History HistoricalVillainUpgrade / LiveActionFilms

* The film ''Film/DangerousBeauty'' depicts Veronica Franco as being accused of witchcraft and being tried by the Roman Inquisition. That really did happen. The film, however, also depicts the Inquisition as frothing-at-the-mouth [[TheWitchHunter witch-hunters]] determined in advance not only to convict Franco, but prepared to believe that Venetian society was rife with witchcraft, and eager to conduct mass burnings of witches. This portrayal of the Inquisition as lunatic witch-hunters is quite common and appears in many works. It is also totally false. In reality, the official position of the Catholic Church was that accusations of witchcraft were almost invariably [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt superstitious nonsense]]; the Church generally tried to suppress witch-hunts. When the Inquisition ''did'' investigate charges of witchcraft and put suspected witches on trial, it was almost always because public hysteria had broken out, and some person, such as Veronica Franco, had been accused, and the Church wanted to put a stop to the nonsense before things got out of hand. By conducting an official investigation and clearing the accused, the Church could usually calm the situation and end the panic. The real witch-burning hysteria in Europe occurred in predominantly ''Protestant'' northern Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. So while ''Dangerous Beauty'' correctly portrays the Inquisition as dismissing the charges against Franco, it also portrays this as an incredible occurrence resulting from the heroic intervention of the entire Venetian senate. In reality, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the Inquisition would dismiss the charges, or acquit her, because that's what the Inquisition normally did with witchcraft charges. [[TheHeretic Heresy]] charges definitely were another story, however.

* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInHollywood'': Creator/BruceLee is characterized as an arrogant jerk who likes to pick fights and brags that he could cripple UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli. While Lee's widow claimed that he expressed interest in fighting Ali and that many people thought he could beat him, his boasts about crippling Ali are entirely original to the movie and he wasn't the belligerent asshole he is in the movie.

* Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, receives a big one in the 1938 film ''Film/MarieAntoinette''. The real Orléans was a genuine believer in the principles of Creator/JeanJacquesRousseau and Montesquieu, who used his position to foster support for liberalism and democratic reform. He was initially supportive of UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, but eventually turned against its excesses, saved several people from being executed, and was eventually guillotined himself. In the movie, however, Orléans is, in fact, the primary orchestrator of the entire Revolution, which he cooked up as part of an insidious plot to seize the throne, after failing to seduce Marie Antoinette. During the so-called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affair_of_the_Diamond_Necklace "Affair of the Diamond Necklace"]], he becomes a full-blown DiabolicalMastermind, using forgery and impersonation to frame the Queen for fraud. Eventually, he maliciously casts the deciding vote in favor of executing Louis XVI, before being executed offscreen by the rabble (he did vote in favor of it, but was hardly the decider, though some people did take that as an attempt by him to get rid of the king and seize the crown for himself). The recent French film, ''The Lady and the Duke'' has a more sympathetic portrayal of the Duke of Orleans, seeing him as someone way out of his depth in revolutionary politics.

* ''Film/DraculaUntold'' depicts Mehmed the Conqueror as wanting to forcibly convert all of Europe to Islam. The historical Mehmed certainly got his hands dirty or ordered people to do so when it suited his interests, but he didn't condone forced conversions, at least nowhere near to the extent the movie presents it. In fact, Mehmed was well known for his religious tolerance. He helped lay the foundation for the Ottoman millet, under which the Empire's various religious minorities could conduct themselves according to their own legal codes, and he allowed the Byzantine Church to continue functioning after he conquered Constantinople.

* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': General Erich Ludendorff is reimagined as a bloodthirsty, PsychoSerum-snorting GeneralRipper, who murders the rest of the German general staff to stop them from recommending an armistice to the Kaiser and then tries to launch a chemical attack on London. In real life, while Ludendorff was a imperialist and warmonger, he never resorted to backstabbing his rival generals and he actually ''supported'' the armistice albeit out of pragmatism since Germany was running out of supplies and men. Interestingly, the real Ludendorff became more villainous after the war ended as he became an early supporter of Nazism, supported violence against the Weimar government, accused German Jews of sabotaging the German war effort, and denounced the armistice as an insult to national pride. However, this is a moot point, since he [[DeathByAdaptation dies in 1918 in this movie]], before the war even ends.

