Are Movies based on Fact really based on Fact?

Posted by hollywoodland (maggie@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 8, 2007

It’s not often so much relevant information can be found on any one website as can be found on Film School Rejects … unless you count chasingthefrog.com. We’re not talking about reviews, opinions or even gossip, just facts.

Chasingthefrog.com has well-documented true and false info on movies allegedly based on fact, citing sources from Salon.com to NPR and often, the subject herself, as in the case of Erin Brockovich-Ellis. Pictures are also supplied of the real character as well as the actor who portrayed that character.

Following are a few excerpts to whet your appetite for truth:

GOODFELLAS

How many times is the ‘F’ word used in the film?

According to soyouwanna.com, the ‘F’ word is used 246 times. This may top the Eminem film 8 Mile, which usatoday.com cited as having more than 150 uses of the ‘F’ word. If anybody has a reference to an exact number for 8 Mile, please send it along.

Is Henry Hill the only character in Goodfellas who is based on a real life mobster?

No. The other characters represent real life mobsters except their names were changed. Jimmy “The Gent” Conway (Robert De Niro) is Jimmy Burke, Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) is Tommy DeSimone (nephew of former Los Angeles boss Frank DeSimone) and Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino) is Paul Vario.

Did Karen Hill really flush a kilo of coke down the toilet when the police raided the house?

No, this was likely added to heighten the tension of that particular scene.

Does Henry Hill find the Sopranos an accurate portrayal of the mob?

In a Court TV online chat session, Henry said the following about the Sopranos,
“The Sopranos is the closest thing to the real life that I’ve ever seen. And if Tony Soprano would move into Bensonhurst or Harlem he would fit in as a Capo. His cookbook sucks, though. It’s the only thing phony about the show.”

Does Henry Hill have a website?

Yes. Henry Hill does have a website. You can find it at goodfellahenry.com. Be sure to check out the “Threat of the Week,” but mind the profanity.

HOLLYWOODLAND

Did Eddie Mannix murder his previous wife, as suggested in the film?

Eddie Mannix was in fact accused of staging the murder of his first wife Beatrice. She died in 1937 in what many believe was a “make believe” high speed car crash. The incident also raised questions because mobster Al Wertheimer was involved in the accident. -thedesertsun.com

Did George’s dissatisfaction with being typecast into the Superman role really cause him to take his own life?

Although this is one of the angles that the film Hollywoodland takes, it is not necessarily the truth. The film fails to mention that even though production had ceased on the Superman television series on November 9, 1957, due to its popularity the producers had decided to shoot another two seasons worth of shows for release in 1960. Reeves had agreed to return and was given a substantial pay raise. -About.com

Was the movie’s portrayal of the crime scene accurate?

Yes. Reeves was pronounced dead in the early morning hours of June 16, 1959 (view the death certificate pic). There were in fact no powder marks or burns from the gun’s discharge found on Reeves’ head wound. These marks are usually present with a suicide. The bullet that killed Reeves was recovered from the bedroom ceiling. Reeves was found lying on his back on top of a spent shell casing, as the movie portrays. The gun was found on the floor between his feet. His hands were never tested for powder residue or none was ever found. The police determined that there was no sign of forced entry. As seen in the film, they did find two additional bullet holes in the bedroom floor, which were discovered at a later date. They had been covered over with a rug on the night of Reeves’ death, a rug that Gene LeBell claims did not belong there. A further examination revealed that the same Luger automatic that killed Reeves had fired them. -Sacramento Bee

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

How much of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is based on the real life murderer Ed Gein?

Despite being heavily touted as “inspired by a true story,” both Tobe Hooper’s original 1974 film and the 2003 Marcus Nispel remake are only lightly based on the real-life murderer Ed Gein, who is suspected to have taken several victims between 1954 and 1957. Perhaps the most recognizable similarity is the film’s house, whose gruesome content was similar to that found in Ed Gein’s home

Did the real Ed Gein ever wear a human’s face as a mask like Leatherface did in the film?

The real Ed Gein did wear a human’s scalp and face. The real Ed Gein did this however, to help quell his desire to be a woman, not because of a skin disease as with Leatherface in the film. Also included in his uniform, Ed Gein wore a vest of skin complete with breasts and female genitalia strapped above his own. -carpenoctem.tv

Who exactly was Ed Gein and why did he commit such atrocities?

Eddie Gein was the son of Augusta and George Gein. Augusta was a deeply religious woman, who preached the Bible to Eddie and his brother Henry on a daily basis. She warned them about the dangers of loose women, in an effort to keep them from being cast down to hell. She was a strict, hard woman, who never wavered from her own beliefs, which she ingrained into the family. Eddie’s father, George, was an alcoholic, and Augusta viewed him as being worthless. She began a grocery business in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and when she had saved enough money she moved the family away from the sin of the city to a farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin. Eddie grew up shy and was ignored by the other kids at school, who saw him as quiet and feminine. If he did try to make friends, his mother scolded him. As a result Eddie turned inward and began to reside in the dark corners of his mind.

