Best of the Best: True Stories at the Movies Quiz

Answer: The Imitation Game

Released in 2014, "The Imitation Game" is based on the Andrew Hodges biography, "Alan Turing: The Enigma". Set during World War II, Turing is a British cryptologist who works with others at Bletchley Park to design a machine that will break the German enigma codes. When the others find that working with Turing is difficult, he attempts to break away from the team and designs a machine on his own. When the machine is finished, a new problem arises; what can they do about the fact that the Nazis change the encryption code every day? Turing determines that he can program the machine to know words that have already been decoded in earlier messages.

While there are glaring fabrications in the movie - the name of Turing's machine, for example, was not Christopher, but Victory, and its design was a collaborative rather than individual effort - one of Turing's nieces stated that the movie "really did honour my uncle".

Answer: 300

The movie "300" (2006) introduced many to Leonidas and the Battle of Thermopylae during the Persian Wars in 480 BC. The following year, Dilios, a hoplite who served under Leonidas, tells his story and gives an amazing account of life in ancient Sparta. As the elders of Sparta refuse to go to war during a religious festival, Leonidas gathers 300 of Sparta's best as his personal bodyguards. One of those who wants to join the group is Ephialtes, a malformed man whose parents left Sparta to avoid the law which dictated that deformed babies had to be abandoned. Rejected by Leonidas because his deformity would compromise the Spartan phalanx, Ephialtes defects to Persia, telling Xerxes about a secret path that would lead him to a victory over the Spartans. The result? All 300 Spartans are killed, fighting to the last man.

There are very few records revealing the martial arts that would have been utilized by the Spartans, however, the stunt coordinator and fight choreographer used Filipino martial arts, which, of course, would not have been employed by the Spartans. While some historians believed the movie portrayed the life and code of the Spartans in an accurate manner, others criticized what was described as the over romanticization of the Spartan ideal. Zack Snyder, the movie's director, stated that "the events are 90 percent accurate".

Answer: Into the Wild

Shortly after graduating with high honors from Emory University, Christopher McCandless decides to discard his traditional life and became Alexander Supertramp, a traveler and adventurer. He kayaks downs the Colorado River to Mexico, rides the railtrains and hitch hikes to California. After he befriends Ron Franz and stays with him a couple of months, McCandless eventually decides that he wishes to live in Alaska; life, however, becomes difficult there. McCandless comes to the realization that he will find happiness with his friends and family, but dies before he is able to return home to them.

During his journey McCandless did keep a journal, which it appears to have been consulted in the movie, "Into the Wild" (2007). It appears that much of the criticism regarding the level of authenticity of the movie centers around the fact that McCandless did keep cash and proof of his identity (in the movie he is shown burning everything), as well as a map, and the circumstances of his death, which scholars continue to debate.

Answer: Escape from Alcatraz

Actually there are four inmates at the "inescapable" Alcatraz prison who are involved in the plot. Charlie Butts is part of the group, however, somehow failed to meet up with the others at the appointed time, and is left behind. He is said to have fully cooperated with the authorities in the aftermath. Frank Morris discovers that the concrete around the grille of his cell is loose. Using spoons, the four men spend months scraping around the walls of their cells, leaving heads made of papier-mâché tucked under blankets to serve as decoys. A raft made out of raincoats is used to escape off the island, and the escape is not discovered until the following morning. Although the warden insists that the men all drowned, the conclusion of the movie implies that they made it to safety.

In "Escape from Alcatraz" (1979) the real names of the three convicts who escaped were used; Charlie Butts was actually Allen West, who was left behind and cooperated with the authorities. While there are picky details that have been found to be incorrect, such as the oscilloscope on the metal detector being a 1979 model rather than a 1962 model, the glaring difference between "true life" and the movie is that when the FBI closed their investigation seventeen years later, it was determined that all three men likely drowned. The U.S. Marshals Service, however, has never closed the case.

Answer: Midnight Express

Billy Hayes and his girlfriend are vacationing in Turkey; while preparing to return home he decides to strap 2 kg of hashish blocks to his chest. Discovered at the airport, Billy is taken by the police. He makes two costly mistakes: he tries to negotiate for his release in exchange for revealing the Turkish man who sold him the hashish. While the police are happy to find the seller, they do not intend to release Billy. He also steals a blanket, which earns him a severe beating, after which he is taken to Sağmalcılar Prison. After months of torture, unsuccessful attempts going through diplomatic channels to earn his freedom, and being sentenced to 30 years to life at his trial, Billy eventually escapes from the prison.

The movie, "Midnight Express" (1978), was based on a non-fiction book of the same title that was written by Billy Hayes. Some sources claim that the movie was inconsistent with the book for legal reasons. There are some differences in the book and movie: Billy was traveling in Turkey alone, and escaped by stealing a boat and rowing to safety rather than killing a guard and taking his uniform as shown in the movie. Many believed the depiction of Turkish officials and the people in general was inaccurate and accused the movie of being an "anti-Turkish"; in an interview Hayes stated that he was sorry about the portrayal of Turks in the movie.