* ''Film/TheOutlawsIsComing'' portrays historical lawmen WyattEarp, UsefulNotes/BatMasterton and 'Wild Bill' Hikcock as outlaws. Whatever their flaws may have been, they were never murdering desperadoes like UsefulNotes/JesseJames and UsefulNotes/BillyTheKid. Of course, RuleOfFunny is in full effect.

* ''Film/TheOutlawsIsCming'' portrays historical lawmen UsefulNotes/WyattEarp, UsefulNotes/BatMasterton and 'Wild Bill' Hikcock as outlaws. Whatever their flaws may have been, they were never murdering desperadoes like UsefulNotes/JesseJames and UsefulNotes/BillyTheKid.

* ''Film/OutlawKing'': [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] as per [[UsefulNotes/EdwardTheFirst King Edward I]], and somewhat played straight with [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet Edward, Prince of Wales]].

** On the other hand, Prince Edward (based on records) is actually OutOfFocus in historical records during this period. It cannot be credibly established whether he played a major role in the Scottish campaigns under his father (especially since scholarly consensus suggest he was textbook IdleRich at best). In this film, he is seen to be actively making the effort to contribute to the war project--if ineffectually. There's no evidence for the real Prince Edward being this sadistic, neither then or later as king. He in fact frequently delegated his duties and was a reluctant ruler. The real man was well known for [[NiceToTheWaiter generosity toward his household staff]] and chatting with commoners, something people during the era criticized.

* Dan Devine from ''Film/{{Rudy}}''. In the film, he was the {{jerkass}} Notre Dame head coach who wouldn't let Rudy play at all, only relenting after the ''entire team'' threatened to walk. In real life, ''he'' was the one who suggested that Rudy play! Dan Devine was a consultant on the film, and was actually ok with having himself portrayed this way, as they needed a villain, it was felt.

* ''Film/{{Selma}}'': Downplayed with UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson. He was somewhat reluctant to pass the Voting Rights Act so soon after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and was perceived as dragging his feet on the issue by activists. However, he was not quite as antagonistic as he is portrayed in the film. In fact, he was actually quite enthusiastic about the bill itself, which his attorney general drafted at his direction, calling it "the goddamndest, toughest voting rights act" ever drafted. He also wasn't the one who initiated the FBI surveillance and blackmail campaign against King; in reality, that started before he became president. He does relent by the end and is more or less depicted as a complicated politician, who did believe in the cause but was hesitant on how to act on it, so it's not a wholly negative portrayal. By the end of the film, he lets his true colors show by tearing George Wallace a new one.

* ''Film/BonnieAndClyde'' does this to real-life Texas Ranger Frank Hamer. Did Hamer set-up the ambush that killed Bonnie and Clyde? Yes. Was it inevitable that [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality a movie focusing on them would villainize Hamer]]? Probably. Was he a bumbling, sociopathic {{Jerkass}} who tracks down the protagonists to [[DisproportionateRetribution avenge a petty humiliation]]? Not so much. Needless to say, Hamer's relatives weren't happy and sued Warner Bros. over his portrayal.

* ''Film/{{Olga}}'' portrays Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas as a pro-Nazi dictator that effectively sentences the title character - a Jewish communist woman - to death by deporting her back to Germany, while she is ''pregnant'', no less, to [[RevengeByProxy spite her husband, who was Vargas' political enemy]]. While its known that in real life, Vargas enjoyed friendly ties with the Third Reich and he definitely ruled as a dictator, he also persecuted far-right groups such as the Integralists (a fascist party trying to emulate the Nazis) almost as much as communists and ultimately sided with the Allies during World War II, declaring war on Germany and sending tens of thousands of troops to fight in Europe, while using Lend-Lease aid from the U.S. not only to equip his soldiers, but also to help industrialize his country. In addition, he implemented several worker-friendly policies (in spite of his hatred of communism) that earned him the nickname "Father of the Poor".

** The Venetians are portrayed as treasonous and corrupt collaborators to the Ottoman Empire, hoping to take down the Albanians so they can invade Europe. While it is historically true that Venice was very cutthroat towards other nations on their side (like the Byzantine Empire for instance), since they really did wage war against Albania while briefly siding with the Ottomans, they were also enemies with the latter having fought a number of wars for hegemony over the Mediterranean.

* ''Film/TheMaskOfZorro'': There was a real Captain Harrison Love, who was responsible for killing a Joaquin Murrieta (and Three-Fingered Jack, in fact) and preserving his head in a jar. However, the real Murrieta was a murderous bandit and the real Love was only doing his job by bringing him to justice, and only put his head in a jar as proof that he killed him, not so he could cannibalize it later; nor did he ever, you know, enslave and try to murder hundreds of innocent people, as far as we know.

** UsefulNotes/LeonTrotsky and the Trotskyists are portrayed as agents of Germany and Japan. The real Trotsky was certainly no saint, but he neither he nor his followers worked for either Axis power.

* In ''{{Film/Agora}}'', Cyril of Jerusalem is potrayed in the movie as instigating the murder of Hypatia for being a female scientist, a supposed witch, and a pagan - along with generally being depicted as TheFundamentalist. In history, he didn't order Hypatia to be killed, much less for any of the reasons he has in the film. To a desgree, this trope also applies to the Christians of Alexandria in general.

* In ''{{Film/Agora}}'', Cyril of Jerusalem is potrayed in the movie as instigating the murder of Hypatia for being a woman, a scientist, a supposed witch, and a pagan - along with generally being depicted as TheFundamentalist. In history, he didn't order Hypatia to be killed, much less for any of the reasons he has in the film. To a desgree, this trope also applies to the Christians of Alexandria in general.

* In ''Film/Agora'', * Cyril of Jerusalem is potrayed in the movie as instigating the murder of Hypatia for being a woman, a scientist, a supposed witch, and a pagan - along with generally being depicted as TheFundamentalist. In history, he didn't order Hypatia to be killed, much less for any of the reasons he has in the film. To a desgree, this trope also applies to the Christians of Alexandria in general.

* ''Film/DraculaUntold'' depicts Mehmed the Conqueror as wanting to forcibly convert all of Europe to Islam. The historical Mehmed certainly got his hands dirty or ordered people to do so when it suited his interests, but he didn't condone forced conversions. In fact, Mehmed was well known for his religious tolerance. He instituted the Ottoman Millet, under which the Empire's various religious minorities could conduct themselves according to their own legal codes, and allowed the Byzantine Church to continue functioning after he conquered Constantinople.

** ''Queen Elizabeth: The Golden Age'' [[AmericansHateTingle bombed in Spain]] precisely because of this trope. Spanish audiences were insulted with its depiction of Philip II (a remarkably pious man) as -- quoting one critic -- "a cackling, Spanish Doctor Doom." And its prequel, ''Film/{{Elizabeth}}'', certainly followed the formula insofar as both her sister Mary and the Catholic Church at large were concerned.

* Whether or not ''Film/MommieDearest'' does this to Creator/JoanCrawford is hotly debated to this day. Witnesses and historical records are sharply divided between those who claim [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory the book and film are severe exaggerations or outright lies]], and those who say that they are not only completely true, but actually ''undersell'' Crawford's [[AbusiveParents abuse of her children]]. Making matters even messier is that neither side really has anymore legitimacy than the other, as Crawford's defenders include two of her kids and many of her friends, but her accusers include her third child (who wrote the book) and many ''other'' friends. The sad reality is that there is really no solid evidence to say who's telling the truth, though some believe it was most likely somewhere in the middle; [[ParentsAsPeople that Crawford was a flawed and at-times mean parent]], but hardly the screeching, cartoonishly abusive maniac the film portrays her as.

