10 Hardest to Believe Movie Scenes That Really DID Happen
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VOICE OVER: Patrick Mealey
WRITTEN BY: Lindsey Clouse
Truth is stranger than fiction! Join us as we explore shocking moments from historical films that seem too incredible to be real. From heroic acts during Pearl Harbor to space mission ingenuity, these dramatic scenes actually happened exactly as portrayed on the silver screen. Our countdown includes incredible moments from "Apollo 13," "Schindler's List," "Hidden Figures," "Titanic," and more! These aren't just Hollywood dramatizations - they're real historical events that shaped our world. Which of these amazing true stories surprised you the most?
10 Hard-to-Believe Scenes in Historical Movies That Really DID Happen
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the scenes in period films that seem far-fetched, but are actually true to real life.
Most of the main characters in this Michael Bay war drama are fictional, but Doris Miller was a real person – and a real hero. When the attack on Pearl Harbor began, the mess attendant first helped move wounded men – including the ship’s captain – to safety. Then he jumped on one of the massive anti-aircraft machine guns and fired until he ran out of ammo. Despite never having been trained on the weapon, Miller took down at least two enemy planes. After that, he went back to moving the injured and is credited with saving numerous lives. There’s no question that he earned that Navy Cross. And in case you were wondering, the infirmary really did put donated blood in sterilized Coke bottles.
Imagine that you’re a doctor, and one of the greatest scientific minds in the world has just been admitted to your hospital with pneumonia. Would you just let him die? That almost happened to Stephen Hawking on a trip to Switzerland in 1985. By then, he was using a wheelchair and had difficulty speaking due to ALS. A Swiss doctor suggested to Hawking’s wife Jane that taking him off the ventilator would be the most humane option. “The Theory of Everything” plays fast and loose with the facts at times, but it got this scene right, as well as Jane’s response. After the incident, Hawking would go on to make many more scientific discoveries and finish his most popular book, “A Brief History of Time.”
It might seem unlikely that a man – even a crime boss – would beat another man to death with a baseball bat at a black tie gala. And it’s true – Al Capone didn’t do that in real life. He actually beat three men to death with bats. His rival, Joe Aiello, had talked three of Capone’s heavies into overthrowing him, and Capone found out about the plot. The brutal killings were probably intended to send a message about how dangerous Capone really was. Although some historians have questioned whether the stories of the beatings are true, researchers have found reports from the time period that seem to corroborate them. Al Capone was one bad dude.
Just about every scene of this movie is hard to believe, and yet most of them really happened. Stallworth really was a Black police detective who infiltrated the KKK with the help of a white colleague. When Grand Wizard David Duke traveled to Colorado, Stallworth was indeed assigned to be his personal security. However, Duke was there for a publicity tour, not to attend Stallworth’s initiation into the white supremacist group as the movie shows. But Stallworth did manage to get a photo with his arm around Duke, which Duke was not happy about. According to Stallworth’s memoir, that scene happened pretty much just as it did in the film.
This Martin Scorsese classic is loosely based on the book “Wiseguy,” a real-life account of the mob enforcer Henry Hill. Joe Pesci’s character, Tommy DeVito, was inspired by Tommy DeSimone, who was just as dangerous in reality as he is in the movie. According to Hill, Tommy shot Spider the bartender like he does in the film, although he probably didn’t make him dance first. Even crazier, that’s not the only time Pesci commits a barbaric act of violence in a Scorsese movie that’s based on real events. In “Casino,” he plays Nicky Santoro, who’s based on an actual wiseguy, Anthony Spilotro. And he really did torture a man by putting his head in a vice.
John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth, and it might never have happened without Katherine Johnson. She was one of the most brilliant minds of her generation, and NASA relied on her to calculate extremely complex launch and landing trajectories. That scene where Glenn refuses to fly unless Johnson verifies the landing coordinates? It actually happened. At the time, the IBM computer was pretty new, and the engineers at NASA didn’t totally trust it. But they did trust Johnson, and so did Glenn. In fact, Johnson was often asked to verify the IBM’s calculations. She worked on Alan Shepard’s first space flight, the moon landing, and helped the Apollo 13 crew get back to Earth safely. She was a true American hero.
