A History in Film - BOT Top 50 Historical Fiction/Narrative Films - Counting Lists Now, Will Still Take A List Today

[terrestrial]

@The Panda working on it! But on something at home too, is there a time thing we have to look out for?

 

Like my midnight is, depending on where you live, e.g. early afternoon at your area, or already too late, if you‘d live in Australia.

[The Panda]

Just now, terrestrial said:

@The Panda working on it! But on something at home too, is there a time thing we have to look out for?

 

Like my midnight is, depending on where you live, e.g. early afternoon at your area, or already too late, if you‘d live in Australia.

I live in CST time zone, but I’m not to stickler about the exact time deadline.  If I wake up on May 5th and more lists are in I’ll still count them

[Kalo]

Is Little Woman eligible the characters may be fictitious but the setting is real?

[4815162342]

14 minutes ago, Kalo said:

Is Little Woman eligible the characters may be fictitious but the setting is real?

 

I would not count it because the novel it is based on was written pretty contemporaneously to the events in question. So the actual narrative is not historical.

[The Panda]

15 minutes ago, Kalo said:

Is Little Woman eligible the characters may be fictitious but the setting is real?

Films based on fictious events can qualify if they fit the setting requirement.  I’ll take lists with Little Women on them, but it is worth considering when making the list that the idea of historical fiction is a bit more than “set in the past” but the historical setting plays a crucial role.

 

I get that’s kind of relative, so I’m fine with people using their best judgement on things that haven’t been explicitly disqualified.

[titanic2187]

1. Titanic

2. Cinema Paradiso

3. All the President's Men 

4. The Killing Fields 

5. Gandhi

6. Goodfellas

7. City of God

8. The Big Short. 

9. Grave of the Fireflies

10. Spotlight

11. The Diving Bells and the butterfly

12. The Right Stuff

13. Persepolis

14. Schindler's list

15.  The Motorcycle Diaries

16. Coal Miner's Daughter

17. Saving Private Ryan

18. My Left Foot

19. 12 Years a Slave

20. American Gangster

21. Boys don't cry

22. the Fighter

23. Apollo 13

24. Lion

25. A Beautiful Mind

26. Argo

27. IP Man

28. Hidden figure

29. The Last Emperor

30. Elizabeth

31. In the Name of the Father

32. Missing

33. The Wolf of Wall street

34. Europa Europa

35. The Pianist

36. The Sea Inside

37. A Simple Life

38. Munich

39. The Devil Wears Prada

40, Wild

41. Casino

42.Evil (Swedish)

43. Letter from Iwo Jima

44. The Accused

45. 1917

46. Quiz Show

47. The Walk

48. Ida

49. Milk

50. Bohemian Rhapsody

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2020 by titanic2187

[el sid]

Obviously I still have to discover lots of films of that genre but no film on my list is a placeholder.
Even with the help of the guidelines sometimes I couldn't decide if at least the historical setting plays a key role in the narrative and finally decided to be strict and put only Gorky Park on the list. My top 10 are actually of equal value to me.

1. Dances with Wolves
2. The Last Samurai
3. Ben-Hur (1959)
4. Das Boot
5. Braveheart
6. Born on the Fourth of July
7. Schindler's List
8. Doctor Zhivago
9. Lawrence of Arabia
10. Todesspiel (1997, focuses the kidnapping of Hanns Martin Schleyer by The Red Army Fraction (RAF) and all following events in 1977, it's a TV movie but was also shown at film festivals)
11. Apollo 13
12. The English Patient
13. The Third Man
14. Robin Hood (1991)
15. Titanic
16. Charlie Wilson's War
17. M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1931, based mainly on a series of murders between 1913 and 1930 committed by a German serial killer)
18. Gorky Park
19. JFK
20. Queen Margot (1994)
21. Hunt for Red October
22. Rob Roy
23. Seven Samurai (1954)
24. Spartacus
25. Life of Brian
26. Good Fellas
27. Casino
28. Amadeus
29. Quest for Fire
30. Gangster Squad (2013)
31. Chinatown

Edited May 3, 2020 by el sid

[titanic2187]

5 minutes ago, el sid said:

Obviously I still have to discover lots of films of that genre but no film on my list is a placeholder.
Even with the help of the guidelines sometimes I couldn't decide if at least the historical setting plays a key role in the narrative and finally decided to be strict and put only Gorky Park on the list. My top 10 are actually of equal value to me.

