if you're a movie person like me, then you love the bio's that are
loosely based on people's lives. the movies never quite stick to the
facts ( what fun would that be )
so i thought it would be cool to start a page that showed some of
the real people behind their famous movie alter-egos.
what made me think of doing this ? yeah, where DO i get these ideas ?
well tonight i watched the movie Mask, again for what is probably the
20th time. so who better to start the page than the real Rocky Dennis.
here's 2 links that will interest you, i'm pretty sure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_L._Dennis
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9050
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one of my favorite sports movies, remember the titans.
this website shows some of the real people behind the
characters, and reveals some of the facts
and fiction of the movie.
i love the old pics.
http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/rememberthetitans.php
great song in the movie...sound up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLKx3Evitzk
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another of my favorite sports movies, probably one of yours too
and once again, a movie only loosely based upon the facts.
Hoosiers is an all-time classic. but the names have been changed.
check out this link to see the real Hoosiers, and how they differed
from the movie. great webpage.
http://www.sportshollywood.com/hoosiers.html
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ROCKY BALBOA
rocky was fictional, but the boxer he was patterned after wasn't.
when a very young sylvester stallone saw chuck wepner knock down
muhammad ali in 1975, before taking him to the 15th round, it was
his inspiration to write a screenplay about guts, determination and
effort.
and while he didn't have stallone's looks, wepner was every bit rocky.
here's some bio info about wepner, and the 15th round of their 1975 fight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Wepner
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RITCHIE VALENS
Lou Diamond Phillips looked better. Ritchie could sing. Lou couldn't.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritchie_Valens
http://www.ritchievalens.com/
before you open this next link, please be advised, its not pretty.
it has pics of the plane crash. ritchie and buddy holly's bodies
lay covered in the picture's foreground.
http://elvispelvis.com/theplanecrash.htm
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SELENA
yes, we have all seen the movie, with J-LO playing Selena.
but there was a whole different story involving Selena, her
life and career. in the movie we saw Lopez lip-synching
Selena's songs.
Selena's Bio, click this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena
here is an actual Selena performance, with one of my favorite
songs by her. ( yes, i know Selena music and even have favorites )
i'm a DJ. what do you expect !
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THE PERFECT STORM
the name of the boat was the Andrea Gail, and she and her crew
were as real as the movie depicts.
meet the crew with some pics, and the pilot who lost his life searching
for them and other missing boaters that night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkZEAfsPhUo
and while we will never really know what happened on that boat, or
how it happened, enough information is confirmed to have a pretty
good idea.
here's my favorite scene from the movie
volume up
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JOHNNY CASH. WALK THE LINE
the real johnny... a very young johnny
from everything i have read, the joaquin phoenix portrayal and movie were
pretty factual and close to real events. yes, johnny was a drug addict
and a heavy drinker for many years, drinking with hank jr. willie nelson, kris
kristofferson and waylon jennings. my first exposure to johnny was in the
late 60's when he started to get a lot of airplay and TV exposure and my
parents were big fans.
to this day, i still enjoy a good johnny song.
johnny and wife june joaquin and reese
my fave johnny cash song. a long time ago
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ERIN BROCKOVICH
many of these biopics deviate dramatically from the facts for creative
purposes or just because the director doesn't want to portray the
exact names and events. in the case of erin brockovich, that couldn't
be any further from the truth. if you read erin's bio on the internet,
you will find the names are exactly as in the movie, and the events
that take place are dead-on as well.
as you probably know, julia roberts portrays erin, a single mom, without
formal legal training, who along with the help of lawyer ed masry,
succesfully collected information, filed suit and won damages for several
hundred residents of hinckley calif in 1993. the town's water supply
had been contaminated from years of exposure to chemicals that the
local power plant allowed to seap into the ground and the drinking water.
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THE FIGHTING SULLIVANS
click on this link for movie info and their bio's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fighting_Sullivans
great movie from the 40's, and the inspiration in part for Saving Private Ryan. and in fact, the Sullivans are mentioned early in that movie. 5 brothers, grow up together in waterloo, iowa. join WW2 together after Pearl Harbor, and....well, i think you know the rest. if you have the chance to watch the movie, its great, but you'll need emergency surgery to get rid of a very large lump in your throat.
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FIELD OF DREAMS
yes, the field in iowa is a real place, and remains exactly the same today
as when it was built for the movie in the late 80's. and yes you can visit
in the summer, even have a catch on the field, and if you're brave enough,
take a walk through the cornfields next to the outfield.
check out this link about the field and the movie...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_Dreams
and of course, we can't forget the voice...volume up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHTsQ9qePrQ
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SWEET DREAMS. PATSY CLINE
we have all heard many patsy cline songs, most notably Crazy, which was
actually written and recorded first by a young Willie Nelson. But she had
many other hits during her several years of fame and a part of the Grand Ol Opry.
Songs like Walking After Midnight and Sweet Dreams remain popular to this
day with a whole new generation of Patsy fans, along with her Bio movie,
portrayed by Jessica Lange.
here's some info about the real Patsy, and my fave Patsy song.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_Cline
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BUDDY HOLLY. THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY and LABAMBA
Charles Hardin " Buddy" Holley ( real spelling ) became a rock and
roll legend long before the " Day The Music Died " plane crash in
feb, 1959. buddy had already had quite a few hit songs, and like
many other artists before and after him, his death rocketed his
record sales to historic levels.
born and raised in lubbock, texas, buddy is still a legend in the town,
51 years after his death.
buddy was portrayed by gary busey in the Buddy Holly Story.
busey received an academy award nomination for his
performance, but the movie was criticized as inaccurate.
marshall crenshaw portrayed buddy in the film
LaBamba, appearing briefly at the end doing a
great version of my fave buddy song.
watch the following video. along with images of the real
buddy, that's crenshaw doing the song in the
movie. looks just like him.
remember, you can see pics of the plane crash site, along with images of buddy and ritchie's covered frozen bodies laying in the cornfield, if you look at the Ritchie Valens bio earlier on this page.
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was coming. if you read my blog, you know i've had family issues. but
tonight i was able to put an hour aside to get this done. yes, each one
of these movies i discuss takes about an hour to research, put some
thought into it, and then put all this together.
thanks for viewing it. chuck.
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PRIMARY COLORS. BILL CLINTON ???
6 years after clinton was elected, a novel was published with a storyline
almost identical to the president's own story. a southern governor, who
can't keep it in his pants, along with his politically motivated wife, make
a run for the white house, with many ups and downs along the way.
sound familiar ? well except for the fact that the lead character is named jack
stanton, not bill clinton, its impossible to seperate them. and travolta,
well he's magnificent and dead-on as bill, er i mean jack.
below is the 6 min climax to the movie. if you havent seen it, and don't
want to spoil the ending, you may not want to view it. if you do watch,
watch it to the end. one of my favorite movie endings ever, including the
final seconds with the flag.
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THIS IS THE END OF PAGE 1. THERE IS NOW A SECOND ONE CALLED FAMOUS
REAL-LIFE MOVIE CHARACTERS II. ( CREATIVE, AREN'T I ?? )
CLICK ON THE DROP DOWN BOX AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE. ITS THE
FIRST PAGE ON THE LIST. THIS PAGE IS STAYING, SO FEEL FREE TO
COME BACK AND REVIEW SOME OF THE ONES THAT HAVE BEEN HERE AWHILE.
THANKS. CHUCK.
