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It obviously always helps when a period movie aims for historical accuracy, but peculiarly enough, it’s not actually a requirement for such a film to be an absolute masterpiece. In fact, throughout history, many of the best historical movies ever have happened to be historically inaccurate to varying degrees, proving that as long as there’s passion and dedication to the way a motion picture is made, it can always be exceptional.
Perhaps the movie skims over certain parts of a historical figure’s life, or it dramatizes events from a particular historical event, or it presents some anachronisms in the way characters talk and dress. Regardless of how they’re historically inaccurate, these ten films are nevertheless some of their respective genre’s biggest masterpieces, ranked from worst to best.
10
‘The Last Samurai’ (2003)
Edward Zwick‘s period action drama The Last Samurai was inspired by the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government. It stars Tom Cruise as Civil War veteran Nathan Algren, an entirely fictional character, since no American soldiers participated in the Satsuma Rebellion. He was, however, inspired by the real French Army officer Jules Brunet, who did train the Tokugawa Shogunate’s army.
The Last Samurai is one of the most perfect epic movies of the 2000s, an intense character study full of breathtaking action set pieces and bolstered by Hans Zimmer‘s sweeping score. It is also, however, a film that’s not particularly committed to historical accuracy. Aside from Algren not being a real person, the movie blends several historical eras, depicts samurai as technologically delayed (even though they’d been using firearms for centuries), and mistakenly shows the samurai riding into battle wearing traditional armor instead of modern uniforms.
9
‘Braveheart’ (1995)
Winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Mel Gibson (who also starred in and produced the film), Braveheart is the story of Scottish warrior Sir William Wallace, who was one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence. It’s one of the most perfect action movies based on true stories, even if the way it goes about telling that true story sacrifices some of the elements of truth in favor of action-packed drama.
The film is packed with adrenaline-pumping action sequences, wonderful production values, memorable acting performances, and even surprisingly emotional moments. It’s also, however, loaded with historical inaccuracies. Nearly every major character, timeline, and event related to this period of Scottish history is heavily dramatized and fictionalized; William Wallace is depicted as an impoverished commoner when he was actually a nobleman; primae noctis was never actually a thing; and Scottish warriors are depicted sporting killer kilts centuries before they were actually invented. This may very well be the most historically inaccurate masterpiece in film history.
8
‘JFK’ (1991)
There are plenty of great movies based on American history, one of the best being Oliver Stone‘s JFK. This epic political thriller runs for more than three hours, examining the investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison, who believed the whole thing was a government conspiracy.
Led by Kevin Costner in top-form, the movie benefits from having several of the best performances in Stone’s filmography, as well as some of the strongest editing and visuals. As excellent of an epic as it is, though, JFK was also the subject of controversy for its significant dramatization of the story and its embracing of conspiracy theories. In fact, one could arguably deem the whole movie to be more historical fiction than an actual docudrama.
7
‘The Imitation Game’ (2014)
The Imitation Game is one of the most perfect movie biopics of the 2010s, following the work of computer scientist and cryptanalyst Alan Turing during World War II, where he came up with new methods for decrypting German intelligence messages for the British government. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, both delivering some of the strongest work of their respective careers, it’s one of the must-see biopic war thrillers of the 21st century.
The movie also took plenty of creative license with its subject matter, however, beginning with its depiction of Turing as a lone genius, when the reality was that his machine was the product of tremendous teamwork that the film largely ignores. The movie changes timelines, invents characters, and creates conflict that wasn’t actually there. Though the result is admittedly one of the best war thrillers in recent memory, there’s no denying that it’s not all that true to reality.
6
‘Gladiator’ (2000)
Winner of five Oscars, including Best Picture, Sir Ridley Scott‘s Gladiator was the perfect way for the English master filmmaker to bid farewell to the 20th century. This epic action period piece is the tale of the fictional Maximus Decimus Meridius, a Roman general betrayed by Commodus and sent into slavery, where he becomes a gladiator and rises through the ranks of the arena. What ensues is one of the most engrossing revenge movies that the big screen has ever seen.
From Russell Crowe‘s Oscar-winning powerhouse performance, to Hans Zimmer‘s unforgettable score, to one of the best movie endings of the 2000s, Gladiator is undeniably one of the most deliriously entertaining and emotionally riveting movies that Scott has ever made. It is not, however, a film designed for people so fervently passionate about Roman history that they feel upset when movies depict the period with plenty of creative license. The aesthetic of the era is generally fantastic, but the politics aren’t depicted with all that much accuracy, and neither are the stories of Marcus Aurelius nor Commodus.
