In the past two decades, Hollywood has taken a liking to true story movies, whether they
document part of the lives of people who really lived or spin their own take on historical
events. However, while some true story films may offer movie viewers an idea of what happens
to the people or locations after the credits role, others fail to give the whole story
- whether it be the mysterious disappearance of the main character or a famous building's
ties to World War II Nazis.
Here are Screen Rant's 10 Movie Endings You Never Got To See.
The Wolf of Wall Street
Marking the fifth time director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio teamed together,
The Wolf of Wall Street told the story of Jordan Belfort, a wealthy stockbroker who
was eventually brought down by the SEC and FBI for defrauding investors. According to
the film's epilogue, Belfort was sentenced to 36 months in prison - of which he only
served 22 - and has since made a living teaching seminars on sales techniques. In addition
to the prison time, Belfort was also ordered to pay over $110 million to his victims, but
has since paid less than $12 million. Plus, since his release he has attempted to fight
the requirement of paying anymore compensation and been criticized for receiving more than
$1 million in rights payments for his part in The Wolf of Wall Street. Of course, since
Belfort has admitted the depiction of his drug use in the film is more tame than his
actual activities, his real life ruthless nature shouldn't come as a huge surprise.
Titanic
It's widely recognized that the love story between Jack and Rose at the center of James
Cameron's 1997 disaster film Titanic is a work of pure fiction, but many of the characters
aboard the ship were based on real people. One historical accuracy included in Titanic
is that the band bravely played their instruments while the ship sank. However, these musicians
were repaid for their services by the shipping company that owned the Titanic who sent bills
to their loved ones. That's right, the family of one musician in particular, the violinist
Jock Hume, was charged not only for the brass buttons on his uniform, but for the shipping
cost to deliver his body home as well. According to the White Star Line, Hume's pay was stopped
the moment the ship went down and the wages owed to him didn't cover these costs. Considering
the noble actions of the Titanic's musicians, demanding money from their families doesn't
seem like the best way to honor their memory.
Erin Brockovich
The 2000 film Erin Brockovich starred Julia Roberts as the titular single mother. A legal
assistant at the time, Brockovich championed a small California town and took on a major
energy corporation that was poisoning townspeople with carcinogenic chemicals in the groundwater.
In the movie, Brockovich is able to win the town a total of $333 million and received
her own bonus of $2 million, apparently showing a happy ending to the situation. However,
the real end to this story isn't quite as cinematically happy: the townspeople claim
their lawyers held onto their awards for six months after the settlement, and that the
amounts were significantly less than they expected because of excessive legal fees.
As if that isn't bad enough, Brockovich herself has seemingly abandoned the town, using her
fame to launch a career as an environmental activist and motivational speaker.
Schindler's List
Steven Spielberg's 1993 historical drama Schindler's List is based on the life of Oskar Schindler,
a wealthy businessman who went from focusing on making money to saving lives during World
War II. Schindler ran a munitions factory in early 1940s Germany, which he used to save
and protect the lives of more than a thousand Jews before the war ended. However, because
of his previous relations with the Nazi Party, Schindler was considered a war criminal by
the Allies and fled Germany in order to avoid capture. Though the events depicted in Schindler's
List paint him as a hero, throughout the rest of his life he suffered one failed business
venture after another, largely relying on financial support from those he helped during
the war. Still, Schindler is well-regarded for his accomplishments during WWII, so at
least he was successful when it really mattered.
The Revenant
The most recent film from director Alejandro Iñárritu is based on the story of how 19th
century frontiersman Hugh Glass survived a brutal bear attack and managed to find his
way through the wilderness to safety. One of the major driving forces for Glass is exacting
revenge on the two men that left him for dead, John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger. At the end
of The Revenant, Glass gets his vengeance on Fitzgerald, but his own fate and survival
are left to open-ended ambiguity. However, the real story of Glass provides some concrete
answers as to what happened to the frontiersman after finding Fitzgerald. First off, by all
accounts Glass never actually attempted to get revenge on Fitzgerald because the man
that had abandoned him joined the Army. As a result, he was essentially untouchable unless
Glass wanted to face deathly consequences. As for Bridger, Glass did find the boy that
left him for dead, but because it had been at the urging of Fitzgerald, he decided to
be forgiving. As for Glass's death, he was killed during a skirmish with the Arikara
Native American tribe 10 years after surviving the bear attack. So, The Revenant not only
takes some artistic liberties with the ending of Glass's story, but with most of the conclusion
to his mission for revenge as well.