The true story behind this scene is heartbreaking. The couple seen embracing each other as their cabin floods are Isidor and Ida Straus. They also appear in a deleted scene in which Ida refuses to leave Isidor. The real Isidor Straus was the co-owner of Macy’s department store and a U.S. Congressman. When the Titanic sank, an officer was willing to let both Isidor and Ida onto a lifeboat, but Isidor didn’t want to take a spot from the women and children. Ida wouldn’t leave her husband, and the two were last seen holding each other on the deck. Although the film is a mix of fact and fiction, the portrayal of the actual sinking is pretty accurate, including the ship breaking in half.
Steven Spielberg took great care to ensure that the violence and cruelty perpetrated by the Nazis were depicted accurately in his film. Although it’s shocking, the portrayal of Amon Göth’s sadism and brutality is no exaggeration. He was nicknamed “The Butcher,” and according to survivors, he entertained himself by torturing and killing concentration camp prisoners every single day. Not only did he shoot people from his balcony, he also trained his dogs to attack prisoners and tear them apart. Everyone in the camp was terrified of him. One of the Jews saved by Oskar Schindler said of the man, "When you saw Göth, you saw death."
This film isn’t just a graphic look at the horrors of slavery. It’s based on the real Solomon Northup’s autobiography, and it follows the book pretty closely. Tibeats actually existed, and he was just as evil as the film portrays him. When he tried to punish Solomon for basically no reason, Solomon fought back, and was almost hanged for it. In the movie, the scene plays out as it did in real life. The overseer prevents Tibeats and his cronies from killing Solomon, but leaves him hanging all day. The biggest difference is that in reality, Solomon was hanging in the sweltering Louisiana sun, not the shade. His suffering must have been unimaginable.
This Ron Howard film depicting the failed Moon mission is just about as accurate as a historical movie can be. The oxygen tank explosion and its aftermath are depicted correctly, and much of the dialogue is taken directly from NASA’s transcripts. After the tank blew up, the astronauts had to take refuge in the lunar module, which had enough oxygen for all of them. However, its CO2 filtration was only designed for two people. The astronauts and ground crew worked together to jerry-rig a device to adapt the command module’s filters for the lunar module. It was an incredible feat of human ingenuity, and it’s super satisfying to see Hollywood get it right. We just have one question: Why isn’t Katherine Johnson in this movie?
Which unbelievable scene blew your mind? Let us know in the comments.
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the scenes in period films that seem far-fetched, but are actually true to real life.
#10: Dorie Miller Guns Down Enemy Planes
“Pearl Harbor” (2001)Most of the main characters in this Michael Bay war drama are fictional, but Doris Miller was a real person – and a real hero. When the attack on Pearl Harbor began, the mess attendant first helped move wounded men – including the ship’s captain – to safety. Then he jumped on one of the massive anti-aircraft machine guns and fired until he ran out of ammo. Despite never having been trained on the weapon, Miller took down at least two enemy planes. After that, he went back to moving the injured and is credited with saving numerous lives. There’s no question that he earned that Navy Cross. And in case you were wondering, the infirmary really did put donated blood in sterilized Coke bottles.
#9: A Swiss Doctor Suggests Letting Stephen Hawking Die
“The Theory of Everything” (2014)Imagine that you’re a doctor, and one of the greatest scientific minds in the world has just been admitted to your hospital with pneumonia. Would you just let him die? That almost happened to Stephen Hawking on a trip to Switzerland in 1985. By then, he was using a wheelchair and had difficulty speaking due to ALS. A Swiss doctor suggested to Hawking’s wife Jane that taking him off the ventilator would be the most humane option. “The Theory of Everything” plays fast and loose with the facts at times, but it got this scene right, as well as Jane’s response. After the incident, Hawking would go on to make many more scientific discoveries and finish his most popular book, “A Brief History of Time.”
#8: Al Capone Beats a Man with a Bat
“The Untouchables” (1987)It might seem unlikely that a man – even a crime boss – would beat another man to death with a baseball bat at a black tie gala. And it’s true – Al Capone didn’t do that in real life. He actually beat three men to death with bats. His rival, Joe Aiello, had talked three of Capone’s heavies into overthrowing him, and Capone found out about the plot. The brutal killings were probably intended to send a message about how dangerous Capone really was. Although some historians have questioned whether the stories of the beatings are true, researchers have found reports from the time period that seem to corroborate them. Al Capone was one bad dude.
