True Stories
True Stories are those based (sometimes loosely!) on fact. They cover topics as diverse as drug addiction, poverty, political unrest, the corruption of power, alcoholism, class divisions, sexual inequality, mental illness and other human struggles. Meet some of history's most intriguing characters, find out what it's really like to climb a mountain or paint a masterpiece. Truly, the True Story is one of cinema's most engaging and enthralling genres.
Bio-pics feature in this section and are also gathered together separately under the 'Biography' sublink left.
Pictured: Inside the Las Vegas mob, Scorsese's unromantic 'Goodfellas'
Joyeux Noel (2005)
7.8/10
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: Diane Kruger, Benno Furmann, Guillaume Canet, Daniel Bruhl, Gary Lewis
This Oscar-nominated film tells the true story of troops whose lives were changed on Christmas Eve of 1914 as they put down their weapons and celebrat... Read more
The Right Stuff (1983)
7.9/10
Director: Philip Kaufman
Starring: Sam Shepard, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward, Lance Henriksen, C...
Long but exhilarating adaptation of Tom Wolfe's account of the U.S. manned space programme, with emphasis on test pilot Chuck Yeager, played by Sam Sh... Read more
Attila the Hun (2000)
Director: Richard Lowry
Starring: Powers Boothe, Gerard Butler, Tim Curry, Simmone Jade MacKinnon
The most feared man to ever exist, Attila was king of the Huns in the fifth century and during his reign he united the various tribes of barbarians to... Read more
Pierrepoint (2005)
7.5/10
Director: Adrian Shergold
Starring: Timothy Spall, Juliet Stevenson, Eddie Marsan, James Corden, Christopher Fulford...
A compelling biopic about England's most prolific hangman, the unassuming Albert Pierrpoint, captured here perfectly by Timothy Spall. Beginning when... Read more
Bridge of Spies (2015)
7.6/10
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, Alan Alda
A dramatic thriller set against the backdrop of a series of historic events, "Bridge of Spies" is directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Matt Cha... Read more
Midway (1976)
6.8/10
Director: Jack Smight
Starring: James Coburn, Henry Fonda, Charlton Heston, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook, Toshiro Mi...
In WWII Midway became famous as the site of the overwhelming victory of American carrier forces which shifted the balance of power in the Pacific. The... Read more
Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979)
7.8/10
Director: Francesco Rosi
Starring: Gian Maria Volonte, Paolo Bonacelli, Alain Cuny
Rosi's BAFTA-winning epic stars Gian Maria Volonte as Carlo Levi, an artist and political exile banished to a southern Italian village by Mussolini's... Read more
The Aviator (2004)
7.5/10
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C Reilly, Alec Baldwin,...
One of the 20th century's most compelling figures, Howard Hughes was a wily industrialist, glamorous movie producer and unstoppable American innovator... Read more
Lincoln (2012)
7.4/10
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, David Strathairn, Hal Holbrook, James Spader, Joseph Gordon-Le...
This inspiring and revealing drama focuses on the 16th President's tumultuous final four months in office. In early 1865, visionary leader Abraham Lin... Read more
Capote (2005)
7.4/10
Director: Bennett Miller
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr., Chris Cooper, Bru...
In 1959 author Truman Capote read an article about the home invasion and slaying of a Kansas family that led to his personal investigation and subsequ... Read more