hollywood movies on biography

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The 140+ Best Biography Movies

Biographical films explore the fascinating lives of historical figures and cultural icons. The best biography movies offer viewers a detailed look into the lives of these people, skillfully recreating stories that have shaped history and left a lasting impact on the world. With unforgettable narratives to explore, you will find these films showcase exceptional storytelling, nuanced performances, and unparalleled cinematic vision. 

The best biography movies offer not just boring history, but gripping, groundbreaking, and original narratives. For instance, films like Catch Me If You Can follow the high-stakes exploits of a charming con artist, bringing together thrilling action with intriguing character development. Schindler's List, on the other hand, tackles the harrowing subject of the Holocaust, masterfully capturing the heroic efforts of one man to save lives during a dark time in history. Then there's A Beautiful Mind, which delves into the complex life of renowned mathematician John Nash, showcasing the challenges and triumphs associated with his brilliance. These films are but a few examples of the best biographical movies that excellently capture the essence of their subjects and the genre. 

The lasting impact of these movies demonstrates how well they resonate with audiences, transcending time and cultural boundaries. Biographical movies not only accurately depict the lives of their subjects, but they also elevate the art of storytelling by blending truth with cinematic drama. Through these exceptional films, viewers gain fresh perspectives on the world, history, and the individuals who have shaped it, marking these biographical movies as the very best in their field. 

Catch Me If You Can

Schindler's List

A Beautiful Mind

Raging Bull

The Social Network

Lawrence of Arabia

Cinderella Man

The Fighter

The Pursuit of Happyness

Remember the Titans

Walk the Line

Straight Outta Compton

Into the Wild

The Blind Side

La Vie en rose

The Pride of the Yankees

12 Years a Slave

Donnie Brasco

Andrei Rublev

The People vs. Larry Flynt

Man on Wire

Hotel Rwanda

Helter Skelter

The Imitation Game

A Serious Man

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer

Fighting with My Family

The Iron Lady

Born on the Fourth of July

The Rise of Catherine the Great

Coach Carter

Man on the Moon

Anne Frank: The Whole Story

Heavenly Creatures

Love & Mercy

Baadasssss Cinema

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

All That Jazz

The Right Stuff

The Madness of King George

Buena Vista Social Club

Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth

Bound for Glory

Good Night, and Good Luck

See Arnold Run

Deep in My Heart

A Huey P. Newton Story

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc

84 Charing Cross Road

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Sid and Nancy

The Traitor

The Crossing

Gable and Lombard

Young Woman and the Sea

Back to Black

Gaby: A True Story

I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can

Rocky Marciano

I'm a Born Liar

Good Evening, Mr.Wallenberg

Camille Claudel

Beyond Good and Evil

An Unreasonable Man

Lords of Chaos

The Grandmaster

Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor

Max Manus: Man of War

True History of the Kelly Gang

Beyond the Sea

Edvard Munch

Richard Jewell

Darwin's Nightmare

Custer of the West

Chattahoochee

Brigham Young

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Looking closer at movies, TV shows, and even characters based on and "inspired by" reality.

The 25 Best Biography Movies of the 21st Century

1. The Wolf of Wall Street

2. The Pianist

4. BlacKkKlansman

5. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

6. The Aviator

7. Downfall

8. A Beautiful Mind

9. Into the Wild

10. The King's Speech

11. Persepolis

12. Green Book

13. The Pursuit of Happyness

15. Fruitvale Station

17. The Revenant

18. The Intouchables

19. The Big Short

20. The Social Network

21. 127 Hours

22. 12 Years a Slave

23. The Theory of Everything

24. Dallas Buyers Club

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20 Best Biopic Movies of All Time

Hollywood and other film industries have always been fascinated with the lives of famous people. That’s why we have so many biopics made right since the beginning of cinema. Not all of them are great, but we certainly have seen a fair share of really good biopic movies. From Gandhi to Zuckerberg, Hollywood has tried its hand on making biopics on people from all strata of life. Now, let’s look at the list of top biopic movies of all time. You can watch several of these best biopic movies on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime.

20. Nixon (1995)

Hopkins had quite a run after he won the Academy Awards for ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991), but the boldest work of his career was as President Richard Nixon in this outstanding bio from Oliver Stone . As one of the most polarizing figures of the seventies, Nixon was a true statesman, but a flawed and paranoid man, doomed as a world leader. He captures the wounded soul of the disgraced President in every way. Looking nothing like him, he instead captures his essence and speech pattern and becomes Nixon before our very eyes.

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19. Bugsy (1991)

Warren Beatty was always an interesting actor, but with his work here as murderous gangster Benjamin Siegel, he proved he was a great one. With movie star good looks, Siegel landed in Hollywood and quickly took over all gangland related activities and when visiting the desert, he had a vision of what became Las Vegas. Obsessed with his Flamingo Hotel in the desert, he failed to see his girlfriend was stealing from the mob, which brought Siegel down. Beatty is terrifying in his rages, deluded in his belief he can kill Mussolini, yet gentle and kind with his family and friend Meyer Lansky.

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18. Chaplin (1992)

A brilliant actor ready for the performance of his lifetime, stuck with a weak script, a cowardly director not willing to show his subject warts and all, Robert Downey Jr. still gave one of the great performances of all time, beautifully capturing Chaplin and his artistry. Sadly neither the director nor script took advantage of Downey being so far into character; the actor was gone, Chaplin remained. With an edgy actor such as Downey, why explore the more controversial aspects of his life? They had an actor ready to cut loose and they failed him.

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17. Downfall (2005)

Is it possible to humanize Hitler, possibly the most hated and evil man to ever exist? Bruno Ganz did that very thing in the superb German film ‘Downfall’, which explores the last days Hitler was alive in his bunker, the Soviets not far from the heart of the city. Hands shaking, frail, obviously drugged heavily, he knows the end is near and what is coming; he knows what the reaction will be to his Death Camps. Often gentle and kind with those around him, other time he flies into a rage when his orders are not followed. In the end, the monster was all too human, just a man. An astounding, brave performance.

