By John Moose Williamson
True stories, told with notes and highly edited.
Spies and espionage between Russia and the USA. It almost seems like it could be a subject in today's headlines, but on this week's episode we'll look at one of the most damaging cases of espionage inside the FBI. Get...
Matt Bondurant joins us on this week's episode as we compare what really happened with the movie Lawless. Matt's grandfather, Jack, and two grand-uncles that were the inspiration for his book that the movie is based on, The Wettest County...
Our story continues as I acclimate to the advanced section of the program. I receive a letter from my grandfather and get to eat an oreo.
This week we'll conclude our look into the historical accuracy of Cecil B. DeMille's classic film, The Ten Commandments. Get the transcript and full show notes at https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/67-the-ten-commandments-part-2/ Check out the new Based on a True Story merch...
With almost four hours of movie and plenty of religious subject matter to cover, we'll have to split this movie up into two parts to do it justice. On this episode we'll cover all the way up until the movie's...
2016's Genius tells the story of book editor Max Perkins and the authors he discovered, including Thomas Wolfe, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Get the transcript and full show notes at https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/65-genius/ Check out the new Based on...
Can you handle the truth? This week we'll see how much of A Few Good Men we can compare with history. Get the transcript and full show notes at https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/64-a-few-good-men/ Check out the new Based on a True Story...
Jamaica we have a bobsled team! Every sports fan loves the story of an underdog's rise to success. Disney's Cool Runnings is that and more. But is it historically accurate? That's what we aim to discover on this week's episode....
Political mutiny and clandestine plots against Adolf Hitler are the subject of this week's episode as we compare history with 2008's Valkyrie. Get the transcript and full show notes at https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/62-valkyrie/
Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk comes out on July 21st, but before it does let's take a moment to learn the true story so you can judge the film's historical accuracy for yourself when you go see it in theaters. Get the...
July 4th is America's birthday, and this week we'll honor that as we compare history with Mel Gibson's epic Hollywood blockbuster, The Patriot. Get the transcript and full show notes at https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/60-the-patriot/
Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday have earned quite a reputation thanks to numerous Hollywood incarnations over the years. Arguably one of the most popular was with Tombstone. Let's find out how historically accurate Tombstone was. Get the transcript and full...
It was one of the darkest hours in the world and amidst the horrors, Oskar Schindler managed to help save many lives from certain death. This week we'll find out how much of it was actually true as we compare...
In a first for Based on a True Story, we'll get an exclusive peek behind the true story of Bitter Harvest from the film's writer, Richard Bachynsky-Hoover. See some behind the scenes images and full show notes at https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/57-behind-the-true-story-of-bitter-harvest/
May 30th, 1943 was opening day for a new league. Did women really replace the men in baseball during World War II? This week on the podcast we'll learn more about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League as we compare...
In a special listener request, we'll cover Cadillac Records and learn the true story behind the history of blues in Chicago. Get the transcript and full show notes at https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/53-cadillac-records/
Special guest Cody Wheat from the Shots of History podcast joins me this week as we compare history with The Untouchables. Get the transcript and full show notes at https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/52-the-untouchables/
Today, Citizen Kane is considered by many to be one of the greatest films of all time. However, when the movie Citizen Kane was released, the man who's life inspired the film was outraged. He tried his best to keep the movie from...
No one expects Disney's Mulan to be very historically accurate, but let's take a few moments to learn more about the real story behind the movie. Check out all of the resources we talk about in the episode and plenty...
Very few classic films from Hollywood have shaped how people in the U.S. see the Middle East more than Lawrence of Arabia...but is the movie historically accurate? Check out all of the resources we talk about in the episode...
It was the single worst sea disaster in the U.S. Navy, and it was covered up by the U.S. government at the end of World War II. Learn the true story behind USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage. Get the full show...
Newsies tells the story of the little guys (quite literally, the young newsboys) against "the man". In this case, "the man" being newspaper barons Joseph Pulitzer and William Hearst. As fun as the movie may be, is it historically accurate?...
