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'
A Man for All Seasons ( Blu-ray ) (1966)
7.9/10
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Starring: Corin Redgrave, John Hurt, Leo McKern, Nigel Davenport, Orson Welles, Paul Scofi...
Adapted by Robert Bolt and Constance Willis from Bolt's hit stage play, A Man for All Seasons stars Paul Scofield, triumphantly repeating his stage ro... Read more
Cast A Giant Shadow (1966)
6.4/10
Director: Melville Shavelson
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Senta Berger, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, Angie Dickinson, Yul Bryn...
This star-studded epic focuses on the life of Mickey Marcus; the American war hero recruited by Israel to help strengthen their army against warring A... Read more
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
7.9/10
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Starring: Wendy Hiller, John Hurt, Leo McKern, Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw, Orson Welles, S...
Adapted by Robert Bolt and Constance Willis from Bolt's hit stage play, this is a literate, penetrating treatment of the conflict between Thomas More... Read more
The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
7.2/10
Director: Carol Reed
Starring: Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, Diane Cilento
The battle of wills between Michelangelo and Pope Julius II over the artist's painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling is turned into a sumptuous histor... Read more
The Heroes of Telemark (1965)
6.5/10
Director: Anthony Mann
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Michael Redgrave
German-occupied Norway 1942: physics professor Dr Pederson (Kirk Douglas) and underground leader Straud (Richard Harris) must convince British Intelli... Read more
Zulu (Blu-ray) (1964)
7.7/10
Director: Cy Endfield
Starring: Stanley Baker, Michael Caine, Jack Hawkins, James Booth
Michael Caine stars in this epic story of the battle of Rorke's Drift, on January 22nd 1879, where 1,200 British troops found themselves completely ou... Read more
Zulu (1964)
7.8/10
Director: Cy Endfield
Starring: Stanley Baker, Michael Caine, Jack Hawkins, James Booth
Michael Caine stars in this epic story of the battle of Rorke's Drift, on January 22nd 1879, where 1,200 British troops found themselves completely ou... Read more
Samurai Assassin (1964)
7.6/10
Director: Kihachi Okamoto
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Ito Yonosuke, Eijiro Tono
Based loosley on true events, the great Toshiro Mifune plays a masterless samurai in 1860 as the rule of the shogun is coming to an end. A few disgru... Read more
Becket (1964)
8/10
Director: Peter Glenville
Starring: Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud
Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole star in this grand historical drama adapted from the Jean Anouilh play about the tumultuous relationship of an archbi... Read more
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
6.7/10
Director: Anthony Mann
Starring: Alec Guinness, Anthony Quayle, Christopher Plummer, James Mason, John Ireland, M...
Based on true events, this epic charts the decadence, corruption, and intrigue that tears apart the greatest empire the world has ever seen and leads... Read more