Ned Kelly

I may have said in my previous post that I recently did a project in my history class on a based on a true story project. That I chose Ned Kelly. Wel, the reason I chose him is because Australian history has always fascinated me because if I can get the chance to learn about anything, you can bet a million dollars I'll get so into it, I'll never want to stop learning about it. Well anyway, in my history class, we had to choose a movie based on a true story. Well, I chose Ned Kelly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly

Edward 'Ned' Kelly was born in June 1855 in Victoria, British Empire. He died on November 11, 1880, in Melbourne, Victoria, British Empire. He was only 25. He was an Irish-Australian outlaw who was considered a cold blooded killer by some and a folk hero by others because he was considered to be an Irish-Australian symbol of resistance against the British who were trying to take over Australia. I found out that during the Colonial times, England would dump it's prisoners off in Australia, and for some reason, The Australians or Aussies as some call them do not like or care for the English or Brits as some call them.

Crime obviously started early in the family because his father was an Irish convict, and he often had run-ins with the Victoria police. In 1878, after an unwarranted search of his home, he killed 3 policemen and after that, Kelly and his gang were considered outlaws. On June 28, 1880, in Glenrowan, Kelly was dressed in his homemade armor and helmet and was sent to jail. In November 1880, he was hanged to death at Melbourne Gaol. His reputation made him an icon in film, history, folklore.

In 1869, his life of crime started when Kelly was 14. He was arrested for assaulting a Chinese pig farmer named Ah Fook. He claimed that Kelly had robbed him and slept with his sister. He spent 10 days in jail before being labeled a juvenile bushranger. In October 1870, he was arrested once again, this time for assaulting a small business owner, Jeremiah McCormack. He sent McCormack's childless wife a disturbing letter with calves' testicles enclosed. After that, he ran into Isaiah 'Wild' Wright and they formed a gang. They started stealing horses. Kelly was had been free from jail and also 16 at the time and him and Wright were sentenced to 3 years in prison, along with brother in law Alex Gunn. In September 1877, Ned was arrested again, this time for drunkenness. While having a police escort, he broke free and ran into a shop, and when the police tried to restrain him, he just gave up and was fined. One of the police officers, Constable Lonigan, who was later shot by Kelly, supposedly blackballed him, which means he grabbed and squeezed his testicles. Kelly had made a promise, "If I ever shoot a man, Lonigan, it'll be you!" On October 28, 1878, Ned Kelly and his gang were wanted men, and there was a search for the Kellys by Constables McIntyre, Lonign and Scanlon. There was a rumor that they would be hiding in the Stringybark Creek, and there was a team of police from Mansfield, and when they approached Kelly, Lonigan pulled out his service revolver when Constable McIntyre threw his arms up and Kelly shot Lonigan, just like he said he would. When McIntyre called on them to surrender, Scanlon went for his gun and Kelly shot him too. McIntyre left uninjured.

They also robbed banks, the one in Euroa on Dec. 10, 1878, it was the National Bank. They took the employees of the bank hostage and Kelly posed as a policeman, and dressed up one of teh hostages in his clothes, claiming that he was Ned Kelly. No one was injured in the robbery and they got away with 2,260 dollars, which today is equal to $100,000. On Feb. 8, 1879, they robbed the Jerilderie bank. They broke into the local police station and put officers Richards and Devine in their own cell! They took the clothes of the officers and left, blending into the crowd, saying they were reinforcements from Sydney.

On June 26, 1880, Ned Kelly was tried in court for the crimes he committed. It was discovered a police informant had been the one to spill the beans on Kelly and his gang, so his gang stopped by the Glenrowan Inn because it was said that a vital piece of police information was there and his gang stopped all the cars on a passenger train carrying this info. The members of the gang were all heavily armored with armor that could repel bullets, but sadly left the legs vulnerable. They all ahd helmets and was said to weigh 96 pounds, and Byrne's armor was said to be the best. Byrne was a member of the gang. On the helmets there were 2 slits for the eyes and they covered the entire head. Then there was a firefight at the inn, and Kelly was hit multiple times by police, one bullet hit him in the left arm and another hit him in the foot. All because of a flaw in his armor. This armor of his left the torso unprotected and Kelly was shot repeatedly in the legs, and when he fell, a shotgun blast injured his hip and right hand. From the fight in the hotel, members of his gang died, Joe Byrne died from massive blood loss.

On November 11, 1880, he was sentenced to hang to death for the murder of Constable Lonigan at Melbourne Gaol. There was even a petition to spare Kelly's life, that had over 30,000 signatures on it! For the armor, all 4 suits consisted of a breast plate, back plate and helmet. Joe Byrne's suit was the only one without an apron to protect the genital area and thighs and  as a result of that, he died from a shot in the genitals. To keep them all together on the body, they were all strapped on using leather straps, while the helmet just sat over the head. Kelly's helmet had padding in addition to Kelly wearing a skull cap to take some of the weight off his head. His armor is now on display in the State Library of Victoria. After he died, his body and organs were removed for study, and his remains were buried in Melbourne Gaol's mass graveyard.

