Playlists > 🏹 Popular folk hero movies and TV shows

🏹 Popular folk hero movies and TV shows
Description:

Defender of the common people, these popular real, fictional or mythological heroes are immortalised through film and TV.

Feel free to send me more recommendations.


Creator: Greer
Posted: 3 years ago
 
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Movie: The Bruce ( 1996 )
In the early 14th century, Scottish warrior and Earl Robert the Bruce is crowned King of Scots, leading Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against England.
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Movie: Robert the Bruce ( 2020 )
The story of the nobleman-turned-outlaw hero who was crowned king of Scots in the 14th century.
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Movie: Panipat ( 2019 )
The film is based on the third battle of Panipat which took place on the 14 of January in 1761 between the Marathas and the King of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Abdali.
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Movie: Jánosik ( 1936 )
The story of the Slovak highwayman and folk hero Juraj Janosik.
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Movie: Janosik ( 1974 )
Polish version of the legendary highwayman and folk hero, Juraj Janosik.
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Movie: Janosik: A True Story ( 2009 )
The script by Eva Borusevicova describes the true story of Janosik, the XVIII centuries outlaw, who was prowling through Slovak-Polish border. The story of Janosik, a legendary "Central European Robin Hood", based on a real XVIII century documents and on a romantic legend, operating with a very subjective, original lyricism: the hero is tragic and at the same time very contemporary: he could be an American boy, burned by communing with cruelty of the war comes back from Iraq to the city ghetto and becomes a leader of a gang.
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Movie: Lapu-Lapu ( 2002 )
A semi-fictonal account about the life of Filipino hero Lapu-Lapu before, during, and after the fateful Battle of Mactan
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Movie: Mandrin ( 1962 )
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Movie: Maharana Pratap: The First Freedom Fighter ( 2012 )
Maharana Pratap's clashes with Akbar and Man Singh I, which caused the battle of Haldighati.
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Movie: The New World ( 2006 )
The story of the English exploration of Virginia, and of the changing world and loves of Pocahontas.
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Movie: Pocahontas: The Legend ( 1995 )
Englishmen come to explore and settle the new world. There they find natives who are curious about their "firesticks" and strange customs. One Englishman, John Smith, is captured by the natives, and begins to learn their customs and beliefs. As Smith spends more time with them, specifically Pocahontas, he realizes that the white man may not be meant for the new world.
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Movie: Young Guns ( 1988 )
A group of young gunmen, led by Billy the Kid, become deputies to avenge the murder of the rancher who became their benefactor. But when Billy takes their authority too far, they become the hunted.
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Movie: Young Guns II ( 1990 )
In 1881, cattle baron John Chisum pays a bounty to Patrick Floyd Garrett to kill outlaw Billy the Kid.
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Movie: Billy the Kid ( 2016 )
A bounty hunter from New Mexico and a gang of horsemen called "Four of the Apocalypse" set their sights on the town of Dogma.
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Movie: The Kid ( 2019 )
New Mexico Territory, 1880. Rio Cutler and his older sister Sara must abandon their home after an unfortunate event happens. In their desperate flee to Santa Fe, they cross paths with the infamous outlaw Billy the Kid and his gang, who are ruthlessly pursued by a posse led by Sheriff Pat Garret.
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Movie: Bonnie and Clyde ( 2013 )
A British spin on the story of two of America's best known bank robbers, Bonnie and Clyde, a pair who captured the imaginations of a nation disillusioned by financial crisis. This is the story of a young couple embroiled in a life of burglary and murder until inevitably their dangerous lifestyle catches up with them.
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TV Show: Bonnie & Clyde ( 2013 )
Based on the true story of Clyde Barrow, a charismatic convicted armed robber who sweeps Bonnie Parker, an impressionable, petite, small-town waitress, off her feet, and the two embark on one one of most infamous bank-robbing sprees in history.
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Movie: Bonnie & Clyde: Justified ( 2017 )
In Depression Era America, Bonnie Parker met Clyde Barrow over a cup of hot chocolate and it was love at first sight. Their violent courtship took them through bank robberies, prison and a multi-state crime spree, securing their place in History as America's most notorious couple. Using Bonnie Parker's own letters to Clyde, Bonnie & Clyde: Justified takes you through their story from love at first sight to their inevitable, violent end.
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Movie: Goodnight for Justice: Queen of Hearts ( 2013 )
John Goodnight crosses paths with a stagecoach under attack and comes to the rescue of its passengers, one of whom is a beautiful woman who may or may not have been a prisoner being transported by a detective who did not survive the attack. Their journey together takes them to a gambling riverboat, where Goodnight discovers her true identity.
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Movie: The Legend of Butch & Sundance ( 2004 )
Just before the turn of the Century two young outlaws team up for a historic ride. Based on historical references, the "True Story" of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
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Movie: The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez ( 1983 )
After he is accused of murdering a lawman in 1901 Texas, a Mexican-American farmer flees and manages to elude a large posse for two weeks before he is finally captured.
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Movie: Dillinger and Capone ( 1995 )
Dillinger survived assassination and is living a quiet farm life with his family in 1940, but Al Capone, recently freed from prison, need his help for one last score.
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Movie: Geronimo ( 1993 )
This story of epic courage and grace is a remarkable window on Native American life and the early years of the last and most feared Apache War Chief.
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Movie: Geronimo: An American Legend ( 1993 )
The story of the Apache chief and his armed resistance to the U.S. Government's subjugation of his people.
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Movie: The Plainsman ( 1936 )
Wild Bill Hickok attempts to stop an Indian uprising that was started by white gun-runners.
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Movie: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ( 2007 )
Robert Ford, who's idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the reforming gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader.
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Movie: American Outlaws ( 2001 )
When a Midwest town learns that a corrupt railroad baron has captured the deeds to their homesteads without their knowledge, a group of young ranchers join forces to take back what is rightfully theirs. In the course of their vendetta, they will become the object of the biggest manhunt in the history of the Old West and, as their fame grows, so will the legend of their leader, a young outlaw by the name of Jesse James.
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Movie: María Cano ( 1990 )
Colombia 1920's. The country receives compensation for the separation of Panama and is open to foreign credit to undertake major development works. Growing mass of workers but not improve their conditions as still subject to the place since colonial times. The climate is more conducive to that industrial strife and the emergence of leaders who are: Maria Cano was one of the Highlights. His work on behalf of the workers were also given for the woman confronted the powerful toured the country and raided the literature. She and her colleagues do this story.
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Movie: Gaspard le bandit ( 2007 )
Gaspard de Besse and his gang of highwaymen escaped the law for years in old monsieur de Morières's jurisdiction in rural, Ancient Régime France. When Gaspard is badly injured trough treason, he escapes after being seen in St.Anne's convent, where he hid, by de Morières's young, unwillingly arranged and unloving wife Anne. Gaspard makes a deal with the traitor to fake his demise. He recruits traveling actor Antoine and trains him like a son.
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TV Show: Bolívar ( 2019 )
The story of the hero before he became a legend. His name became a symbol of leadership, justice and passion that led him to form an army of soldiers and common people that believed in the ideal of a free land. A fervent man, in the battlefield and in his personal life: the series portrays the details of his stormy love life; his mother's death when he was a child; the death of his first wife a few months after they married; his multiple lovers, when he stopped believing in love; and finally, his passionate love affair with Manuelita Saenz, who played a major role in his revolutionary contend. Bolivar gave his life for his people, crossing borders and leaving an indelible legacy in the hearts of all those who believe in union, fraternity and freedom.
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Movie: The Liberator ( 2014 )
Simon Bolivar fought over 100 battles against the Spanish Empire in South America. He rode over 70,000 miles on horseback. His military campaigns covered twice the territory of Alexander the Great. His army never conquered -- it liberated.
