BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 356) — Today we're tackling all five movies in the storied Indiana Jones franchise that needs no further introduction. To help us separate fact from fiction, we'll learn from multiple Emmy-nominated director and producer Neil Laird.

Learn more about Neil's work

While his name may not be as popular as Indiana Jones, if you've watched programming on Discovery, BBC, PBS, History Channel, or National Geographic, then you're likely familiar with his work. From Mysteries of the Abandoned and Secrets of the Lost Ark to Forbidden History and Shark Week, Neil has produced over 100 programs around the globe that feature many of the real places and topics popularized by the Indiana Jones franchise.

Get Neil's latest book

Neil is also the author of the Jared Plummer vs the Ancient World series about a TV director who travels back in time to shoot the greatest documentary ever made. Currently, there are two books in the series, Prime Time Travelers which features Jared going back to ancient Egypt and Prime Time Pompeii.

Also mentioned in this episode

• Prime Time Travelers
• Prime Time Pompeii

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BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 355) — Today is the 83rd anniversary of the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor that was depicted in the 1970 movie Tora! Tora! Tora! Often praised for its accuracy, Tora! Tora! Tora! has also perpetrated some myths about what really happened.

Where to watch Tora! Tora! Tora! now

To help us separate fact from fiction, we'll be joined by Jon Parshall, an award-winning author who has worked as a historical consultant on numerous TV shows, and as a frequent lecturer at the U.S. Naval War College, the National World War II Museum, the Nimitz Museum, just to name a few.

Get updates on Jon's new book at 1942book.com

Also mentioned in this episode

• Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully's Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
• Day of Infamy, 60th Anniversary: The Classic Account of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor by Walter Lord
• At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor by Gordon Prange with Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon
• Tora! Tora! Tora!: Pearl Harbor 1941 by Mark Stille
• Pearl Harbor by H.P. Willmott
• No One Avoided Danger: NAS Kaneohe Bay and the Japanese Attack of 7 December 1941 by J. Michael Wenger, Robert J. Cressman, and John F. Di Virgilio

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BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 354) — Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, we're walking into Casablanca on this episode to answer: How historically accurate is the movie? 

Where to watch Casablanca now

Helping us separate fact from fiction is Bob LeMent from Static Radio.

Listen to Bob's show at StaticRadio.com

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BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 353) — During the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the United States sent shockwaves around the world as they upset the four-time defending gold medalist Soviet Union team in a game that would go on to be called the "Miracle on Ice." That story is told in the 2004 Disney movie we'll be talking about today.

Where to watch Miracle now

To help us separate fact from fiction, we'll be talking to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame coach Lou Vairo. Most relevant to our discussion today among Lou's long list of achievements was as a scout for the U.S. Men's Ice Hockey Team at the 1980 Winter Olympics which is depicted in the movie. So, he was there for a lot of the events depicted in the movie and will share a lot of behind the scenes of the true story.

Get Lou's new autobiography

Also mentioned in this episode

• Lou Vairo's bio at the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

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BOATS THIS WEEK (OCT 14-20, 2024) — This Wednesday is the anniversary of Marie Antoinette's execution in 1793 that we saw inn the opening sequence of Ridley Scott's Napoleon (2023). After that, we'll travel exactly 169 years from 1793 to 1962, because Wednesday is also depicted in Thirteen Days (2000) as it's showing the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis. For our final historical event from the movies this week, we'll hop to October 19th, 1781 as it's shown in The Patriot (2000) to see how it shows the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. 

After learning about this week's birthdays from historical figures in the movies, we'll wrap up this episode by comparing history with another of Ridley Scott's movies, The Last Duel, which released in the U.S. on October 15th, 2021. Finally, we'll get a little behind the scenes update about BOATS This Week episodes for the remainder of 2024.

Until next time, here's where you can continue the story.

