The Best Movies Based on Real Events or People

Living the life of a free man, Solomon Northup (played Chiwetel Ejiofor) is kidnapped and sold into slavery in this tragic historical drama. The film’s events are based on the real-life Northup’s 1853 memoir of the same name. It won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Hollywood legend Buster Keaton spared no expense when creating this adventure comedy classic and its epic train crash sequence. He drew direct inspiration from the Great Locomotive Chase, which occurred during the American Civil War. Once a commercial disappointment, the movie is now considered one of the silent era’s greatest achievements.

Actor John Hurt delivers a powerful performance as real-life figure Joseph “John” Merrick in this historical biopic. Severely deformed but mentally competent, Merrick becomes an unlikely member of Victorian London’s high society. Mel Brooks produced, but left his name off the credits so that audiences wouldn’t expect a comedy.

Chazz Palminteri drew upon his own childhood experiences when crafting the one-man play upon which this film adaptation is based. He stars as a neighborhood mob boss who takes a local boy under his wing to the chagrin of the boy’s father (Robert De Niro). The story also explores racial tensions in the 1960s Bronx.

Four Nazis are tried for war crimes in this fictionalized version of an actual courtroom case from 1947. Clocking in at just under three hours, it offers a complex portrait of culpability and hypocrisy during times of war. It won two Academy Awards.