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In the past two decades, Hollywood has taken a liking to true story movies, whether they
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document part of the lives of people who really lived or spin their own take on historical
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events. However, while some true story films may offer movie viewers an idea of what happens
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to the people or locations after the credits role, others fail to give the whole story
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- whether it be the mysterious disappearance of the main character or a famous building's
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ties to World War II Nazis.
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Here are Screen Rant's 10 Movie Endings You Never Got To See.
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The Wolf of Wall Street
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Marking the fifth time director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio teamed together,
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The Wolf of Wall Street told the story of Jordan Belfort, a wealthy stockbroker who
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was eventually brought down by the SEC and FBI for defrauding investors. According to
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the film's epilogue, Belfort was sentenced to 36 months in prison - of which he only
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served 22 - and has since made a living teaching seminars on sales techniques. In addition
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to the prison time, Belfort was also ordered to pay over $110 million to his victims, but
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has since paid less than $12 million. Plus, since his release he has attempted to fight
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the requirement of paying anymore compensation and been criticized for receiving more than
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$1 million in rights payments for his part in The Wolf of Wall Street. Of course, since
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Belfort has admitted the depiction of his drug use in the film is more tame than his
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actual activities, his real life ruthless nature shouldn't come as a huge surprise.
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Titanic
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It's widely recognized that the love story between Jack and Rose at the center of James
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Cameron's 1997 disaster film Titanic is a work of pure fiction, but many of the characters
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aboard the ship were based on real people. One historical accuracy included in Titanic
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is that the band bravely played their instruments while the ship sank. However, these musicians
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were repaid for their services by the shipping company that owned the Titanic who sent bills
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to their loved ones. That's right, the family of one musician in particular, the violinist
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Jock Hume, was charged not only for the brass buttons on his uniform, but for the shipping
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cost to deliver his body home as well. According to the White Star Line, Hume's pay was stopped
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the moment the ship went down and the wages owed to him didn't cover these costs. Considering
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the noble actions of the Titanic's musicians, demanding money from their families doesn't
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seem like the best way to honor their memory.
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Erin Brockovich
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The 2000 film Erin Brockovich starred Julia Roberts as the titular single mother. A legal
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assistant at the time, Brockovich championed a small California town and took on a major
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energy corporation that was poisoning townspeople with carcinogenic chemicals in the groundwater.
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In the movie, Brockovich is able to win the town a total of $333 million and received
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her own bonus of $2 million, apparently showing a happy ending to the situation. However,
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the real end to this story isn't quite as cinematically happy: the townspeople claim
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their lawyers held onto their awards for six months after the settlement, and that the
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amounts were significantly less than they expected because of excessive legal fees.
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As if that isn't bad enough, Brockovich herself has seemingly abandoned the town, using her
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fame to launch a career as an environmental activist and motivational speaker.
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Schindler's List
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Steven Spielberg's 1993 historical drama Schindler's List is based on the life of Oskar Schindler,
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a wealthy businessman who went from focusing on making money to saving lives during World
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War II. Schindler ran a munitions factory in early 1940s Germany, which he used to save
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and protect the lives of more than a thousand Jews before the war ended. However, because
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of his previous relations with the Nazi Party, Schindler was considered a war criminal by
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the Allies and fled Germany in order to avoid capture. Though the events depicted in Schindler's
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List paint him as a hero, throughout the rest of his life he suffered one failed business
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venture after another, largely relying on financial support from those he helped during
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the war. Still, Schindler is well-regarded for his accomplishments during WWII, so at
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least he was successful when it really mattered.
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The Revenant
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The most recent film from director Alejandro Iñárritu is based on the story of how 19th
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century frontiersman Hugh Glass survived a brutal bear attack and managed to find his
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way through the wilderness to safety. One of the major driving forces for Glass is exacting
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revenge on the two men that left him for dead, John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger. At the end
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of The Revenant, Glass gets his vengeance on Fitzgerald, but his own fate and survival
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are left to open-ended ambiguity. However, the real story of Glass provides some concrete
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answers as to what happened to the frontiersman after finding Fitzgerald. First off, by all
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accounts Glass never actually attempted to get revenge on Fitzgerald because the man
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that had abandoned him joined the Army. As a result, he was essentially untouchable unless
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Glass wanted to face deathly consequences. As for Bridger, Glass did find the boy that
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left him for dead, but because it had been at the urging of Fitzgerald, he decided to
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be forgiving. As for Glass's death, he was killed during a skirmish with the Arikara
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Native American tribe 10 years after surviving the bear attack. So, The Revenant not only
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takes some artistic liberties with the ending of Glass's story, but with most of the conclusion
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to his mission for revenge as well.
