 Minutes, journalism, Jeffrey Wigand, Al Pacino, Russell Crowe true story film poster

The Insider (1999)

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R | Biography, Drama, Journalism, Law, Thriller | Lowell Bergman is the producer of the TV show 60 Minutes who pursues a story from Jeffrey Wigand, a research chemist reluctant to share his knowledge of Big Tobacco's industry secrets as the corporations and courts stand in the way of exposing the truth.

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Girl, Interrupted (1999) movie based on a true story, biography, mental health drama, Susanna Kaysen, mental institution, Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie true story film poster

Girl, Interrupted (1999)

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R | Biography, Drama, Medical | In the 1960s, Susanna is a directionless teenager who is rushed to Claymoore, a renowned mental institution, after a supposed suicide attempt, where she befriends a group of troubled women, facing a choice between the world on the inside or the difficult world outside.

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The Straight Story (1999)

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Man on the Moon (1999)

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Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)

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October Sky (1999)

 

PG | Biography, Drama, Education, Family | Homer Hickam is a coal miner's son who becomes fascinated with rocket science after seeing Sputnik 1 cross the sky. Despite his father's disapproval, Homer begins building rockets with support from his friends and teacher. 

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The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)

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R | Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, War | The film dramatizes the story of Joan of Arc, a teenage peasant girl, mystic, maiden, and martyr who, in 1429, announced that she would defeat the English army and liberate France.

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The Hurricane (1999) movie based on a true story about Rubin Carter wrongful imprisonment, film poster

The Hurricane (1999)

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R | Biography, Drama, Sport, Survival | Rubin "Hurricane" Carter is a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, but a few people aide in his fight to prove his innocence.

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Facts: 

  • History vs Hollywood

  • Separating Truth From Fiction in 'The Hurricane' by Selwyn Raab in The New York Times

  • Rubin Carter biography on Biography.com

  • Rubin Carter on The National Registry of Exonerations

  • Bob Dylan's "The Hurricane" song on YouTube with lyrics

  • Eye of the Hurricane: My Path from Darkness to Freedom autobiography by Rubin Carter and Ken Klonsky on Amazon

  • "To every human being in prison, guilty or innocent, I would say that everything depends upon attitude. The physical body is the vehicle in which we traverse life, but our attitude is our steering wheel. In prison, people find themselves at the bottom of human existence. What a prisoner must say is, OK, whatever I’ve done in life has led me to where I am today. Therefore, if I want to get out of prison and stay out, I’ve got to turn around and go back the other way."- Rubin Carter, Eye of the Hurricane: My Path from Darkness to Freedom

Music of the Heart (1999)

 

PG | Drama, Education, Music | Roberta Guaspari is abandoned by her husband and depressed, but she lands a job teaching violin to underprivileged children at Central Park East School in Harlem, New York, where she meets challenges from the principal, students, and budget cuts. 

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1998

Best True Story Films of 1998

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Elizabeth (1998)

 

R | Biography, Drama, History | The early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch.

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Patch Adams (1998) movie based on a true story about Hunter "Patch" Adams, biography, comedy, drama, medical film, Robin Williams film poster

Patch Adams (1998)

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PG-13 | Biography, Comedy, Drama, Medical, Romance | Hunter "Patch" Adams struggles with depression in a mental hospital, followed by deciding to become a doctor. Disillusioned by his school's clinical perspective on patient care, Adams opens his own medical clinic for patients without insurance.

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Ruby Bridges (1998)

 

TV-PG | Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Education, Family | At the age of six, Ruby Bridges is one of the first black children to attend an all-white school in the deep south in New Orleans.

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A Civil Action (1998)

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PG-13 | Drama | In 1980s Woburn, Massachusetts, personal injury lawyer Jan Schlichtmann takes on an environmental pollution case at the risk of bankrupting his firm and career. The case is against two companies responsible for several children being diagnosed with leukemia, due to contamination of the town's water supply.

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Saving Private Ryan (1998)

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R | Drama, War, History | After the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, a battalion of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve Private James Ryan, a paratrooper whose three brothers have been killed in action.

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Without Limits (1998)

 

PG-13 | Biography, Drama, Sport | "The life of renowned runner Steve Prefontaine and his relationship with legendary coach Bill Bowerman."

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The Temptations (1998)

 

TV-PG | Biography, Drama, Music | Biography of the singers who formed the famous Motown musical group, The Temptations, beginning with their early years in the 1950s to their rise to stardom.

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1997

Best True Story Films of 1997

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FairyTale: A True Story (1997)

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PG | Drama, Family, Fantasy, Mystery | In 1917 England, young cousins Elsie and Frances experience family tragedies from World War I, followed by spending time together in rural Yorkshire, where they see fairies in a nearby meadow. They then snap pictures of the fairies, which suddenly gain international notoriety. The author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle announces he's a believer, but magician Harry Houdini is a skeptic. Both join a media circus to see if the pictures indeed are genuine and if fairies are real.

