Films Historians Absolutely Loathe

In order to turn a historical film into effective entertainment, some liberties have to be taken with the actual history. But some movies irritate actual historians to no end because they get their history so very, very wrong.

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy remains a stunning tragedy in our nation's history: a young and popular president shot to death in broad daylight while seated next to his wife and surrounded by Secret Service agents. It also remains fertile ground for conspiracy theories involving everything from the CIA to communist spies to the Mafia.

Oliver Stone's main ambition seems to have been cramming every single one into his incredibly well-made film, and the historical accuracy suffered as a result. Stone once told The New York Times:

"It is not a true story per se."

JFK is as far from a documentary as it can possibly get, yet it's so well-crafted that it often makes people think it's more accurate than it is.

The Washington Post calls the film, quote, "barely factual." Stone used the 1969 trial of Clay Shaw, who was brought on charges by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, as the core of his script. But as noted in The Atlantic, Garrison's case fell apart when it was revealed that his key witness had been drugged and recanted his testimony. Stone solves this by deleting the actual witness and replacing him with a fictional character played by Kevin Bacon and that's just one of many brazen fabrications the director presents with the utmost seriousness.

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#Movies #History

JFK | 0:00
Gladiator | 1:41
U-571 | 3:13
The Last Samurai | 4:46
Argo | 6:26
10,000 BC | 7:50
300 | 8:46
Enemy at the Gates | 10:06
Darkest Hour | 11:19
Braveheart | 12:47

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