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'
Lady Sings The Blues (1972)
7.1/10
Director: Sidney J Furie
Starring: Billy Dee Williams, Diana Ross, Richard Pryor
The story of the troubled life and career of the legendary Jazz singer, Billie Holiday. Nominated for 5 Academy Awards. Roger Ebert said of Diana Ross... Read more
Lawrence After Arabia, A Dangerous Man: (1991)
Director: Christopher Menaul
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Denis Quilley, Paul Freeman
This informative look at T E Lawrence at the Paris Peace Conference, as he serves as the liaison to the Hashemite delegation in an effort to have the... Read more
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8.3/10
Director: David Lean
Starring: Alec Guinness, Anthony Quayle, Anthony Quinn, Arthur Kennedy, Claude Rains, Jack...
Director David Lean follows the heroic, true-life odyssey of T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) in this dramatic portrait of the famed British Officer's jo... Read more
Lawrence of Arabia ( Blu-ray ) (1962)
8.3/10
Director: David Lean
Starring: Alec Guinness, Anthony Quayle, Anthony Quinn, Arthur Kennedy, Claude Rains, Jack...
Director David Lean follows the heroic, true-life odyssey of T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) in this dramatic portrait of the famed British Officer's jo... Read more
LBJ (2016)
6.4/10
Director: Rob Reiner
Starring: Bill Pullman, C Thomas Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Richard Jenkins, Woody Harr...
LBJ centres on the political upheaval that Vice President Johnson faced when he was thrust into the presidency at the hands of an assassin's bullet in... Read more
Le Redoubtable (Godard Mon Amour) (2017)
6.7/10
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Starring: Louis Garrel, Berenice Bejo, Gregory Gadebois, Stacy Martin, Micha Lescot
During the making of one of his films, French film director Jean-Luc Godard falls in love with 17-year-old actress Anne Wiazemsky and later marries he... Read more
Lean On Me (1989)
7.4/10
Director: John G Avildsen
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Beverly Todd, Robert Guillaume
The story of New Jersey educator Joe Clark who brought his crime-ridden school under control through disciplinary methods that verged on fascistic. Mo... Read more
Legend (2015)
7/10
Director: Brian Helgeland
Starring: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, David Thewlis, Duffy , Christopher Eccleston, Chazz P...
LEGEND takes us into the secret history of the 1960s and the extraordinary events that secured the infamy of the Kray twins. From Academy Award® winne... Read more
Legends of Comedy: Frankie Howerd, Rather You Than Me / The Curse of Steptoe / Hughie Green, Most Sincerely (2010)
Director: Daniel Percival, John Alexander, Michael Samuels
Starring: Jason Isaacs, Phil Davis, Trevor Eve, David Walliams, Rafe Spall
These three compelling dramas reveal the extraordinary and often turbulent off-camera lives of some of Britain's favourite comedians: Frankie Howerd,... Read more
Lenny (1974)
7.6/10
Director: Bob Fosse
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Valerie Perrine, Jan Miner
Dustin Hoffman is Lenny Bruce in this film about the controversial and now legendary Bruce. Hoffman's performance follows Lenny's rise to success as w... Read more