Modern times
On Nov. 13, 2007, Constable Fitzpatrick's service revolver was auctioned off for $70,000 in Melbourne. In Glenrowan, Victoria, one of the gaols that imprisoned Kelly has been turned into the Ned Kelly Museum.  And there were even movies made about him, like in 1906-The Story of the Kelly Gang, another with Rolling Stone Mick Jagger as the the title role of Ned Kelly(1970), and another, Ned Kelly(2003) with Geoffrey Rush, Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom. Some would consider him to be like an Australian Robin Hood, a sign of resistance against British rule in Australia.

With the movie Ned Kelly in 1970 starring Mick Jagger, people said it was unfair to use someone English as the role, but what alot of people don't know is Mick Jagger is actually half English from his father's side and half Australian from his mother's side, and also about the movie being filmed in New South Wales, instead of Victoria like the real Kelly.

In 2008, the DC comics, the Batman comics introduced a villain named Swagman with armor that strangely resembles the armor Kelly wore.

The real Ned Kelly

His armor on display at the State Library of Victoria

A wanted poster for Ned Kelly

Some pics of Mick Jagger as Ned Kelly

Heath Ledger as Ned Kelly

Based on a True Story

Yes, the title may attract some funny looks, but it happens to apply to 2 class assignments, 1 I did in high school and another I did in my history class here at Gateway. Yeah, even though I'm going for Graphic Design, basic education classes are required, so I chose World History, since I'm a history buff and I find it infinitely fascinating. In high school, in my U.S. History class, our final assignment was to choose a movie that was based on a true story, whether it was based on a real person, event or time. I wanted to do the movie Casino, which was based on the story of Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal, a famous Italian mobster. The teacher, Mrs. Janet O'Neill, said kindly that she wouldn't feel very comfortable with a movie about the Italian mob so I asked her if I could do my assignment on the topic of Prohibition, and she asked if there were any movies about that, and I told her that the movie The Untouchables was, and she gave me the green light go on it!! And this year, in my history class, I had to do the same thing, only this teacher didn't care about what or who we chose, just as long as we did it. So I did my project on the story of Ned Kelly, who was a famous Australian outlaw who lived in colonial Australia. Here are some movies that are based on a true story and the event/person it's based on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_actual_events
1920's
1926

• The Johnstown Flood. Based on the story of the flood that killed hundreds in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. I think that's what it was about, not much info was given.

1930s
1934 

• Cleopatra. Retelling of the story of the Egyptian queen

1940s
1942

• Pride of the Yankees. Actor Gary Cooper plays NY Yankee player Lou Gehrig

1942

• Yankee Doodle Dandy. Based on the story of George M. Cohan, an actor, singer, dancer, songwriter, producer, theatre owner and choreographer who is known as the Man that Owns Broadway

1945

• Dillinger. Actor Lawrence Tierney plays John Dillinger, a Chicago outlaw who was gunned down by Melvin Purviss, an FBI agent who shot him out outside the Biograph Theatre in Chicago

1950s
1951

• A Place in the Sun. Chester Gillette was executed for drowning pregnant girlfriend

1953

• Houdini. Tony Curtis plays the ill-fated magician during his final days

1955

• The Dam Busters. Based on a story of raids against German dams in WWII required creation of "bouncing bombs"

1958

• A Night to Remember. Based on the story by Walter Lord

1960s
1960

• Sink the Bismarck! German battleship escapes British armada before being bombed and sent to the bottom of the ocean in May 1941

1961

• Judgement at Nuremberg. Spencer Tracy plays a judge at a trial for Nazi war criminals

1962

• The Birdman of Alcatraz. Burt Lancaster plays Robert Shroud, aka, The Birdman of Alcatraz.

1962

• The Miracle Worker. Based on the story of blind and deaf woman Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan

1963

• The Great Escape. Based on a group of Allied prisoners attempting a mass, 175 person breakout of Stalag Luft III

1965

• The Sound of Music. Based on the story of the Von Trapp family, with Julie Andrews as a nun who leaves her Austria convent to go and be with a Naval officer and his 7 children

1967

• Bonnie and Clyde. Based on the story of real life outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow

1967

• In Cold Blood. Based on the murder of the Clutter family in 1959, also the subject of Truman Capote's book of the same name.

