Movies Episodes

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 363) — In today’s Behind the True Story episode, we take a closer look at the career of award-winning director and producer Robyn Flanery. Robyn's latest project, the documentary series "Profit Over People," explores the failure of the U.S. healthcare system. She previously directed the critically acclaimed documentary "Broken Worlds: The Island" and has worked behind the scenes on historical films such as "The Butler" and "Dallas Buyers Club." Her credits also ...

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 359) — Today is the 80th anniversary (January 25, 1945) of the official end of the Battle of the Bulge campaign during World War II. On our episode today, we'll learn about the classic film from 60 years ago (1965) that has often been criticized for many of its historical inaccuracies as it depicts the battle. Where to watch Battle of the BulgeTo help us separate fact from fiction, we'll be joined by Robert B. O'Connor, author of the novel called Jeep Show: A Tr...

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 358) — In 2000's Thirteen Days, we see a lot of the behind-the-scenes discussions and decisions that took place during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962. To help us separate fact from fiction, we'll get to hear from Joshua Donohue, who is the Adjunct Professor of History at Suffolk County Community College as well as Farmingdale State College. Where to watch Thirteen Days Follow Josh's work Heroic Fight for Wake Island Check back soon for more...

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 357) — A new biopic from director Pablo Larraín tells the story of renowned opera singer Maria Callas. Unfortunately, the movie falls short in telling the true story of the real Maria Callas. Today we'll get to learn from Sophia Lambton, the author of The Callas Imprint: A Centennial Biography. Get the Maria Callas biographyEarlier this year, Sophia's biography of Maria Callas took home the 2024 ARSC Awards' Best Historical Research in Recorded Classical Music. I...

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 356) — Today we're tackling all five movies in the storied Indiana Jones franchise that needs no further introduction. To help us separate fact from fiction, we'll learn from multiple Emmy-nominated director and producer Neil Laird. Learn more about Neil's work While his name may not be as popular as Indiana Jones, if you've watched programming on Discovery, BBC, PBS, History Channel, or National Geographic, then you're likely familiar with his work. From Myst...

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 355) — Today is the 83rd anniversary of the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor that was depicted in the 1970 movie Tora! Tora! Tora! Often praised for its accuracy, Tora! Tora! Tora! has also perpetrated some myths about what really happened. Where to watch Tora! Tora! Tora! nowTo help us separate fact from fiction, we'll be joined by Jon Parshall, an award-winning author who has worked as a historical consultant on numerous TV shows, and as a frequent lecturer at ...

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 354) — Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, we're walking into Casablanca on this episode to answer: How historically accurate is the movie? Where to watch Casablanca now Helping us separate fact from fiction is Bob LeMent from Static Radio. Listen to Bob's show at StaticRadio.com Did you enjoy this episode? Unlock ad-free episodes Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Note: If your podcast app doesn't support...

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 353) — During the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the United States sent shockwaves around the world as they upset the four-time defending gold medalist Soviet Union team in a game that would go on to be called the "Miracle on Ice." That story is told in the 2004 Disney movie we'll be talking about today. Where to watch Miracle nowTo help us separate fact from fiction, we'll be talking to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame coach Lou Vairo. Most relevant...

BOATS THIS WEEK (OCT 14-20, 2024) — This Wednesday is the anniversary of Marie Antoinette's execution in 1793 that we saw inn the opening sequence of Ridley Scott's Napoleon (2023). After that, we'll travel exactly 169 years from 1793 to 1962, because Wednesday is also depicted in Thirteen Days (2000) as it's showing the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis. For our final historical event from the movies this week, we'll hop to October 19th, 1781 as it's shown in The Patriot (2000) to see how it sh...

BOATS THIS WEEK (OCT 7-13, 2024) — 57 years ago tomorrow, Che Guevara was captured in Bolivia just before his execution. Then, two years later, Omar Sharif portrayed him in the movie version of Che's story that we'll compare to the true story of this week's event. Then, we'll shift to Eight Men Out because as baseball season comes to a close, one of the darkest moments in Major League Baseball history happened this week back in 1919. This Saturday marks the anniversary of Christopher Columbus m...

BOATS THIS WEEK (SEP 30-OCT 6, 2024) — Thousands of years ago this week, Alexander the Great fought his final decisive battle against Darius III so we'll start our journey by comparing the true story of Gaugamela with the battle in 2004's Colin Farrell movie. Then we'll hop onto the baseball field because tomorrow, October 1st, 1961, is when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's MLB home run record. We'll learn about the Billy Crystal-directed movie called 61* (we'll learn about the * in the movie's tit...

BOATS THIS WEEK (SEP 23-29, 2024) — AMC's Turn: Washington's Spies shows us how Benedict Arnold's treason was discovered back on September 24th, 1780. The next day, on Wednesday this week, marks the anniversary of Operation Market Garden coming to a close, which we see in the classic film A Bridge Too Far. And then The Godfather, Part III has a key plot point surrounding a very real event that happened on September 26th, 1978: The death of Pope John Paul I. This week's movie premiere to compare...

BOATS THIS WEEK (SEP 16-22, 2024) — Tuesday is the 99th anniversary of the bus accident that changed Frido Kahlo's life, and we'll learn more about the way the movie Frida shows it happening. After that we'll jump to the movie with Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin for his being kicked out of the U.S., which happened 72 years ago on Thursday this week. Then we'll learn a bit about the start of an adventure that ended this week in history when The Hobbit was published on September 21st, 1937. ...

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 347) — Travel back to the 1960s during the Vietnam War while historian Joshua Donohue unpacks the real events behind the 2002 film We Were Soldiers. From the crucial role of helicopter pilots in the heat of battle, to the heart-pounding "Broken Arrow" moment, discover what Hollywood got right and where it took creative liberties depicting the Battle of Ia Drang in We Were Soldiers. Where to watch We Were Soldiers now Where to start learning more of the true...

BOATS THIS WEEK (SEP 9-15, 2024) — Tuesday this week marks the anniversary of the Battle of Marathon, which we see in the movie 300: Rise of an Empire. Then, of course, we'll be looking at this week's anniversary of the 9/11 attacks from the movie United 93. For our third historical event, we'll learn about A Star-Spangled Story and how an event from this week in history inspired the U.S. national anthem. We'll also learn about the true story behind The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which released exa...

BOATS THIS WEEK (SEPT 2-8, 2024) — On this day almost two thousand years ago, the Battle of Actium decided power in Rome. Not coincidentally, we'll learn about that today from a TV show called Rome. The second event from this week in history according to the movies comes from the 1993 film called Geronimo: An American Legend, because Wednesday this week marks the 138th anniversary of that event. For our third event, we'll learn about one of Jesse James' infamous holdups from September 7th, 1876 ...

BOATS THIS WEEK (AUG 26-SEPT 1, 2024) — Tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of Disney's Mary Poppins premiered, and that event is shown in the 2013 movie called Saving Mr. Banks about the making of Mary Poppins. If that's too confusing, give the episode a listen to unravel it all. From there, we'll travel to the west of Java to the movie incorrectly titled Krakatoa, East of Java. It got the geography wrong in the title, but we'll find out how well it shows the eruption of Krakatoa from August 28...

BOATS THIS WEEK (AUG 19-25,2024) — Historical events from the movies start with The Crucible and how it depicts the Salem witch trials from this week in 1692. Then, we'll learn a bit about Patsy Cline's hit song "Crazy" because it was this week in 1961 that she started recording it in the studio, and that's shown in the 1985 biopic about her life called Sweet Dreams. For our third event, we'll learn about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius as it was shown in the movie Pompeii. Editor's note: The fi...

The Mummy (1999) is packed with supernatural powers, Hollywood magic, and...maybe some truth? After all, mummies were a real thing. We'll chat with acclaimed Egyptologist Dr. Aidan Dodson to find out how much of the movie is based in history. Where to start learning more of the true story Monarchs of the Nile Sethy I, King of Egypt: His Life and Afterlife More from Aidan's Lives and Afterlives series Nefertiti, Queen and Pharaoh of Egypt: Her Life and Afterlife The First Pharaohs: Their Lives ...

BOATS THIS WEEK (AUG 12-18,2024) — Today is the 81st anniversary of the conspiracy theory from the 1984 movie The Philadelphia Experiment. Or is it? Tune in to find out. After that, we'll move into the Shakespearean classic-turned-modern movie Macbeth (2015) because this Wednesday is the 984th anniversary (1040 CE) of King Duncan I of Scotland's death. This week also marks the 79th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day, so our third event will come from the HBO miniseries The Pacific. Until nex...

BOATS THIS WEEK (AUG 5-11,2024) — This week's events from historical movies starts with Monday's 719th anniversary (August 5th, 1305) of William Wallace's (Mel Gibson) capture shown in the movie 'Braveheart.' In the History Channel's dramatic miniseries "Hatfields & McCoys", we'll see how it portrays the feud between their two families turning to bloodshed for the first time on August 7th, 1882. It was also on August 7th, but in the year 1974, that Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) became th...

BOATS THIS WEEK (JUL 29-AUG 4,2024) — There were two major disaster this week in history. The first we'll learn about is an event many consider the worst shark attack in history, which began on July 30th, 1945, and is shown in the movie USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage. Our next historical disaster marks its 48th anniversary on Thursday this week, and we'll watch the racing movie starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl called Rush, because it was on August 1st, 1976, that Daniel Brühl's chara...

BOATS TODAY (JULY 24, 1969/2024) — Apollo 11 splashed down exactly 55 years ago, so today we'll wrap up our 3-part miniseries with the end of Apollo 11 mission. Need to catch up? Apollo 11 Launch: https://links.boatspodcast.com/333 Apollo 11 Lunar Landing: https://links.boatspodcast.com/334 Apollo 11 Splashdown: https://links.boatspodcast.com/336* Watch the Movie Movie: Find where First Man is streaming True Story: Watch historical coverage Apollo 11's splashdown Did you enjoy this episode? G...

Today we'll delve into Dick Cheney’s political rise in the Nixon and Ford administrations and his role in post-9/11 policies as they were shown in the 2018 political satire comedy-drama "Vice" from director Adam McKay. Get William's book How America Works . . . and Why It Doesn’t: A Brief Guide to the US Political System: https://links.boatspodcast.com/335book Did you enjoy this episode? Join the BOATS Discord community: https://links.boatspodcast.com/discord Find the transcript and full show...