1. Dances with Wolves
2. The Last Samurai
3. Ben-Hur (1959)
4. Das Boot
5. Braveheart
6. Born on the Fourth of July
7. Schindler's List
8. Doctor Zhivago
9. Lawrence of Arabia
10. Todesspiel (1997, focuses the kidnapping of Martin Schleyer by The Red Army Fraction (RAF) and all following events in 1977, it's a TV movie but was also shown at film festivals)
11. Apollo 13
12. The English Patient
13. The Third Man
14. Robin Hood (1991)
15. Titanic
16. Charlie Wilson's War
17. M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1931, based mainly on a series of murders between 1913 and 1930 committed by a German serial killer)
18. Gorky Park
19. JFK
20. Queen Margot (1994)
21. Hunt for Red October
22. Rob Roy
23. Seven Samurai (1954)
24. Spartacus
25. Life of Brian
26. Good Fellas
27. Casino
28. Amadeus
29. Quest for Fire
30. Gangster Squad (2013)
31. Chinatown

Is Das Boot based on true story?

 

The true story element is getting confusing here.

 

Conjuring 1 or Moonlight may eligible in broad sense.    

[Jake Gittes]

10 minutes ago, titanic2187 said:

Is Das Boot based on true story?

 

The true story element is getting confusing here.

 

Conjuring 1 or Moonlight may eligible in broad sense.    

It doesn't have to be based on a true story. It has to express something about an earlier time in history.

[el sid]

7 minutes ago, titanic2187 said:

Is Das Boot based on true story?

 

The true story element is getting confusing here.

 

Conjuring 1 or Moonlight may eligible in broad sense.    

Yes, the film is based on a book written by Lothar-Günther Buchheim who was war correspondent (he later was/still is pretty well known in Germany for e.g. being the founder of a museum for artists).
But the film combines the events which happened basically on two submarine boats and not only one.

[Plain Old Tele]

3 hours ago, The Panda said:

Films based on fictious events can qualify if they fit the setting requirement.  I’ll take lists with Little Women on them, but it is worth considering when making the list that the idea of historical fiction is a bit more than “set in the past” but the historical setting plays a crucial role.

 

I get that’s kind of relative, so I’m fine with people using their best judgement on things that haven’t been explicitly disqualified.

My argument would be that Little Women shines a light on civilian life in the North during the 1860s and the Civil War in particular, and you could argue all sorts of interesting things about the fact that it’s a hagiographic look at such a life. It’s also important because it explores said life through a woman’s perspective (extremely rare then and still rare now). The various adaptations of the book bring the perspectives of when they were made as well. 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Plain Old Tele

[terrestrial]

 

Thanks for the reminder about My Left Foot (one of my all time favorites, no idea why I forgot it)

I like the list 

 

Not sure about this one:

1 hour ago, titanic2187 said:

16. Coal Miner's Daughter

As the singer the movie is about is still living... not sure if it is eligible, I am not against it, its more I try to understand the fine details of the rule

[The Panda]

30 minutes ago, Plain Old Tele said:

My argument would be that Little Women shines a light on civilian life in the North during the 1860s and the Civil War in particular, and you could argue all sorts of interesting things about the fact that it’s a hagiographic look at such a life. It’s also important because it explores said life through a woman’s perspective (extremely rare then and still rare now). The various adaptations of the book bring the perspectives of when they were made as well. 

That’s perfectly fine, I’m not disallowing it from the list and that’s a solid case to make for including it.

[The Panda]

1 hour ago, el sid said:

Obviously I still have to discover lots of films of that genre but no film on my list is a placeholder.
Even with the help of the guidelines sometimes I couldn't decide if at least the historical setting plays a key role in the narrative and finally decided to be strict and put only Gorky Park on the list. My top 10 are actually of equal value to me.

1. Dances with Wolves
2. The Last Samurai
3. Ben-Hur (1959)
4. Das Boot
5. Braveheart
6. Born on the Fourth of July
7. Schindler's List
8. Doctor Zhivago
9. Lawrence of Arabia
10. Todesspiel (1997, focuses the kidnapping of Hanns Martin Schleyer by The Red Army Fraction (RAF) and all following events in 1977, it's a TV movie but was also shown at film festivals)
11. Apollo 13
12. The English Patient
13. The Third Man
14. Robin Hood (1991)
15. Titanic
16. Charlie Wilson's War
17. M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1931, based mainly on a series of murders between 1913 and 1930 committed by a German serial killer)
18. Gorky Park
19. JFK
20. Queen Margot (1994)
21. Hunt for Red October
22. Rob Roy
23. Seven Samurai (1954)
24. Spartacus
25. Life of Brian
26. Good Fellas
27. Casino
28. Amadeus
29. Quest for Fire
30. Gangster Squad (2013)
31. Chinatown

Be sure to pm me your list!

[lorddemaxus]

I'll be sending my list sometime tomorrow. I still have one more movie left to watch.

[Jake Gittes]

List as it looks right now. Hope to squeeze in a rewatch of The New World tomorrow after which it might rise higher (or drop out, but I doubt it). 

 

1.    Goodfellas
2.    Harakiri
3.    Barry Lyndon
4.    Chinatown
5.    Dazed and Confused
6.    Avalon (1990)
7.    Cabaret
8.    Days of Heaven
9.    Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
10.    Zodiac
11.    Apocalypse Now
12.    Lawrence of Arabia
13.    The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
14.    My Friend Ivan Lapshin
15.    Topsy-Turvy
16.    The Duellists
17.    The Immigrant
18.    There Will Be Blood
19.    The Witch: A New-England Folktale
20.    The Wolf of Wall Street
21.    The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
22.    Black Book
23.    The Conformist
24.    Diner
25.    The Wild Bunch
26.    Army of Shadows
27.    Day of Wrath
28.    The Long Day Closes
29.    Orlando
30.    Trial on the Road
31.    20th Century Women
32.    5 Fingers
33.    Andrei Rublev
34.    Carol
35.    Paths of Glory
36.    The Cranes Are Flying
37.    The Irishman
38.    L.A. Confidential
39.    McCabe & Mrs. Miller
40.    The Passion of Joan of Arc
41.    The Age of Innocence
42.    Casino
43.    The Devils
44.    First Man
45.    The House of Mirth
46.    House of Tolerance
47.    If Beale Street Could Talk
48.    Ivan the Terrible
49.    Meek’s Cutoff
50.    The New World
 

[CoolioD1]

oh i forgot black book... and i somehow blanked on LA Confidential oh well too late to change now and i wouldn't want to sacrifice black knight from my list.

[Cap]

So I ended up with:

 

1. A League of Their Own
2. Cabaret
3. Inherit The Wind
4. Singin' In The Rain
5. Fiddler On The Roof
6. Bonnie and Clyde
7. Hidden Figures
8. The Battle of Algiers
9. M*A*S*H
10. The Sound of Music
11. Little Women (1994)
12. The Normal Heart (HBO)
13. Chicago
14. Pride
15. Blackkklansman
16. Norma Rae
17. Elizabeth
18. 1776
19. Glory
20. The African Queen
21. Judgment at Nuremberg
22. Hairspray (2007) 
23. Boys Don't Cry
24. Casablanca
25. Sounder
26. Selma
27. Carol
28. Belle
29. Milk
30. Cleopatra
31. Malcolm X
32. Cold Mountain
33. The Searchers
34. The Lion In Winter
35. Gone With The Wind
36. Monty Python's Life of Brian
37. The Bridge Over The River Kwai
38. The Grapes of Wrath
39. Amadeus
40. Henry V
41. Spartacus
42. The Patriot
43. Schindler's List
44. 12 Years A Slave
45. The Great Escape
46. Lawrence of Arabia
47. Saving Private Ryan
48. Grave of The Fireflies
49. All the President's Men
50. Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India

[JJ-8]

is it just me or there seems to be about a top 20 or 30 that are appearing in everyone's lists but beyond that it's a rather wide ranging selection with some of those even making it into the top 10 films of some lists.....  (just seems more erratic than other lists being created.... 

 

My top 50 is in

 

@Cap - amazingly we have the same #1 film

 

[Cap]

27 minutes ago, JJ-8 said:

 

@Cap - amazingly we have the same #1 film

 

I won’t lie. I struggled with this one a little. It was very frustrating that all of the movies about women seems to be more “period pieces” and “costume dramas”; Whereas all the movies about men were “serious historical films.” it’s almost like who’s in power gets to decide what stories are worth telling. So I tried to focus on as much non-violent, non-straight white male historical pieces as possible. With a few exceptions. I absolutely love how MASH is a war movie and the only gun that fires is during the start of the football game. In the battle of Algiers is just stunning feet of filmmaking. Absolutely stunning.