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  1. #1
    j7wild Guest

    Exclamation When is it really "Based on a True Story"?!?

    So many films nowadays claim to be "based/inspired (and any other similar words) on a true story" (from the National Enquirer maybe );

    Some recent examples of movies that were supposedly "...on a true story" but are not are:

    Sleepers
    The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
    The Exorcism of Emily Rose
    Blair Witch Project

    Is it false advertising when filmmakers use this tagline to attract moviegoers and boost ticket sales?



    p.s. my Grandpa says "Star Wars" is based on a true story too


  2. #2
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    Your Grandpa is the MAN!!!!!!!

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    I like Hidalgo -- "Based on a true story" -- should read "It's true that it's based on a story!"
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    Quote Originally Posted by j7wild View Post
    p.s. my Grandpa says "Star Wars" is based on a true story too

    I always thought so, btw Lord of the rings happened for real too.
    Last edited by Jax; 09-02-2006 at 01:21 PM.
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    When you say its based on a true story, it doesnt automaticaly has to mean that such a thing ever happened. It just migh took inspiration on never solved police file or such a crap. Star Wars can be based on a true story, coz it can be related to some historical "bad vs. good" war - I hope you understand where I lead my point. So the SW IS based on a true story coz its inspirated by something. And here we go. Almost everything is based on a true story, its just matter of understanding how the producer and the watcher take it
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    always thought that Emily Rose movie was based on reality. I mean, I wish I could live in America and go visit her grave. Apparently its an unofficial shrine.

    Heres a site that shows real info and pictures
    http://www.fotofetch.com/
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  7. #7
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    If you ask me, "Based on" and "Inspired by" are two different things. "Based on" leads me to believe that the movie is mostly really happened, but maybe not exactly as it appears in the movie. "Inspired by" means that there was a true story that was similar to this, but they took several liberties with the story.

    My favorite "inspired by" movie is Hoosiers, which was inspired by the 1954 Milan Indians. Other than an extremely small-town school going on to win the Indiana state championship, there is almost nothing about that movie that is true.

    Then you have "based on" like Apollo 13. In the commentary on the DVD (whatever edition I have), astronaut Jim Lovell said there was only one scene the movie that didn't actually happen, and that was the opening scene with all of the astronauts gathered to watched the first moon landing. Otherwise, although there might be a few dialogue changes here and there, and a character might be portrayed a little differently than real life, but the movie is almost entirely accurate. (And yes, Lovell's wife really did drop her wedding ring down the shower drain, although I think the timing was a little different... in the movie, it was the morning of the launch, in reality, I think it was the day before.)

    Of course, from there you have movies (especially horror movies) that want you to believe that the events are/were real, which makes them scarier.
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    Well you can say The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is not baised on a true story because then that statement itself would be untrue. The Idea of the film is very much grounded in reality. Now the movie itself is made up the crazy meat muching family didn't really exist but the character of Leatherface is loosely baised on a real person its true that the real person is nowhere similar in apparence to the monsterous Leatherface but this real person is/was the source materal for the chainsaw swingers creation. For example you could put "Based on a True Story" on the movie "Psycho" and no one can say it is not because it technically is. The movie or the book rather if we are to get picky is baised on the same source materal that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is but in my opinion "Psycho" is a tad bit closer to it then TCM but they both share that link to the "real world" so to speak so putting "Based on a True Story" in front of TCM is not really lying but not fully telling the truth either and a line like that helps TCM because there is this mythology where people believe it is 100% true when only a fraction of it is and in the end it is all in your own perception.

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    Yep, I think "inspired by" usually just has veeery faint connections to actual events or fictional stories. If you've ever seen Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, you might never realize that the story was inspired by Homer's Odyssey.
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    Quote Originally Posted by wirm View Post
    Yep, I think "inspired by" usually just has veeery faint connections to actual events or fictional stories. If you've ever seen Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, you might never realize that the story was inspired by Homer's Odyssey.
    unless you missed that part of the movie, during the opening credits that makes that statement....

    i have always put the "inspired by a true story" and "based on a true story" as being tag lines. it is alot easier to say "based on a true story" instead of "some events in this movie are based on real events but most(if not all) of the plot, characters and events in this movie are fictious and are only for your entertainment."
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