Events from this week in history

• Wednesday: Napoleon (2023) | BOATS Napoleon Miniseries
• Wednesday: Thirteen Days (2000)
• Saturday: The Patriot (2000) | BOATS #60

Birthdays from this week in history

• Monday: Dwight D. Eisenhower in The Longest Day (1962)
• Wednesday: Oscar Wilde in Wilde (1997)
• Sunday: Mickey Mantle in 61* (2001)

Historical movies releasing this week in history

• Tuesday: The Last Duel (2021)

Mentioned in this episode

• JFK's October 22nd, 1962 speech
• Cuban Missile Crisis timeline
• Eric Jager's book that they based The Last Duel on
• Eric Jager's article
• Modern-day photos of Saint-Martin-des-Champs

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BOATS THIS WEEK (OCT 7-13, 2024) — 57 years ago tomorrow, Che Guevara was captured in Bolivia just before his execution. Then, two years later, Omar Sharif portrayed him in the movie version of Che's story that we'll compare to the true story of this week's event. Then, we'll shift to Eight Men Out because as baseball season comes to a close, one of the darkest moments in Major League Baseball history happened this week back in 1919. 

This Saturday marks the anniversary of Christopher Columbus making landfall, which was shown in the movie 1492: Conquest of Paradise. For this week's historical movie release, the Tom Hanks movie Captain Phillips was released 11 years ago this Friday.

Until next time, here's where you can continue the story.

Events from this week in history

• Tuesday: Che! | BOATS #115
• Wednesday: Eight Men Out | BOATS #132
• Saturday: 1492: Conquest of Paradise | BOATS #186

Birthdays from this week in history

• Wednesday: Eugene Bullard in Red Tails
• Friday: Eleanor Roosevelt in The First Lady
• Sunday: Jane Grey in Becoming Elizabeth

Historical movies releasing this week in history

• Friday: Captain Phillips | BOATS #28

Mentioned in this episode

• Meet Félix Rodríguez, The CIA Operative Who Captured Che Guevara And May Have Tortured A DEA Agent by Marco Margaritoff
• Infamous America's and the Black Sox Scandal
• A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty

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BOATS THIS WEEK (SEP 30-OCT 6, 2024) — Thousands of years ago this week, Alexander the Great fought his final decisive battle against Darius III so we'll start our journey by comparing the true story of Gaugamela with the battle in 2004's Colin Farrell movie. Then we'll hop onto the baseball field because tomorrow, October 1st, 1961, is when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's MLB home run record. We'll learn about the Billy Crystal-directed movie called 61* (we'll learn about the * in the movie's title in the episode).

For our third event from this week in history according to the movies, we'll learn about the Battle of Mogadishu—or, as it's commonly called, the Black Hawk Down Incident. That happened on Thursday this week, October 3rd, 1993. Then, after a few historical birthdays from this week in history, we'll wrap up today's episode by comparing history with 2010's The Social Network.

Until next time, here's where you can continue the story.

Events from this week in history

• Monday: Alexander | BOATS #157
• Tuesday: 61*
• Thursday: Black Hawk Down | BOATS #105

Birthdays from this week in history

• Wednesday: Paul von Hindenburg in Hitler: Rise of Evil
• Wednesday: Mahatma Gandhi in Gandhi
• Saturday: Ray Kroc in The Founder

Historical movies releasing this week in history

• Tuesday: The Social Network

Mentioned in this episode

• Steven Bertoni's article on Sean Parker
• Wall Street Journal article on Peter Thiel and Facebook's political ads
• Baseball this week: See "The Whammer" in The Natural
• Baseball this week: Say Hey, Willy Mays!

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BOATS THIS WEEK (SEP 23-29, 2024) — AMC's Turn: Washington's Spies shows us how Benedict Arnold's treason was discovered back on September 24th, 1780. The next day, on Wednesday this week, marks the anniversary of Operation Market Garden coming to a close, which we see in the classic film A Bridge Too Far. And then The Godfather, Part III has a key plot point surrounding a very real event that happened on September 26th, 1978: The death of Pope John Paul I.

