The Best Based On True Story Movies on PlutoTV

What it's about: Viktor Navorski is a man without a country; his plane took off just as a coup d'etat exploded in his homeland, leaving it in shambles, and now he's stranded at Kennedy Airport, where he's holding a passport that nobody recognizes. While quarantined in the transit lounge until authorities can figure out what to do with him, Viktor simply goes on living – and courts romance with a beautiful flight attendant.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV, Plex & Crackle), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Philo) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: The men who made millions from a global economic meltdown.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV & PopcornFlix), stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: The true story of how Ray Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brothers’ speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential. He maneuvered himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a billion-dollar empire.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Vudu) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV & Peacock), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Vudu & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Rudy grew up in a steel mill town where most people ended up working, but wanted to play football at Notre Dame instead. There were only a couple of problems. His grades were a little low, his athletic skills were poor, and he was only half the size of the other players. But he had the drive and the spirit of 5 people and has set his sights upon joining the team.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Paramount+, fuboTV & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: At the dawn of WWII, several men escape from a Russian gulag—to take a perilous and uncertain journey to freedom as they cross deserts, mountains and several nations.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hulu, Hoopla & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: San Francisco Bay, January 18, 1960. Frank Lee Morris is transferred to Alcatraz, a maximum security prison located on a rocky island. Although no one has ever managed to escape from there, Frank and other inmates begin to carefully prepare an escape plan.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV & PopcornFlix), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Paramount+) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the building collapses over the rescue team from the Port Authority Police Department. Will Jimeno and his sergeant John McLoughlin are found alive trapped under the wreckage while the rescue teams fight to save them.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV, Peacock, Plex & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Paramount+, Philo & 2 others) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: True story of the undersized Depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the team behind it but also those of their nation.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV, Plex & Crackle), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix, Paramount+ & 2 others) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play, Prime Video & 3 others).

What it's about: The retelling of France's iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette. From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at 15 to her reign as queen at 19 and ultimately the fall of Versailles.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, HBO MAX & Sundance Now) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Terry is a small-time car dealer trying to leave his shady past behind and start a family. Martine is a beautiful model from Terry's old neighbourhood who knows that Terry is no angel. When Martine proposes a foolproof plan to rob a bank, Terry recognises the danger but realises this may be the opportunity of a lifetime. As the resourceful band of thieves burrows its way into a safe-deposit vault at a Lloyds Bank, they quickly realise that, besides millions in riches, the boxes also contain secrets that implicate everyone from London's most notorious underworld gangsters to powerful government figures, and even the Royal Family. Although the heist makes headlines throughout Britain for several days, a government gag order eventually brings all reporting of the case to an immediate halt.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: An emotionally scarred highway drifter shoots a sadistic trick who rapes her, and ultimately becomes the United States' first female serial killer.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 3 others), stream on a subscription service (Philo, fuboTV, Hoopla & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV, Plex & Crackle), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix, Paramount+, Philo & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: The Queen is an intimate behind the scenes glimpse at the interaction between HM Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair during their struggle, following the death of Diana, to reach a compromise between what was a private tragedy for the Royal family and the public's demand for an overt display of mourning.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix, Paramount+, Hoopla & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 1 other), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Set in the Australian outback in the 1880s, the movie follows the series of events following the horrific rape and murder of the Hopkins family, allegedly committed by the infamous Burns brothers gang. Captain Morris Stanley captures Charlie Burns and gives him 9 days to kill his older dangerous psychopathic brother, or else they'll hang his younger mentally slow brother on Christmas Day.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 3 others), stream on a subscription service (Philo, fuboTV & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Microsoft).

What it's about: Over the summer of 1976, thirty-six bombs detonate in the heart of Cleveland while a turf war raged between Irish mobster Danny Greene and the Italian mafia. Based on a true story, Kill the Irishman chronicles Greene's heroic rise from a tough Cleveland neighborhood to become an enforcer in the local mob.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: The true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing biker who finds God and became a crusader for hundreds of Sudanese children who've been kidnapped and pressed into duty as soldiers.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, HBO & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Maria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the Austrian government to recover a world famous painting of her aunt plundered by the Nazis during World War II, she believes rightfully belongs to her family. She did so not just to regain what was rightfully hers, but also to obtain some measure of justice for the death, destruction, and massive art theft perpetrated by the Nazis.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A Westerner finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's rape of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 1 other), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $5.99 on 1 service (Google Play).

What it's about: On 9 April 1940, German soldiers arrive in the city of Oslo. The King of Norway faces a choice that will change his country forever. The King's Choice is a story about the three most dramatic days in Norway's history, the royal family's escape and King Haakon's difficult choice after Nazi Germany's invasion of Norway.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Jun-shik, who works for Tatsuo’s grandfather’s farm while Korea is colonized by Japan, dreams about participating in the Tokyo Olympics as a marathon runner. Tatsuo also aims to become a marathon runner, so the two become rivals. But the war breaks out and they both are forced to enlist in the army. Tatsuo becomes the head of defense in Jun-shik’s unit and he devises a scheme but fails. Jun-shik and Tatsuo are held captive by the Soviets. They run away but soon are captured by the Germans and forced to separate. In 1944, they meet again on the shores of Normandy.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV) & stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Hiyah).

