21. Papillon
Year of Release: 1973
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Adventure/Biography
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Actors: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory, Don Gordon
Plot: The true story of a man trying to escape from prison.
22. Lincoln
Year of Release: 2012
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Biography/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Steven Spielberg
Actors: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn
Plot: Steven Spielberg's long-in-the-work biography of the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, as he presides over nation, and family, during the Civil War.
23. Hacksaw Ridge
Year of Release: 2016
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Biography/Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Mel Gibson
Actors: Teresa Palmer, Sam Worthington, Andrew Garfield, Luke Bracey
Plot: Army Medic Desmond T. Doss served during WWII, notably in the battle of Okinawa. Heroically, he saved the lives of at least 75 men (with many there saying he saved many more) but, despite being in the army, he also refused to kill any of the enemy. His deeds were recognized and he was awarded the Medal of Honor, becoming the first Conscientious Objector in history to have that distinction.
24. Birdman of Alcatraz
Year of Release: 1962
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Biography/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: John Frankenheimer
Actors: Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Neville Brand
Plot: As an inmate at Leavenworth prison, Robert Stroud has a series of confrontations with the guards and with the other convicts. When Stroud kills a guard, he is sentenced to be executed, and only his mother's impassioned intervention gets his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, which he must serve in solitary confinement. As he serves out his sentence in boredom and despair, one day he finds a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard. Stroud soon takes a deep interest in caring for birds, which gives him a new purpose in life, but which also brings new conflicts with prison authorities.
25. Cinderella Man
Year of Release: 2005
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Biography
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Ron Howard
Actors: Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko
Plot: The Biography of James Braddock as he boxed his way through the depression to face off against boxing champion Max Baer.
26. The Imitation Game
Year of Release: 2014
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Biography/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Morten Tyldum
Actors: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Charles Dance, Matthew Goode
Plot: The true life story of the English cryptanalyst, mathematician and logician Alan Turing. During WWII the Turing led a group of code breakers at a top secret facility in Bletchley Park during the darkest days of the war in order to crack the German's Enigma code.
27. Moneyball
Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Biography
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Bennett Miller
Actors: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Robin Wright, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Plot: The Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane is low on money but high on ideas. Using the assistance of computer-generated analysis for his draft, he hopes to put together a standout team on a modest budget.
28. Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The ( Scaphandre et le papillon, Le )
Year of Release: 2007
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: French
Genre: Biography/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Julian Schnabel
Actors: Max von Sydow, Marie-Josée Croze, Mathieu Amalric, Jean-Pierre Cassel
Plot: The Biography an editor who is paralyzed in virtually 100% of the body.
29. BlacKkKlansman
Year of Release: 2018
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Biography/Comedy
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Spike Lee
Actors: Adam Driver, Topher Grace, John David Washington, Ryan Eggold
Plot: Based on the true story of Ron Stallworth, and African-American cop in Colorado who infiltrated the local Ku Klux Klan and found himself head of said chapter.
30. Midnight Express
Year of Release: 1978
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Biography/Crime
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Alan Parker
Actors: Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins, Randy Quaid
Plot: Billy Hayes is a young American who is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. Although he is just a young man who made a dumb mistake, the Turkish government decides to make an example of him. He's given 30+ years in prison. The conditions are unbelievable. His lawyer and the American government are unable to help him.
