True Crime and Biography
Crime movies based on real people and real events
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- DirectorTimothy HinesStarsCaroline BarryChristopher LambertKelly LeBrockIn 1887, 23-year-old reporter Nellie Bly, working for Joseph Pulitzer, feigns mental illness to go undercover in notorious Blackwell's Island, a mental institution for women, to expose corruption, abuse, and murder.
- DirectorCraig GillespieStarsMargot RobbieSebastian StanAllison JanneyCompetitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the activity is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.
- DirectorScott CooperStarsJohnny DeppBenedict CumberbatchDakota JohnsonThe true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
- DirectorAndrew DominikStarsBrad PittCasey AffleckSam ShepardRobert Ford, who has idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the resurgent gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsRobert WagnerJeffrey HunterHope LangeBiopic loosely based on the last 18 years of Jesse James' life and focused on the relationship between brothers Jesse and Frank James.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsOrson WellesDean StockwellDiane VarsiTwo wealthy law-school students go on trial for murder in this version of the Leopold-Loeb case.
- DirectorTony GoldwynStarsHilary SwankSam RockwellMelissa LeoA working mother puts herself through law school in an effort to represent her brother, who has been wrongfully convicted of murder and has exhausted his chances to appeal his conviction through public defenders.
- DirectorMary HarronStarsHannah MurrayMatt SmithSosie BaconThe tragic tale of an all-American girl who was transformed into a cold-blooded killer in the summer of 1969.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsRobert De NiroMichelle PfeifferAlessandro NivolaThe fall of Bernie Madoff, whose Ponzi scheme robbed $65 billion from unsuspecting victims; the largest fraud in U.S. history.
- DirectorFernando León de AranoaStarsJavier BardemPenélope CruzPeter SarsgaardA journalist strikes up a romantic relationship with notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar.
- DirectorAdrian ShergoldStarsTimothy SpallJuliet StevensonEddie MarsanThe life and times of Albert Pierrepoint - Britain's most prolific hangman.
- DirectorPeter MedakStarsGary KempMartin KempBillie WhitelawThis fact-based movie follows the life of the twin crime-lords in London's '60s underworld.
- DirectorMike NewellStarsAl PacinoJohnny DeppMichael MadsenAn FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and finds himself identifying more with the Mafia life--at the expense of his regular one.
- DirectorJonathan HensleighStarsRay StevensonChristopher WalkenVincent D'OnofrioThe true story of Danny Greene, a tough Irish thug working for mobsters in Cleveland during the 1970's.
- DirectorBilly RayStarsChris CooperRyan PhillippeDennis HaysbertFBI upstart Eric O'Neill enters into a power game with his boss, Robert Hanssen, an agent who was put on trial for selling secrets to the Soviet Union.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsAl PacinoJohn CazalePenelope AllenThree amateur bank robbers plan to hold up a bank. A nice simple robbery: Walk in, take the money, and run. Unfortunately, the supposedly uncomplicated heist suddenly becomes a bizarre nightmare as everything that could go wrong does.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsCate BlanchettColin FarrellBrenda FrickerAn Irish journalist writes a series of stories about drug dealers.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLeonardo DiCaprioTom HanksChristopher WalkenBarely 17 yet, Frank is a skilled forger who has passed as a doctor, lawyer and pilot. FBI agent Carl becomes obsessed with tracking down the con man, who only revels in the pursuit.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsBrad DavisIrene MiracleBo HopkinsBilly Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.
- DirectorSteve CarverStarsBen GazzaraSusan BlakelyHarry GuardinoThe story of the rise and fall of the infamous Chicago gangster Al Capone and the control he exhibited over the city during the prohibition years.
- DirectorEdward James OlmosStarsEdward James OlmosWilliam ForsytheSal LopezA Mexican-American Mafia kingpin is released from prison, falls in love for the first time, and grows introspective about his gangster lifestyle.
- DirectorJean-Stéphane SauvaireStarsJoe ColeVithaya PansringarmCherry MikoThe true story of an English boxer incarcerated in one of Thailand's most notorious prisons as he fights in Muay Thai tournaments to earn his freedom.
- DirectorJoe BerlingerStarsLily CollinsZac EfronAngela SarafyanA chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy from the perspective of Liz, his longtime girlfriend, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
- DirectorScott WalkerStarsNicolas CageVanessa HudgensJohn CusackAn Alaska State Trooper partners with a young woman who escaped the clutches of serial killer Robert Hansen to bring the murderer to justice. Based on actual events.
- DirectorTom AntonStarsT.J. ThyneJaime KingJohn HawkesWith all the picturesque glamour of the 1940s, "The Pardon" recounts the unlikely true story of Toni Jo Henry. A grisly murder leads to a series of sensational trials in which she pleads her innocence; she was executed in Louisiana, 1942.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroRay LiottaJoe PesciThe story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.
- DirectorPhil KarlsonStarsJoe Don BakerElizabeth HartmanLeif GarrettBased on the life of Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, who almost single-handily cleaned up his small town of crime and corruption, but at a personal cost of his family life and nearly his own life.
