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True Movies Round-up

Trigger warning:

Most of the films are based on crimes (often murder or abuse) and I realise these are difficult subjects, so read with caution if you're sensitive to these types of films, or feel you may be triggered.

I've tried to avoid spoilers in this post. :)

 

It's been a long time since I've done a true movies post on the blog (nearly 2 years ago), so today I thought I would do a round-up, plus share a couple of ones not featured before! :) I've previously written 4 posts about true movies (films based on true stories), here are the links:

Top 10 True Movies: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2016/05/top-10-true-movies.html

More True Movies: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2017/07/more-true-movies.html

And More True Movies!: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/04/and-more-true-movies.html

Selection of True Movies: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/04/selection-of-true-movies.html

 

 My Son Johnny (1991)

17-year-old Anthony Cortino (Corin Nemac) is happy with it just being him and his mum Mary Anne (Michele Lee) at home. He has a difficult relationship with his older brother Johnny (Ricky/Rick Schroeder) who used to beat him when he lived with them. Johnny has been leading a criminal life in the city, but when he gets into trouble, he decides to come back home. 

His mother is thrilled (for her Johnny can do no wrong) but Anthony is terrified, he doesn't want things to go back to the way they were. How far can Johnny push him before he snaps?

Here is a clip from the film (playback is disabled on 3rd party sites, but you can watch it fine on YouTube):

 

                                                      

This is a very sad film, with a tragic ending. It's especially sad to see how frightened Anthony is and how trapped he feels, and the fact that his mum just turns a blind eye to it all. I think that these days there is more awareness about family/sibling abuse than there was back in the 80s and 90s.

It is based on a true story but I can't find much info about the real events. There's an article on the Baltimore Sun site (the film is based in Baltimore, Maryland in the US) but I can't view the site in the UK, probably due to data protection laws. 

 

Black and Blue (1999)

Black and Blue (not to be confused with the 2019 film of the same name) is the story of Frances Benedetto (played by Mary Stuart Masterson) who is married to policeman Bobby (Anthony LaPaglia) and has a son Robert (Will Rothaar). They may look like a happy family but Bobby has been beating Frances for years. 

Unable to cope anymore and scared for herself and her son, Frances makes a plan to run away. However, since she is married to a police officer, things aren't so simple. She joins a witness protection program with Robert and they escape to start a new life somewhere else. But will Bobby catch up with them? 

This is the TV promo:

Update 30/5/2026: The video is now private and I can't find any more with trailers, but here's one with clips from the film: 

 


 

This is based on the book of the same name by Anna Quindlen. It is not actually a true movie but I thought I would include it, since it's a good film. Apparently when it came out, they claimed it was based on a true story!  Black and Blue has a sad outcome but then at the end there is hope that things will turn around. 


Hope you liked the post! :) I'd actually had part of this sitting in my Drafts folder for ages! lol. They don't show many of these films on TV anymore and we no longer have the true movie channels in the UK, which is a shame. So, I don't get to see many these days. Some of them are on DVD and I expect some can be found online though.

There are still a few films I haven't featured so I may do another post in future. I've also been thinking of doing a thriller one for a while. What true movies and/or thriller films do you like?

For more true crime and movies based on true stories, visit the TV Crime Sky site by Traciy Curry-Reyes: https://tvcrimesky.com/

Update 26/2/24: This is now gone but you can see Traciy's old true crime sites at her official website: https://www.traciycurryreyes.com/2024/01/my-old-websites-movies-based-on-true.html



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