* ''Film/{{Ray}}'': Fathead Newman wasn't the reason Ray got hooked on drugs and he was considered a very gentle person in real life

** The Big Three are hinted as being threatened by Tucker, when in actuality they couldn't care less about a startup independent car company. They decided to reduce competition by cutting prices in 1953, which ultimately put Studebaker-Packard and Kaiser-Jeep out of business. In reality, Tucker was targeted by an overzealous SEC investigation rather than rival auto companies.

** In ''Film/SevenPillarsOfWisdom'', Lawrence and his Arab guide encounter Sherif Ali (Emir Feisal's younger brother) at a well while traveling to meet Feisal. Lawrence treats the encounter as a comic interlude, with Ali traveling in a PaperThinDisguise with his servant pretending to be him, and the incident occurs without any hostility or bloodshed. In the movie, Sherif Ali (a fictional CompositeCharacter and member of the Harith clan) murders Lawrence's guide for drinking at a well within Harith territory. This scene deeply offended many Arab viewers, especially Ali's descendants, who attempted to sue Creator/ColumbiaPictures over the scene.
** The movie's treatment of General Edmund Allenby drew similar criticism. The real Allenby was a skilled general who was friendly with Lawrence and much more sympathetic to the Arabs than the film suggests. For instance, he served as Egypt's High Commissioner in the early '20s and threatened to resign if London didn't grant Egypt independence. In the movie he's equal parts ArmchairMilitary and ManipulativeBastard who hides [[JustFollowingOrders behind his military duties to excuse his actions]]. Screenwriter Robert Bolt wrote that he respected Allenby and tried to make him a sympathetic character, but it's not especially evident in the finished movie.

* The 1935 and 1962 film versions of ''Film/MutinyOnTheBounty'' and ''Film/MutinyOnTheBounty1962'' (as well as their 1932 novelization source material ''Literature/TheBountyTrilogy'') depict Captain William Bligh[[note]]His rank at the time wasn't even Captain, but Lieutenant.[[/note]] as a ruthless autocrat. Among other things, he is variously shown to have keelhauled a man, flogged a man to death, deprived his men of water until they succumb to dehydration, etc., none of which occurred in reality. Indeed, most who served under him regarded him as rather tame in terms of actual punishment, and a comparison to other contemporary captains seems to support this. For the most part, he seems to have been guilty of nothing more than arrogance, frequent shouting, and giving conflicting orders, much to his crew's frustration. For his day, he would have been considered fairly strict, but fair, and not as strict as he ''could'' have been. Modern historians place the blame more on the crew's long vacation in the tropics, causing them to become overly sensitive to discipline; a lesser emphasis is placed on his tendency towards relentless micromanagement and acerbic wit. The 1984 film ''Film/TheBounty'' takes a revisionist and more historically accurate view of Bligh, depicting [[GrayAndGrayMorality both his good and bad points]], along with the part most depictions completely omit: his almost 4,000-mile long voyage to safely reach Timor in the boat he and the loyal crewman were set adrift on, a remarkable feat by any standard.
* ''Film/{{Olga}}'' portrays Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas as a pro-Nazi dictator that effectively sentences the title character - a Jewish communist woman - to death by deporting her back to Germany, while she is ''pregnant'', no less, to [[RevengeByProxy spite her husband, who was Vargas' political enemy]]. While its known that in real life, Vargas enjoyed friendly ties with the Third Reich and he definitely ruled as a dictator, he also persecuted far-right groups such as the Integralists (a fascist party trying to emulate the Nazis) almost as much as communists and ultimately sided with the Allies during World War II, declaring war on Germany and sending tens of thousands of troops to fight in Europe, while using Lend-Lease aid from the U.S. not only to equip his soldiers, but to help industrialize his country. In addition, he implemented several worker-friendly policies (in spite of his hatred of communism) that earned him the nickname "Father of the Poor".

* ''Film/ShadowOfTheVampire'', a fictionalized movie about the making of ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'', depicts Max Schreck, the actor who played Graf Orlok, as a real [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] who kills multiple people.