Answer: Catch Me If You Can

Frank Abagnale Jr. runs away from home after his family's financial difficulties lead his parents to a divorce. On his own, he quickly runs out of money, but finds that he can live as a clever con man. Frank poses as a doctor, lawyer, and even an airplane pilot! With FBI agent Carl Hanratty hot on his trail, Frank escapes to Europe, where he becomes a successful check forger. Hanratty, however, is able to catch Frank in France, and takes him back to the United States to stand trial for his crimes. Although he is sentenced to twelve years in prison, Hanratty eventually convinces the FBI to allow Frank to work in the FBI Bank Fraud Department for the remainder of his sentence, eventually becoming a happy family man.

Frank once commented that it would be difficult to make the movie true-to-life because his 1980 memoir, upon which the movie was based, was also an exaggeration of the events in his life. Joseph Shea was the name of the FBI agent who captured Frank, and, unlike the movie, Frank never saw his father again after he ran away from home. Abagnale wrote, "It is important to understand that it is just a movie ... not a biographical documentary", and once stated that the movie was "about 80 percent accurate".

Answer: A Beautiful Mind

John Nash is a brilliant mathematician, earning the Carnegie Scholarship for mathematics at Princeton. After publishing an article, he is given an appointment at MIT, and eventually lands a position at the Pentagon deciphering encrypted messages sent by the Soviets. He becomes paranoid, thinking that the Soviets are after him, while at the same time, falling in love with and marrying a student, Alicia Larde. It is eventually learned that Nash has paranoid schizophrenia, and the people at the Pentagon and the agents he is fleeing are figments of his imagination. Disgusted with the side effects of his medication, Nash does finally agree that he is suffering from hallucinations. After learning to control them, he is allowed to teach at Princeton, and wins the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1994.

Most of the people portrayed in a "A Beautiful Mind" (2001), with the exception of John and Alicia, are not actually real people who knew John Nash. While in the movie his schizophrenia began in graduate school, it actually did not occur until much later. Nash never worked for the Pentagon and he was a consultant for the RAND Corporation in California. In reality, John and Alicia divorced in 1963. He apparently lived as a boarder in her house beginning in 1970, and they did remarry in 2001.

Answer: American Sniper

Chris Kyle grows up learning to shoot and hunt. He makes his living as a ranch hand and rodeo cowboy until an unfortunate incident in his life leads him to enlist in the Navy, where he qualifies for special training, becoming a SEALs sniper. Shortly after marrying, Chris is sent to Iraq, where he earns the nickname "Legend" because of his many kills. Altogether Kyle signs up for four tours of duty, finding it difficult to adjust to life back at home. On his final return home, he tells a therapist that he is bothered by "all the guys he couldn't save", and begins working in a VA hospital, which seems to aid in a better adjustment; it is a veteran he is attempting to help, however, who shoots and kills Chris at a target range.

"American Sniper" (2014) is said to have been "loosely based" on Chris Kyle's "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History", that was published in 2012. In fact, many have written that the two stories are different. For example, the character called "the Butcher" in the movie did not appear in the book, however, it might have been based on a real-life person. If the purpose of the movie was to warn Americans about the horrors of war and its effects on a person's life - then it met its goal.

Answer: The Pianist

When France and Britain declare war on Germany after the September 1, 1939 invasion of Poland, pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman is sure that the war will be over quickly. That is not the case, however; his hometown of Warsaw falls under Nazi rule and the Jewish people there are not only forced to wear the Star of David badge, but are also forced from their homes into the segregated Warsaw Ghetto. As he and his family are being sent to the Treblinka extermination camp, Szpilman is "rescued" by an acquaintance, and becomes part of the growing Jewish resistance movement in Warsaw. After two failed attempts at revolt, the city of Warsaw is in ruins. Szpilman is found and befriended by a German officer, Wilm Hosenfeld, while searching for food and shelter; Hosenfeld subsequently helps Szpilman survive until the Germans retreat from the city. Ultimately Hosenfeld dies in a Soviet concentration camp, while Szpilman works for Polish Radio and continues to perform his music.

The information for the movie "The Pianist" (2002) was taken from the autobiographical book of the same name. One movie reviewer wrote that the movie was "one of the very few nondocumentary movies about Jewish life and death under the Nazis that can be called definitive", and another stated, "This is not a thriller, and avoids any temptation to crank up suspense or sentiment; it is the pianist's witness to what he saw and what happened to him".

Answer: 12 Years a Slave

It is 1841 in New York. Solomon Northup is a well-spoken, educated, black violinist with a wife and family. He is inticed with promises of work in Washington, D.C. by two men who ultimately sell him into slavery in the Deep South. When the crops are poor at his owner's plantation, Northup is leased to the owner of a neighboring plantation. There he is allowed to play the fiddle and keep his earnings. With the help of a Canadian man opposed to slavery, Solomon is finally able to send a letter home; he is finally rescued after spending twelve years in slavery.

The movie "12 Years a Slave" (2013) was based on the memoir of Solomon Northup that was published in 1853, "Twelve Years a Slave". Many people have questioned the authenticity of Northup's story, based on the fact that he was perhaps expected by abolitionists who hired him to speak at rallies to embellish his account or that the writer, David Wilson, to whom the story was dictated, might have done so without Solomon's knowledge. A professor of history, however, wrote that she had "never seen a film represent slavery so accurately".