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16. Lincoln (2012)

The moment we laid eyes on him in the opening moments of the film, and he spoke in that surprising high reedy voice, audiences felt they were encountering Abraham Lincoln, possibly the greatest American who ever lived. Daniel Day-Lewis poured over books, found descriptions of his voice, his gait, the manner in which he spoke and the deep melancholy he carried with him and brought it with him to his performance. His co-stars claimed they never met Day-Lewis until the film’s premiere; they knew only President Lincoln. This profoundly fine performance won the actor his third Academy Awards for Best Actor.

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15. The Aviator (2004)

As the young Howard Hughes during his Hollywood years, before the madness set in, Leonardo DiCaprio is truly outstanding. Blessed with a brilliant, inquisitive mind, he is always looking to the skies, even in his first film, ‘Hells Angels’ (1930), which he re-shot after the advent of sound. Fascinated with aviation, he built planes, making them bigger and faster, crashing one of them in downtown LA, forever damaging himself. It is a bold, outstanding performance that beautifully explores a troubled mind. The genuine fear in his eyes when he has one of his spells is truly frightening because he is never really sure if he can snap out of it.

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14. The Last King of Scotland (2006)

In portraying the purely evil yet charismatic Idi Amin Dada, actor Forest Whitaker gave a performance for the ages, winning every single award available to him that year. As self appointed President, actually dictator of Uganda, he takes a young Scottish doctor under his wing and it is through that man’s eyes we see the monster appear. Whitaker is brilliant, seething with anger and contempt for those who defy him, believing himself to be a God. Terrifying.

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13. Patton (1970)

As one of the greatest warriors in the history of the United States military, General George S. Patton did as he pleased often defying his superiors’ orders. George C. Scott is magnificent as Patton, one of the screen’s greatest performances and refused the Oscar he won for Best Actor. That iconic image that opens the film — Scott dwarfed by a massive flag — once seen can never be forgotten.

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12. My Left Foot (1989)

On the rise as an actor when he made this lovely, gritty film about Irish artist/writer Cristy Brown, afflicted with cerebral palsy since birth, Day-Lewis won the Academy Award and several other awards in announcing himself as a major new acting force. His eyes ablaze with intellect and purpose; his body betraying him with constant shaking, twitching, everything out of control except his left foot. The actor brings us the fierce mind that was trapped in that wretched body. Despite his affliction, he was gifted, horny and a heavy drinker. Day-Lewis is a miracle in the film.

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11. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

As stock swindler Jordan Belfort, who became obscenely wealthy before the FBI brought him down, Leonardo DiCaprio gives a brilliant performance – the best of his career. The young actor brings a furious energy to the performance and brash confidence, moving through the film like a young rock star. Whether stoned on drugs , smashed out of his mind, or arguing with his gorgeous wife, the actor is a revelation and force of nature. He is electrifying from beginning to end, always in motion, scheming, descending slowly into his own hell.

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10. The Social Network

Made at a time when Facebook had reached meteoric height’s, ‘The Social Network’ works as a powerful commentary on modern times and feels utterly fresh, even after six years. It deserves a place on every such list because of the treatment by David Fincher . Led by powerful performances from Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield , it is a deeply personal tale which works on so many levels, and is a study on the nature of friendship , ambition and power.

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Helmed by Bennett Miller (who also directed ‘Foxcatcher’), ‘Capote’ chronicles the life of Truman Capote during the period when he was writing his non-fiction novel, ‘In Cold Blood’. Superbly constructed, the film feels bleak and sublime at the same time, as it tries to convey the horrors of the killings. But the movie stands out chiefly because of the honest and riveting performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman , which earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor. It is sad that we’ve lost a truly great artist.

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8. Malcolm X

At a run time of 200 minutes, ‘Malcolm X’ is a long movie. But it never seems long, thanks to a phenomenal performance by Denzel Washington , and nuanced direction by Spike Lee . The film dramatizes chief events of the life of African American activist Malcolm X. The film received much skepticism and criticism even before it actually hit the screen, mainly because of the sensitive nature of the subject. But it received overwhelming critical acclaim upon release. Denzel Washington was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his standout performance, but lost out to Al Pacino , which many think was unfair on the Academy’s part.

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7. The Pianist

Roman Polanski is a director known for his technical prowess, edgy direction and excellence in handling the noir genre of cinema. But in ‘The Pianist’ , the visionary director takes his skills and gives us a devastating biographical drama. ‘The Pianist’ is the moving life-story of Władysław Szpilman, a Polish pianist and composer, portrayed by Adrien Brody , who loses his family during the Holocaust. Polanski paints a bleak, harrowing landscape – drawing from his own experiences of the war – and gives us a terrifying, yet human tale of hope and survival .

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Richard Attenborough’s enduring masterpiece ‘Gandhi’ is still fresh in the hearts of the millions of Indians who watched it at the time when it was released. Made on a very large-scale and featuring actors from both Hollywood and Bollywood, this biographical drama feels fiercely authentic. The direction is quite traditional, and is exactly what a biopic of this scale needed; after all, it was about an ordinary man who did extraordinary things. Sir Ben Kingsley’s commanding presence as Mahatma Gandhi is one of the pioneering examples of biopic performances.

5. The Elephant Man

David Lynch is a master of his craft, and is a tough director to watch. His body of work – original and largely cerebral – proves that beyond a shadow of doubt. But in ‘The Elephant Man’, the visionary director outdoes himself and shows us an intensely moving tale about a disfigured man trying to find his place in society. It is based on the life of Joseph Marrick, a man suffering from severe deformity. The film depicts his life in a Victorian freak show and his relation with Dr. Frederick Treves, who tends to him later, and provides him shelter. Technically brilliant, and at times quite bleak – considering the nature of the subject – the film is especially noted for the make-up done on John Hurt for him to look the part. It is historically quite significant because the Academy was criticized for failing to recognize the efforts gone in the make-up process, and only after this film was the category for Best Make-up introduced.

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4. Raging Bull

There are boxing movies and then there is ‘Raging Bull’ . This Martin Scorsese gem is the biographical account of the boxer Jake LaMotta, his rise to fame and his personal struggles. Scorcese pours his heart out in this picture, which is so perfectly crafted that it works both as a sports movie , and as a tragic drama. Robert De Niro gave an explosive and riveting performance as Jake LaMotta, rightfully taking home the Best Actor Oscar for this role. Shot entirely in Black and White , the movie came out in the same year as ‘The Elephant Man’, competing for the Best Picture award. Unfortunately, neither of the two won the award, which went to ‘Ordinary People’.