#7: Ron Stallworth Is David Duke’s Bodyguard
“BlacKkKlansman” (2018)Just about every scene of this movie is hard to believe, and yet most of them really happened. Stallworth really was a Black police detective who infiltrated the KKK with the help of a white colleague. When Grand Wizard David Duke traveled to Colorado, Stallworth was indeed assigned to be his personal security. However, Duke was there for a publicity tour, not to attend Stallworth’s initiation into the white supremacist group as the movie shows. But Stallworth did manage to get a photo with his arm around Duke, which Duke was not happy about. According to Stallworth’s memoir, that scene happened pretty much just as it did in the film.
#6: Tommy Whacks Spider
“Goodfellas” (1990)This Martin Scorsese classic is loosely based on the book “Wiseguy,” a real-life account of the mob enforcer Henry Hill. Joe Pesci’s character, Tommy DeVito, was inspired by Tommy DeSimone, who was just as dangerous in reality as he is in the movie. According to Hill, Tommy shot Spider the bartender like he does in the film, although he probably didn’t make him dance first. Even crazier, that’s not the only time Pesci commits a barbaric act of violence in a Scorsese movie that’s based on real events. In “Casino,” he plays Nicky Santoro, who’s based on an actual wiseguy, Anthony Spilotro. And he really did torture a man by putting his head in a vice.
#5: “Get the Girl to Check the Numbers”
“Hidden Figures” (2016)John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth, and it might never have happened without Katherine Johnson. She was one of the most brilliant minds of her generation, and NASA relied on her to calculate extremely complex launch and landing trajectories. That scene where Glenn refuses to fly unless Johnson verifies the landing coordinates? It actually happened. At the time, the IBM computer was pretty new, and the engineers at NASA didn’t totally trust it. But they did trust Johnson, and so did Glenn. In fact, Johnson was often asked to verify the IBM’s calculations. She worked on Alan Shepard’s first space flight, the moon landing, and helped the Apollo 13 crew get back to Earth safely. She was a true American hero.
#4: An Elderly Couple Goes Down with the Ship
“Titanic” (1997)The true story behind this scene is heartbreaking. The couple seen embracing each other as their cabin floods are Isidor and Ida Straus. They also appear in a deleted scene in which Ida refuses to leave Isidor. The real Isidor Straus was the co-owner of Macy’s department store and a U.S. Congressman. When the Titanic sank, an officer was willing to let both Isidor and Ida onto a lifeboat, but Isidor didn’t want to take a spot from the women and children. Ida wouldn’t leave her husband, and the two were last seen holding each other on the deck. Although the film is a mix of fact and fiction, the portrayal of the actual sinking is pretty accurate, including the ship breaking in half.
#3: Amon Göth Shoots People from His Balcony
“Schindler's List” (1993)Steven Spielberg took great care to ensure that the violence and cruelty perpetrated by the Nazis were depicted accurately in his film. Although it’s shocking, the portrayal of Amon Göth’s sadism and brutality is no exaggeration. He was nicknamed “The Butcher,” and according to survivors, he entertained himself by torturing and killing concentration camp prisoners every single day. Not only did he shoot people from his balcony, he also trained his dogs to attack prisoners and tear them apart. Everyone in the camp was terrified of him. One of the Jews saved by Oskar Schindler said of the man, "When you saw Göth, you saw death."
#2: Solomon Northup Is Left to Hang
“12 Years a Slave” (2013)This film isn’t just a graphic look at the horrors of slavery. It’s based on the real Solomon Northup’s autobiography, and it follows the book pretty closely. Tibeats actually existed, and he was just as evil as the film portrays him. When he tried to punish Solomon for basically no reason, Solomon fought back, and was almost hanged for it. In the movie, the scene plays out as it did in real life. The overseer prevents Tibeats and his cronies from killing Solomon, but leaves him hanging all day. The biggest difference is that in reality, Solomon was hanging in the sweltering Louisiana sun, not the shade. His suffering must have been unimaginable.
#1: DIY Carbon Dioxide Filtration
“Apollo 13” (1995)This Ron Howard film depicting the failed Moon mission is just about as accurate as a historical movie can be. The oxygen tank explosion and its aftermath are depicted correctly, and much of the dialogue is taken directly from NASA’s transcripts. After the tank blew up, the astronauts had to take refuge in the lunar module, which had enough oxygen for all of them. However, its CO2 filtration was only designed for two people. The astronauts and ground crew worked together to jerry-rig a device to adapt the command module’s filters for the lunar module. It was an incredible feat of human ingenuity, and it’s super satisfying to see Hollywood get it right. We just have one question: Why isn’t Katherine Johnson in this movie?
Which unbelievable scene blew your mind? Let us know in the comments.
