Highest-Rated Movies about 'Begins With Historical Notes'

Dunkirk (2017), Bridge of Spies (2015), Darkest Hour (2017), The Conjuring 2 (2016), The Death of Stalin (2017), Anthropoid (2016), Is Paris Burning? (1966), A Most Wanted Man (2014) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Begins With Historical Notes movies.

#2. Bridge of Spies (2015)

Storyline: In the cold war, a lawyer, James B. Donovan is recruited by the CIA and involved in an intense negotiation mission to release and exchange a CIA U-2 spy-plane pilot, Francis G. Powers. The pilot was arrested alive after his plane was shot down by the Soviet Union during a mission and stays in the company of a KGB intelligence officer, Rudolf Abel, who was arrested for espionage in the US.

Plot Keywords: lawyer, negotiation, cold war, berlin wall, berlin germany, spying, border crossing ...

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#3. Darkest Hour (2017)

Storyline: During World War II, as Adolf Hitler's powerful Wehrmacht rampages across Europe, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Neville Chamberlain, is forced to resign, recommending Winston Churchill as his replacement. But even in his early days as the country's leader, Churchill is under pressure to commence peace negotiations with the German dictator or to fight head-on the seemingly invincible Nazi regime, whatever the cost. However difficult and dangerous his decision may be, Churchill has no choice but to shine in the country's darkest hour.

Plot Keywords: world war two, prime minister, speech, year 1940, reference to adolf hitler, secretary, reference to benito mussolini ...

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#4. The Conjuring 2 (2016)

Storyline: In 1977, paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren travel to London, England, where single mother Peggy Hodgson believes that something evil is in her home. When Peggy's youngest daughter starts showing signs of demonic possession, Ed and Lorraine attempt to help the besieged girl, only to find themselves targeted by the malicious spirits.

Plot Keywords: haunted house, second part, sequel, based on true story, nun, fear, child in peril ...

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#5. The Death of Stalin (2017)

Storyline: In early-1953 Moscow, under the Great Terror's heavy cloak of state paranoia, the ever-watchful Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, collapses unexpectedly of a brain hemorrhage. Inevitably, when his body is discovered the following morning, a frenetic surge of raw panic spreads like a virus among the senior members of the Council of Ministers as they scramble to maintain order, weed out the competition, and, ultimately, take power. But in the middle of a gut-wrenching roller-coaster of incessant plotting, tireless machinations, and frail allegiances, absolutely no one is safe; not even the feared chief of the secret police, Lavrenti Beria. In the end, who will prevail after the death of Stalin?

Plot Keywords: satire, black comedy, soviet union, russia, year 1953, moscow russia, power struggle ...

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#6. Anthropoid (2016)

Storyline: ANTHROPOID is based on the extraordinary true story of Operation Anthropoid, the World War II mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich. The Reich's third in command after Hitler and Himmler, Heydrich was the main architect behind the Final Solution and the leader of occupying Nazi forces in Czechoslovakia whose reign of terror prompted self-exiled Czech and Slovak soldiers (played by Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan) to hatch a top-secret mission that would change the face of Europe forever.i

Plot Keywords: nazi, resistance fighter, central europe, torture, gestapo, riding a bicycle, nazi occupation ...

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#7. Is Paris Burning? (1966)

Storyline: In this sprawling, star-laden film, we see the struggles of various French resistance factions to regain control of Paris near the end of World War II. The Nazi general in charge of Paris, Dietrich von Cholitz (Fröbe), is under orders from Hitler himself to burn the city if he cannot control it or if the Allies get too close. Much of the drama centers around the moral deliberations of the general, the Swedish ambassador (Welles), and the eager but desperate leaders of the resistance.—Carl J. Youngdahl <zomno@casbah.acns.nwu.edu>

Plot Keywords: year 1944, paris france, 1940s, nazi occupation, nazi uniform, liberation, french soldier ...

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#8. A Most Wanted Man (2014)

Storyline: When a half-Chechen, half-Russian, brutally tortured immigrant turns up in Hamburg's Islamic community, laying claim to his father's ill gotten fortune, both German and US security agencies take a close interest: as the clock ticks down and the stakes rise, the race is on to establish this most wanted man's true identity - oppressed victim or destruction-bent extremist? Based on John le Carré's novel, A MOST WANTED MAN is a contemporary, cerebral tale of intrigue, love, rivalry, and politics that prickles with tension right through to its last heart-stopping scene.

Plot Keywords: spy, intelligence, muslim, based on novel, illegal immigrant, intelligence agency, surveillance camera ...

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#10. The Cheap Detective (1978)

Storyline: Lou Peckinpaugh (Peter Falk), the Cheap detective has entered a world that is half Casablanca (1942) and half The Maltese Falcon (1941). A parody of Humphrey Bogart's movies in which Lou goes through a series of scenes from the two movies trying to keep ahead of the Police who think he killed his partner and find the black bird.—John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>

Plot Keywords: parody, nazi, spoof, toilet, secretary, police, private detective ...

