Based on a True Story

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 Did you enjoy this episode? Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Unlock ad-free episodes Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/351 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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! Did you enjoy this episode? Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Unlock ad-free episodes Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/350 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Did you enjoy this episode? Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Unlock ad-free episodes Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/349 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Did you enjoy this episode? Support our sponsors Unlock ad-free episodes Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/348 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Did you enjoy this episode? Unlock ad-free episodes Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/347 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices