Hollywood rarely wastes an opportunity to capitalize on a true life story, but 9 times out of 10, they've either taken severe liberties with the real-world event, or they've decided to fabricate the majority of the film outright. It may be for dramatic purposes, but it's hard to overlook just how far out on a limb studios have gone over the years when it comes to hot properties.
The following are 10 films supposedly based on a true story that are either bunk, or largely so. Take these movies with a grain of salt, and do your homework!
BLOODSPORT (1988)
This martial arts classic tells the story of Frank Dux, a Captain in the U.S. Army who flees his post to participate in a secret underground fighting tournament known as the Kumite to pay homage to his deceased sensei. Dux summons all of his training to defeat multiple opponents before he comes face to face with the notorious Chong Li, a brutal contestant with a penchant for killing his foes.
The only trouble is, Bloodsport is a work of fiction. The claims of the real Frank Dux have been cast into serious doubt over the years, and the consensus is that Bloodsport never actually happened. Further claims that Dux was a CIA operative, as well as having the fastest recorded K.O.s have also been called into question, leading many to believe that it was an attempt by Dux to break into Hollywood.
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974)
Although the claim is that the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was based on a true story, that's quite a stretch. Only the barest of snippets were lifted from the real-life account of serial killer Ed Gein, who was obsessed with creating trinkets and masks made out of human bones and skin. The characters of Leatherface and family aren't real, and there was no serial killer running around with a chainsaw.
In fact, Hooper conjured up the chainsaw element after seeing a rack of them at the store during the busy Christmas shopping season. Incensed by the large crowds, Hooper zoned in on the chainsaws and thought to himself "I know a way I could get through this crowd really quickly." Upon returning home, several elements coalesced around the chainsaw idea, creating the overall structure of the story.
COOL RUNNINGS (1993)
This charming tale about a Jamaican bobsled team making its way to the 1988 Olympics bears almost no resemblance to the real-life account from which it supposedly was based. First, the Jamaican team was not composed of track sprinters, but Jamaican army recruits, after two American businessmen couldn't find anyone else who wanted to join the team.
The team members were coached on bobsledding, and five months later they were sent to the Olympics where they ran into nothing but trouble during their race. Many liberties were taken regarding the bobsled crash scene, as well as the idea that the team was mocked and jeered, when in fact they quickly became darlings of the media and fans.
300 (2006)
This hyper-stylized action film is obviously meant to embellish the actual account of the 300 Spartans who fended off a Persian army for days on end, but when important details are left out (such as the massive 7,000 person Greek army that supported them), you know there's trouble. There were no Spartans charging into battle half-naked without armor, no elephants and rhinos used by the Persians in their attack, and Xerxes looked nothing like this film counterpart.
300 can largely be forgiven due to the manner in which it was shot. This is a campfire story imagined within the mind of a 9 year old child who is glamorizing the entire event as the narrator tells the story. For this reason, none of it should be taken too seriously.
HIDALGO (2004)
The story of equestrian racer Frank Hopkins and his trusty horse Hidalgo looks like a feel-good picture on first glance, but there's little in the way of actual evidence to support the story. Historians have attempted to track the life and accomplishments of Frank Hopkins (many of them claims by Hopkins himself), to no avail.
Similarly, they were unable to verify any claims that Hopkins had won 400 endurance races in the U.S., or Buffalo Bill Cody hiring him as a rider. Even the long distance Arab horse race is baseless, leaving many scratching their heads as to whether screenwriter John Fusco should have doubled down on the story's authenticity at a time when even Touchstone Pictures flip-flopped on whether it was true or not.
BRAVEHEART (1995)
This classic Oscar winning Mel Gibson epic is almost entirely a work of fiction. Not only is the timeline of the movie completely wrong, but characters like Robert the Bruce were cruelly slandered in the film as being a traitor. William Wallace was not a Highlander, but a Lowlander, and he was never named Braveheart at any time.
Kilts were not worn in Scotland at the time the movie takes place, King William I was incorrectly called a pagan when in fact he was a devout Anglo-Saxon Christian, and the Irish and Scottish joining forces at Falkirk is a complete fabrication.
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
It's extremely difficult to pin down where fact ends and fiction begins with Lawrence of Arabia, mostly because the story is drawn largely from Lawrence's own memoir The Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, a collection of his own personal (some say highly exaggerated) claims. Multiple historians have even clashed over whether Lawrence even made it to Damascus to begin with.
U.S. journalist Lowell Thomas, who covered Lawrence's exploits at the time, went so far as to say Lawrence "had a great way of backing into the limelight." Although many of the historical settings and events are fact-based, it's impossible to say that Lawrence's involvement in these affairs are as he claimed.
JIMI: ALL IS BY MY SIDE (2013)
It's never a good sign when your biopic can't get permission to use the music written by the very guy it's about. That's exactly what happened with Jimi: All Is By My Side, which took extreme liberties regarding the history and personality of the iconic Jimi Hendrix. Many of the movie's scenes are drawn from former Hendrix band leader Curtis Knight's accounts, which were directly contradicted by those close to the musician.
Hendrix's former lover Kathy Etchingham slammed the film as a personal attack after having previously taken legal action against Knight. Scenes where Hendrix beats Etchingham were rebuffed by the latter, who called them fictitious lies, and threatened to take legal action to block the film's release. If nothing else, it's an ugly reminder of how biopics can wield destructive power over the lives of their subjects.
THE REVENANT (2015)
The Revenant was a thrilling and inventive piece of excellent storytelling and visual splendor, but it's a far cry from its historical cookies and milk source material. The history of Hugh Glass is spotty on the best of days, only truly opening up after he recounted his incident to journalists in 1825. Glass never spoke of a bear attack, which has divided historians down the middle as to whether such an event ever took place.
Similarly, there's no evidence that Glass had a relationship with a Pawnee woman, or a son murdered by John Fitzgerald, nor did he take revenge on Fitzgerald after catching up with him. The Revenant is largely a film based on secondary and tertiary accounts from everyone except Glass, which is troubling.
OPEN WATER (2003)
This horror movie struck home with audiences due to its all-too-plausible subject matter involving a couple stranded in the middle of the ocean and eaten by vicious sharks. There's just one problem - there's no evidence to support the claim. The account of Tom and Eileen Lonergan starts and stops at an inaccurate head count taken on the boat they were on, after their belongings were found. That's it.
Filmmakers took this inch and turned it into a mile, fabricating an entire plot revolving around the couple eventually being eaten by sharks. The only slight piece of anything resembling evidence comes in the form of the couple's camera found in the belly of a shark. That may be enough for Hollywood, but it's not enough to prove a case.