When Did that Happen? Trivia Quiz

"The Patriot" (2000) is set during the American Revolutionary War, with its action starting in 1776.

Mel Gibson plays South Carolina farmer, Benjamin Martin who is caught up in the fighting after two of his sons decide they want to participate in the conflict. Heath Ledger plays one of the sons, and Jason Isaacs is the mean-spirited British officer who preys on Martin's family. Some of the action is very loosely based on real events involving "The Swamp Fox" during the war.

John Wayne directed and starred as Davy Crockett in "The Alamo" (1960). Billy Bob Thornton played the same role in the 2004 film with the same title. Both movies dealt with the siege and fall of the San Antonio mission in 1836, during the Texas Revolution.

The basic story is the same in both films, in that a small number of Texicans and their supporters are besieged in the Alamo by the forces of Mexican general Santa Anna, and eventually overwhelmed, and most of them killed. "Remember the Alamo!" becomes a rallying cry for those fighting for Texas' independence.

Historically, the Charge of the Light Brigade was an incident in the Battle of Balaclava, during the Crimean War. It took place on 25 October 1854. There have been at least two movies with this title.

The 1936 film starred Errol Flynn, and the Charge was only incidental to the plot. Most of the movie was set in India, and the Charge itself played only a small part toward the end of the film. Most, if not all, of the characters were fictional.

The 1968 movie, starring Trevor Howard (Lord Cardigan) and David Hemmings (Captain Nolan), sought to address the real events, including blunders and misconstrued orders that led to the Charge being something of a disaster.

Based on Stephen Crane's novel, "The Red Badge of Courage" (1951) is set during the American Civil War, which took place between 1861 and 1865.

The story revolves around a young Union soldier, and his concern about how he will react under fire, those reactions and subsequent events, during which he finds out a lot about himself. Audie Murphy, a legitimate WWII war hero, plays the young soldier, with John Huston directing.

The opening narration of "55 Days at Peking" (1963) tells us that we're looking at China in the summer of 1900, at the time of the Boxer Rebellion. The setting is the part of Peking occupied by the foreign legations, initially a disparate group sometimes working at odds to one another.

As the film progresses it becomes clear that the different nations' representatives need to work together to withstand the attacks of the Boxers, until help arrives. David Niven plays the British consul who encourages the others to hold out, and Charlton Heston is the American marine major who helps organize the defense. Ava Gardner plays a somewhat mysterious Russian countess, who provides the love interest for the major. As the title suggests, they hold out for fifty-five days.

The onscreen introduction of "The Real Glory" (1939), praises the efforts of the Philippine Constabulary extensively, after which the year "1906" is prominently displayed to let us know during which part of the longer struggles in that country the film takes place.

Gary Cooper portrays an American doctor, and David Niven and Broderick Crawford are American officers stationed in a Philippine village. The action involves their efforts to help the Philippine Constabulary in their fight against ruthless Moro rebels.

"1917" (2019), as one might expect, is set during World War I, specifically in April of 1917.

Two young British soldiers (Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay) have the task of delivering an important message regarding a potential trap before the start of a planned offensive. Their route lies through enemy territory with all the danger that involves. Sam Mendes directs, and Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch appear as more senior soldiers.

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1943) is set during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and is based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. The movie opens with the poem from which the title quote is taken displayed onscreen, followed by the title "Spain, 1937".

Gary Cooper plays Robert Jordan, an American fighting alongside the Spanish Republicans, who joins a group in a mission to blow up a bridge, and thus deny the enemy its use. Ingrid Bergman provides the love interest as Maria, and Katina Paxinou, as Pilar, won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

So many films about the Second World War exist that I've chosen to give you three to put in order here. They are spaced almost evenly at two year intervals.

First we have the evacuation of Allied forces from the French port of Dunkirk, which took place in late May and early June 1940, about eight months after the start of the war.

There are at least two movies with the simple title "Dunkirk", one from 1958 starring John Mills and Richard Attenborough, and director Christopher Nolan's 2017 work. Both tell the story of the evacuation, but use different characters and situations to do so.

The earlier film follows a group of soldiers, led by Mills' character, as they retreat to the beaches, and eventually are picked up and evacuated. Meanwhile, civilians with boats (including Attenborough and Bernard Lee) are on their way from home waters to pluck the soldiers from the shore.

The Nolan film has three separate timelines, which eventually come together, following the efforts of the officer in charge of the evacuation (Kenneth Branagh) and various young soldiers on the beach; a rescue boat (with Mark Rylance as its captain); and a fighter pilot (Tom Hardy).

The Battle of Midway in the Pacific occurred in early June 1942, about six months after the USA entered WWII.

Two movies titled "Midway" exist, and cover much of the same ground. Both deal with the fighting between the carrier launched aircraft of both US and Japanese navies, and the damage each inflicts on the other's ships and aircraft. The 1976 film stars Charlton Heston and other big name stars of the day. The 2019 version counts Dennis Quaid and Woody Harrelson in its cast.

"The Longest Day" (1962) is about D-Day, the invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944. The book by Cornelius Ryan forms the basis of the film.

Almost everybody who was a working actor at the time appears in "The Longest Day", including British, American, French and German stars. John Wayne appears early on as an American paratroop officer, and Richard Todd (who was really there on D-Day) plays a British airborne officer, also in action before dawn. Sean Connery (not yet known as James Bond) has a rather comic turn as a cheeky British soldier on one of the beaches, while Kenneth More as beachmaster Colin Maud, with his dog Winnie, is unforgettable. The day's tales are told in numerous brief scenes, until the evening falls on a successful, if costly, day.

Like the television series that followed, "M*A*S*H" (1970) is set during the Korean War of the early 1950s.

The movie's director is Robert Altman, and its comedy is dark, as befits the setting. The movie consists of a number of episodic scenes, including the dentist's fake suicide; a crazy football game and various pranks by Hawkeye (Donald Sutherland) and Trapper (Elliott Gould). Robert Duvall is Frank Burns, Sally Kellerman is Hot Lips and Gary Burghoff (who goes on to appear in the TV series) is Radar.

"Platoon" (1986) is the first of what is knows as director Oliver Stone's "Vietnam War Trilogy", the others being "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989) and "Heaven & Earth" (1993).

As the title suggests, the movie follows a small group of American soldiers, many of them young and inexperienced, during their service in Vietnam, which is complicated by the rivalry of two very different sergeants (Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe). Platoon members include Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker and Francesco Quinn.

The events of "Black Hawk Down" (2001) take place in Mogadishu, Somalia in October 1993.

The title refers to the downing of an American helicopter by enemy fire, during a mission that went horribly sideways, with a number of casualties resulting. Efforts to rescue the downed crew, and other trapped members of the mission make up much of the action, all based on actual events. Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor and Eric Bana are amongst the cast.

"The Outpost" (2019) is based on real events that happened in Afghanistan in October 2009.

The outpost of the title is known as Outpost Keating, and is set in a valley surrounded by mountain peaks, making it extremely hard to defend. The battle scenes in the movie are intense, and depict the almost impossible defense of the base, which is partially overrun by Taliban fighters. Eventual relief in the form of air strikes and ground forces allow at least some of the defenders to survive. Two of these men, Clinton Romesha (Scott Eastwood) and Ty Carter (Caleb Landry Jones) are later awarded the Medal of Honor for their part in the battle.