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Movie: The Messenger: 360 Days of Bolivar ( 2009 )
An amateur film crew stumbles into a hurricane and self introspection while documenting the lives of 3 or more salty characters at 'the end of the road' on a remote Texas peninsula.
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Movie: Simón Bolívar ( 1969 )
During 1817-1823 the people of Venezuela fought for independence against the Spanish colonial army. General Boliviar tries to unify the rebel parties, but it's hard since they differ in ...
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TV Show: Il generale dei briganti ( 2012 )
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Movie: The Last of the Mohicans ( 1992 )
Three trappers protect the daughters of a British Colonel in the midst of the French and Indian War.
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Movie: The Pathfinder ( 1996 )
This adventure follows a mid-18th-century British scout through the wilderness on a mission to sneak into a French fortress.
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Movie: Tall Tale ( 1995 )
A young boy draws on the inspiration of legendary western characters to find the strength to fight an evil land baron in the old west who wants to steal his family's farm and destroy their idyllic community. When Daniel Hackett sees his father Jonas gravely wounded by the villainous Stiles, his first urge is for his family to flee the danger, and give up their life on a farm which Daniel has come to despise anyway. Going alone to a lake to try to decide what to do, he falls asleep on a boat and wakes to find himself in the wild west, in the company of such "tall tale" legends as Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, John Henry, and Calamity Jane. Together, they battle the same villains Daniel is facing in his "real" world.
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Movie: Veda - Atatürk ( 2010 )
Story based on the memoirs of Salih Bozok, which traces the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
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Movie: Dersimiz: Atatürk ( 2010 )
Tarihci Dede is giving information to a couple of children about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's success and his way to shape todays Turkey.
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Movie: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom ( 2013 )
A chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.
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Movie: Mandela and de Klerk ( 1997 )
On June 12, 1964, Nelson Mandela, along with numerous political detainees, was sentenced to life imprisonment in what remains the most sensational treason trial in the history of South Africa. The incarceration of Mandela and other political prisoners on Robben Island would become a symbol of the struggle to end apartheid and win freedom for the black majority in South Africa. On February 2, 1990, President F.W. De Klerk stood before Parliament and announced the legalization of the African National Congress and a host of other banned political organizations. At the same time, he announced that Nelson Mandela, having served twenty-seven years in prison, would be released within seven days. Yet the world, and indeed most South Africans, knew little about how this momentous occasion came to pass. Until now. This movie was filmed in South Africa. Most of the locations are those where the actual events took place, and the dramatized sequences are augmented with newsreel footage to ensure the most accurate portrayal possible of recent historical events.
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Movie: Invictus ( 2009 )
Nelson Mandela, in his first term as the South African President, initiates a unique venture to unite the apartheid-torn land: enlist the national rugby team on a mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
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Movie: Goodbye Bafana ( 2007 )
GOODBYE BAFANA is the true story of a white South African racist whose life was profoundly altered by the black prisoner he guarded for twenty years. The prisoner's name was Nelson Mandela.
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Movie: Mandela ( 1997 )
Follows Nelson Mandela, from his early protests against racial discrimination, to his election as South Africa's first Democratically elected leader.
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Movie: John Henry ( 2020 )
When two immigrant kids on the run from his former South Los Angeles gang leader stumble into his life, John is forced to reconcile with his past in order to try and give them a future.
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Movie: Davy Crockett, Indian Scout ( 1950 )
Davy Crockett (not the famous Alamo hero, but his nephew) guides a wagon train through hostile territory and rescues the cavalry from ambushing Indians.
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Movie: Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier ( 1955 )
American frontiersman Davy Crockett fights in the Creek Indian War, is elected to the U.S. Congress and fights for Texas at the Alamo.
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Movie: Davy Crockett and the River Pirates ( 1956 )
Davy Crockett and his sidekick Georgie compete against boastful Mike Fink ("King of the River") in a boat race to New Orleans. Later, Davy and Georgie, allied with Fink, battle a group of river pirates trying to pass themselves off as Native Americans.