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3. Goodfellas

Hailed by many as the second best gangster movie ever, (first being ‘The Godfather’ ) ‘Goodfellas’ is a riveting crime drama based on a non fictional book Wiseguy, chronicling the rise and fall Henry Hill, a crime family associate. Plumbing the obscene depths of crime, ‘Goodfellas’ is an enduring tale about loyalty, betrayal and the corrupting nature of power. Martin Scorsese delivers perfection in this ageless film, which boasts of marvelous performances by Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and the swashbuckling Joe Pesci (who took home the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Oscar for his performance.)

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2. Schindler’s List

I won’t say much about ‘Schindler’s List’ here. Widely regarded as one of the best pictures in the history of cinema, ‘Schindler’s List’ is Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece, and is truly a work of art. With the Second World war as the backdrop, with the Nazi terror achieving terrible heights, ‘Schindler’s List’ is a moving tale about one man’s change of heart, and how he becomes a messiah. But, oh, it still doesn’t occupy the top spot on this list. Wonder why? Well, scroll down to find out which film holds that honor.

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1. Lawrence of Arabia

A film so grand and epic in scope that it commands multiple viewings. Really, get a Blu-ray and watch it on a big screen TV. Made in 1962, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ is David Lean’s magnum opus. It is a riveting saga about the life of British archaeologist T.E Lawrence and the role he played during the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Everything about this movie is beautiful in a terrific, haunting way, crafted by a film-maker at the peak of his powers. The melodious score by Maurice Jarre, the authentic, breathtaking cinematography by F.A Young (the desert never looked so mesmerizing ), and a powerful performance by the-then newcomer Peter O’ Toole , make this movie one of the greatest films of all time . Its influence can still be felt in modern biopics.

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The 15 Best Biopics of All Time

Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, and Robert De Niro star in some of the most enduring and enjoyable biopics.

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The business of biopics is booming. There hasn’t been a better time for movies that tell stories based on the real lives of famous, interesting, and important people.

That’s largely because the genre has gone through some pains to get here. For years, biopics were paint-by-numbers affairs, drawn up to make a quick buck and maybe score an Oscar nomination or two.

Now, most filmmakers have figured out that there are better, more cinematic ways to tell these stories. Some of the best biopics on our list still tell a person’s story from birth to death (or close to it) but do so with a grandness that reflects the way their life was lived. Others focus on a specific period, moment, or event in a person’s life and demonstrate its importance, which encourages reflection on how that particular story still resonates in the present.

This biopic renaissance didn’t happen overnight. Throughout film history, directors have taken risks that paid off in the form of timeless biopics that pushed the genre forward. These are 15 of our favorites.

Related: The Real People Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro Portray in Killers of the Flower Moon • The Tragic True Story of the Ferrari Movie • Why Michael Oher Doesn’t Like The Blind Side

Director Spike Lee takes the approach of sharing a large percentage of the life of one of America’s most well-known and impactful civil rights leaders : Malcolm X . It’s an approach that has failed more often than not, but over three hours, Lee and star Denzel Washington are able to give Malcolm’s life the richness and attention to detail it deserves in this 1992 film. The result is a fully three-dimensional portrait that follows the man from childhood to his 1965 assassination and many places in between.

Watch on Prime Video

Tick, Tick…Boom!

The layers in the feature film debut of director Lin-Manuel Miranda are truly one of a kind. The 2021 movie introduces us to Jonathan Larson (played by Andrew Garfield), who became best known for writing the broadway musical Rent . But in Tick, Tick…Boom! , he’s both struggling to break into the musical industry and, in a parallel but future-looking story, acting in the musical he wrote before Rent . That musical? Tick, Tick…Boom! about a writer struggling to break into the musical industry. It all makes sense—somehow—on the screen, and it’s both wildly entertaining and tinged with tragedy for people who know Larson’s fate. (He’d never get to see Rent premiere.)

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I’m Not There

Most biopics feature one primary actor depicting the portions of an individual’s life that are best known to the general public. Many others might feature a younger or older actor showing the subject at a different phase of their life. I’m Not There , meanwhile, tells the story of Bob Dylan using six very distinct actors to portray the iconic singer-songwriter in various eras of his life. Among the six in this 2007 release are Christian Bale , Richard Gere , the late Heath Ledger , and, improbably, an Oscar-nominated Cate Blanchett .

Here, the biopic turns into a horror movie (with one of the most uncomfortable but appropriate musical scores of the last decade), as we follow former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (played by a never better Natalie Portman ) in the immediate aftermath of her husband’s assassination in 1963. In this 2017 film, Chilean director Pablo Larraín takes you deep into what was a national tragedy, but he does so in a uniquely personal way. In one of the film’s most devastating scenes, we see Kennedy trying to wash her husband’s blood off her body . From there, it flips, and we see her put in painstaking work to shape the way history will remember the 35th U.S. president .

The Wind Rises

A rare animated biopic, this 2013 stunner from Japanese legend Hayao Miyazaki (of Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke fame) is an interesting companion piece to this summer’s hottest biopic, Oppenheimer . It depicts the life and career of Jiro Horikoshi, an engineer whose aircraft designs were eventually adopted and used by Japan during World War II. While his work advanced his field tremendously, the film shows him wracked with guilt over the way it was used, while he also deals with personal tragedy. It’s a tremendous achievement that takes advantage of its presentation to become arguably the most fanciful biopic ever.

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Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most well-known figures in American history, but books and speeches can only do so much to show the person behind the ideas. Director Ava DuVernay ’s 2014 film centers around the 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, explicitly showing it wasn't the act of one man but so many, including people killed in acts of racial violence. Still, where it stands out is in its portrayal of King, who carries the hopes, fears, and memories of all these individuals on his shoulders at all times, whether he’s sitting at home with his family, in an Alabama jail cell, or in the Oval Office. The result is a portrait of an icon who’s flawed, overwhelmed, and occasionally unsure of himself.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Similar to DuVernay’s work on Selma , director Marielle Heller peels back the veil on a person famous for their goodness in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood . Her focus is Fred Rogers , the famous children’s television star, but what’s especially interesting about Tom Hanks ’ portrayal of him in the film is that his on- and off-screen personas aren’t dramatically different. The film is centered on a journalist profiling Rogers who assumes someone presenting as this kind must have another side. But in this 2019 film, we learn that while Rogers might have had feelings of sadness, anger, and anxiousness, he actively chose kindness every day, which in turn made everything else feel insignificant.

