MY 25 FAVORITE BIOGRAPHICAL MOVIES

MY 25 FAVORITE BIOGRAPHICAL MOVIES

The biographical or biopic genre dramatizes a real life person or group of people.

As with all favorite lists, this one lists my favorites as of this posting.

1. MONEYBALL (2011) - Billy Beane is the General Manager of the Oakland A's MBL team.  Immediately following a successful season, his star players are lured away by other teams that have larger budgets.  Billy soon realizes that he will have to do something significantly different in order to compete in the future.  And if this works, it could change the entire game of professional baseball.
2. HIDDEN FIGURES (2016) - Three brilliant African American women work at NASA in Virginia in the 1960s, and they end up playing crucial roles in the development of America's space program.
3. THE KING'S SPEECH (2010) - The Duke of York, second in line for the throne of England, stutters horribly.  And when the King dies and his older brother appears to be shirking his royal duties, he tries yet again to find a cure for his stuttering by meeting with an Australian speech therapist.  
4. PINBALL: THE MAN WHO SAVED THE GAME (2022) - A young man who loves and is VERY good at playing pinball moves from Wisconsin to NYC where he is shocked to find that pinball is illegal in the city, and in many other cities across the county.  While is writing a book about the game, he is convinced to testify before the BYC City Council in a bid to have the ban removed.
5. 42: THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY (2013) - Branch Rickey, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers decides to sign Jackie Robinson in 1947, breaking the race barrier in Major League Baseball.
6. Tolkien (2019) - Biopic of JRR Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, dramatizing his life and depicting places and experiences of his that helped to frame that accomplishment.
7. CREATION (2009) - A biopic of Charles Darwin, years after his return from the voyage of The Beagle, strives to balance family life, his health, and his friends and associates who pressure him to finish writing his book, On the Origin of Species.
8. ENEMY AT THE GATES (2001) - A young Soviet soldier, Vassily Zeitzev, arrives at the Battle of Stalingrad where he is promoted to sniper division, and is used as a tool for positive propaganda, only to gain the attention of the German army, who sends their best snipe to Stalingrad to kill him.
9. CHASING MAVERICKS (2012) - Biopic of Jay Moriarity, a young surfer from Santa Cruz, CA, whose goal is to ride the massive waves at Mavericks.  But he knows that he needs help and finally convinces a local surf legend/guru to train him to ride it and survive it.
10. THE IMITATION GAME (2014) - During the first few years of WWII, the German U-Boats are winning the Battle of the Atlantic.  Great Britain recruits mathematician Alan Turing who leads a team working to break the Germans' unbreakable Enigma code.
11. EDDIE THE EAGLE (2015) - A non-athletic British boy dreams of being in the Olympic games, but all avenues to that appear to be closed until he discovers ski jumping. 
12. OCTOBER SKY (1999) - In the 1950s, Homer Hickam is a teenager living in a small W Virginia mining town where young men can either hope to earn a football scholarship and get out of town or graduate from HS and then work in the coal mines.  Homer, however, dreams of rockets and space.  And he and a small group of outcasts called the Rocket Boys build and fly their own rockets and enter their work in the local science fair.
13. ERIN BROCKOVICH (2000) - A single mother gets a job as a file clerk for an attorney and she discovers documents that leads to a legal decision where a major corporation is held liable for environmental contamination and the medical problems it causes.
14. CINDERELLA MAN (2005) - James J. Braddock was a heavyweight boxer in the 1930s, but during the Great Depression, he breaks right wrist hand and has to step out of the ring, finding work where he can, day-to-day, until some time later a boxer has to back out of a fight and a promoter needs someone. This fight leads to a second phase of his boxing career, and a heavy-weight title match.
15. SEABISCUIT (2003) - A successful business man faces depression when he experiences the death of his son and his wife leaves him.  He then decides to buy a racehorse named Seabiscuit that initially shows little promise, but during the Great Depression of the 1930s, he becomes an inspiration to many.
16. A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001) - Biopic of John Forbes Nash, Jr., a brilliant mathematician who's mathematical and economic insights could change their fields.  However, Nash experiences schizophrenia.
17. AMAZING GRACE (2006) William Wilberforce leads the fight to make slavery illegal in the 1800s British Empire.
18. ONE AGAINST THE WIND (1991) - An American who married into a French title, The Countess Mary Lindell, takes in a British Officer on the run from the Germans, nurses him back to health and creates her own underground pipeline for helping allied air crews to escape to freedom.
19. CHARIOTS OF FIRE (1981) - The story of the 1912 British Olympic track team.
20. ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE (2007) - Queen Elizabeth must protect her country from enemies at home and abroad, and prepare it against attack and invasion from the Spanish Armada.
21. THE BLIND SIDE (2009) - Dramatization of the humble origins of Michael Oher, and the role of an affluent family helping him reach the NFL.
22. THE FABLEMANS (2022) - Quasi-autobiographical telling of the experiences of a young Steven Spielberg and his family.
23. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) - How a British officer helps the bedouins of the Middle East bond together, fight against the Ottomans and fight for their own freedom during WWI.
24. BRIAN'S SONG (1971) - The story and friendship of two rookie NFL players, Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers.
25.  SAVING MR. BANKS (2013) - The story of the making of the Disney classic, Mary Poppins.