50 Best Movies Based on True Events

David Lynch’s sophomore effort is a mostly accurate recounting of the life of Joseph Merrick — a physically deformed Englishman. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards but failed to win.

With a 95% Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score, critics consensus on the site describes the film as “tension-soaked drama shaded in black humor.” The movie about a bank robbery that turns into a hostage stand-off received six Academy Award nominations, winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist” is based on the autobiography of Polish composer, Wladyslaw Szpilman, during World War II. The film earned Polanski — currently a U.S. fugitive — an Academy Award for Best Director.

Steven Spielberg won the Oscar for Best Director (the film won four more, too) for this inspiring account of a group of GIs in WWII. The soldiers push into enemy territory to save a paratrooper whose three brothers have been killed in action. The critic consensus Rotten Tomatoes calls it an “unflinchingly realistic war film [that] virtually redefines the genre.”

“Anatomy of a Murder” is a courtroom drama crime film starring James Stewart. The film is based on a book by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker — written under a pen name — that details a real-life trial for which he served as defense attorney. It currently holds a perfect critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.