We Were Soldiers with Joshua Donohue

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 354) — Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, we're walking into Casablanca on this episode to answer: How historically accurate is the movie?  Where to watch Casablanca now Helping us separate fact from fiction is Bob LeMent from Static Radio. Listen to Bob's show at StaticRadio.com Did you enjoy this episode? Unlock ad-free episodes Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/354 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 353) — During the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the United States sent shockwaves around the world as they upset the four-time defending gold medalist Soviet Union team in a game that would go on to be called the "Miracle on Ice." That story is told in the 2004 Disney movie we'll be talking about today. Where to watch Miracle now To help us separate fact from fiction, we'll be talking to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame coach Lou Vairo. Most relevant to our discussion today among Lou's long list of achievements was as a scout for the U.S. Men's Ice Hockey Team at the 1980 Winter Olympics which is depicted in the movie. So, he was there for a lot of the events depicted in the movie and will share a lot of behind the scenes of the true story. Get Lou's new autobiography Also mentioned in this episode Lou Vairo's bio at the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Did you enjoy this episode? Unlock ad-free episodes Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/353 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BOATS THIS WEEK (OCT 14-20, 2024) — This Wednesday is the anniversary of Marie Antoinette's execution in 1793 that we saw inn the opening sequence of Ridley Scott's Napoleon (2023). After that, we'll travel exactly 169 years from 1793 to 1962, because Wednesday is also depicted in Thirteen Days (2000) as it's showing the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis. For our final historical event from the movies this week, we'll hop to October 19th, 1781 as it's shown in The Patriot (2000) to see how it shows the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.  After learning about this week's birthdays from historical figures in the movies, we'll wrap up this episode by comparing history with another of Ridley Scott's movies, The Last Duel, which released in the U.S. on October 15th, 2021. Finally, we'll get a little behind the scenes update about BOATS This Week episodes for the remainder of 2024. Until next time, here's where you can continue the story. Events from this week in history Wednesday: Napoleon (2023) | BOATS Napoleon Miniseries Wednesday: Thirteen Days (2000) Saturday: The Patriot (2000) | BOATS #60 Birthdays from this week in history Monday: Dwight D. Eisenhower in The Longest Day (1962) Wednesday: Oscar Wilde in Wilde (1997) Sunday: Mickey Mantle in 61* (2001) Historical movies releasing this week in history Tuesday: The Last Duel (2021) Mentioned in this episode JFK's October 22nd, 1962 speech Cuban Missile Crisis timeline Eric Jager's book that they based The Last Duel on Eric Jager's article Modern-day photos of Saint-Martin-des-Champs Did you enjoy this episode? Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Unlock ad-free episodes Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/352 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BOATS THIS WEEK (OCT 7-13, 2024) — 57 years ago tomorrow, Che Guevara was captured in Bolivia just before his execution. Then, two years later, Omar Sharif portrayed him in the movie version of Che's story that we'll compare to the true story of this week's event. Then, we'll shift to Eight Men Out because as baseball season comes to a close, one of the darkest moments in Major League Baseball history happened this week back in 1919.  This Saturday marks the anniversary of Christopher Columbus making landfall, which was shown in the movie 1492: Conquest of Paradise. For this week's historical movie release, the Tom Hanks movie Captain Phillips was released 11 years ago this Friday. Until next time, here's where you can continue the story. Events from this week in history Tuesday: Che! | BOATS #115 Wednesday: Eight Men Out | BOATS #132 Saturday: 1492: Conquest of Paradise | BOATS #186 Birthdays from this week in history Wednesday: Eugene Bullard in Red Tails Friday: Eleanor Roosevelt in The First Lady Sunday: Jane Grey in Becoming Elizabeth Historical movies releasing this week in history Friday: Captain Phillips | BOATS #28 Mentioned in this episode Meet Félix Rodríguez, The CIA Operative Who Captured Che Guevara And May Have Tortured A DEA Agent by Marco Margaritoff Infamous America's and the Black Sox Scandal A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty Did you enjoy this episode? Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Unlock ad-free episodes Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/351 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BOATS THIS WEEK (SEP 30-OCT 6, 2024) — Thousands of years ago this week, Alexander the Great fought his final decisive battle against Darius III so we'll start our journey by comparing the true story of Gaugamela with the battle in 2004's Colin Farrell movie. Then we'll hop onto the baseball field because tomorrow, October 1st, 1961, is when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's MLB home run record. We'll learn about the Billy Crystal-directed movie called 61* (we'll learn about the * in the movie's title in the episode). For our third event from this week in history according to the movies, we'll learn about the Battle of Mogadishu—or, as it's commonly called, the Black Hawk Down Incident. That happened on Thursday this week, October 3rd, 1993. Then, after a few historical birthdays from this week in history, we'll wrap up today's episode by comparing history with 2010's The Social Network. Until next time, here's where you can continue the story. Events from this week in history Monday: Alexander | BOATS #157 Tuesday: 61* Thursday: Black Hawk Down | BOATS #105 Birthdays from this week in history Wednesday: Paul von Hindenburg in Hitler: Rise of Evil Wednesday: Mahatma Gandhi in Gandhi Saturday: Ray Kroc in The Founder Historical movies releasing this week in history Tuesday: The Social Network Mentioned in this episode Steven Bertoni's article on Sean Parker Wall Street Journal article on Peter Thiel and Facebook's political ads Baseball this week: See "The Whammer" in The Natural Baseball this week: Say Hey, Willy Mays! Did you enjoy this episode? Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Unlock ad-free episodes Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/350 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BOATS THIS WEEK (SEP 23-29, 2024) — AMC's Turn: Washington's Spies shows us how Benedict Arnold's treason was discovered back on September 24th, 1780. The next day, on Wednesday this week, marks the anniversary of Operation Market Garden coming to a close, which we see in the classic film A Bridge Too Far. And then The Godfather, Part III has a key plot point surrounding a very real event that happened on September 26th, 1978: The death of Pope John Paul I. This week's movie premiere to compare with history is the 2000 sports drama Remember the Titans, which has its 24-year anniversary this Sunday. Until next time, here's where you can continue the story. Events from this week in history Tuesday: Turn: Washington's Spies | BOATS #139 Wednesday: A Bridge Too Far Thursday: The Godfather, Part III Birthdays from this week in history Wednesday: Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty | BOATS #156 Thursday: T.S. Eliot in Tom & Viv Friday: Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici in Medici Historical movies releasing this week in history Sunday: Remember the Titans Mentioned in this episode Turn: Washington's Spies: The "Treason House" where Arnold and Andre met this week in history Did you enjoy this episode? Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Unlock ad-free episodes Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/349 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BOATS THIS WEEK (SEP 16-22, 2024) — Tuesday is the 99th anniversary of the bus accident that changed Frido Kahlo's life, and we'll learn more about the way the movie Frida shows it happening. After that we'll jump to the movie with Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin for his being kicked out of the U.S., which happened 72 years ago on Thursday this week. Then we'll learn a bit about the start of an adventure that ended this week in history when The Hobbit was published on September 21st, 1937. Finally, Wednesday is the release anniversary of a classic Martin Scorsese gangster movie releasing, so we'll wrap up this week by learning more about the true story of Goodfellas. Until next time, here's where you can continue the story. Events from this week in history Tuesday: Frida Thursday: Chaplin | BOATS #283 Saturday: Tolkien | BOATS #141 Birthdays from this week in history Wednesday: Greta Garbo in The Silent Lovers Friday: Maxwell Perkins in Genius Friday: "Red" Auerbach in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty Historical movies releasing this week in history Wednesday: Goodfellas Mentioned in this episode Scott Eyman's book Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided BBC documentary with Tolkien Did you enjoy this episode? Support our sponsors Unlock ad-free episodes Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/348 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 347) — Travel back to the 1960s during the Vietnam War while historian Joshua Donohue unpacks the real events behind the 2002 film We Were Soldiers. From the crucial role of helicopter pilots in the heat of battle, to the heart-pounding "Broken Arrow" moment, discover what Hollywood got right and where it took creative liberties depicting the Battle of Ia Drang in We Were Soldiers. Where to watch We Were Soldiers now Where to start learning more of the true story We Were Soldiers Once...and Young Josh's article: Heroic Fight for Wake Island    Also mentioned in this episode Wikipedia's map of the battle Records about Ia Drang at the Library of Congress Did you enjoy this episode? Unlock ad-free episodes Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/347 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BOATS THIS WEEK (SEP 9-15, 2024) — Tuesday this week marks the anniversary of the Battle of Marathon, which we see in the movie 300: Rise of an Empire. Then, of course, we'll be looking at this week's anniversary of the 9/11 attacks from the movie United 93. For our third historical event, we'll learn about A Star-Spangled Story and how an event from this week in history inspired the U.S. national anthem. We'll also learn about the true story behind The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which released exactly 19 years ago today. Did you enjoy this episode? Support the next one! Events from this week in history Tuesday: 300: Rise of an Empire Wednesday: United 93 | BOATS #113 Saturday: A Star-Spangled Story Birthdays from this week in history Thursday: Henry Hudson in The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson Friday: Daniel Defoe in Robinson Crusoe Sunday: Marco Polo in Marco Polo Historical movies released this week in history Friday: The Exorcism of Emily Rose Also mentioned in this episode 300: Rise of an Empire: Based on a True Story episode #5 about 300 300: Rise of an Empire: Photos from the battlefield at Marathon as it looks today 300: Rise of an Empire: Map of the Battle of Marathon 300: Rise of an Empire: More about the Battle of Marathon's affect on democracy today The Exorcism of Emily Rose: The Windsor Star 1978 article interviewing the priests The Exorcism of Emily Rose: National Catholic Register article about the 1998 revised rite of exorcism Unlock ad-free episodes Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/346 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BOATS TODAY (SEPT 5, 2024) — After four days of fighting the flames, the Great Fire of London was finally extinguished on this day in 1666 so today we'll learn more about how the events from exactly 358 years ago today were shown in the TV miniseries called The Great Fire. Until next time, here's where you can continue the story. Watch it now: Find where The Great Fire is streaming Did you enjoy this episode? Get the BOATS email newsletter Leave a comment Support our sponsors Unlock ad-free episodes Note: If your podcast app doesn't support clickable links, copy/paste this in your browser to find all the links: https://links.boatspodcast.com/345 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices