78 articles
3096 Days
3096 Days (3096 Tage) is a 2013 German drama directed by Sherry Hormann, adapted from Natascha Kampusch's autobiography about her 3,096-day captivity by Wolfgang Priklopil, begun by Bernd Eichinger and completed by Ruth Toma.
A Prayer Before Dawn (film)
A Prayer Before Dawn is a 2017 prison drama by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, adapted from Billy Moore's memoir, starring Joe Cole as an English boxer who survives a Thai prison through Muay Thai; shot in Nakhon Pathom prison with real inmates.
All Good Things (film)
All Good Things is a 2010 mystery drama directed by Andrew Jarecki, starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, and Frank Langella, inspired by Robert Durst and his wife Kathie's unsolved 1982 disappearance, released by Magnolia Pictures.
All the Money in the World
All the Money in the World is Ridley Scott's 2017 thriller about the 1973 Getty kidnapping, starring Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg, and Christopher Plummer, who replaced Kevin Spacey in costly reshoots and earned an Oscar nomination.
American Animals
American Animals (2018) is Bart Layton's docudrama about the failed 2004 Transylvania University rare-book heist, blending dramatization with interviews of the real perpetrators; Sundance premiere, The Orchard release, 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Bad Education (2019 film)
Bad Education (2019) is an HBO comedy-drama directed by Cory Finley, written by Mike Makowsky, starring Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney as Roslyn school officials in a real Long Island embezzlement scandal.
Bandit (film)
Bandit (2022) is a Canadian biographical crime film directed by Allan Ungar, starring Josh Duhamel, Elisha Cuthbert, Nestor Carbonell, and Mel Gibson, based on Robert Knuckle's book The Flying Bandit about robber Gilbert Galvan Jr.; released September 23, 2022 by Quiver Distribution.
Bandit Queen
Bandit Queen (बैंडिट क्वीन), 1994 Hindi biographical drama by Shekhar Kapur starring Seema Biswas as outlaw Phoolan Devi; Cannes premiere, Indian censorship battle, National Film Award winner.
Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey
Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey is a 2018 Lifetime TV movie directed by Jim Donovan, starring Katie Douglas as 1984 abduction survivor Lisa McVey, who escaped serial killer Bobby Joe Long and helped capture him.
Belle Starr
Belle Starr (Myra Maybelle Shirley, 1848–1889), the "Bandit Queen" of the American West, an outlaw associate of the James-Younger circle, once convicted of horse theft, murdered unsolved in Indian Territory.
Bernie (2011 film)
Bernie (2011) is Richard Linklater's mockumentary dark comedy, starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, and Matthew McConaughey, about mortician Bernie Tiede's 1996 murder of widow Marjorie Nugent in Carthage, Texas, adapted from Skip Hollandsworth's Texas Monthly article and later tied to Tiede's 2014 release and 2016 resentencing.
Birdman of Alcatraz (film)
Birdman of Alcatraz is a 1962 John Frankenheimer biographical drama starring Burt Lancaster as prisoner Robert Stroud, based on Thomas E. Gaddis's 1955 biography; four Oscar nominations, Volpi Cup, and a disputed, softened portrait of Stroud.
Black Mass (film)
Black Mass (film) refers chiefly to the 2015 Scott Cooper Warner Bros. crime biopic starring Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger and Joel Edgerton as FBI agent John Connolly, based on Lehr and O'Neill's book; also a 2024 Devanny Pinn Ted Bundy thriller.
Blow (film)
Blow is a 2001 American biographical crime drama directed by Ted Demme, starring Johnny Depp as cocaine trafficker George Jung, with Penélope Cruz and Ray Liotta.
Boston Strangler (film)
Boston Strangler (2023) is Matt Ruskin's Hulu true-crime thriller starring Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon as reporters Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole, who connected the 1962-1964 Boston Strangler murders and doubted Albert DeSalvo's guilt.
Boys Don't Cry (1999 film)
Boys Don't Cry is Kimberly Peirce's 1999 biographical drama starring Hilary Swank as murdered transgender man Brandon Teena, with Chloë Sevigny; it won Swank the Best Actress Oscar and joined the National Film Registry in 2019.
Breaking (film)
Breaking is a 2022 American crime drama directed by Abi Damaris Corbin, starring John Boyega as Marine veteran Brian Brown-Easley, who holds a Georgia bank hostage.
Bugsy
Bugsy (1991) is Barry Levinson's biographical crime drama starring Warren Beatty as mobster Bugsy Siegel and Annette Bening as Virginia Hill; it earned ten Oscar nominations, won two, and took the Golden Globe for Best Drama.
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a 2018 biographical comedy-drama directed by Marielle Heller, starring Melissa McCarthy as literary forger Lee Israel and Richard E. Grant as Jack Hock, adapted from Israel's 2008 memoir.
Capone (2020 film)
Capone (2020), also known as Fonzo, is a Josh Trank biographical crime drama starring Tom Hardy as Al Capone in his dementia-addled final year, released digitally May 12, 2020, with a 40% Tomatometer score.
Catch Me If You Can
Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 American crime comedy-drama directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, adapted from Frank Abagnale Jr.'s 1980 memoir.
Chapter 27
Chapter 27 is a 2007 drama, also called Chapter Twenty-Seven, directed by J.P. Schaefer, starring Jared Leto as Mark David Chapman in the days before he killed John Lennon; Sundance premiere, 18% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Charlie Says (2018 film)
Charlie Says (2018) is Mary Harron's biographical crime drama, written by Guinevere Turner, about Karlene Faith teaching imprisoned Manson women Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins; Venice 2018 premiere, US release May 2019.
Child of Rage
Child of Rage is a 1992 American fact-based television drama directed by Larry Peerce, starring Ashley Peldon and Mel Harris, about a couple who adopt a disturbed girl.
Christiane F. (film)
Christiane F. (Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo), 1981 West German drama by Uli Edel, adapted from the Stern interviews with Christiane Felscherinow; Natja Brunckhorst stars, David Bowie scored and cameos, a cult heroin-addiction classic.
Citizen X
Citizen X is a 1995 HBO television film by Chris Gerolmo, based on Robert Cullen's The Killer Department, dramatizing the Soviet hunt for serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, starring Stephen Rea, Donald Sutherland, Max von Sydow, and Jeffrey DeMunn.
Cocaine Godmother
Cocaine Godmother (2017) is a Lifetime TV movie, also titled Cocaine Godmother: The Griselda Blanco Story, directed by Guillermo Navarro with Catherine Zeta-Jones as drug lord Griselda Blanco; critically panned, it preceded Netflix's 2024 series Griselda.
Dahmer (film)
Dahmer (2002) is David Jacobson's biographical drama starring Jeremy Renner as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, with Bruce Davison as his father Lionel; limited release June 21, 2002, 73% on Rotten Tomatoes, $148,235 worldwide gross.
Devil's Knot (film)
Devil's Knot (2013), Atom Egoyan's courtroom drama starring Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon, adapts Mara Leveritt's book about the West Memphis Three murders and trial; released 2014 to mixed reviews.
Escobar: Paradise Lost
Escobar: Paradise Lost (Escobar: Paraíso perdido) is a 2014 France-Spain-Belgium thriller, Andrea Di Stefano's directorial debut, starring Benicio del Toro as Pablo Escobar opposite Josh Hutcherson as a Canadian surfer in love with Escobar's niece.