5 'Based On A True Story' (BS) Movies

Yes, mountaineering fans, that is the Fritz Kasparek.

That's Harrer on Adolf Hitler's right, and we don't wanna know what he's doing with his missing hand. It turns out that befriending an Austrian drifter in the '30s and '40s can lead to some nasty surprises. In the movie, which is based on Harrer's autobiography, Brad Pitt's character is sent to a British POW camp just for having German citizenship, even though he hates the Nazis. In reality, he was a Nazi. And he wasn't just dabbling in Nazism because it was the style at the time -- he was an actual member of the SS, with a rank equivalent to that of a sergeant. Include that little detail, and this turns into a completely different "POW on the run hides in Tibet" movie.

Original Title: Seven or So Years 'til Shit Blows Over in Europe.

Harrer even had to ask Heinrich Himmler for permission before he could marry, and wore his Nazi uniform to the ceremony. If you ever decide to propose to someone and get a bit nervous, remember that at least you don't have to get permission from the head of the goddamn Third Reich.

Most of this stuff only came to light in 1997, right before Seven Years in Tibet was released. The director said he did suspect Harrer had a "possible connection" to the Nazis, but not enough to look into it at all because, you know, it would have totally ruined his film. It's worth mentioning that Harrer was never linked to any war crimes, and that the Dalai Lama remained his friend even after finding out this made him Hitler's twice-removed pal.

Dennis the Menace is a classic series of comics, cartoons, and movies all based on the idea that kids are terrible, and they'll make your life a living hell if you let them.

"In our house, because we inexplicably keep letting him in."

In the comics, every adult character was constantly being terrorized by the antics of this adorable proto-Bart-Simpson, but in real life, it was kind of the opposite. The character of Dennis was based on Dennis Ketcham, son of Hank Ketcham, the creator of the strip. So let's start the long list of injustices committed against the real Dennis with the fact that his dad modeled a world-famous character after him, surnamed him "the menace," and in general made him annoying as fuck.

"Sure pal, I'll play with you as soon as I finish this picture of a kid who WON'T STOP BUGGING HIS DAD."

While Ketcham was getting rich from his idyllic, fictionalized son, his flesh-and-blood one had to deal with some shit way more intense than getting caught sneaking cookies before dinner. When Dennis was only twelve, his mother, an alcoholic, died of a drug overdose while in the process of divorcing his father. The family then moved to Switzerland, but when Dennis started having trouble in school, Ketcham shipped the kid off to a boarding school in the U.S. while he remained in Europe with his new wife.

And a replacement Dennis, apparently.

And then Dennis got older, and he was finally able to move on ... to fight in Vietnam, where the Viet Cong presumably taunted him with "Hey Mister Wiiiilsooon!" chants. Fortunately, he survived; unfortunately, he suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and also the ongoing stress of being unable to open a newspaper without risking seeing the pop culture icon who hijacked his childhood.

As a result of everything we said, Dennis became estranged from his father, who continued drawing the wacky adventures of happy, mischievous Dennis for decades. Luckily, that particular Dennis never ages, so we were spared a movie where he has to go fight in 'Nam.

Unless there was some dark symbolism that we missed here.

"Why couldn't Don Cheadle play us both? Why couldn't Don Cheadle play everyone?"

The backlash was so bad that Rusesabagina was pressured into cancelling an appearance at a Canadian festival by members of Toronto's Rwandian community, who accused him of being "genocide revisionist and denier." So they didn't like the movie either, we take it. All of this has to be taking its toll on its Metacritic score.

It should be noted that Rusesabagina has denied all of these accusations, and stands by the Hollywood version, in which the guy who played War Machine doesn't threaten to send refugees to their almost-certain death if they can't afford a hotel bill. In his words: "No survivor has said, 'He charged and kicked me out for not paying.'" That ... doesn't sound as good as it did in your head, dude.

For instance, at one point, the group found one of the terrorists in Norway as he was exiting a bus with a pregnant woman, and killed him. The authorities tracked down the agents' license plate number and arrested them, but at least they got that filthy terrorist first, right? Nope. They shot the wrong guy. He wasn't even Palestinian -- he was a Moroccan waiter. The pregnant woman was his wife.

"Oh man, our faces are gonna be soooooo red when this gets out."

That's less like Munich, and more like a super bleak Police Academy movie. An even more Police-Academy-esque moment that didn't make it into the movie: one hit was executed with two of the agents dressed in drag -- one of whom, Ehud Barak, went on to become Prime Minister in 1999.

According to our computer simulation, he looked exactly like Bette Midler.

In the movie, the mission just kind of fizzles out in a haze of disillusionment, whereas in real life, it ended with the Mossad agents successfully bombing the mastermind of the Munich killings, along with his four bodyguards. And three innocent bystanders. Oh, and they injured 16 people who happened to be nearby. Shit, if anything, Israel should be sending Spielberg money for cleaning up their reputation, not hurting it.

For more Hollywood bullshit, check out 7 Movies Based on a True Story (Are Shockingly Full of Crap). And then check out 26 Awesome True Stories Behind Famous Movie Locations.