One of the more fictionalized biopics on the list, this 1984 Oscar-winning epic, adapted from a Tony Award–winning play, takes the unique approach of showing the life, work, and peculiarities (that laugh!) of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through the eyes of one of his lesser-known contemporaries, Antonio Salieri. As played by F. Murray Abraham, Salieri is consumed by jealousy, revulsion, and deep, deep admiration for his rival composer. As he gets closer to Mozart, he sees a similarly tortured soul, and for viewers, Mozart’s layers of caricature fade away.

Another biopic out of the tumult that was the United States in the 1960s, this 2001 masterpiece from director Michael Mann crosses between sports and politics with a hand as deft as its subject’s left. We see Muhammad Ali , played with remarkable complexity by Will Smith , from his first title fight to his famous knockout of George Foreman in the “Rumble in the Jungle.” All the while, we’re shown the unforgettable details that made him one of the greatest icons of the 20th century—notably, the grace with which he moved around the ring and the acid on his tongue in a pre-fight interview—as well as the almost unbearable heaviness he carried on his shoulders that came with being Muhammad Ali.

Raging Bull

Staying in the boxing ring, this is arguably the quintessential biopic and one of the most admired films by one of cinema’s most admired directors, Martin Scorsese . In it, Robert De Niro plays Jake LaMotta , the world middleweight champion from June 1949 to February 1951. The 1980 film explores the ups and downs of his fighting career, his mob connections (including an infamously thrown fight in 1947), and the always tumultuous, often rage-filled, and violent relationships he had with his wife, Vikie, and his brother and manager, Joey. De Niro won his second Oscar for playing LaMotta—a performance for which he gained 60 pounds to play an older version of the fighter.

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In the 1960s, big, booming historical epics were all the rage. Lawrence of Arabia , Dr. Zhivago —if it had a musical overture and an intermission, people were there and all about it. (It was kind of weird.) But one biographical film that came a little later (in 1981) stands out as an especially successful epic with a number of historical figures criss-crossing at a monumentally important historical event: the start of the Russian Revolution. Among the figures profiled in the underrated Reds are Jack Reed ( Warren Beatty , who also directed the film), a journalist and activist who wrote one of the defining portraits of this period; Louise Bryant ( Diane Keaton ), his counterpart and on/off romantic partner; famous American playwright Eugene O’Neill ( Jack Nicholson ); and feminist and anarchist Emma Goldman (Maureen Stapleton). And throughout, all of the individuals featured and events chronicled are given color through real-life interviews with men and women who were actually there.

Marie Antoinette

This 2006 biopic is straight vibes. Set in pre-Revolutionary France, it features Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette not even pretending to have an accent. Converse sneakers are famously seen in the background of a shot. And the soundtrack, featuring The Strokes and The Cure among others, couldn’t sound less appropriate for the period. But by severing the connection with the time period as harshly as—well, nevermind—director Sofia Coppola crafts something that’s able to gently remind viewers this movie is a relatively simple story about a young girl who embraces the luxury around her because she’s in an otherwise impossible situation.

Julie & Julia

This 2009 Nora Ephron –directed biopic earns inclusion on this list first and foremost thanks to a truly iconic performance from the great Meryl Streep as the beloved chef, author, and television personality Julia Child . She injects tremendous heart into the role without losing some of the quirky gestures that made so many people fall in love with Child, among them blogger Julie Powell ( Amy Adams ), whose journey with Child’s cooking elevates the film further into the pantheon of best biopics. It’s a unique approach that demystifies its subject by both showing us her life and showing someone else wrestling with it.

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An Angel at My Table

Janet Frame might not be a household name in America like other biopic subjects on this list, but hers was a life so full that a young New Zealand director named Jane Campion turned it into a true cinematic effort in 1990 in just her second feature film. Frame eventually became a renowned literary figure, and the film is based on three separate autobiographies she wrote covering different periods in her life, from childhood to adulthood. She suffered a number of personal tragedies early in her life and was later diagnosed (inaccurately) with schizophrenia. In the film’s most dramatic and pivotal scene, she learns that her first collection of short stories will be published just days before she’s scheduled to undergo a lobotomy.

Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin dissect one of the most influential individuals of the past century (you’re quite possibly reading this article on one of his devices) in this 2015 biopic. When you picture Steve Jobs in your head, you probably imagine him in black on a stage introducing a product, and this film takes place on three such days across a roughly 15-year span. But while he looks the part, Michael Fassbender’s Jobs is instead shown as vain, short-tempered, and vindictive. It’s a harsh juxtaposition, but as a biopic, it’s a fascinating experiment that is also very well-acted and relentlessly paced.

John Gilpatrick is a freelance writer and film critic from the Lehigh Valley, PA. He loves movies about space and movies about oil drillers (especially when they go together). He also thinks the Star Wars prequels are mostly OK and that Ivan Reitman's Draft Day is a low-key masterpiece. He is a member of the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS). You can read more of his reviews and columns at JohnLikesMovies.com .

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The 25 best biopics of all time – ranked

From 'Malcolm X' to 'Oppenheimer': the greatest movies inspired by great lives

Hollywood has always loved a biopic – and not just Hollywood. Abel Gance’s legendary silent epic Napoléon and Carl Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc both created early blueprints for biographical cinema. But let’s not kid ourselves: it’s American cinema that has developed the biggest passion for putting the lives of great men and women – and some not-so-great-ones – up in lights. And the early ’80s are when the biopic really kicked up a gear, with films like Raging Bull (about Jake LaMotta), Coal Miner's Daughter (Loretta Lynn) and The Elephant Man (Joseph Merrick) all vying for Best Picture at 1980’s Oscars. This year, Oppenheimer and Maestro have continued the awards season sideline in teaching us all about Important People. But not all biopics are created equal. The list below singles out the ones that do more than just offer a Wikipedia-like trawl through a life’s events, however eventfully lived. Those flavourless films – J Edgar , Diana etc – often prove far less illuminating than a good hour-long History Channel doc. Instead, we’ve picked films that put fresh spins on famous figures, reframe their lives in insightful ways, and use the language of cinema to lend them grandeur and context in all kinds of memorable ways. Welcome to the cinema of icons. 