He worshiped his mother, and grew upset when his brother Henry criticized her. On May 16, 1944, while fighting a brush fire near the farm, Eddie and Henry split up and went in different directions. After the fire had been extinguished, Eddie grew concerned because his brother had not returned. When police arrived Eddie lead them directly to his “missing” brother Henry, who was lying dead in an area untouched by the fire with bruises on his head. The shy and seemingly harmless Eddie was quickly dismissed as a suspect, and the coroner listed asphyxiation as the cause of death. - crimelibrary.com

Were any other films based on Ed Gein?

Both Norman Bates from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) and Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs (1991) were also loosely based on Ed Gein.

TITANIC

Were Jack and Rose based on real people?

No. Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater, portrayed in the movie by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, are almost entirely fictional characters (James Cameron modeled the character of Rose after American artist Beatrice Wood, who had no connection to Titanic history). The movie’s love story is also fiction. It was created by Titanic screenwriter and director James Cameron. In addition to Rose and Jack, a handful of other characters associated with them are fictional as well. They include Rose’s fianc© Caledon ‘Cal’ Hockley (Billy Zane), her mother Ruth (Frances Fisher), Cal’s valet Spicer Lovejoy (David Warner), and the third class passengers, who include Jack’s friends Fabrizio (Danny Nucci) and Tommy (Jason Barry). Some of the third class passengers were modeled after real people.

I heard there was a J. Dawson on board the Titanic, is that true?

Yes. A man who signed his name J. Dawson did board the Titanic. However, the J. stood for Joseph, not Jack. Born in Dublin, Joseph Dawson was a member of the Titanic crew. He worked as a coal trimmer (it was his job to even out the piles of coal that were shoveled into the ship’s furnaces). James Cameron said that he was not aware of Joseph Dawson until after finishing his Titanic screenplay. Still, lovestruck fans of the 1997 movie ventured to J. Dawson’s grave in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they left cinema stubs, personal photos, and pictures of Leonardo DiCaprio (the exact burial location is Grave 227 in Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia). Another coincidental character created by James Cameron was Jack’s Irish friend Tommy Ryan (Jason Barry). The ship’s manifest lists a Thomas Ryan, a 27-year-old steward from third class whose body, if recovered, was never identified.

Who sketched Jack’s drawing of Rose that we see in the movie Titanic?

Director James Cameron did the sketch of Rose (Kate Winslet) wearing the necklace. It is actually Cameron’s hand, not Leonardo DiCaprio’s, that we see sketching Rose in the movie. James Cameron also drew all of the pictures in Jack’s sketchbook.

Were the movie’s underwater shots of the Titanic wreckage real?

Yes. Most of the underwater shots of the Titanic wreckage are real. In 1995, James Cameron hired the Russian vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh and its two submersibles. He made a total of twelve dives to film the underwater close-ups at a depth of 12,500 feet below the North Atlantic. Special cameras and housings were designed to withstand the 6,000 pounds per square inch of water pressure. Each dive lasted approximately fifteen hours, but the cameras could only store 500 feet of film, which meant that only twelve minutes of footage could be shot per dive. As a result, a few of the underwater shots had to be faked.

Did the Titanic’s band continue to play as the ship went under?

Yes. 33-year-old Wallace Henry Hartley, a violinist, was the bandleader on the Titanic. Hartley (left) had a fianc©e in Boston Spa, near Wetherby in Yorkshire, and he had spent time with her before leaving on the Titanic. After the ship struck an iceberg, Wallace Hartley assembled his eight-man band, and they eventually ended up on the Boat Deck near the entrance to the Grand Staircase. There, they played ragtime and waltzes. Specifically, survivors reported them playing “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” and “In the Shadows”. No one is certain what the last song was that the band played as the ship went down. Newspapers reported that it was “Nearer, My God, To Thee” while some survivors said the tune was “Song d’Automne”. All of the band members perished in the Titanic sinking. Wallace Hartley’s body was recovered on May 4, 1912 by the cable ship Mackay-Bennett. Thousands of mourners lined the streets during his funeral procession in Colne, Lancashire, north-west of England. Wallace Hartley funeral See a picture of Wallace Hartley’s funeral procession. Jonathan Evans Jones, the actor who portrayed Wallace Hartley in James Cameron’s Titanic movie, is a professional violinist.

__________________________________

There are dozens more intriguing film facts at www.chasingthefrog.com, including stuff on 300, Bloodsport, and Donnie Brasco. They also cover movies based on books. If you’re into truth in film, this is a good site to add to your list.

| | Read more articles by hollywoodland