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Facts: 

  • Case of the Cottingley Fairies book by Joe Cooper on Amazon

  • Coming of the Fairies 1922 original version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book, the full text eBook available free on Internet Archive, containing all five photographs and Doyle's reasons for believing in fairies, which gave him a bad reputation during his time.

  • Cottingley Fairies article on Wikipedia with sources

Rosewood (1997) movie based on a true story about Rosewood, Florida racist lynch mob, true story film poster

Rosewood (1997)

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R | Crime, Drama, History | On New Year's Day 1923, a racist lynch mob storms the small, peaceful town of Rosewood, Florida, an almost completely African-American community.

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  • Coming soon!

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Titanic (1997)

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PG-13 | Drama, History, Romance, Disaster & Survival | The Titanic is the "ship of dreams," the largest moving object ever built and the most luxurious liner of its time. The film follows the story of a seventeen-year-old aristocrat girl who falls in love with a kind but poor artist, who are passengers on board when the ship carries over 1,500 people to their death in the icy waters of the North Atlantic in 1912.

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  • Rotten Tomatoes

  • IMDb

 

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Amistad (1997)

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R | Biography, Drama, History, Law | In 1839, the slave ship Amistad sets sail from Cuba to America, when the slaves aboard revolt. The courts in the USA decide whether those captured are slaves or free.

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Selena (1997)

 

PG | Biography, Drama, Music | Selena is a young Tejano singer born into a musical Mexican-American family who rises to have albums topping the Latin music charts, but when she begins recording an English-language album, tragedy strikes. 

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Seven Years in Tibet (1997)

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PG-13 | Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, War | An egocentric Austrian mountaineer gradually learns selflessness from the young Dalai Lama, becoming his friend at the time of China's takeover of Tibet.

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Miss Evers' Boys (1997) movie based on a true story about Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, Laurence Fishburne true medical drama film poster

Miss Evers' Boys (1997)

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PG | Drama, Medical | In 1932 rural Alabama, the U.S. government conducts the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment on African Americans, denying them necessary medical treatment.

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1996

Best True Story Films of 1996

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Fly Away Home (1996)

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PG | Adventure, Animals, Drama, Family | Amy stumbles upon abandoned Canada goose eggs, and when the eggs hatch, she and her dad work together to teach the motherless birds to fly south for the winter.

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The Whole Wide World (1996)

 

PG | Biography, Drama, Romance | In 1930s Texas, young schoolteacher and aspiring author Novalyne Price meets the eccentric Robert E. Howard, author of the pulp stories Conan the Barbarian. They develop a unique friendship with the possibility for romance, but Howard is also obsessed with his work and dedicated to his sick mother.

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Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) movie based on a true story about Medgar Evers murder case, true crime legal drama, film poster

Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)

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PG-13 | Drama, History, Law & Crime | A Mississippi district attorney and the widow of black activist and murder victim Medgar Evers struggle to finally bring a white racist to justice for the 1963 murder of the civil rights leader.

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Shine (1996) true story movie about musician David Helfgott, film poster

Shine (1996)

 

PG-13 | Biography, Drama, Music, Romance | David Helfgott is a child piano prodigy with an abusive father, but when he moves to London on a music scholarship, his career flourishes. With pressure from his newfound fame, his difficult childhood, and schizoaffective disorder, he has a breakdown and spends years in mental institutions.

 

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  • Love You to Bits and Pieces: Life with David Helfgott 1997 book by Gillian Helfgott and Alissa Tanskaya on Amazon. Book description: "The wife of Australian pianist David Helfgott discusses the pianist's life story, from child musical prodigy, through his mental breakdown, and to a triumphant recovery."

  • Love You to Bits and Pieces: Life with David Helfgott free eBook in full text with a free account on Internet Archive

  • Out of Tune: David Helfgott and the Myth of Shine 1998 book by Margaret Helfgott on Amazon. From the back cover: "The Academy Award winning film Shine made pianist David Helfgott a household name. While purporting to be a true story, the movie is actually full of fabrications. Now for the first time, Margaret, David Helfgott's eldest sister, who knows him better than anyone from their early years, sets the record straight. Dispelling the many untruths propogated by the movie, Margaret tells the real story of her extraordinary brother, of a life, a career, and a legacy that will remain forever...Out Of Tune."

Michael Collins (1996) true story film about Irish revolutionary, film poster

Michael Collins (1996)

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R | Biography, Drama, Thriller, War | Irish revolutionary Michael Collins led a guerrilla war against the UK, helped negotiate the creation of the Irish Free State, and led the National Army during the Irish Civil War.

