Historical Movie Review

The Conspirator (2010): the trial of Mary Surratt, one of the accused conspirators in the Lincoln assassination

Hell on Wheels (2011-): AMC series about the construction of the Union Pacific portion of the Transcontinental Railroad (WRITE ABOUT 2 OR MORE EPISODES)

Gangs of New York (2002): urban street gangs of New York during the 1860s

Molly Maguires (1970): Irish labor group following the Panic of 1873

Deadwood (2004-2006): Life in the illegal mining settlement of Deadwood in the Black Hills of South Dakota (WRITE ABOUT 2 OR MORE EPISODES)

Wyatt Earp (1994): life of western lawman Wyatt Erp, from cowtowns to mining towns

The Searchers (1956): fictional story of a Civil War veteran that returns to Texas to find his niece captured by Comanches and embarks on a long journey to get her back

Lonesome Dove (1989): Cattle drive from Texas to Montana

Dances With Wolves (1990): U.S. soldiers and Native Americans in the West after the Civil War

Geronimo: An American Legend (1993): story of Geronimo and the Chiricahua Apache as they resist the US reservation system

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007): HBO movie, Sioux Wars and Little Big Horn, reservation life, the Ghost Dance, and Wounded Knee

Rough Riders (1997) (TV): story of Theodore Roosevelt’s volunteer regiment during the Spanish-American War

Iron-Jawed Angels (2004): fight for women’s suffrage in the early 1900s

Godfather II (1974): the mafia during the 1920s and 1950s, based on the novel by Mario Puzo

Matewan (1987): 1920 West Virginia mining strike that turned violent

Rosewood (1997): violent lynch mob destroys a black community in the Deep South during the 1920s

Lawless (2012): dramatized version of the Franklin County Moonshine Conspiracy, prohibition-era Virginia

J. Edgar (2011): the life of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover

Boardwalk Empire (2010-2014): HBO series based on the illegal alcohol business and organized crime in Atlantic City, New Jersey during the era of National Prohibition (1920-1933) (WRITE ABOUT 2 OR MORE EPISODES)

The Untouchables (1987): federal government’s effort to bring down Al Capone

Modern Times (1936): Factory worker cracks under the strain of his job and goes nuts in the streets during the Great Depression

Grapes of Wrath (1940): Oklahoma farmers forced to move to California during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, based on the novel by John Steinbeck

The Great Debaters (2007): A newly formed debate team from Wiley College, a small black college in Marshall, Texas, went on to challenge the Harvard debate team for the 1935 national championship

Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970): attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II

Pearl Harbor (2001): attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II

Band of Brothers (2001): HBO miniseries based on Easy Company of the US Army 101st Airborne division in Europe during World War II (WRITE ABOUT 2 OR MORE EPISODES)

The Pacific (2010): HBO miniseries based on American Marines in the Pacific during World War II (WRITE ABOUT 2 OR MORE EPISODES)

Patton (1970): General George Patton during World War II

Saving Private Ryan (1998): World War II invasion of Normandy (D-Day) and beyond

Fury (2014): American tank crew in Europe during the final months of World War II

Tuskegee Airmen (1995) (HBO TV): African-American pilots in World War II

Red Tails (2012): African-American pilots in World War II

Zoot Suit (1981): A fictionalized version of the Sleepy Lagoon case and the Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots during World War II

Hiroshima (1995): the decision to use the atomic bomb during World War II

Emperor (2012): Post-World War II Japan, General Douglas MacArthur orders an investigation to determine if the Emperor of Japan should be tried as a war criminal.

MacArthur (1977): Douglas MacArther during World War II and the Korean War

The Good Shepherd (2006): the early history of the Central Intelligence Agency

Good Night, Good Luck (2005): broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow vs. Senator Joseph McCarthy

Thirteen Days (2000): JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis

Dr. Strange Love or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964): Cold War paranoia erupts into possible nuclear war

Mad Men (2007-2015): AMC series based around an ad agency during the 1960s (WRITE ABOUT 2 OR MORE EPISODES)

Malcolm X (1992): life of Malcolm X

Selma (2014): Martin Luther King, Jr. and the 1965 march for voting rights in Selma Alabama

Ali (2001): life of boxing legend Mohammad Ali

George Wallace (1997) (TV): Alabama governor George Wallace during the Civil Rights movement

Cesar Chavez (2014): Biographical story of labor leader and civil-rights activist Cesar Chavez

Walkout (2006): East Los Angeles student civil rights protests

Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight (2013): The politics and Supreme Court case surrounding Muhammad Ali’s refusal to fight in the Vietnam War based on his conscientious objection

We Were Soldiers (2002): Battle of Ia Drang during Vietnam War

Platoon (1986): American soldiers during the Vietnam War, based on the real life experiences of director Oliver Stone

All the Presidents Men (1976): journalists who broke the Watergate scandal

Narcos (2015-): Netflix Original Series about Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, cocaine, and the US “War on Drugs” (WRITE ABOUT 2 OR MORE EPISODES)

The Americans (2013-): FX series about deep-cover Soviet Agents during the 1980s (WRITE ABOUT 2 OR MORE EPISODES)

Charlie Wilson’s War (2007): The political side of the United States covert activities during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, 1979-1989

Too Big to Fail (2011) (TV): HBO movie chronicling the financial meltdown of 2008, and centering on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson