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'
The Wrong Man (1956)
7.5/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle
Unlike any other Alfred Hitchcock movie. The story packs tension, the images are spellbinding and the dilemma genuinely frightening. But this time the... Read more
The Zookeeper's Wife (2017)
7/10
Director: Niki Caro
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh, Michael McElhatton, Daniel Bruhl
The real-life story of one working wife and mother who became a hero to hundreds during World War II. In 1939 Poland, Antonina Zabinska and her husban... Read more
They Died With Their Boots On (1941)
7.3/10
Director: Raoul Walsh
Starring: Olivia de Havilland, Errol Flynn, Arthur Kennedy, Gene Lockhart, Anthony Quinn,...
Errol Flynn stars as the eccentric yet (in this version) heroic General George Armstrong Custer, beginning with his time at West Point and ending, nat... Read more
They Who Dare (1954)
5.7/10
Director: Lewis Milestone
Starring: Dirk Bogarde, Denholm Elliott, Akim Tamiroff, William Russell
Britain's Special Boat Squadron is stationed off the Aegean coast during World War II, only going ashore for hair-raising missions. Six Brits and fou... Read more
Thirteen Days (2000)
7.3/10
Director: Roger Donaldson
Starring: Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood, Steven Culp, Dylan Baker
Traces what really happened in 1962 when the Cuban Missile Crisis nearly led America to engage in nuclear war with Russia. This riveting offering star... Read more
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
7.5/10
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Starring: Robert Walker, Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, Phyllis Thaxter
This exciting true-life adventure is about the first bombing attack on Tokyo during WW II. It follows Lt Col Jimmy Doolittle (Spencer Tracy) and his m... Read more
This Boy's Life (1993)
7.3/10
Director: Michael Caton-Jones
Starring: Robert De Niro, Ellen Barkin, Leonardo DiCaprio
A harrowing but utterly absorbing story (based on Tobias Wolff's autobiographical book) of a young boy and his footloose mother who wind up living in... Read more
Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage (2008)
6.5/10
Director: Michael Campus
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Marcia Gay Harden, Peter O'Toole, Geoffrey Lewis, Chris Elliott...
Returning home from college one Christmas, young artist Thomas Kinkade (Jared Padalecki) is dismayed to learn that his mother (Marcia Gay Harden) is d... Read more
Three Film By Jia Zhangke (Blu-ray) (2013)
7.1/10
Director: Zhangke Jia
Starring: Zhao Tao, Wang Baoqiang, Wu Jiang, Lanshan Luo, Li Meng
Jia Zhangke has become widely regarded as one of world cinema s most accomplished filmmakers, and a leading figure of the Sixth Generation movement of... Read more
Through My Eyes (2004)
7.7/10
Director: Di Drew
Starring: Miranda Otto, Craig McLachlan, Shaun Micallef, Peter O'Brien
August 1980, in the heart of the Australian outback, a baby vanished into the night. A nation and then the world became fascinated by the mystery, cur... Read more