What it's about: The story of the awakening of painter, Margaret Keane, her phenomenal success in the 1950s, and the subsequent legal difficulties she had with her husband, who claimed credit for her works in the 1960s.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Vudu & 1 other) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 2 others), stream on a subscription service (Philo, fuboTV, Hoopla & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: Accompanied only by her faithful dog and four camels, an Australian satisfies her craving for solitude by embarking on a solo trip across the desert from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Vudu) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Chronicles a single day in the summer of 1989 when the future president of the United States, Barack Obama, wooed his future First Lady on an epic first date across Chicago's South Side.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV, Plex & Crackle), stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu, Philo & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV & Vudu) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: The legendary true story of the Red Dog who united a disparate local community while roaming the Australian outback in search of his long lost master.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Vudu & 1 other), stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Vudu).

What it's about: At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he fell in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Vudu & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: The film is notable for presenting a more human Jesus, compared to more solemn portrayals in earlier films; here Jesus laughs and cries like anyone else. Among other things, he weeps at Joseph’s funeral, throws stones in Lake Galilee when meeting Simon Peter and James son of Zebedee for the first time, dances at the wedding at Cana, and starts a water-splashing fight with his disciples as well. Satan is portrayed as a man in modern dress (and as a woman in red). During his temptation of Jesus, he shows him the Earth from the vantage point of space. Satan also shows Jesus images of wars and destruction carried out in his name. The film adds an apocryphal Roman historian named “Livio” who watches and comments as events unfold; he is presumably named after Livy.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: David, now an old man, is still king of Israel. Among his sons, the ambitious Adonijah and the clever Solomon. The two young men are fierce rivals, since both are prospective heirs to the throne and only one can be successful.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV).

What it's about: Lexington, Kentucky, 2004. Four young men attempt to execute one of the most audacious art heists in the history of the United States.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hulu) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Jeffrey Dahmer struggles with a difficult family life as a young boy. During his teenage years he slowly transforms, edging closer to the serial killer he was to become.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Peacock), stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu, Hoopla, Kanopy & 1 other) & rent or buy from $4.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Gritty adaption of William Shakespeare's play about the English King's bloody conquest of France.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a subscription service (Paramount+, Epix, Hoopla & 1 other) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (Microsoft & Vudu).

What it's about: A fashion photographer is traveling to meet his sister at Eden Parish. Once there, his friends begin to film interviews with the Eden Parish inhabitants, all of whom speak of the commune in glowing terms. However, they soon discover that there is a sinister edge to the commune that belies the seemingly peaceful setting.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 2 others), stream on a subscription service (Philo, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: In small-town Texas, affable and popular mortician Bernie Tiede strikes up a friendship with Marjorie Nugent, a wealthy widow well known for her sour attitude. When she becomes controlling and abusive, Bernie goes to great lengths to remove himself from her grasp.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Peacock & 5 others), stream on a subscription service (Philo, fuboTV, Hoopla & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Microsoft).

What it's about: What if...September 11th was not a surprise attack on America, but rather, a cold and calculated genocide by our own government?We were told that the twin towers were hit by commercial jetliners and subsequently brought down by jet fuel. We were told that the Pentagon was hit by a Boeing 757. We were told that flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We were told that nineteen Arabs from halfway across the globe, acting under orders from Osama Bin Laden, were responsible. What you will see here will prove without a shadow of a doubt that everything you know about 9/11 is a complete fabrication. Conspiracy theory? It's not a theory if you can prove it.Written and narrated by Dylan Avery, this film presents a rebuttal to the official version of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the 9/11 Commission Report.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Joe Enders is a gung-ho Marine assigned to protect a "windtalker" - one of several Navajo Indians who were used to relay messages during World War II because their spoken language was indecipherable to Japanese code breakers.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A 707 aircraft jetliner, en route from Athens to Rome and then to New York City, is hijacked by Lebanese terrorists, who demand that the pilot take them to Beirut. What the terrorists don't realize is that an elite team of commandos have been called in to eliminate all terrorists on the jetliner.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: Kenny Wells, a modern-day prospector, hustler, and dreamer, is desperate for a lucky break. Left with few options, Wells teams up with an equally luckless geologist to execute a grandiose, last-ditch effort: to find gold deep in the uncharted jungle of Indonesia.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Vudu) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Peacock & 3 others), stream on a subscription service (Philo, fuboTV, Hoopla & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Acclaimed writer and historian Deborah E. Lipstadt must battle for historical truth to prove the Holocaust actually occurred when David Irving, a renowned denier, sues her for libel.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a subscription service (Starz, Kanopy & Revry), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Starz) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Docu-drama based on the life of Ted Bundy, a serial killer who killed at least 19 young women during the 1970's (though some sources say as many as 30 to 35 were murdered). Set from his college student years, to his first victims, his capture, escape from prison (twice), his final killing spree to his trial, conviction and execution.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Vudu & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Microsoft).

What it's about: International art dealer Ron Hall must befriend a dangerous homeless man in order to save his struggling marriage to his wife, a woman whose dreams will lead all three of them on the journey of their lives.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Paramount+) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play, Prime Video & 4 others).

What it's about: Based on an "actual event" that took place in 1943. About a US Navy Destroyer Escort that disappeared from the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and sent two men 40 years into the future to 1984.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (Google Play, Prime Video & 2 others).