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Been there, done that? Think again, my friend.

1.  Napoléon (1927)

Move over Joaquin and Ridley , because Abel Gance’s iconic silent epic – all six-ish hours of it – is still the definitive depiction of the diminutive Corsican– yes, including Bill & Ted’s . Played by the gaunt Albert Dieudonné and taking in battles, politics and the young Bonaparte’s famous , it’s a tour de force of cinematic craft, with Gance employing an extraordinary array of techniques to bring this action-packed life to audiences in the late ’20s. Thanks to Kevin Brownlow’s loving restoration, it’s in fighting fettle nearly a century later. It doesn’t cover his entire life – Austerlitz, the retreat from Moscow and defeat at Waterloo were all destined to appear in further films Gance never got to make – but there’s enough Revolutionary-era detail for even the most dedicated sans culotte .

2.  Andrei Rublev (1966)

A bad biopic will just plod dutifully through history. For Andrei Tarkovsky, the form offered the chance to philosophise about creative and religious freedom, and explore the tension between his subject, the titular 15th century Russian icon painter, the chaotic medieval landscape he inhabited and the filmmaker’s own Communist homeland. In other words, to go full Tarkovsky. The result is one of the most stunning films of the ’60s, a black-and-white masterpiece embroidered with extraordinary visuals: the hot air balloon, the Tartars’ attack, the casting of the bell, and the weathered face of Rublev himself. Fun fact: his co-writer Andrei Konchalovsky went on to direct Tango & Cash . A tenner if you can find thematic overlap.

3.  Raging Bull (1980)

Some biopics cast such a long shadow they end up eclipsing their subject in public imagination. Old-school boxing fans know Jake LaMotta was a real fighter – and a real asshole – and not just a creation of Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. But in the cultural consciousness, De Niro is Jake LaMotta. And really, he might as well be, given how deeply he inhabits the role of a violent man increasingly unable to differentiate between a prize fight and everything else in his life. It’s a brutal but necessary portrait of male ugliness, made beautiful by Scorsese’s equally operatic and hallucinogenic visual style.

4.  Malcolm X (1992)

If any figure’s life deserves the cradle-to-grave treatment, it’s Malcolm X – and if any director is qualified to film his story with the breadth it requires, it’s Spike Lee. Lee refuses to sand down the edges of the Civil Rights icon’s biography, and in the process revivifies the three-dimensional image of a complex leader that had been flattened into a militant caricature through decades of purposeful revisionism. But the ace, of course, is Denzel Washington, who so fully embodies the activist at each stage of his life – from hoodlum to revolutionary to martyr – that when younger generations think about Malcolm X, he’s the person they see. 

5.  Amadeus (1984)

Miloš Forman’s opulent, stormy period piece about maverick musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the great biopics. Adapting his own play, writer Peter Shaffer keeps the ingenious framing device of capturing Wolfie’s life in flashback through the eyes of his bitter rival Salieri. It lets us see what he sees, but encourages us to take a lot more pleasure in it all, until the charm wears off and the story sours. It’s as light and effortless as a fairy tale – all grand balls, OTT costumes and gossipy salons – but as immaculately constructed as a Mozart concerto. The brilliant Tom Hulce plays Mozart as a giggly manchild, while the equally formidable F Murray Abraham drips venom as the scheming Salieri.

6.  Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)

Paul Schrader tackles the life, career and incredibly violent death of Japanese writer and artist Yukio Mishima in a film that shows a good biopic can make dramatic hay from even the most unlikeable figures. Because, make no mistake, Mishima is a bit of a douche: an avatar for toxic masculinity and regressive nationalism who’d no doubt be a social media superstar these days. Schrader’s cleverly constructed, wildly imaginative epic finds beauty in his art and lurid colour in his life, framing it via stagily avant garde dramatisations with Philip Glass’s legendary score lending it all added grandeur.

7.  The Elephant Man (1980)

• Action and adventure

David Lynch tamped down his surrealist impulses for his first major studio film, but when the source material is the true story of a 19th century freakshow exhibit turned bon vivant, what dreamy embellishments do you really need? Born with severe physical deformities science still hasn’t fully explained, Joseph Merrick nevertheless became the toast of London in the late 1800s when he was discovered to be far more erudite than his appearance suggested. John Hurt works wonders under an intensely cumbersome amount of make-up, literally straining to bring Merrick’s humanity to the surface. And while it might play more conventionally than just about anything Lynch did after, the director still imbues the film with a signature sense of unease.

8.  Patton (1970)

Flawed geniuses make great biopic subjects. Flawed heroes maybe even more so. General George S Patton, a hard-charging tank commander during World War II, is definitely one of the latter and depending on which historian you ask, maybe the former too. Embodied by the hardly mild-mannered George C Scott, a role for which he won, and subsequently declined, an Oscar, his wartime experiences make an electrifying case study of almost deranged drive and purpose. The film also makes a fascinating case study in leadership, with the screenplay, co-written by Francis Ford Coppola, never excusing the man’s brutal excesses – including the shellshocked G.I. he infamously slapped.

9.  Lawrence of Arabia (2012)

Condensing a great man’s life into a bum-friendly two-plus-hours is the kind of daunting task that David Lean’s widescreen epic makes no effort to attempt. Instead, over 227 minutes this remarkable film recreates the rise of TE Lawrence (Peter O’Toole) from humble army office to leader of the Arab tribes in World War I on the biggest imaginable canvas. That’s not to say it’s all strictly accurate. Despite being based on Lawrence’s own account of the war, ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’, it drew criticism for its depictions of Arabs in the story (Alec Guinness’s Prince Faisal, in particular), and it failure to include a single female character (British orientalist Gertrude Bell was a key figure in the story). But some British bias aside, much of what’s here is close to what happened IRL. 