This week's movie premiere to compare with history is the 2000 sports drama Remember the Titans, which has its 24-year anniversary this Sunday.

Until next time, here's where you can continue the story.

Events from this week in history

• Tuesday: Turn: Washington's Spies | BOATS #139
• Wednesday: A Bridge Too Far
• Thursday: The Godfather, Part III

Birthdays from this week in history

• Wednesday: Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty | BOATS #156
• Thursday: T.S. Eliot in Tom & Viv
• Friday: Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici in Medici

Historical movies releasing this week in history

• Sunday: Remember the Titans

Mentioned in this episode

• Turn: Washington's Spies: The "Treason House" where Arnold and Andre met this week in history

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BOATS THIS WEEK (SEP 16-22, 2024) — Tuesday is the 99th anniversary of the bus accident that changed Frido Kahlo's life, and we'll learn more about the way the movie Frida shows it happening. After that we'll jump to the movie with Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin for his being kicked out of the U.S., which happened 72 years ago on Thursday this week. Then we'll learn a bit about the start of an adventure that ended this week in history when The Hobbit was published on September 21st, 1937.

Finally, Wednesday is the release anniversary of a classic Martin Scorsese gangster movie releasing, so we'll wrap up this week by learning more about the true story of Goodfellas.

Until next time, here's where you can continue the story.

Events from this week in history

• Tuesday: Frida
• Thursday: Chaplin | BOATS #283
• Saturday: Tolkien | BOATS #141

Birthdays from this week in history

• Wednesday: Greta Garbo in The Silent Lovers
• Friday: Maxwell Perkins in Genius
• Friday: "Red" Auerbach in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty

Historical movies releasing this week in history

• Wednesday: Goodfellas

Mentioned in this episode

• Scott Eyman's book Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided
• BBC documentary with Tolkien

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BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 347) — Travel back to the 1960s during the Vietnam War while historian Joshua Donohue unpacks the real events behind the 2002 film We Were Soldiers. From the crucial role of helicopter pilots in the heat of battle, to the heart-pounding "Broken Arrow" moment, discover what Hollywood got right and where it took creative liberties depicting the Battle of Ia Drang in We Were Soldiers.

Where to watch We Were Soldiers now

Where to start learning more of the true story

• We Were Soldiers Once...and Young
• Josh's article: Heroic Fight for Wake Island

Also mentioned in this episode

• Wikipedia's map of the battle
• Records about Ia Drang at the Library of Congress

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BOATS THIS WEEK (SEP 9-15, 2024) — Tuesday this week marks the anniversary of the Battle of Marathon, which we see in the movie 300: Rise of an Empire. Then, of course, we'll be looking at this week's anniversary of the 9/11 attacks from the movie United 93. For our third historical event, we'll learn about A Star-Spangled Story and how an event from this week in history inspired the U.S. national anthem. We'll also learn about the true story behind The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which released exactly 19 years ago today.

Did you enjoy this episode? Support the next one!

Events from this week in history

• Tuesday: 300: Rise of an Empire
• Wednesday: United 93 | BOATS #113
• Saturday: A Star-Spangled Story

Birthdays from this week in history

• Thursday: Henry Hudson in The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson
• Friday: Daniel Defoe in Robinson Crusoe
• Sunday: Marco Polo in Marco Polo

Historical movies released this week in history

• Friday: The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Also mentioned in this episode

• 300: Rise of an Empire: Based on a True Story episode #5 about 300
• 300: Rise of an Empire: Photos from the battlefield at Marathon as it looks today
• 300: Rise of an Empire: Map of the Battle of Marathon
• 300: Rise of an Empire: More about the Battle of Marathon's affect on democracy today
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose: The Windsor Star 1978 article interviewing the priests
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose: National Catholic Register article about the 1998 revised rite of exorcism
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