Good documentaries
by texruski | created - 21 Aug 2017 | updated - 22 Aug 2017 | PublicSome pretty good documentaries and documentary-esque films, series, and specials
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1. The Men Who Built America (2012)
TV-14 | 37 min | Documentary, Biography, History
Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Astor, Ford and Morgan. Their names are part of history and synonymous with the American dream. These men transformed every industry they touched: oil, rail, steel, shipping, automobiles, and finance.
Stars: Campbell Scott, H.W. Brands, Mark Cuban, Donny Deutsch
Votes: 4,582
2. The Cars That Made America (2017)
TV-PG | Documentary, History
The history and influence of cars in America.
Stars: Dermot Mulroney, Greg Nutcher, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tim Moriarty
Votes: 317
3. Harley and the Davidsons (2016)
TV-14 | 60 min | Biography, History
Bill Harley joins Walter and Arthur Davidson to risk their fortunes and livelihoods launching the now-iconic motorcycle company. Each has his own challenges to overcome, but they are united by their dreams and ambitions.
Stars: Michiel Huisman, Bug Hall, Robert Aramayo, Annie Read
Votes: 3,507
4. 2016: Obama's America (2012)
PG | 87 min | Documentary
A documentary that examines the question, "If Barack Obama wins a second term, where will we be in 2016?"
Directors: Dinesh D'Souza, John Sullivan | Stars: Jay Bastian, Joe Biden, Cait Brasel, Gene Burris Jr.
Votes: 11,021 | Gross: $33.45M
5. The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011)
PG-13 | 90 min | Documentary, Comedy
A documentary about branding, advertising and product placement that is financed and made possible by brands, advertising and product placement.
Director: Morgan Spurlock | Stars: J.J. Abrams, Peter Berg, Paul Brennan, Noam Chomsky
Votes: 15,193 | Gross: $0.64M
6. Point and Shoot (2014)
Not Rated | 83 min | Documentary
An American sets out with his motorbike to find both adventure and his sense of manhood, leading him on an extraordinary journey he could not have imagined, including fighting in the Libyan Revolution.
Director: Marshall Curry | Stars: Joseph Oliveira, Matt Sager, Matthew Vandyke
Votes: 1,713
7. America: Imagine the World Without Her (2014)
PG-13 | 105 min | Documentary
A story that questions the shaming of the US through revisionist history, lies and omissions by educational institutions, political organizations, Alinsky, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other progressives to destroy America.
Directors: Dinesh D'Souza, John Sullivan | Stars: Dinesh D'Souza, Barack Obama, Josh Bonzie, Rich Bentz
Votes: 7,046 | Gross: $14.44M
8. Valkyrie (2008)
PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, History, Thriller
A dramatization of the July 20, 1944 assassination and political coup plot by desperate renegade German Army officers against Adolf Hitler during World War II.
Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Carice van Houten, Kenneth Branagh
Votes: 259,359 | Gross: $83.08M
9. Captain Phillips (2013)
PG-13 | 134 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the U.S.-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Catherine Keener
Votes: 492,890 | Gross: $107.10M
10. WWII in HD (2009)
TV-PG | 60 min | Documentary, History, War
Follow the lives of soldiers who lived World War II, through previously unseen color footage.
Stars: Gary Sinise, Charles Scheffel, Ron Livingston, Rob Lowe
Votes: 2,413
11. Vietnam in HD (2011)
262 min | Documentary, History, War
Original Vietnam War footage presented in high definition along with narrations by war veterans and the voices of Hollywood stars.
Stars: Tempestt Bledsoe, Edward Burns, Dean Cain, Kevin Connolly
Votes: 1,641
12. American Sniper (2014)
R | 133 min | Action, Biography, Drama
Navy S.E.A.L. sniper Chris Kyle's pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and turns him into a legend. Back home with his family after four tours of duty, however, Chris finds that it is the war he can't leave behind.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner, Cole Konis
Votes: 529,565 | Gross: $350.13M
More of an adaptation of a biography than a doc
13. Lone Survivor (2013)
R | 121 min | Action, Biography, Drama
Marcus Luttrell and his team set out on a mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah, in late June 2005. Marcus and his team are left to fight for their lives in one of the most valiant efforts of modern warfare.
Director: Peter Berg | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster
Votes: 306,822 | Gross: $125.10M
another book adaptation
14. Bitter Harvest (2017)
R | 103 min | Drama, History, Romance
Set in 1930s Ukraine, as Stalin advances the ambitions of communists in the Kremlin, young artist Yuri battles to save his lover Natalka from the Holodomor, the death-by-starvation program that ultimately killed millions of Ukrainians.
Director: George Mendeluk | Stars: Max Irons, Samantha Barks, Terence Stamp, Barry Pepper
Votes: 4,168 | Gross: $5.66M
15. Dogfights (2005– )
Documentary, History, War
Using modern computer animation, great aerial and modern naval battles are recreated. In the process, you learn about the history of military transportation technology, the tactics created and the people using them.