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Remember the Titans
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Despite being based on the true story of T.C. Williams High School's 1971 football season,
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Remember the Titans features a number of historical inaccuracies. The biggest being that T.C.
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Williams had been racially integrated many years before, and the big merger at the heart
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of the film was simply combining three schools together. Additionally, according to a former
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player of Coach Herman Boone, he wasn't quite the inspiring character portrayed by Denzel
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Washington in Remember the Titans. Though the movie notes Boone left the Titans five
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years after their 1971 season, it doesn't mention that it was in disgrace following
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accusations of verbal and physical abuse as well as a player mutiny and the departure
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of multiple assistants. However, despite the way he left T.C. Williams, Boone has still
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largely been regarded as a hero because of his portrayal in Remember the Titans.
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12 Years a Slave
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Steve McQueen's 2013 Oscar-winning biographical drama 12 Years a Slave follows the enslavement
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of free African-American man Solomon Northup in the southern United States during the 1800s.
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Though Northup is eventually freed and goes on to write the memoir on which the film is
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based, 12 Years a Slave notes that the circumstances surrounding his death and burial are unknown.
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After his time as a slave, Northup became an active member in the abolitionist movement,
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but there are no historical documents relating to when or how he died. It has since become
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a puzzle for historians, with some theories including that Northup became a spy for the
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Union Army during the Civil War or that he was kidnapped again or, simply, that he was
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murdered. Of course, given what we know about the time period, and the fact that 12 Years
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a Slave depicts what can happen when an African-American man goes missing, it seems likely this story
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doesn't have a happy ending.
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The Theory of Everything
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Eddie Redmayne won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory
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of Everything, but the film glossed over some of the more unpleasant aspects of the famous
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physicist's life. The Theory of Everything follows the love story between Stephen Hawking
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and Jane Wilde, who marry and have children, before falling out of love and finding happiness
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elsewhere - while still remaining friends. However, in actuality, Stephen and Jane went
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through a painful divorce and it was many years before they became friends again. Additionally,
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circumstances surrounding Stephen's relationship with his second wife Elaine, led many to believe
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she abused him. So, although The Theory of Everything's epilogue is technically accurate,
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it doesn't quite tell the whole story.
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Big Miracle
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The 2012 drama Big Miracle tells the true story of how a group of people came together
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despite their differing beliefs in order to save a family of gray whales trapped in the
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ice near Point Barrow, Alaska. Although the film does depict the death of the youngest
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whale, named Bamm-Bamm, it shows the other two, Fred and Wilma, swimming freely away
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into the ocean, seemingly saved by human intervention. However, no one actually knows if the two
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whales ever really escaped the ice. Since the National Marine Fisheries Service didn't
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attach radio tracking tags to the whales before they were freed, we only know for sure that
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they left the section of the ice where they were previously trapped. But, considering
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their injuries, it’s unclear whether they survived the swim back to open ocean. Although
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many have tried to since find the whales, they haven’t had any luck, so we're not
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sure this was truly the big miracle the film made it out to be.
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Moneyball
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The 2011 sports film Moneyball follows Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, played
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by Brad Pitt, who manages to build a baseball team despite the franchise's limited budget.
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Beane accomplishes this feat using a new method of statistical analysis known as sabermetrics,
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leading the team to a more successful season, even though they don't make the World Series.
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A title card at the end of the film explains that the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series
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using Beane's method, but they weren't the only team to adopt sabermetrics. Michael Lewis'
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2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game revealed Beane's exact methods
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that led to the team's success, and the author has since admitted it "probably cost the A's
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an opportunity or two." So the major lesson of Moneyball isn't just to be innovative,
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it's also to protect your secrets to success if you want to stay successful.
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So what do you think of our list? Did we miss any endings to true stories left out of movies?
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Let us know in our comment section and don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more
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videos like this one.