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Movie: The Iron Mistress ( 1953 )
The life of nineteenth-century pioneer Jim Bowie is portrayed.
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Movie: The Last Command ( 1955 )
Moderate Jim Bowie leads rebellious Texicans--and Davy Crockett--in a last-ditch stand against his old friend, Santa Anna.
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Movie: The Alamo ( 2004 )
Based on the 1836 standoff between a group of Texan and Tejano men, led by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, and Mexican dictator Santa Anna's forces at the Alamo in San Antonio Texas.
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Movie: The Alamo ( 1960 )
In 1836, a small band of soldiers sacrifice their lives in hopeless combat against a massive army in order to prevent a tyrant from smashing the new Republic of Texas.
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Movie: Dulla Bhatti Wala ( 2016 )
Having witnessed his father's murder as a child, a man seeks revenge against the ruthless landlord who killed him.
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TV Show: Hawkeye ( 1994 )
The further adventures based on characters created by James Fennimore Cooper. Hawkeye the woodsman meets a brave English woman trying to free her husband from the French. Set during the French and Indian War in the area of the Hudson Valley.
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TV Show: A Woman Called Moses ( 1978 )
A Woman Called Moses is a 1978 American television miniseries based on the life of Harriet Tubman, the escaped African American slave who helped to organize the Underground Railroad, and who led dozens of African Americans from enslavement in the Southern United States to freedom in the Northern states and Canada.
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TV Show: Underground ( 2016 )
Underground follows a group of slaves who plan a daring escape from a Georgia plantation to cross 600 miles to freedom.
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Movie: Harriet ( 2019 )
Based on the thrilling and inspirational life of an iconic American freedom fighter, Harriet tells the extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes. Her courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.
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Movie: The Revenant ( 2016 )
While exploring uncharted wilderness in 1823, legendary frontiersman Hugh Glass sustains injuries from a brutal bear attack. When his hunting team leaves him for dead, Glass must utilize his survival skills to find a way back home while avoiding natives on their own hunt. Grief-stricken and fueled by vengeance, Glass treks through the wintry terrain to track down John Fitzgerald, the former confidant who betrayed and abandoned him.
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Movie: Annie Oakley ( 1935 )
A romanticized biography of the famous sharpshooter.
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TV Show: Annie Oakley ( 1954 )
Annie Oakley is an American Western television series that fictionalized the life of famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley. It ran from January 9th 1954 to 24th February 1957 in syndication, for a total of 81 black and white episodes, each 25 minutes long.
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Movie: Annie Get Your Gun ( 1950 )
A story very loosely based on the love story of Annie Oakley and Frank Butler who meet at a shooting match. Fabulous music although the lead characters have virtually nothing to do with the actual historical figures. Annie joins Frank Butler in Col. Cody's Wild West Show. They tour the world performing before Royalty as well as the public at large.
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Movie: Annie Get Your Gun ( 1957 )
Irving Berlin's stage musical about Annie Oakley and Frank Butler.
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TV Show: Tall Tales and Legends ( 1985 )
An anthology series that showcases various mythical characters and incidents throughout history.
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TV Show: Buffalo Girls ( 1995 )
A story of the fading Wild West is told from Calamity Jane's point of view, with overlaid narrative to her eldest daughter about Jane's adventures.
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Movie: Hidalgo ( 2004 )
In 1890, a down-and-out cowboy and his horse travel to Arabia to compete in a deadly cross desert horse race.
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Movie: Hickok ( 2017 )
Legendary lawman and gunslinger, Wild Bill Hickok, is tasked with taming the wildest cow-town in the west. While delivering his own brand of frontier justice, the infamous gunfighter's reputation as the fastest draw in the west is put to the test.
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TV Show: The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok ( 1951 )
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok starred Guy Madison as the legendary Old West lawman (in real life, also a gunfighter) United States Marshal James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, and Andy Devine as his comedy sidekick, Jingles P. Jones.