* ''Film/SinkTheBismarck'': Admiral Günther Lütjens, the commander of the task force the ''Bismarck'' was part of, is depicted as [[AllGermansAreNazis a dedicated supporter of the Nazis]]. In reality, Lütjens had a far less positive opinion of the Nazi regime: he ignored the Nuremburg Laws during his time as the Kriegsmarine's chief of personnel, wrote a letter of protest to the Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy regarding ''Kristallnacht'', deliberately greeted everyone -- up to and including Hitler himself -- with the traditional German naval salute rather than the Nazi salute, and wore his [[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany Imperial Navy]] dagger on his uniform because it didn't have a swastika emblem. The film also portrays him as utterly arrogant, while the real admiral, being an experienced seaman, was justifiably very pessimistic about his mission and knew the ''Bismarck'' was the furthest thing from invincible in the circumstances he found himself in.

* While Music/BrianJones could certainly be problematic [[note]]although there is speculation that he might've been bipolar[[/note]], he's still got nothing on his movie counterpart, as portrayed by Leo Gregory in the 2005 film ''Stoned'', who possesses absolutely none of Brian's charm, musical skills, or other more savory character traits. To elaborate: his movie counterpart is a [[DesignatedHero selfish, irresponsible, drug-addicted, abusive, lazy manchild]], who at one point in the movie sexually assaults his girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg, who subsequently left him for Music/KeithRichards (there's actually quite a bit of debate about what happened, but Keith said Brian tried to rope her into a foursome and threw food at her when she refused). To the average viewer who might know next to nothing about the life of Brian Jones, it'd be rather easy to just wish for him to meet his fate sooner rather than later (and the film's runtime is only an hour and forty-two minutes). Especially not helping is that the movie tries to blame his downfall on Anita Pallenberg, [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming which is especially egregious considering that, since the movie fails to elaborate that they were abusive to each other, Anita is more of a victim than anything else in this movie]].

* The short film ''The American Dream'' portrays the Rothschilds (referred to as red-shields) as [[EldritchAbomination tentacled horrors]] ruining the economies of America and England through wars, central banking, and the Federal Reserve either to satisfy their avarice or just because. This is conspiracy theory fodder, as the family was not at all as bad as portrayed here.

* In ''A Kitten for Hitler'', after a Jewish child gives Hitler a kitten for Christmas on the hope that it may make him reconsider his actions, Hitler has Eva Braun get a knife so the boy can be skinned alive and turned into a lampshade. For all of his many atrocities, there is no record of Hitler having ever ''personally'' skinned a child alive and turned them into a lampshade, let alone doing so on Christmas. Furthermore, Eva Braun is shown to be gleeful when she says she'll go get a knife. There is no evidence that she was ever directly complicit in Hitler's misdeeds herself or that she was that sadistic.

** In ''Seven Pillars of Wisdom'', Lawrence and his Arab guide encounter Sherif Ali (Emir Feisal's younger brother) at a well while traveling to meet Feisal. Lawrence treats the encounter as a comic interlude, with Ali traveling in a PaperThinDisguise with his servant pretending to be him, and the incident occurs without any hostility or bloodshed. In the movie, Sherif Ali (a fictional CompositeCharacter and member of the Harith clan) murders Lawrence's guide for drinking at a well within Harith territory. This scene deeply offended many Arab viewers, especially Ali's descendants, who attempted to sue Creator/ColumbiaPictures over the scene.

* ''Wired'', the {{biopic}} of the late Creator/JohnBelushi, was universally reviled by Belushi's friends and family as a glorified character assassination of the beloved entertainer. The film glosses over most Belushi's short-but-illustrious career to focus almost exclusively on his drug addictions, and on top of that, he is portrayed as a boorish, violent, unprofessional, adulterous, openly racist hedonist who cares nothing for the harm his actions cause. In real life, while he did struggle with cocaine addiction, John Belushi was a kind, compassionate, generous man who took his work seriously and made a genuine (albeit sadly unsuccessful) effort to clean up his life.