You know the story. Frodo and his band of companions start the journey to take the One Ring to Mordor. But is the story we saw on the big screen true to the story? Get the full show notes:...
William Wallace is still considered to be an incredibly important person in Scottish history. But is Mel Gibson's version accurate to the real William in history? Let's find out! Get the full show notes: https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/45-braveheart/
Who doesn't love a good conspiracy theory? We've got a doozy this week as we compare history with The Men Who Stare at Goats. Get the full show notes here: https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/44-the-men-who-stare-at-goats/
Are you a Disney fan? Let's dive into the remarkable early life of Walt Disney as we compare history with the movie Walt Before Mickey. Check out the full show notes, get the transcript and more at: https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/43-walt-before-mickey/
Our story isn't nearly done.
There's outdoor sports, then there's extreme outdoors activities. In this week's episode we'll compare history with Hollywood's version of Everest. Check out the site for full show notes and more: https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/42-everest/
Did you watch the Oscars last night? What a crazy turn of events with the whole Best Picture scandal. While most of the media will be covering Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway's goof at the end, we'll be covering one...
This Friday, Bitter Harvest hits the theaters and tells a story that most people haven't heard. Learn the true story before you go see the film. Check out the show notes and more at: https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/40-bitter-harvest/
Florence Foster Jenkins is up for a couple Academy Awards. Let's find out how accurate the movie is by comparing Hollywood with history. Full show notes and transcript: https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/39-florence-foster-jenkins/
Compare history with Hollywood's version of Black Mass. Check out the site for full show notes and more: https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/38-black-mass/
Compare history with Hollywood's version of 13 Hours. Check out the site for full show notes and more: https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/37-13-hours/
Compare history with Hollywood's version of The Big Short. Check out the site for full show notes and more: https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/36-the-big-short/
You've seen the movie. But how much of Titanic was true, and how much of it was made up for the film? Let's compare history with Hollywood's blockbuster film, Titanic. Links Titanic movie Last Dinner On the Titanic: Menus and...
He lived through unthinkable measures. At a time when millions were slaughtered, including his family and friends, Wladyslaw Szpilman managed to survive the Holocaust. He was The Pianist, and in 2003 there was a movie starring Adrian Brody telling his...
This week we'll do something a bit different as we look ahead. Instead of learning about a movie that's already been released, we'll look ahead to a movie coming out this next weekend. Hidden Figures tells the remarkable story of women...
On October 11th, 1994, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced their Nobel prize winners. Three brilliant scientists jointly won the coveted award. They were Professor John C. Harsanyi from the University of California, Berkley, Dr. John F. Nash from...
With the Christmas season upon us, I wanted to cover a film that'd help represent the Christmas spirit. In 2005, French filmmaker Christian Carion released his second full-length feature film. Joyeux Noël, which translated to English means Merry Christmas, was...
Tom McCarthy started his acting career with a short movie in 1989 called Roast Suckling. Although that's probably not something most have seen, he's one of those actors that you'd recognize when you see him. Probably because he's been in...
There are few movies that stand near the top of the all-time list for income. One of those movies is The Sound of Music. With a budget of about $8 million when it was produced in the 1960s, it was...
Between 2004 and 2016, Paul Greengrass directed a total of six movies. Four of those have Matt Damon in them. Three of them are about the fictitious Jason Bourne character. Two of them are based on a true story. Today,...
With the Thanksgiving season upon us, I thought it'd be a great opportunity to travel back in time to the days of Colonial America. Then I realized there's not really a lot of movies about the actual Thanksgiving story. So...
Nechama Tec was born in Lublin, Poland in 1931. When she was eight years old, her life would forever change as Nazis invaded her hometown. As a Polish Jew, she survived the Holocaust thanks to Polish Catholics who hid her...
The latest in the line of collaborations between actor Leonardo DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese is 2013's The Wolf of Wall Street. It received positive reviews, and also held the honor of topping the most-pirated films list of 2014. That's...
Happy Halloween! I wanted to do something special this week. I thought it'd be fun to cover the true story behind something scary. But after starting to look for some movies to fit the bill, I quickly realized most of the...