20 best biography movies: my choice.

1. Schindler’s List (1993).

IMDb – 8,9

Director – Steven Spielberg. 

195 min

Schindler’s List recreates the true story of Oskar Schindler, the Czech-born southern German industrialist who risked his life to save over 1,100 of his Jewish factory workers from the death camps in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Quotes: “This list… is an absolute good. The list is life. All around its margins lies the gulf”.

 

 

2. A Beautiful Mind (2001).

IMDb – 8,0

Director – Ron Howard. 

135 min

The true story of prominent mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. is the subject of this biographical drama from director Ron Howard. Russell Crowe stars as the brilliant but arrogant and conceited professor Nash.

Quotes: “I’ve made the most important discovery of my life. It’s only in the mysterious equation of love that any logical reasons can be found”.

 

 

3. The Pianist (2002).

IMDb – 8,5

Director – Roman Polanski. 

150 min

This is drama based on the true story of a privileged musician who spent five years struggling against the Nazi occupation of Warsaw.

Quotes:  “Wladyslaw Szpilman: I don’t know how to thank you.  – Captain Wilm Hosenfeld: Thank God, not me. He wants us to survive. Well, that’s what we have to believe”.

 

 

4. Cinderella Man (2005).

IMDb – 8,0

Director – Roman Polanski. 

144 min

The true story of an athlete who achieved his greatest success against the most daunting odds of his life is brought to the screen in this historical drama.

Quotes: “Maybe I understand, some, about having to fight. So you just remember who you are… you’re the Bulldog of Bergen, and the Pride of New Jersey, you’re everybody’s hope, and the kids’ hero, and you are the champion of my heart, James J. Braddock”. 

 

 

5. Braveheart (1995).

IMDb – 8,4

Director – Mel Gibson. 

177 min

The film an account of the life and times of medieval Scottish patriot William Wallace and, to a lesser degree, Robert the Bruce’s struggle to unify his nation against its English oppressors.

Quotes: “It’s all for nothing if you don’t have freedom”. 

 

 

6. Ray (2004).

IMDb – 7,7

Director –  Taylor Hackford. 

152 min

The life and career of the legendary popular music pianist, Ray Charles.

Quotes: “Don’t jive me, man”.

 

 

7. Chaplin (1992).

IMDb – 7,3

Director –  Richard Attenborough. 

143 min

A film about the troubled and controversial life of the master comedy filmmaker.

Quotes: “If you want to understand me, watch my movies”.

 

 

8. La Mome (2007).

IMDb – 7,6

Director –  Olivier Dahan 

140 min

The life story of singer Edith Piaf.

Quotes: “Americans want beauties, not me. I’m not the Parisian bombshell they expected. Can you see me as a chorus girl? Where’s my feather up the ass? They think I’m sad, they’re dumb. I don’t connect to them”.

 

 

9. Funny Girl (1968).

IMDb – 7,3

Director –  William Wyler. 

151 min

The life of comedienne Fannie Brice, from her early days in the Jewish slums of the Lower East Side, to the height of her career with the Ziegfeld Follies.

Quotes: “Life’s candy and the sun’s a ball of butter”. 

 

 

10. The Doors (1991).

IMDb – 7,0

Director –  Oliver Stone. 

140 min

The story of the famous and influential 1960’s rock band and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison.

Quotes: “I love fame, I *do* love fame!”. 

 

 

11. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006).

IMDb – 7,8

Director –  Gabriele Muccino. 

117 min

A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he’s poised to begin a life-changing professional endeavor.

Quotes: “This part of my life… this part right here? This part is called “being stupid”.

 

 

12. Blow (2001).

IMDb – 7,5

Director –  Ted Demme. 

124 min

The story of George Jung, the man who established the American cocaine market in the 1970s.

Quotes: “Life passes most people by while they’re making grand plans for it”.

 

 

13. The Aviator (2004).

IMDb – 7,5

Director –  Martin Scorsese. 

170 min

A biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes’ career, from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s.

Quotes: “He owns Pan-Am. He owns Congress. He owns the Civil Aeronautics Board. But he does not own the sky”.

 

 

14. The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996).

IMDb – 7,3

Director –  Milos Forman. 

129 min

A partially idealized film of the controversial pornography publisher and how he became a defender of free speech for all people.

Quotes: “I turned the whole world into a tabloid”.

 

 

15. Catch Me If You Can (2002).

IMDb – 7,8

Director –  Steven Spielberg. 

141 min

A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor.

Quotes: “Ah, people only know what you tell them, Carl“.

 

 

16. Bonnie and Clyde (1967).

IMDb – 8,0

Director –  Arthur Penn. 

112 min

The film based on the true exploits of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker during the 30s.

Quotes: “This here’s Miss Bonnie Parker. I’m Clyde Barrow. We rob banks“.

 

 

17.  The Hurricane (1999).

IMDb – 7,4

Director –  Norman Jewison. 

146 min

The story of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.

Quotes: “It’s very important to transcend to places that hold us“.

 

 

18. The Queen (2006).

IMDb – 7,5

Director –  Stephen Frears. 

103 min

After the death of Princess Diana, HRH Queen Elizabeth II struggles with her reaction to a sequence of events nobody could have predicted.

Quotes: “Nowadays people want glamor and tears, the grand performance. I’ve never been good at that“.

 

 

19. Casino (1995).

IMDb – 8,2

Director –  Martin Scorsese. 

178 min

Greed, deception, money, power, and murder occur between two mobster best friends and a trophy wife over a gambling empire.

Quotes: ” When you love someone, you’ve gotta trust them. There’s no other way. You’ve got to give them the key to everything that’s yours. Otherwise, what’s the point? And for a while, I believed, that’s the kind of love I had“.

 

 

20. Changeling (2008).

IMDb – 7,9

Director –  Clint Eastwood. 

141 min

The film based on real-life events in 1928 Los Angeles.

Quotes: ” I used to tell Walter, “Never start a fight… but always finish it.” I didn’t start this fight… but by God, I’m going to finish it“.