10.  Oppenheimer (2023)

Christopher Nolan’s doomy portrait of the father of the atomic age will be forever linked to a movie about a plastic doll come to life . But it’s not really such a harsh juxtaposition – for all its physics talk and Senate hearings and apocalyptic visions, Oppenheimer would still qualify as blockbuster movie-making even if it didn’t wind up half of the #Barbenheimer phenomenon. Cillian Murphy is simply that captivating as J Robert Oppenheimer, the inventor of the weapon that may still annihilate us all, and the movie is simply that big: a three-hour exploration of guilt, war, death and marriage that overwhelms your attention with sheer density.

11.  The Last Emperor (1987)

This sweeping epic about Aisin Gioro Puyi, China’s last monarch, is one for all the they-don’t-make-’em-like-they-used-to heads out there. And Bernardo Bertolucci’s sweeping, nine-Oscars-winning movie really does feel like an offering from another era – not least because China is unlikely to be lending 19,000 soldiers to a Hollywood studio anytime soon, or handing over the keys to Beijing’s Forbidden City. That’s the backdrop to the film’s most famous shot: a toddler-aged Puyi standing before a vast crowd of his subjects. Despite being based on Puyi’s autobiography – or maybe because of it – The Last Emperor was called out for soft-soaking his cruelty. But as an depiction of 60 years of chaos and change, it’s still jaw-dropping.

12.  Ed Wood (1994)

Ed Wood is often laughed off as the worst director of all-time, but as time has gone on, and we’ve seen filmmakers do far worse with much bigger budgets, it’s easier to appreciate him as one of cinema’s truest believers, driven to serve his vision as best he could. That doesn’t make his movies any better, nor his technical ineptitude any less funny. But Tim Burton’s loving reappraisal manages to laugh with admiration rather than derision, to the point of looking and feeling like one of Wood’s films, at least in terms of vibe and not, like, visible boom mics. Johnny Depp is enthusiastically daft in the lead, and finds true warmth in his friendship with Martin Landau’s ageing, broken-down Bela Lugosi.

13.  Spartacus (1960)

‘I’m Spartacus!’ ‘No, I’m Spartacus!’ The stand-up-and-cheer moment in Stanley Kubrick’s CinemaScope epic feels much more Tinseltown than Ancient Rome, but the film around it is all based on real events. Specifically, a slave revolt against the Romans led by a Thracian slave in 71 BC. Famously, Kubrick directed it as a hired gun at the behest of its star Kirk Douglas, and it’s Kubrickian more in spectacle than style or theme – with the big battles and colosseum scenes making it the Gladiator of its day. It came with uncanny historical resonance, too: screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was blacklisted as one of the Hollywood 10 and for a time, was denied credit on the film. His Spartacus moment took a lot longer to happen, but he got a much happier ending ( and a Bryan Cranston film made about him ). 

14.  Persepolis (2008)

There’s not a load of animated biopics but those there are, are great. Studio Ghibli’s The Wind Rises , about fighter plane pioneer Jiro Horikoshi, is one such. Flee , about Afghan refugee Amin Nawab, is another. But Marjane Satrapi's adaptation of her own graphic novel about her childhood in Iran may be the best of the lot. It follows a young Satrapi as she tries to coexist peacefully with the Iranian Revolution, a feat made much tougher by her, a) being a woman, and b) having a mind of her own. The animation, aping the style of the book’s black-and-white illustrations, gives this touching, but punky coming-of-age story an aesthetic all of its own. 

15.  A Hidden Life (2020)

It’s noteworthiness rather than just notoriety that drives a good biopic. Franz Jägerstätter, played with rugged stoicism by Inglourious Basterds’ August Diehl, probably wouldn’t have ended up with a film made about his life had fate not reached into his bucolic corner of the Austrian Alps in the early 1940s. But the sheer courage and spiritual principle displayed by this humble family man in the face of the moral depravity of the Nazi state provide Terrence Malick’s stirring  film with a chance to elevate him from history’s marginalia. A hidden life no more.

16.  Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980)

The tropes of the musical biopic had not yet been fully codified when Michael Apted adapted country icon Loretta Lynn’s rags-to-riches story, but even now that they’ve been trod into dust, Coal Miner’s Daughter remains uniquely moving. You know the major beats: a girl is born into poverty, marries young, survives abuse and myriad other hardships, then succeeds beyond anybody’s wildest expectations. But Apted and stars Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones string the familiar narrative together with such well-observed humanity that it feels less like standard Hollywood biography and something closer to a folk tale.

17.  Walk the Line (2005)

Casting is always crucial in biopics, but if you’re making a movie about Johnny Cash and June Carter, it’s everything : if the chemistry between your leads is less than electric, you’re done for. Thankfully, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon just about set the screen ablaze, he as country music’s ultimate voice of the voiceless, she as the beacon of light guiding him through his own personal darkness. Their shared authenticity – in both their onstage duets and offstage quarrels – elevates the film above its ‘behind the music’ cliches. That didn’t prevent it from being cut in half pretty bad by the hilarious parody Walk Hard – but if it helped bring the world Dewey Cox, that only makes it better.

18.  I'm Not There (2007)

Dylanology has been an unofficial field of academic study since the ’60s, so there’s little anyone could possibly gain from a straightforward Bob Dylan biopic. Wisely, in I’m Not There , Todd Haynes does the exact opposite of ‘straightforward’, taking a more symbolic approach in examining the towering musician’s muses and mythos. Six different actors portray various Dylanesque personae, none of them actually named Bob Dylan. Most memorable is Cate Blanchett as folk singer Jude Quinn, basically an alternate-reality version of Dylan circa his electric conversion. It’s a fascinating experiment that’s sometimes also inscrutable – as anything truthful to this particular subject should be.

19.  Lincoln (2013)

Actors have gone to great lengths in prepping to play historical figures before. Daniel Day-Lewis levelled up, however, as Abraham Lincoln, asking to be addressed as ‘Mr President’ on set and not breaking character for three months, even in the car to work. Which may, thinking about it, have been a carriage. But such is the burden of depicting a figure of the magnitude of Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s serious-minded history, and the results are extraordinary. The film isn’t too shabby either. Tony Kushner’s screenplay, based Doris Kearns Goodwin’s famous Lincoln biography ‘Team of Rivals’, saupercharges Congressional debates and policy-making summits with the urgency of a thriller. Legislation drafting has never been this exciting.