5
‘My Darling Clementine’ (1946)
John Ford was an absolute legend of Hollywood’s Golden Age, the mind behind several of the greatest Westerns in film history. One of them is undoubtedly My Darling Clementine, one of those great Westerns worth watching over and over again. It follows Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp during the period leading up to the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881.
Tombstone may be the most popular big-screen depiction of those events, and it also largely mythologizes the story and its characters; but My Darling Clementine is arguably the superior film, even if it is arguably even more historically inaccurate. Ford’s approach to the story is grand, poetic, and quasi-mythical, but not exactly documentary-like. Characters and conflicts are invented, timelines are shifted around, and the setting (which was shot in Monument Valley) is visibly not at all like Tombstone, Arizona.
4
‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ (1969)
The Western genre changed drastically following the end of Hollywood’s Golden Age, and sometime between the late ’60s and early ’70s, it was violently pushed to the background. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid came as one of the final relics of the Golden Age of Westerns, and what a wonderful swan song to the genre it is. It’s loosely based on the story of Wild West outlaws Butch Cassidy and his partner, the Sundance Kid.
The film is perhaps best-remembered for Robert Redford and Paul Newman‘s electric on-screen chemistry, though not for being particularly true to history. Screenwriter William Goldman openly admitted that he wrote the movie more as a buddy story than a strict historical document, and it shows. The Pinkerton posse’s chase of Butch and Sundance wasn’t actually nearly as tireless and aggressive as the film shows, and there are several moments and elements from the duo’s life that Goldman skips over. Even still, this is one of the best crowd-pleasing Westerns of all time.
3
‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967)
Film historians widely regard the release of Arthur Penn‘s Bonnie and Clyde as the start of the New Hollywood film movement. Following the titular outlaws and romantic partners through the Great Depression-era American South, the film challenged censorship boards and inspired countercultural movements with its unprecedented depiction of violence and other taboo subjects.
Indeed, it’s one of the most intense movies of the 1960s, and it’s still essential viewing all these many years later. This is not, however, a biopic that’s all that faithful to historical events. The movie is heavily romanticized, and biographer Jeff Guinn went so far as to claim that the movie is only less than 5% accurate. Events are changed, Bonnie and Clyde’s personalities are changed, and the depiction of the duo as glamorous Robin Hood types isn’t at all true to reality, where they were more so small-time crooks.
2
‘Amadeus’ (1984)
Miloš Forman‘s Amadeus is widely regarded as not only one of the greatest biopic epics ever made, but perhaps even one of the greatest American films of the 20th century. Based on the 1979 stage play, itself inspired by the 1830 play Mozart and Salieri, Amadeus tells the story of the bitter, decades-spanning rivalry between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. Here’s the thing, though: Mozart and Salieri were never actually rivals.
It’s historically documented that though they displayed normal levels of professional competition, Mozart and Salieri actually deeply admired each other’s work, and even collaborated on a composition. Then again, Amadeus never actually pretends to be any sort of biopic, and instead openly displays its intentions of functioning as more of a psychological drama with historical elements. As such, it’s very much still one of those perfect period movies that have aged like fine wine.
1
‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962)
There has never been more of a master of the epic film genre than David Lean, and never did Lean make a movie more timeless or engrossing than the epic war biopic Lawrence of Arabia. British Army officer T. E. Lawrence was one of the most complicated and nuanced, yet undeniably important figures in the history of World War I. As such, it’s no surprise that Lean spends a whopping four hours studying the archaeologist’s life and work in the Ottoman provinces of Hejaz and Syria.
It’s one of the best 1960s epics of all time, or perhaps even the very best. It’s astonishing how vast it feels in scale, full of some of the most stunning set pieces in the history of war films; yet so intimate in scope, diving deep into Lawrence’s psychology and deep flaws. There are many reasons to praise Lawrence of Arabia, but historical accuracy isn’t one of them. Some events are aggrandized for dramatic effect, some characters are drastically changed or omitted altogether, and elements of Lawrence’s psychology are merely skimmed past. Even still, there’s no denying that Lawrence of Arabia is one of the greatest motion pictures in history.
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Diego Pineda Pacheco
Almontather Rassoul