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#11. Buck and the Preacher (1972)

Storyline: After the American Civil War, many freed slaves head out West in search of free land and a better life. Former slave and Union Army sergeant Buck becomes a self-employed wagon master to wagon trains of freed slaves heading West. Buck knows the region well and he charges fair wages from the wagon trains employing him. He also has a working relationship with the local Indian tribes that charge trespassing fees from the wagon trains heading West across Indian lands. In return, they allow the settlers to move across Indian territory unhindered and to hunt a few buffalo needed to feed the wagon train settlers. However, not everyone in the region is friendly toward the black settlers traveling West. Owners of Southern plantations, dismayed by the loss of slave manpower that previously worked the plantations for free, hire band of white rogues and outlaws to prevent former black slaves from going West. In order to achieve this aim, the hired bands of rogues attack wagon trains and destroy the wagons, the supplies and the food resources of the former slaves. They threaten the black settlers with harm and they tell them to return to the Southern states where they came from and work the plantations. Wagon master Buck encourages the freed slaves to continue their trek westward and to not give up their dream of settling in the West. Knowing this, the band of rogues led by DeShay plans to capture and kill Buck. The DeShay gang sets up ambushes and traps but Buck always manages to avoid capture. The gang resides in the town of Copper Springs where the sheriff, an honest man, doesn't agree with the gang's ruthless tactics against wagon trains of freed slaves. Chased by the DeShay bunch, wagon master Buck and his tired horse arrive at a river where a black preacher, Reverend Willis Oakes Rutherford, is bathing. A desperate Buck switches horses with the preacher, against the man's will, and rides off to meet his wagon train. The preacher heads to Copper Springs where he bumps into DeShay's gang. Recognising Buck's horse, the gang interrogates the preacher about Buck's whereabouts. DeShay promises a 500 dollar reward to the preacher if the preacher finds Buck and captures or kills him. DeShay also instructs the preacher to convince all black settlers to turn back east toward the Southern plantations and abandon their trek Westward. The preacher agrees with DeShay and leaves town. Outside town he meets a wagon train formed of freed slaves and led by none other than Buck. After an angry exchange between the preacher and Buck, the preacher joins the wagon train. During the following days of travel, the preacher notices that all the money of the wagon train is kept in a money belt carried by one of the women around her waist. A few days later, a distrustful Buck orders the preacher to leave the wagon train and he himself rides away to scout the area and to pay in cash a right of passage to the local Indian tribe in behalf of the trespassing wagon train. The preacher follows Buck and he witnesses the payment made by Buck to the Indian chief for safe passage of the settlers. When Buck, followed by the preacher, returns to the wagon train, a gruesome scene awaits. DeShay's gang attacked the wagon train, stole the settlers' money, destroyed their food and supplies and even killed a few settlers. Heartbroken, the surviving settlers want to turn back but Buck encourages them to go on. Angry at the devastation, Buck and the preacher decide to ride to the town of Copper Springs and exact revenge on DeShay's gang and also try to retrieve the money DeShay stole from the black settlers. There only are two against many but Buck and the preacher are determined to do it.—nufs68

Plot Keywords: character name in title, sidekick, cowboy boots, cowboy shirt, cowboy hat, cowboy, opening action scene ...

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#12. The Buccaneer (1958)

Storyline: During the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: General Andrew Jackson has only 1,200 men left to defend New Orleans when he learns that a British fleet will arrive with 60 ships and 16,000 men to take the city. In this situation an island near the city becomes strategically important to both parties, but it's inhabited by the last big buccaneer: Jean Lafitte. Although Lafitte never attacks American ships, the governor hates him for selling merchandise without taxes - and is loved by the citizens for the same reason. When the big fight gets nearer, Lafitte is drawn between the fronts. His heart belongs to America, but his people urge him to join the party that's more likely to win.—Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>

Plot Keywords: pirate, death by hanging, hanging, sailing, introduction, prologue, horse ...

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#13. Centurion (2010)

Storyline: Britain, A.D. 117. Quintus Dias, the sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, marches north with General Virilus' legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the Earth and destroy their leader, Gorlacon.

Plot Keywords: violence, mushroom, mute, tribe, witch, gore, death of child ...

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#15. The Legend of Tarzan (2016)

Storyline: Following his parents' death in Africa, John Clayton has been be raised by an ape, was known by the name Tarzan, but eventually left Africa and for his parents' home in England, along with the woman he fell in love with and married, Jane Porter. He is asked by Belgian King Leopold to go to Africa to see what he has done there to help the country. Initially, he refuses. But an American, George Washington Williams, wants him to accept so he can accompany him. He says that Leopold might be committing all sorts of atrocities to achieve his goal, like slavery. Clayton agrees and his wife insists that she accompany him because she misses Africa. When they arrive, a man named Rom, who works for Leopold, attacks their village and captures Tarzan and Jane. With Washington's help he escapes and sets out to rescue Jane by going across the jungle. Washington joins him despite being told that he might not make it.

Plot Keywords: africa, jungle, slavery, male objectification, jungle warfare, congo, rescue ...

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