There's something about watching a true crime
movie that makes you sit up and pay attention.
These are real people, and real crimes.
But despite their heinous nature, we can't
seem to look away, because truth is often
much stranger than fiction.
We all know the high-profile stories, but
there's a whole host of under-the-radar crime
stories just waiting to be unearthed.
From illegal gambling rings to unsolved mysteries,
here are some true crime flicks you may not
know about but should.
While most Americans may not be familiar with
him, Lee Doo-sam is notorious in South Korea.
In the 1970s, he went from small-time smuggler
of gold and diamonds to a wealthy drug lord,
becoming one of the top exporters of methamphetamine
to Japan in the process.
The Drug King is a South Korean crime drama
based on his life story.
The film stars Song Kang-ho, who's best known
to American audiences for his work in films
like Snowpiercer and Parasite.
Over the course of the film, Doo-sam goes
from family man just trying to provide for
his wife and kids to a deeply compromised
individual consumed by greed and addiction.
Filled with Tarantino-esque humor and stylistic
elements reminiscent of Goodfellas or The
Departed, The Drug King is a fascinating chronicle
of the rise and fall of one of South Korea's
most infamous criminals.
Meet "poker princess" Molly Bloom, who ran
one of the world's most exclusive, high-stakes
underground poker games that had Hollywood
A-listers betting millions.
"Hi, I'm…"
"...I know."
She lived a glamorous life of excess that
had her riding high until it all came crashing
down.
Molly's Game chronicles Bloom's meteoric rise
through the ranks of underground gambling
to create one of the most powerful empires
on the scene.
Starring Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, and
Kevin Costner, the biographical crime drama
is the directorial debut of Academy Award-winning
writer/producer Aaron Sorkin.
The film follows Bloom as her dreams of becoming
a world-class Olympic skier are crushed by
an injury, and she sets out to find a new
calling.
After moving to Los Angeles, she lands an
office job that comes with a side-hustle in
the lucrative world of illegal gambling.
When her boss unceremoniously fires her, she
decides to run her own games where the stakes
get higher and higher.
While it didn't do big business in theaters,
Molly's Game was a critical darling a true
hidden gem.
It earned Oscar and Golden Globe nominations
for best screenplay, and Chastain was nominated
for best actress at the Golden Globes.
The double homicide of a 13-year-old girl
and her family's servant has gripped India's
attention for years, after the two were found
murdered inside their home in 2008.
The parents were immediately considered suspects,
but the case was severely bungled by the police,
causing a chaotic investigation that garnered
sensational media coverage.
Several conclusions have been reached over
the years, as the case passed from one investigator
to the next.
But the main assumption is that the parents
committed an "honor killing," in which one
family member kills another because they think
the victim has somehow shamed the family.
Starring the late Irrfan Khan, Guilty views
the case from three different law enforcement
perspectives.
While the film explores several different
paths of what could have really happened,
in reality, the parents were always the main
suspects and were eventually arrested and
sentenced to life in prison.
They later appealed the decision and won,
leaving the case unsolved to this day.
Convicted murderer Cyntoia Brown gained national
attention in 2017, when multiple celebrities
posted on social media about her appeal for
clemency after being sentenced to life in
prison at just 16 years old.
The documentary Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia
Brown Story delves into Brown's transformation
from a once-troubled teen to prison reform
advocate.
Accused of killing a 43-year-old man and robbing
him, Brown claimed self-defense and lost in
court.
But amidst the #MeToo movement, the hashtag
#FreeCyntoiaBrown took off and became a rallying
cry against child prostitution and what some
perceive as a broken criminal justice system.
Murder to Mercy dives deep into Brown's life,
from her tumultuous upbringing all the way
through to her release from prison in 2019,
when the governor of Tennessee commuted her
sentence after she'd served 15 years in prison.
The documentary Roll Red Roll looks to peel
back the layers on an alarming case in which
members of a Steubenville, Ohio, high school
football team repeatedly assaulted and raped
an underage girl.
What ensued was a "boys will be boys" cover-up
that involved dozens of students, coaches,
and faculty.
Ultimately, two of the players were charged
and sentenced to prison, and several adults
were indicted for obstructing justice, tampering
with evidence, and lying to a grand jury.
While hard to watch, Roll Red Roll is still
a must-see, as it carefully reconstructs the
night of the crime and delves into the question
of why so many people tried to protect the
assailants and discredit the victim.
Racial injustice targeting African-Americans
has garnered the attention of more Americans
in recent years.
But this kind of injustice definitely didn't
start recently.
It's been simmering under the surface of American
culture for generations.
Strong Island looks to shed light on a case
in which a 24-year-old African-American teacher
was shot and killed by a white mechanic who
was never charged with murder.