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Movie: Wild Bill Hickok: Swift Justice ( 2016 )
Wild Bill Hickok has faced many challenges on his quest to redeem himself from a colorful past as an outlaw and gunslinger. He settles as a lawman in a small town, trying to enjoy a much quieter life. Marcus Roby and his band of outlaws threaten to destroy the sleepy town after a gambling dispute. Bill must pull the demons out of his past to gain the strength and courage to defend the place that he calls home and the good people in it.
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Movie: Young Bill Hickok ( 1940 )
Bill Hickok in his early pre-gunslinger years as a freight-line agent protecting a gold shipment from villains out to steal gold and land out west while America is diverted by the Civil War back east. With the help of Calamity Jane and her horse-trader uncle, Hickok battles the bad guys while trying to win the love of his life, Louise, in a formulaic B western adventure with songs.
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Movie: The Adventures of Huck Finn ( 1993 )
In Missouri, during the 1840s, young Huck Finn fearful of his drunkard father and yearning for adventure, leaves his foster family and joins with runaway slave Jim in a voyage down the Mississippi River toward slavery free states.
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Movie: The Adventures of Huck Finn ( 2012 )
Based on the classic book by Mark Twain, comes the story of the renowned young rascal: Huckleberry Finn. When Huck sets out on an adventure down the Mississippi River, he comes across a runaway slave named Jim. Inviting him along on his journey, Huck and his new friend encounter an array of trouble when they are detoured by the King and Duke. As the unlikely duo attempt to escape their dwindling fate, Huck must defend Jim's honor and turn away from the life he once knew.
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Movie: Moana ( 2016 )
In Ancient Polynesia, when a terrible curse incurred by the Demigod Maui reaches Moana's island, she answers the Ocean's call to seek out the Demigod to set things right.
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TV Show: Romulus ( 2020 )
Romulus tells the epic story of the founding of Rome, imbued with history, legend and revolution.
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Movie: 12 Paces Without a Head ( 2009 )
East Fresia 1401: the era of the feared sea pirates Klaus Störtebeker and Gödeke Michels is coming to an end. After a long period with no booty at last a bulging ship appears on the horizon. However, Störtebeker is badly wounded in the attempted capture and the pirates suffer ignominious defeat. Not only their ship is down the drain - Störtebeker himself is suddenly plagued by anxiety and doubt about his very existence as a pirate. He is drawn to the beautiful country girl Bille, while Michels gets rebuffed by the friesian princess Okka. In the very moment that the crew have mutinied and co-captain Michels is literally at the end of his tether, they discover on board their ramshackle old tub a most unique wonder weapon. Glory days are quickly revived - until the mighty Hanse consolidate their power and weaponry and go to war against the pirates. Störtebeker and Michels are forced to decide: To live as a farmer or to die as a pirate.
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Movie: The Story of Racheltjie De Beer ( 2021 )
South African wilderness 1800's. Five years after their mother's death, preadolescent Rachel and 5-year-old Jamie find themselves on their way to the virgin gold fields with their father Herman as he tries to start a new life. When Jamie goes missing in a freak blizzard, Rachel braves the snowstorm to search for her little brother in the 19th-century South-African wilderness.
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Movie: Public Enemies ( 2009 )
The Feds try to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s.
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Movie: Madame Satã ( 2002 )
A story inspired by the life of one of the most remarkable figures in Brazilian popular culture, João Francisco dos Santos (1900-1976). In turn, bandit, transvestite, street fighter, brothel cook, convict and father to seven adopted children, dos Santos--better known as Madame Satã--was also a notorious gay performer who pushed social boundaries in a volatile time. The story begins in 1932, in Rio de Janeiro's bohemian Lapa district, when João Francisco is about to achieve his dream: becoming a stage star. In the sordid yet lively world of Lapa--populated by pimps, prostitutes and other denizens of Rio's underworld--João battles the streets and presides over a surrogate family that includes the charming prostitute Laurita, and her baby daughter whom everyone dotes on; the flamboyant hustler Taboo; João's teenage lover, Renatinho; and Amador, the owner of the Blue Danube club which is their second home. It is at the Blue Danube that street tough João begins to sing, and the mythic drag artiste Madam Satã is born.
