Solo Episodes

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 382) — Join me in this throwback style BOATS episode without any guests. It'll just be you and I learning about the true story behind 2023's Oppenheimer. Was the poisoned apple scene real? How well was the Trinity Test portrayed on screen? What does the movie leave out from Oppenheimer's life? If you've seen the movie and wondered what really happened, this episode is your guided tour through the history behind the film. Chapters 0:00 Intro, synopsis & Two Truth...

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. ...

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 TODAY (SEPT 5, 2024) — After four days of fighting the flames, the Great Fire of London was finally extinguished on this day in 1666 so today we'll learn more about how the events from exactly 358 years ago today were shown in the TV miniseries called The Great Fire. Until next time, here's where you can continue the story. Watch it now: Find where The Great Fire is streaming Did you enjoy this episode? Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Unlock ad-free e...

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 ...

Editor's Note: The fire started after midnight on September 2nd in London, so if you're in the United States like I am then you might see this minisode release on September 1st due to time zones. BOATS TODAY (SEPT 2, 2024) — The Great Fire of London started exactly 358 years ago today, so we'll learn how well the TV miniseries called The Great Fire shows the way it all started. Until next time, here's where you can continue the story. Watch it now: Find where The Great Fire is streaming Did ...

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...

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...

BOATS THIS WEEK (JULY 22-28,2024) — Events from this week in history include Jeffrey Dahmer's confession on July 22nd, 1991. We'll learn how well Netflix's 2022 smash hit series Monster shows that happening. This week also marks the end of the Apollo 11 mission on July 24th, 1969, but we'll have a special minisode coming out on Wednesday for that, so today we'll back up a couple days to compare the movie First Man's depiction of the lunar landing from a couple days ago on July 20th, 1969. Our fi...

BOATS THIS WEEK (JULY 15-21,2024) — Events from this week in history include Napoleon’s surrender aboard HMS Bellerophon that happened on July 15th, 1815, and we'll learn how it was shown in the 2023 biopic. Then, we'll learn about the Apollo 11 miniseries that we’ll launch tomorrow on the exact anniversary of the launch from July 16th, 1969, before finishing up in the animated classic Anastasia for the murder of the Romanovs on July 17th, 1918. In the birthday segment, “Machine Gun” Kelly, Liz...

In this episode, we'll learn about historical events between July 8th and July 14th as they're shown in the movies. We'll also learn about birthdays from historical figures who have been portrayed in the movies, along with a recommendation for a movie that was released this week in history. Events from This Week in History Wednesday: The Battle of Britain Thursday: Hamilton Sunday: One Nation, One King Birthdays from This Week in History Wednesday: Nikola Tesla in Tesla | BOATS #201 Thursday...

In this episode, we'll learn about historical events between July 1st and July 7th as they're shown in the movies. We'll also learn about birthdays from historical figures who have been portrayed in the movies, along with a recommendation for a movie that was released this week in history. Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this into your browser: https://links.boatspodcast.com/330 Events from This Week in History Monday: The Trench Wednesday/Thursday: 1776 ...

In this episode, we'll learn about historical events between June 24th and June 30th as they're shown in the movies. We'll also learn about birthdays from historical figures who have been portrayed in the movies, along with a recommendation for a movie that was released this week in history. Events from This Week in History Tuesday: They Died with Their Boots On | BOATS #198 Friday: 37 Days Sunday: Gettysburg | BOATS #280 Birthdays from This Week in History Monday: General Kitchener | Young ...

In this episode, we'll learn about historical events between June 17th and June 23rd as they're shown in the movies. We'll also learn about birthdays from historical figures who have been portrayed in the movies, along with a recommendation for a movie that was released this week in history. Events from This Week in History Monday: Amelia Monday: All the President's Men | BOATS #122 Thursday: Lizzie Saturday: The Hobbit | BOATS LoTR Series Birthdays from This Week in History Wednesday: Lou G...

In this episode, we'll learn about historical events between June 10th and June 16th as they're shown in the movies. We'll also learn about birthdays from historical figures who have been portrayed in the movies as well as recommendations for a movie that was released this week in history. Events from This Week in History Wednesday: Loving | BOATS #76 Saturday: Waterloo | BOATS #174 Saturday: J. Edgar | BOATS #185 Birthdays from This Week in History Anne Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank | BO...

In this episode, we'll learn about historical events between June 3rd and June 9th as they're shown in the movies. We'll also learn about birthdays from historical figures who have been portrayed in the movies as well as recommendations for a movie that was released this week in history. Events from This Week in History Tuesday: The Longest Day | BOATS #134 Thursday: The Longest Day | BOATS #134 Thursday: Saving Private Ryan | BOATS #159 Birthdays from This Week in History Nathan Hale in Tur...