In 1992, William Ford Jr. went to an auto
shop to confront Mark Reilly, an employee
who was supposed to be repairing a car for
Ford.
The two had previously gotten into an accident
and struck a deal: If Ford didn't file a police
report, Reilly would repair the wrecked car
for him.
Frustrated at how long it was taking, one
night Ford went to the shop where he was shot
dead.
Reilly was never charged, as he claimed self-defense.
But Ford's family believes he was murdered
and that justice was not served because of
the color of his skin.
"There is the growing sense that the DA is
going to actually let this kid get away with
murder."
Directed by Ford's brother, Strong Island
covers a wide swath from systemic racism to
the nuts and bolts of the case but it's really
the story of a grieving family who's never
gotten over the loss of their loved one and
wants to see seismic cultural change.
Filmed in one of Mexico's most notorious penitentiaries,
the Spanish-language drama The 4th Company
is based on true events at Santa Martha prison
in Mexico City.
Set in the 1970s, The 4th Company follows
a 20-something delinquent named Zambrano who's
serving time for car theft.
He soon lands a spot on the prison's football
team, Los Perros.
What he doesn't know is that the team is actually
a squad of inmates who serve as enforcers
for a corrupt administration within the prison
and commit crimes when given day passes for
games.
The title of the film is in reference to the
prison having three "companies" of security
guards, with the team being the unspoken fourth,
doing the dirty work the guards usually can't
get away with.
Zambrano is thrust into a nonstop loop of
violence and crime, taking him down a dark
path with seemingly no escape.
The 4th Company is the perfect mix of the
classic underdog story and a hard-boiled prison
tale.
That fact that it's all true only makes it
hit harder.
Singer Sam Cooke was shot and killed at a
cheap Los Angeles motel in 1964 at age 33,
after a woman who worked there claimed he
threatened her.
It's always been an odd tale, with some family,
friends, and fans questioning the validity
of the details.
ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke
digs into conspiracy theories about his untimely
and violent death.
Cooke died during what many would consider
the height of his career.
But making popular music wasn't his only talent.
He was also a pioneering businessman as one
of the first black performers to own the rights
to his music and start his own record label
and publishing company, and an outspoken civil
rights activist.
The Two Killings of Sam Cooke raises multiple
questions about why he was killed.
Was it because of his activism?
Did his manager, Allen Klein, have him murdered
so he would be the sole beneficiary of Cooke's
music?
Or is the official story actually what happened?
"There was a sense in the music industry that
Sam was getting too powerful and had to be
stopped."
Jack Black starring in a true crime movie?
Yup.
But this isn't an ordinary biographical crime
film this one's a comedy.
The story follows Jan Lewan, a real-life Polish-American
polka band leader who went to jail for running
a Ponzi scheme.
America is called the land of opportunity,
and Lewan took full advantage.
He came to the United States to pursue his
dream of becoming a world-famous polka singer.
But when that dream turns out to be harder
to achieve than he expected, Lewan starts
taking investments in the band from his fans.
When local law enforcement gets wind of the
illegal scheme, an investigator tells Lewan
that since he isn't properly registered he
must return the money and shut down.
"In Poland, everybody do bribes.
Do you do bribes?”
“That's also illegal.
No, I do not do bribes.”
“Me neither do I."
By this point, though, Lewan is already in
way over his head, having raked in hundreds
of thousands of dollars.
So, instead of closing up shop, he continues
down a perilous path from which there is no
return.
Based on the 2009 documentary The Man Who
Would Be Polka King, the comedy takes a light-hearted
look at a criminal who defrauded some 400
people out of millions of dollars.
Everybody knows the story of notorious 1930s
bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde, but what do
you know about the men who finally cornered
and killed them?
The Highwaymen is their story.
The period crime drama stars Kevin Costner
and Woody Harrelson as two former Texas Rangers
tasked with tracking down the murderous duo.
And it's not a task to be taken lightly.
Bonnie and Clyde offered one of the most garish
and spectacular manhunts history has ever
seen, earning them celebrity status before
the term even existed.
Their pictures were splashed on newspapers
across America, and their good looks and dapper
outfits made them unexpectedly charming to
the public.
That glamorization was taken to the next level
in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde.
On the flip side, The Highwaymen is a methodical
look at what it took to capture the elusive
criminals.
The main ingredient was dogged persistence
by Frank Hamer and Maney Gault, who pursued
the pair for months.
It took a combination of hard-nosed investigation,
gut instinct, and miles and miles of tracking
to finally put a stop to Bonnie and Clyde's
headline-making crime spree, and The Highwaymen's
fresh viewpoint offers a fascinating perspective
on a familiar true story.
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