* ''Film/TheFounder'': Ray Kroc is characterized as a predatory businessman who eventually screws the [=McDonald=] brothers out of their stake in the company. In real life, the brothers were very happy with the huge nest egg they had for retirement. Their request for 1% of the annual profits as part of the buyout agreement has never been verified and the brothers never attempted to sue over it. Therefore, it's entirely possible that it's all just a rumor from some of their bitter descendants who would be billionaires today had that actually been signed. Likewise, while they certainly had some disagreements with Ray, their split was a mutual decision and they never expressed any regrets about it. In 1984, Dick even ate the ceremonial 50 billionth burger McDonald's sold.

** The Venetians are portrayed as treasonous and corrupt collaborators to the Ottoman Empire, hoping to take down the Albanians so they can invade Europe. While it is historically true that Venice was very cuttroat towards other nations on their side (like the Byzantine Empire for instance), since they really did wage war against Albania while briefly siding with the Ottomans, they were also enemies with the latter having fought a number of wars for hegemony over the Mediterranean.

*** The Cowboys as a gang are portrayed as a ruthless band of killers with a ZeroPercentApprovalRating. In real life, the Cowboys were mostly a loose association of rustlers who stole cattle in Mexico and drove them across the border, and who had significant support from local ranchers like the Clantons, who liked being able to get livestock on the cheap.

* Creator/SalmanRushdie received this treatment in the movie ''Film/InternationalGuerillas'' where he is turned into a sadistic DiabolicalMastermind that tortures Muslims and conspires to destroy Islam just so he can build brothels and casinos around the world. The real one was just a writer that wrote a [[Literature/TheSatanicVerses book]] which the Iranian government found blasphemous and issued a ''fatwa against his life''. Needless to say, Rushdie wasn't a fan of the movie, though he did oppose attempts to ban and/or censor it.

* In ''A Kitten for Hitler'', after a Jewish child gives Hitler a kitten for Christmas on the hope that it may make him reconsider his actions, Hitler has Eva Braun get a knife so the boy can be skinned alive and turned into a lampshade. For all of his many atrocities, there is no record of Hitler having ever ''personally'' skinned a child alive and turned them into a lampshade, let alone on Christmas. Furthermore, Eva Braun is shown to be gleeful when she says she'll go get a knife. There is no evidence that she was ever directly complicit in Hitler's misdeeds herself or that she was that sadistic.

** The movie also excuses the Soviet invasion of Finland by calling UsefulNotes/GustavMannerheim "Hitler's friend".

* ''Film/{{Olga}}'' portrays Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas as a pro-Nazi dictator that effectively sentences the title character - a Jewish communist woman - to death by deporting her back to Germany, while she is ''pregnant, no less'', to [[RevengeByProxy spite her husband, who was Vargas' political enemy]]. While its known that in real life, Vargas enjoyed friendly ties with the Third Reich and he definitely ruled as a dictator, he also persecuted far-right groups such as the Integralists (a fascist party trying to emulate the Nazis) almost as much as communists and ultimately sided with the Allies during World War II, declaring war on Germany and sending tens of thousands of troops to fight in Europe, while using Lend-Lease aid from the U.S. not only to equip his soldiers, but to help industrialize his country. In addition, he implemented several worker-friendly policies (in spite of his hatred of communism) that earned him the nickname "Father of the Poor".

** On the other hand, Prince Edward (based on records) is actually OutOfFocus in historical records during this period. It cannot be credibly established whether he played a major role in the Scottish campaigns under his father (especially since scholarly consensus suggest he is textbook IdleRich at best). In this film, he is seen to be actively making the effort to contribute to the war project--if ineffectually. There's no evidence for the real Prince Edward being this sadistic, neither then or later as king. He in fact frequently delegated his duties and was a reluctant ruler. The real man was well known for [[NiceToTheWaiter generosity toward his household staff]] and chatting with commoners, something people during the era criticized.