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Movie: Money for Nothing ( 1993 )
An unemployed man finds a money bag of $1.2 million after it dropped off an armored car.
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Movie: The Outlaw Lewis Redmond ( 2009 )
In the turbulent years after the American Civil war, Lewis Redmond became the most famous outlaw in the United States, outshining his contemporaries Billy-the Kid and Jesse James. Redmond developed and managed a bootleg moonshine network that ranged through Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. He fought and eluded revenuers and marshals that were sent to capture him and gave money to poor Southern farmers to pay their taxes and save their family lands, earning him the reputation of an American Robin Hood. The Northern papers characterized him as a cold-blooded killer without morals, while papers in the South portrayed him as a noble defender of the people. Within his lifetime, however, he and his story would be forgotten. In The Outlaw Lewis Redmond, storytellers, folklorists, historians and descendants recover the memory of this forgotten folk hero, and seek the real Redmond within the wildly distorted historical record, granting a privileged view into a formative era of American history.
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Movie: The Adventurer ( 1983 )
The story is about an Estonian Don Juan, who actually is a writer, who leaves home in spring and is brought home again in autumn, by his wife.
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TV Show: Billy the Kid ( 2022 )
Billy the Kid is based on the life of famous American outlaw Billy the Kid, also known as William H. Bonney -- from his humble Irish roots, to his early days as a cowboy and gunslinger in the American frontier, to his pivotal role in the Lincoln County War and beyond.
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Movie: The Adventures of Maid Marian ( 2022 )
After three years of hiding in a remote priory, news reaches Marian that King Richard the Lionheart is dead. Her lover Robin Hood is returning from the wars. Leaving her sanctuary she hurries to meet him but they discover all is not as it seems. William De Wendenal, the disgraced Sheriff of Nottingham, has returned from exile and is out for revenge. Ambushed, Marian a...Read all
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Movie: The Highwayman ( 2022 )
Famed highway robber Dick Turpin finds himself on the run in the English countryside having accidentally kidnapped the Earl of Pembroke's feisty daughter, Elizabeth. As her fiance Winthroppe attempts to track them down, Elizabeth begins to fall for the dashing highwayman, leaving Turpin with no choice but to face off against Winthroppe in a fight for Elizabeth's heart...Read all
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Movie: Boudica: Queen of War ( 2023 )
The eponymous Celtic warrior who rules the Iceni people alongside her husband, Prasutagus. The King dies at the hands of Roman soldiers, leaving Boudica's kingdom without a male heir, and the Romans seize her land and property.
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Movie: Warrior Queen Boudica ( 2006 )
When the cowardly bureaucrat Catus Decianus breaks a peace treaty with the Iceni by brutalizing and humiliating their queen Boudica and her daughters the Iceian and allies join the queen in a campaign of revenge against the Romans. They plunder Roman cities killing all the inhabitants and burning the cities to the ground until a vastly outnumbered Roman legion faces Boudica's furious hoard.
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TV Show: Zorro ( 2024 )
Diego de la Vega returns to California to avenge his father's murder. After assuming the title of Zorro, he initiates his struggle against Nah-Lin, a Native American who he believes has stolen his inheritance. Diego will confront the Governor, the malevolent leader of the Chinese community and a secret society, placing the common good above all. In doing so, he will sacrifice his love for Lola.
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TV Show: The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin ( 2024 )
In this irreverent retelling set in the 18th century, Turpin is the most famous but least likely of highway robbers, whose success is defined mostly by his charm, showmanship and great hair. Together with his gang of lovable rogues, Turpin rides the highs and lows of his new endeavors, including a brush with celebrity, all whilst trying to escape the clutches of the thief-taker.