Top 10 Historically Flawed Flicks

10,000 BC , Gladiator, and 300 top Yahoo's list of historical misfires
By Kate Rockwood,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 1, 2008 1:10 PM CDT
Top 10 Historically Flawed Flicks
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" may have fudged a few facts.   (Getty Images)

Most historical films forgo a few facts for dramatic flair, but these flicks leave truth to the cutting room floor. Yahoo lists the most inaccurate movies ever:

  1. 10,000 BC: Woolly mammoths weren't around to help build the pyramids.
  2. Gladiator: Emperor Commodus didn't kill his dad... chickenpox did.
  3. 300: Spartan warriors wore bronze armor, not leather Speedos.
  4. The Last Samurai: 19th-century Japan did have war advisers, but they weren't American.
  5. Apocalypto: Mel's Mayan saviors actually killed off 90% of the indigenous people.

  1. Memoirs of a Geisha: It's more Studio 54 light show than Kyoto history.
  2. Braveheart: The costumes are 300 years too early, and lineage a muddled mess.
  3. Elizabeth: The Golden Age: The real queen rode sidesaddle and preferred a baton to a sword.
  4. The Patriot: Mel's hero was more incestuous slave owner than trailblazing family man.
  5. 2001: A Space Odyssey: Alas, humans weren't flying to Jupiter or dueling sentient machines.
To learn more about these historical misfires, click on the link below. (More film stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X