* ''Film/TheScorpionKing'', who gets both a HistoricalHeroUpgrade ''and'' a Historical Villain Upgrade throughout the film series, and resembles the real man only in name and general location -- although very little is known about the real-life Scorpion King, even if he was real at all. The Scorpion King's direct-to-DVD prequel gives this treatment to Sargon the Magnificent.

* While Music/BrianJones could certainly be problematic [[note]] though, there is speculation that he might've been bipolar [[/note]], he's still got nothing on his movie counterpart, as portrayed by Leo Gregory in the 2005 film ''Stoned'', who possesses absolutely none of Brian's charm, musical skills, or other more savory character traits. To elaborate: his movie counterpart is a [[DesignatedHero selfish, irresponsible, drug-addicted, abusive, lazy manchild]], who at one point in the movie sexually assaults his girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg, who subsequently left him for Music/KeithRichards (there's actually quite a bit of debate about what happened, but Keith said Brian tried to rope her into a foursome and threw food at her when she refused). To the average viewer who might know next to nothing about the life of Brian Jones, it'd be rather easy to just wish for him to meet his fate sooner rather than later (and the film's runtime is only an hour and forty-two minutes). Especially not helping is that the movie tries to blame his downfall on Anita Pallenberg, [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming which is especially egregious considering that, since the movie fails to elaborate that they were abusive to each other, Anita is more of a victim than anything else in this movie]].

* ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor'': The Dragon Emperor is almost the same as the real Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Ch'in Dynasty, who if anything was even worse than the one in the movie. They simply adds supernatural powers to him -- and a plan to TakeOverTheWorld with his animated Terracota army (QSH pretty much took over the ''known'' world when he was alive, the result was that what was once a dozen of independent states were forever unified in a single state, China). The writers didn't take the risk of having the movie BannedInChina for having its founder as a villain and called him Emperor Han.

* ''Film/SinkTheBismarck'' depicts Admiral Günther Lütjens, the commander of the task force the ''Bismarck'' was part of, as [[AllGermansAreNazis a dedicated supporter of the Nazis]]. In reality, Lütjens had a far less positive opinion of the Nazi regime: he ignored the Nuremburg Laws during his time as the Kriegsmarine's chief of personnel, wrote a letter of protest to the Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy regarding ''Kristallnacht'', deliberately greeted everyone -- up to and including Hitler himself -- with the traditional German naval salute rather than the Nazi salute, and wore his [[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany Imperial Navy]] dagger on his uniform because it didn't have a swastika emblem. The film also portrays him as utterly arrogant, while the real admiral, being an experienced seaman, was justifiably very pessimistic about his mission and knew the ''Bismarck'' was the furthest thing from invincible in the circumstances he found himself in.

* The film ''Dangerous Beauty'' depicts Veronica Franco as being accused of witchcraft and being tried by the Roman Inquisition. That really did happen. The film, however, also depicts the Inquisition as frothing-at-the-mouth [[TheWitchHunter witch-hunters]] determined in advance not only to convict Franco, but prepared to believe that Venetian society was rife with witchcraft, and eager to conduct mass burnings of witches. This portrayal of the Inquisition as lunatic witch-hunters is quite common and appears in many works. It is also totally false. In reality, the official position of the Catholic Church was that accusations of witchcraft were almost invariably [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt superstitious nonsense]]; the Church generally tried to suppress witch-hunts. When the Inquisition ''did'' investigate charges of witchcraft and put suspected witches on trial, it was almost always because public hysteria had broken out, and some person, such as Veronica Franco, had been accused, and the Church wanted to put a stop to the nonsense before things got out of hand. By conducting an official investigation and clearing the accused, the Church could usually calm the situation and end the panic. The real witch-burning hysteria in Europe occurred in predominantly ''Protestant'' northern Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. So while ''Dangerous Beauty'' correctly portrays the Inquisition as dismissing the charges against Franco, it also portrays this as an incredible occurrence resulting from the heroic intervention of the entire Venetian senate. In reality, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the Inquisition would dismiss the charges, or acquit her, because that's what the Inquisition normally did with witchcraft charges. [[TheHeretic Heresy]] charges definitely were another story, however.