10 Insane Movies You Didn't Know Were Based On True Stories
8. A Few Good Men
When Jack Nicholson roared, "you can't handle the truth!", he may have been more right than we knew, as the 1992 military courtroom drama was inspired by a true story.
Director Rob Reiner casts Tom Cruise as a lawyer assigned to the defence of two court-martialled Marines charged with killing a fellow Marine, unearthing a shady cover-up in the process.
Aaron Sorkin adapted his own stage play for the screen, having been inspired by a case he heard about from his sister, a military lawyer. She had been called to the defence of a group of Marines who, at the behest of their commanding officer, performed a brutal hazing ritual on a new recruit.
While in reality the victim of the hazing survived, the true story gets considerably grimmer. Most of the Marines involved received dishonourable discharges, but one, David Cox, contested the charges.
When A Few Good Men opened, Cox protested that the film had badly distorted the events that took place. Two years later, Cox went missing under mysterious circumstances, and was later found murdered. To date, his killer has not been found.