20.  I, Tonya (2017)

Not even the trashiest Lifetime screenwriter could script a scandal as perfect as the one that enveloped US figure skating in 1994: all-American ice princess Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed in the knee by an unknown assailant. The suspect? Her chief rival, trailer park roughneck Tonya Harding. It was world-class tabloid fodder – but tabloids, of course, have little use for nuance or empathy. Director Craig Gillespie doesn’t rehabilitate Harding, exactly, but brings the circumstances of her life into better view, while still recognising the dark absurdity of the controversy that made her famous. Margot Robbie proved her range in the lead role, but it was Allison Janney, as her abusive, chain-smoking mother, who rightly won all the awards.

21.  Control (2007)

Anton Corbijn is uniquely suited to make a movie about late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis: he jump started his photography career in the ‘70s by shooting the band for NME, and later directed a posthumous video for their song ‘Atmosphere’. No wonder, then, that the movie looks like how the band sounded: monochrome and austere, yet starkly beautiful. As you’d expect of a film about a musician who hung himself at age 23, the prevailing mood of Control is somber, but Sam Riley gives Curtis a detectable heartbeat, portraying him as a man capable of love (and even humour), but only from a distance.

22.  Ray (2005)

Narratively, Taylor Hackford’s look at the life and times of Ray Charles is Music Bio 101, charting the legendary entertainer’s rise from blind prodigy to American icon, with all the attendant battles against sin and vice in between. What earns it a place on this list is Jamie Foxx, who doesn’t so much embody Charles but fuse with his DNA like the alien in The Thing . Foxx doesn’t just burrow under his skin – although the surface-level impression is uncanny – but into his heart, brain and everything else, drawing far more out of the performance than the script seemed to offer him.  

23.  Man on the Moon (1999)

Self-described ‘song and dance man’ Andy Kaufman dedicated his life and career to inscrutability, to the point that the ‘real Andy’ became unknowable, perhaps even to the comedian himself. In lieu of separating fact from fiction, Milos Forman’s biopic simply reiterates the legend. Is there much to learn from restaging Kaufman’s greatest hits, like the wrestling matches and Mighty Mouse and the milk-and-cookies stunt from Carnegie Hall, even with the fine detail Forman provides them? Not really. But Jim Carrey famously poured himself into portraying Kaufman with such scary accuracy that it goes beyond movie acting and becomes a form of performance art in itself – perhaps the most appropriate tribute you can offer him.

24.  Rocketman (2019)

If you only watch one biopic about a flamboyant British musical superstar who loves a party, make it Rocketman rather than Bohemian Rhapsody . Dexter Fletcher ended up working, uncredited, to finish the Freddie Mercury movie just before he tackled Elton John’s life. He saved all the magic for this one, sketching out a vivid fantasia that feels entirely in keeping with the pop star’s bonkers life, and adopting the grammar of movie musicals to  swerve the tired clichés that blight so many biopics . Elton’s suicide attempt, flowing from swimming pool to hospital in one shot and accompanied by the title song, is sheer, drug-addled wonderment.

25.  Elvis (2022)

It might have been Harry Styles. It might even have been Miles Teller. The fact that it’s Austin Butler, a hitherto barely known actor with only a passing resemblance, who ended up playing Elvis demonstrates that charisma flows in both directions when you’re playing a superstar. Not to say that Butler doesn’t have the goods: he’s magnetic, whether gyrating on stage and rocketing up the hit parade, or being believably damaged during the crash landing of the Vegas years. Tom Hanks’s rubbery Colonel Parker aside, Baz Luhrmann’s rock ‘n’ roll Babylon is the best kind of gaudily OTT real-life spectacle.

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It's in our nature to show interest in prominent figures who have shaped the world we live in today. Whether those people are world leaders, musical prodigies, boxers, or activists, they have influenced and shaped our world in some way, shape, or form.

RELATED: 10 Best Biopic Movies of the 21st Century (So Far)

Over the years, filmmakers have taken a particular interest in retelling the stories of widely-known public figures to those who might not have known about their incredible impact and the stories that lie behind these legends or simply as a tribute to honor them.

‘Amadeus’ (1984) — 8.4/10

Released in 1984, Amadeus is a biographical film loosely based on the life of the Austrian musical prodigy , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . The film focuses on the personal struggles Mozart ( Tom Hulce ) faced in alcoholism, and his marriage, while simultaneously dealing with an envious rival, Antonio Salieri ( F. Murray Abraham ), who wants to destroy him at all costs.

Though there were many dramatized and fictionalized aspects of the film, the rivalry between Mozart and Salieri is loosely based on rumors dating back to the 1770s . Throughout the years, however, many published works suggest that historians have not been able to find any evidence of any signs of rivalry. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, of which it won eight, including the highly regarded Best Picture. It also won an additional 32 awards from other associations.

‘Gandhi’ (1982) — 8.1/10

Gandhi is a biographical film based on the events that occurred in the life of the adored Indian leader, Mohandas Gandhi (more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi). After spending most of his life experiencing India under British rule, Gandhi ( Ben Kingsley ) tries to stand up for his country. Owing to his extensive accomplishments for India and the world, it's no wonder the film has a longer than average running time of 191 minutes (3 hours and 11 minutes).

His non-violent approach through civil disobedience and efforts against the British eventually led to India’s long-awaited independence and earned him an international reputation as one of the most beloved world leaders today. The film was nominated for numerous awards and won many, including eight wins from the Academy Awards.

‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962) — 8.3/10

Lawrence of Arabia tells the story of a British Lieutenant T. E. Lawrence ( Peter O’Toole ), who, with extensive knowledge of Bedouin tribes (nomadic Arab tribes), is sent to Arabia to serve as the link between the Arabs and the British in their battle against the Turks. Against the order of his superior officer, Lawrence, along with Sherif Ali ( Omar Sharif ), commences on a long desert journey with the plan of attacking a Turkish port.

With a running time of nearly four hours (3 hours 42 minutes to be exact), most of the general audience would likely not want to commit to watching the film, but the film's commercial success has that proven wrong. Renowned film critic Roger Ebert noted that despite the lengthy running time, Lawrence of Arabia “is not dense with plot details. It is a spare movie in clean, uncluttered lines, and there is never a moment when we doubt the logistical details of the various campaigns.” The film won many accolades, including seven Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, and more.