- DirectorJack StarrettStarsBo SvensonLurene TuttleForrest TuckerBuford Pusser's last days as Sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee in 1970 and his subsequent death in 1974.
- DirectorEarl BellamyStarsBo SvensonLuke AskewBruce GloverSheriff Buford Pusser continues his one-man war against moonshiners and a ruthless crime syndicate after the murder of his wife in late-1960s Tennessee.
- DirectorJohn Lee HancockStarsKevin CostnerWoody HarrelsonKathy BatesThe untold true story of the legendary detectives who brought down Bonnie and Clyde.
- DirectorSimon RumleyStarsTerry StoneAndy BeckwithJosh MyersIn the 1930s, organized crime came to England. The Italian Sabinis and English White family in West End dominated the London underworld. Come WWII and Jack "Spot" took over and later Billy Hill.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsMichelle WilliamsChristopher PlummerMark WahlbergThe story of the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother to convince his billionaire grandfather Jean Paul Getty to pay the ransom.
- DirectorYann DemangeStarsMatthew McConaugheyRichie MerrittBel PowleyThe story of teenager Richard Wershe Jr., who became an undercover informant for the FBI during the 1980s and was ultimately arrested for drug-trafficking and sentenced to life in prison.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsChristopher LambertEd HarrisJoss AcklandA young priest speaks out against the Communist regime in Poland and is killed for it.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsJohn CusackClifton JamesJace AlexanderA dramatization of the Black Sox scandal when the underpaid Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to deliberately lose the 1919 World Series.
- DirectorRobert BudreauStarsEthan HawkeNoomi RapaceMark StrongBased on the absurd but true 1973 bank heist and hostage crisis in Stockholm that was documented in the New Yorker as the origins of the 'Stockholm Syndrome'.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroAl PacinoJoe PesciAn illustration of Frank Sheeran's life, from W.W.II veteran to hit-man for the Bufalino crime family and his alleged assassination of his close friend Jimmy Hoffa.
- DirectorKevin ConnollyStarsJohn TravoltaSpencer Rocco LofrancoKelly PrestonThe story of crime boss John Gotti and his son.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsPaul Walter HauserSam RockwellBrandon StanleySecurity guard Richard Jewell is an instant hero after foiling a bomb attack at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, but his life becomes a nightmare when the FBI leaks to the media that he is a suspect in the case.
- DirectorBrett HedlundStarsJacqueline ToboniMichael O'NeillTyler Jacob MooreA military veteran comes home to find her father harassed by a sheriff intent to confiscate the livestock on their ranch under shady pretenses.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsJason RobardsGeorge SegalRalph MeekerAl Capone's Valentine's Day surprise for the rival Bugs Moran gang in 1929 Chicago.
- DirectorJohn HillcoatStarsTom HardyShia LaBeoufGuy PearceSet in Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a trio of bootlegging brothers are threatened by a new special deputy and other authorities angling for a cut of their profits.
- DirectorGill DennisStarsScott PlankAnna GunnAndrew PrineThe story revolves around a possible conspiracy behind the real life murder of the Oregon's Head of Corrections Michael Francke.
- DirectorTom DeNucciStarsTheo RossiClive StandenSamira WileyIn 1975, a group of small time criminals attempt to pull off the biggest heist in American history: stealing over $30 million from the Mafia in the smallest state in the union, Rhode Island.
- DirectorAriel VromenStarsMichael ShannonChris EvansJames FrancoThe story of Richard Kuklinski, the notorious contract killer and family man. When he was finally arrested in 1986, neither his wife nor his daughters had any clue about his real profession.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsJosh HartnettAaron EckhartScarlett JohanssonTwo policemen see their personal and professional lives fall apart in the wake of the "Black Dahlia" Elizabeth Short murder investigation.
- DirectorCharles CorrellStarsCheryl LaddJameson ParkerG.W. BaileyA wife with a young family finds life becoming unbearable with her successful but violent and abusive husband. After filing for divorce, she quickly learns that her husband, through fear of his personal life embarrassing his clients, has commissioned an assassin to murder her before going to court. Unfortunately for him, the hired assassin turns out to be an FBI agent. The FBI convinces her that she must "pretend" to have been murdered in order to prove her husband's involvement. Based upon a true story.
- DirectorMick JacksonStarsJames WoodsMercedes RuehlLolita DavidovichLawyers and the media argue the alleged child abuse at the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach, California.
- DirectorMartin DavidsonStarsVirginia MadsenChris SarandonNed EisenbergA married man meets a beautiful woman and they begin an affair.
- DirectorBrendan MaherStarsGeorgie ParkerNicholas EadieDaniela FarinacciSocialite Paul King and his wife are reported missing with their luxury car, which is later found with the corpses, heads smashed. Sidney chief inspector Nazaretian, in charge, soon concentrates on her family, three heirs of which one is a non-snobbish outsider and their spouses, one of which plays a dirty game of disloyalty.