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Evita (1996)

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R | Biography, Drama, History, Musical | This musical dramatizes Eva Duarte Peron's rise from poverty to become an Argentinian actress and the wife of powerful President Juan Peron. 

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  • Rotten Tomatoes

  • IMDb

 

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1995

Best True Story Films of 1995

Braveheart (1995) movie inspired by a true story about William Wallace, film poster

Braveheart (1995)

 

R | Biography, Drama, History, War | 13th century Scottish warrior William Wallace leads his countrymen in the first War of Scottish Independence to free his homeland from the tyranny of King Edward I of England.

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Dangerous Minds (1995)

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R | Biography, Drama | An ex-Marine turned teacher, Louanne Johnson, struggles to connect with her students in an inner city high school and turns to unconventional methods.

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  • Coming soon!

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Apollo 13 (1995)

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PG | Adventure, Drama, History | NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.

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1994

Best True Story Films of 1994

Heavenly Creatures (1994) crime movie based on a true story, film poster

Heavenly Creatures (1994)

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R | Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller | In Christchurch, New Zealand, 1954, when teenage girls Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme become friends, their parents become concerned that their intense relationship is unhealthy, but the girls plan to take revenge and run away to prevent their separation.

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Quiz Show (1994) movie based on a true story about 1950s game show rigging, film poster

Quiz Show (1994)

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PG-13 | Biography, Drama, History, Law | A young lawyer, Richard Goodwin, investigates the game show "Twenty One" and show winner Charles Van Doren to examine the claim that winners were given the answers.

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Little Women (1994)

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PG | Drama, Family, Romance | This adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott classic book portrays the March sisters in growing pains, financial hardships, family tragedies, and romantic rivalries in mid-19th-century Massachusetts. 

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  • The Real-Life Inspirations of Little Women on the PBS website, featuring side-by-side comparisons between the characters and real individuals. Excerpt: "Although the March family is fictional, the characters—including the four sisters whose stories have captivated generations of girls—are heavily based on Louisa May Alcott’s real-life family. Get acquainted (or re-acquainted) with the Marches and the Alcotts, two families with big hearts and incredible stories."​

  • Teach With Movies

1993

Best True Story Films of 1993

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Rudy (1993)

 

PG | Biography, Drama, Sport | Rudy Ruettiger dreams of playing football for the University of Notre Dame, determined to leave the steel mill where he works. He has many obstales to overcome: he was told that he was too small for college football, plus he lacks the money for tuition, has dyslexia, and lacks the grades for a scholarship, but with perseverance and the help of a tutor, he is admitted to the university.

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Alive (1993)

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R | Adventure, Biography, Drama | Uruguay's rugby team is stranded after a plane crash in the Andes mountains, and once all available food runs out, the group faces a terrible dilemma: eat their deceased teammates or die.

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Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)

 

PG | Biography, Drama, Education | Josh Waitzkin is a seven-year-old chess prodigy who learns speed chess at the park from a hustler named Vinnie, but his parents get him coaching from the renowned chess coach Bruce, whose methods are at odds with his earlier mentor, and Josh faces the stress of the game and the adults surrounding him.

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Schindler's List (1993)

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R | Biography, Drama, History | In German-occupied Poland, businessman Oskar Schindler aims to profit from World War II and staffs his factory with Jewish workers, but he gradually becomes concerned for them upon witnessing their persecution by the Nazis. The film takes place primarily between 1939-1945.

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Tombstone (1993) true crime western movie based on a true story about Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Cowboy gang, Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer true story film poster

Tombstone (1993)

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R | Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Western | Wyatt Earp is a lawman who plans to retire in Tombstone, Arizona by starting a business with his brothers, but when they become targets of the Cowboy gang, they and Wyatt's best friend, Doc Holliday, arm themselves to restore order to a lawless land.

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Philadelphia (1993) movie based on a true story, true legal drama, medical drama, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, film poster

Philadelphia (1993)

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PG-13 | Drama, Law, Medical | Lawyer Andrew Beckett hides his homosexuality and HIV condition from his Philadelphia law firm, but he is fired when his secret is exposed, and he hires a homophobic lawyer, the only attorney who will represent him in a discrimination lawsuit.

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  • Coming soon!​

Six Degrees of Separation (1993) movie based on a true story about David Hampton, Will Smith true story film poster

Six Degrees of Separation (1993)

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R | Comedy, Drama, Mystery | An affluent New York City couple finds their lives touched and intruded upon by a mysterious young black man who claims to be a friend of their Ivy League children and who is never quite who he says he is.

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Cool Runnings (1993)

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PG | Adventure, Comedy, Family, History, Sport | Four Jamaicans who have never seen snow form their country's first bobsled team to compete in the upcoming 1988 Winter Olympics with the help of a former, disgraced Olympic gold medalist to coach them.

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1992

Best True Story Films of 1992

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A League of Their Own (1992)

 

PG | Comedy, Drama, Sport | During World War II, the first professional female baseball league is established in the Midwest, USA, with two competitive sisters, Dottie Hinson and Kit Keller, who argue with each other and their grumpy coach, Jimmy Dugan.

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Chaplin (1992)

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PG-13 | Biography, Comedy, Drama | The film dramatizes the life of comic genius Charlie Chaplin, from humble beginnings in England to silent movie fame, his later masterpieces, personal struggles with marriage, and exile from the United States.

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Malcolm X (1992)

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  • Coming soon!​

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A Few Good Men (1992)

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R | Drama, Law & Crime, Thriller | Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee and Liutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway are military lawyers who defend two U.S. Marines charged with killing another Marine at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

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  • Can You Handle the True Story Behind Aaron Sorkin's 'A Few Good Men'? article by Shreejit Nair on Collider

  • AFI CATALOG OF FEATURE FILMS: A Few Good Men (1992) History "Castle Rock Entertainment was sued for $10 million in damages by several Marines involved in the incident that inspired the film, as reported in a 26 Feb 1994 The Times (London) brief. The marines claimed they never gave permission for filmmakers to use their story, and pointed out key details that were taken from real life, including the stuffing of a poisoned rag down the victim’s throat. A Castle Rock executive responded that the lawsuit was without merit. . . . Less than two months after The Times (London) brief, a 7 Apr 1994 HR item reported that David V. Cox, one of the marines who had been acquitted and honorably discharged, was found shot to death on 2 Apr 1994."

  • The Real Story Behind ‘A Few Good Men’ article on Film School Rejects

1991

Best True Story Films of 1991

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Impromptu (1991)

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  • Rotten Tomatoes

  • IMDb

 

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  • Coming soon!​

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Not Without my Daughter (1991)

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PG-13 | Drama, Survival, Thriller | Based on the book of the same name, American housewife Betty Mahmoody accompanies her husband and their daughter to his Iranian homeland for a two-week vacation, where she and her daughter become virtual prisoners in a country her husband forbids her to leave.

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JFK (1991)

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R | Drama, History, Thriller | New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison leads the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, facing government resistance when he doubts conventional thinking about the murder.

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1990

Best True Story Films of 1990

Awakenings (1990) movie based on a true story, medical drama, Oliver Sacks, encephalitis epidemic, L-dopa, Robin Williams, Robert De Niro true story film poster

Awakenings (1990)

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PG-13 | Biography, Drama | In 1990s New York, a doctor performs extraordinary work with victims of an encephalitis epidemic who have been catatonic and languishing in a Bronx hospital. He faces skeptical superiors when seeking permission to treat them with L-dopa, a drug he speculates may give the patients a new chance at life.

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Europa Europa (1990)

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Vincent & Theo (1990)

 

PG-13 | Biography, Drama | The story of Vincent van Gogh, the painter who struggled in obscurity with mental illness, and his devoted brother Theodore, an art gallery owner who supported Vincent and who struggled with financial challenges. 

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Facts: 

  • Vincent van Gogh biography on Biography.com 

  • How Vincent van Gogh’s Tumultuous Friendship with Paul Gauguin Drove Him to Cut Off His Ear by Dave Roos on Biography.com 

  • The Final Years of Vincent van Gogh by Barbara Maranzani on Biography.com

  • Vincent van Gogh quotes with sources on Wikiquote 

    • "Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful." - Vincent van Gogh in a letter to his brother Theo van Gogh, January 1874

    • "Someone has a great fire in his soul and nobody ever comes to warm themselves at it, and passers-by see nothing but a little smoke at the top of the chimney and then go on their way." - Vincent van Gogh in his Letter no. 155, June 1880

    • "I must continue to follow the path I take now. If I do nothing, if I study nothing, if I cease searching, then, woe is me, I am lost. That is how I look at it — keep going, keep going come what may." - Vincent van Gogh in a letter to Theo from Cuesmes, Belgium, July 1880

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Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes (1990)

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PG-13 | Drama, History, War | The film dramatizes the aftermath of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945 during World War II by following the perspectives of multiple characters, including Japanese victims, soldiers, American prisoners of war, and more.

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The Long Walk Home (1990)

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PG | Drama, History | In 1955 Montgomery Alabama, Odessa Carter needs transportation to work as a nanny in the home of the affluent Miriam Thompson, but she refuses to take the bus while participating in the Montgomery bus boycott as a protest against inequality between blacks and whites. Miriam offers Odessa rides to work, despite disapproval from Miriam's husband and community.

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