Stars: Phil Crowley, Ralph Parr, Robinson Risner, Frederick Blesse
Votes: 602
16. Killing Kennedy (2013 TV Movie)
PG-13 | 87 min | Biography, Drama, History
Based on Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard's best seller comes this shocking thriller starring Rob Lowe and Ginnifer Goodwin. As John F. Kennedy (Lowe) rises to become U.S. president, a ... See full summary »
Director: Nelson McCormick | Stars: Rob Lowe, Will Rothhaar, Jack Noseworthy, Casey Siemaszko
Votes: 3,732
17. Black Hawk Down (2001)
R | 144 min | Action, Drama, History
The story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily armed Somalis.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Eric Bana
Votes: 423,824 | Gross: $108.64M
18. Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
R | 157 min | Drama, History, Thriller
A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011.
Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong
Votes: 319,039 | Gross: $95.72M
19. Dunkirk (2017)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Drama, History
Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Commonwealth and Empire, and France are surrounded by the German Army and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Fionn Whitehead, Barry Keoghan, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy
Votes: 740,592 | Gross: $188.37M
20. The Monuments Men (2014)
PG-13 | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, War
An unlikely World War II platoon is tasked to rescue art masterpieces from German thieves and return them to their owners.
Director: George Clooney | Stars: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett
Votes: 141,256 | Gross: $78.03M
21. Bridge of Spies (2015)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, History, Thriller
During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan
Votes: 327,870 | Gross: $72.31M
22. Patriots Day (2016)
R | 133 min | Action, Crime, Drama
The story of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the aftermath, which includes the city-wide manhunt to find the terrorists responsible.
Director: Peter Berg | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, J.K. Simmons, John Goodman
Votes: 112,526 | Gross: $31.89M
23. Unbroken (I) (2014)
PG-13 | 137 min | Action, Biography, Drama
After a near-fatal plane crash in WWII, Olympian Louis Zamperini spends a harrowing 47 days in a raft with two fellow crewmen before he's caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.
Director: Angelina Jolie | Stars: Jack O'Connell, Miyavi, Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund
Votes: 182,808 | Gross: $115.64M
24. Soul Surfer (2011)
PG | 112 min | Biography, Drama, Family
Bethany Hamilton, a professional surfer, loses her left arm in a shark attack. Unwilling to pay attention to the gravity of her situation, Bethany decides to get back into the ocean and surf again.
Director: Sean McNamara | Stars: AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Carrie Underwood
Votes: 52,926 | Gross: $43.85M
25. Hatfields & McCoys (2012)
TV-14 | 97 min | Drama, History, Romance
Dramatization of the bitter blood feud between the two families on the West Virginia/Kentucky border in the years after the Civil War.
Stars: Kevin Costner, Bill Paxton, Matt Barr, Tom Berenger
Votes: 29,344
26. The Alamo (2004)
PG-13 | 137 min | Drama, History, War
Based on the 1836 standoff between a group of Texan and Tejano men, led by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, and Mexican dictator Santa Anna's forces at the Alamo in San Antonio Texas.
Director: John Lee Hancock | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, Emilio Echevarría, Jason Patric
Votes: 22,314 | Gross: $22.41M
27. Gods and Generals (2003)
PG-13 | 219 min | Biography, Drama, History
The rise and fall of confederate general Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, as he meets with military success against the Union from 1861 to 1863, when he is accidentally killed by his own soldiers.
Director: Ron Maxwell | Stars: Stephen Lang, Robert Duvall, Jeff Daniels, Donzaleigh Abernathy
Votes: 17,214 | Gross: $12.87M
28. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
R | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryô Kase
Votes: 170,106 | Gross: $13.76M
29. Red Tails (2012)
PG-13 | 125 min | Action, Drama, History
A crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program, having faced segregation while kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard.
Director: Anthony Hemingway | Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr., Gerald McRaney, David Oyelowo, Andre Royo
Votes: 37,256 | Gross: $49.88M
30. Flyboys (2006)
PG-13 | 140 min | Action, Drama, History
The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.
Director: Tony Bill | Stars: James Franco, Jean Reno, Jennifer Decker, Scott Hazell
Votes: 44,504 | Gross: $13.08M
31. The Big Red One (1980)
R | 113 min | Drama, War
A hardened sergeant and the four core members of his infantry unit try to survive World War II as they move from battle to battle throughout Europe.
Director: Samuel Fuller | Stars: Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Bobby Di Cicco
Votes: 21,403
32. We Were Soldiers (2002)
R | 138 min | Action, Drama, History
The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War, and the soldiers on both sides that fought it, while their wives wait nervously and anxiously at home for the good news or the bad news.
Director: Randall Wallace | Stars: Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott
Votes: 151,320 | Gross: $78.12M
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