Remember the Titans
Despite being based on the true story of T.C. Williams High School's 1971 football season,
Remember the Titans features a number of historical inaccuracies. The biggest being that T.C.
Williams had been racially integrated many years before, and the big merger at the heart
of the film was simply combining three schools together. Additionally, according to a former
player of Coach Herman Boone, he wasn't quite the inspiring character portrayed by Denzel
Washington in Remember the Titans. Though the movie notes Boone left the Titans five
years after their 1971 season, it doesn't mention that it was in disgrace following
accusations of verbal and physical abuse as well as a player mutiny and the departure
of multiple assistants. However, despite the way he left T.C. Williams, Boone has still
largely been regarded as a hero because of his portrayal in Remember the Titans.
12 Years a Slave
Steve McQueen's 2013 Oscar-winning biographical drama 12 Years a Slave follows the enslavement
of free African-American man Solomon Northup in the southern United States during the 1800s.
Though Northup is eventually freed and goes on to write the memoir on which the film is
based, 12 Years a Slave notes that the circumstances surrounding his death and burial are unknown.
After his time as a slave, Northup became an active member in the abolitionist movement,
but there are no historical documents relating to when or how he died. It has since become
a puzzle for historians, with some theories including that Northup became a spy for the
Union Army during the Civil War or that he was kidnapped again or, simply, that he was
murdered. Of course, given what we know about the time period, and the fact that 12 Years
a Slave depicts what can happen when an African-American man goes missing, it seems likely this story
doesn't have a happy ending.
The Theory of Everything
Eddie Redmayne won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory
of Everything, but the film glossed over some of the more unpleasant aspects of the famous
physicist's life. The Theory of Everything follows the love story between Stephen Hawking
and Jane Wilde, who marry and have children, before falling out of love and finding happiness
elsewhere - while still remaining friends. However, in actuality, Stephen and Jane went
through a painful divorce and it was many years before they became friends again. Additionally,
circumstances surrounding Stephen's relationship with his second wife Elaine, led many to believe
she abused him. So, although The Theory of Everything's epilogue is technically accurate,
it doesn't quite tell the whole story.
Big Miracle
The 2012 drama Big Miracle tells the true story of how a group of people came together
despite their differing beliefs in order to save a family of gray whales trapped in the
ice near Point Barrow, Alaska. Although the film does depict the death of the youngest
whale, named Bamm-Bamm, it shows the other two, Fred and Wilma, swimming freely away
into the ocean, seemingly saved by human intervention. However, no one actually knows if the two
whales ever really escaped the ice. Since the National Marine Fisheries Service didn't
attach radio tracking tags to the whales before they were freed, we only know for sure that
they left the section of the ice where they were previously trapped. But, considering
their injuries, it’s unclear whether they survived the swim back to open ocean. Although
many have tried to since find the whales, they haven’t had any luck, so we're not
sure this was truly the big miracle the film made it out to be.
Moneyball
The 2011 sports film Moneyball follows Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, played
by Brad Pitt, who manages to build a baseball team despite the franchise's limited budget.
Beane accomplishes this feat using a new method of statistical analysis known as sabermetrics,
leading the team to a more successful season, even though they don't make the World Series.
A title card at the end of the film explains that the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series
using Beane's method, but they weren't the only team to adopt sabermetrics. Michael Lewis'
2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game revealed Beane's exact methods
that led to the team's success, and the author has since admitted it "probably cost the A's
an opportunity or two." So the major lesson of Moneyball isn't just to be innovative,
it's also to protect your secrets to success if you want to stay successful.
So what do you think of our list? Did we miss any endings to true stories left out of movies?
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