RELATED: Elvis: 6 Best Music Biopics To Watch After Baz Luhrmann’s New Film

‘Schindler’s List’ (1993) — 9.0/10

Steven Spielberg ’s epic historical drama Schindler’s List is set in the Polish city of Kraków during World War II. The film is based on the heroic acts of a German industrialist, Oskar Schindler ( Liam Neeson ), and his vigorous attempts to save more than a thousand Polish-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust. When he sees how many refugees are ruthlessly killed by the heartless SS Amon Göth ( Ralph Fiennes ) in Kraków, Schindler begins to employ the Polish-Jewish refugees to work in his factories.

In 2018, The Los Angeles Times published an article titled “Why ‘Schindler’s List’ remains brilliant and troubling 25 years after its release”, noting that despite its brilliance, some were concerned about “whether it’s morally defensible to dramatize unspeakable horror and trauma via the language of mass entertainment.” Many stories, however, are asked to be told in a dramatized way movies are a more approachable and exciting medium for the general population to learn about history.

‘Malcolm X’ (1992) — 7.7/10

Spike Lee ’s self-titled biographical film, Malcolm X , is a tribute to the African-American activist Malcolm X (or Malcolm Little). The film explores X’s ( Denzel Washington ) whole life , from growing up in a poor household in rural Michigan to being arrested for performing robberies alongside his friend Shorty (Spike Lee) and a woman named Peg ( Debi Mazar ). While imprisoned, he meets another convict Baines ( Albert Hall ), who becomes a mentor to him and eventually converts him to Islam and consequentially as a member of the religious and political organization, the Nation of Islam.

Malcolm becomes highly invested in the group and idolizes its lifestyle teachings, such as resenting White people for mistreating his race. After being paroled from prison, Malcolm begins preaching and, years later, becomes the spokesperson of the Nation of Islam. However, after speaking out controversial statements and finding out that the group leader Elijah Muhammad ( Al Freeman Jr. ) is somewhat a hypocrite and has numerous children out of wedlock, he announces his loss of faith in Islam. Malcolm becomes the founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which is an organization that focuses on tolerance instead of racial separation.

‘Raging Bull’ (1980) — 8.2/10

The Hollywood biographical classic Raging Bull follows the story of an Italian-American middleweight boxer, Jake LaMotta ( Robert De Niro ). LaMotta's struggles were reflected in his career as a middleweight boxer. At age nineteen in 1941, he fell in love with a fifteen-year-old girl named Vickie ( Cathy Moriarty ), whom he married four years later in 1945.

LaMotta was always worried that Vickie was sleeping with other men, and this anxiety sent him into a downward spiral because that was the start of his uncontrollable rage. Ultimately, his life crumbles, leaving him with nothing but despair. Raging Bull has often been described as one of director Martin Scorsese ’s best directorial works , and the same goes for Robert DeNiro — one of his best performances as an actor.

RELATED: 10 Best Lookalike Actors In Biopics

‘The King’s Speech’ (2010) — 8.0/10

The King’s Speech is a historical drama film about Prince Albert and his journey to becoming King George VI ( Colin Firth ), who wanted to improve his speech impediment, a stammer. His wife, Queen Elizabeth I ( Helena Bonham Carter ), resorts to an Australian speech and language therapist, Lionel Logue ( Geoffrey Rush ), who she believed was the best person to help her husband.

Throughout the process, many doubted whether anyone would take his throne seriously, but with persistence and trust from the future King and Logue, they defied all odds. The future King finally gave his first radio wartime broadcast speech flawlessly. A first-class script, followed by the strong performances by Firth and Rush, led The King’s Speech to win 70 out of a staggering 185 nominations, including four Academy Awards, seven BAFTAs, and a Golden Globe Award.

‘GoodFellas’ (1990) — 8.7/10

GoodFellas follows the story of a mob associate named Henry Hill ( Ray Liotta ), who, having grown up in an environment amongst the mobs, becomes one himself. He begins working for a member of the Mafia, Paul Cicero ( Paul Sorvino ), along with his associates, Jimmy “the Gent” Conway ( Robert DeNiro ) and Tommy DeVito ( Joe Pesci ). Hill’s upbringing and those around him perhaps blur his moral values, and despite being a man who enjoys his money and the luxuries that come with it, he chooses to ignore the affliction he has caused others.

His morality worsens after struggling with drug addiction, and his carelessness causes him to lose everything he ever knew and had; money, luxury, self-respect, identity, and family. Master filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas has stood the test of time and earned the reputation of being one of the best gangster films ever made.

‘Braveheart’ (1995) — 8.4/10

The 1995 biographical film, Braveheart , is based on the history behind the late 13th-century Scottish warrior Sir William Wallace ( Mel Gibson ), who led his fellow Scots in the First War of Scottish Independence against England’s King Edward I ( Patrick McGoohan ). Wallace’s motivation started from a young age when King Edward I conquered Scotland and treated the Scottish disrespectfully. The English King later also executed Wallace's newly-married wife, Murron MacClannough ( Catherine McCormack ), after threatening to expose his soldiers who raped her.

Wallace’s long-pursued battle for Scottish independence led him to become the historic legend he is today. Braveheart went on to win many prestigious awards, including four Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

RELATED: 10 Best Award-Winning Historical Movies of All Time (in Chronological Order)

‘Patton’ (1970) — 7.9/10

Patton focuses on the life of the controversial American General, George S. Patton ( George C. Scott ). The film explores his accomplishments, starting from his first glory in the Battle of El Guettar in Tunisia and subsequently gaining the respect of the army officials and generals. It was his outspokenness and the controversial statements he made, however, which determined the consequential end to his career. He was removed from command for criticizing the US post-war military strategy and further comparing American politics to Nazism.

The epic historical drama became a cinema classic and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in the United States and the Academy Film Archive. Patton was nominated for ten Academy Awards, of which it won an impressive seven, and many more awards from other respected accolade associations.

KEEP READING: 7 Critically-Acclaimed Movies That People Might Not Realize Are Autobiographical