1968

• The Boston Strangler. Tony Curtis plays Albert de Salvo, who was known for the Green Man Rapes and suspected of murdering 13 women between 1962-1964

1969

• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Based on the story of 2 actual outlaws who fled the west for Bolivia

1970s
1970

• Patton-Based on the story of US General George Patton
• Tora!Tora!Tora!-Japanese for attack, it is basically another telling of the story of the Japanese Pearl Harbor bombing, told from the Japanese point of view
• Ned Kelly-Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger portrays the famous Australian outlaw

He looks more like the real Ned Kelly than Heath Ledger does!

1971

• Brian's Song- based on the story of Chicago Bears football player Brian Piccolo
• The French Connection- based on the story of drug smuggling from Marseille to New York City in the 1970s

1973

• Dillinger- based on the story of 1930s Chicago gangster John Dillinger
• Serpico- based on the story of New York policeman Frank Serpico, who fought against corruption in the NYPD

1975

• Dog Day Afternoon- based on the story of bank robber John Wojtowicz, which actor Al Pacino, who played him said was only 30% true.

1976

• Helter Skelter- based on the story of the Tate/LaBianca murders in 1969 by Charles Manson and his "family"

1980s

• Coal Miner's Daughter- Actress Sissy Spacek portrays Loretta Lynn
• The Elephant Man-Story of Joseph Merrick, aka, the Elephant Man
• Raging Bull- story of famous boxer Jake LaMotta

1982

• Gandhi- based on the story of Mahatma Gandhi

1986

• Hoosiers- based on the story of Milan High School, winner of the 1953-1954 Indiana State H.S. basketball championship despite the school only having 160 students

1987

• Cry, Freedom- based on the story of South African anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko

• La Bamba- based on the story of Ritchie Valens, thte first noted Latino rock star

• The Untouchables- based on the story of Elliot Ness and his gang of Prohibition agents and their 1930s crackdown on gangster Al Capone

1988

• Mississippi Burning- based on the investigation made by the FBI into the 1964 slaying of 3 civil rights workers

1990s

• Goodfellas- based on the story "Wiseguy" buy Nicholas Pileggi, on the story of Henry Hill, an Irish-Sicilian member of the New York mob

1993

• Schindler's List- based on the person Oskar Schindler, who saved over 1,000 Jews from certain death in the Holocaust, and he said his only regret was that he couldn't save more

• Cool Runnings- based on the story of the first Jamaican bobsled team to go to the Winter Olympics

1994

• Ed Wood- based on the story of schlock director Ed Wood, played by Johnny Depp.

1995

• Braveheart- based on the story of Scottish rebel William Wallace
• Casino- based on a fictional story by Nicholas Pileggi about the last mob-run casino in Vegas, the Tangiers

1996

• Ghosts of Mississippi- based on the event of civil rights activist Medgar Ever's murder in his own driveway and the 1994 3rd re-trial of KKK member Byron de La Beckwith

1997

• Donnie Brasco- based on the life of Joseph D. Pistone, aka 'Donnie Brasco' who infiltrated the Bonanno mob family in New York for 6 years in the 1970s

• Rosewood- based on a horrific lynch mob attack on a black community in 1923
• Selena- based on the life of Tejano musician Selena Quintanilla-Perez

• Titanic- based on the sinking of the RMS Titanic

1998

• Patch Adams- based on a doctor of the same name who was a doctor, clown, social activist

1999

• Boys Don't Cry- based on the life of Brandon Teena, who was born Teena Renae Brandon. He underwent a sex change operation to become a boy and he was raped and murdered

• The Pirates of Silicon Valley- based on the lives of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and their rivalry

2000+

• Men of Honor- based on the life of Carl Brashear, the US Navy's first black diver
• Remember the Titans- based on the story of T.C. Williams High School's white and black integrated football team in 1971

2001

• Ali- based on the life of boxing legend Muhammad Ali
• Blow- based on the life of cocaine smuggling legend George Jung

• Pearl Harbor- based on the story of the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Doolittle Raids
• From Hell- based on the story of Inspector Fred Abberline, and his investigation into the Jack the Ripper murders in Whitechapel in London

2002

• Catch Me If You Can- based on the life of con artist Frank Abagnale
• Dahmer- based on the life of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer

2003

• Ned Kelly- Heath Ledger portrays the famous Australian outlaw

Heath Ledger as Ned Kelly

The REAL Ned Kelly

2004

• Hotel Rwanda- based on the story of the Rwandan Genocide
• Finding Neverland- based on the life of J.M. Barrie, best known for writing the story Peter Pan

2005

• Capote- based on the life of author Truman Capote, who researches the murder of the Clutter family and befriends Perry Smith, one of the killers

2006

• The Zodiac- based on the story of the Zodiac killer, who terrorized San Francisco's Bay Area in the 1960s
• The Black Dahlia- based on the murder of actress Elizabeth Short
• Hollywoodland- based on the suspicious murder of Superman actor George Reeves
• Lonely Hearts- based on the investigation by homicide detective Elmer C. Robinson into the so-called Lonely Hearts Killers
• Take the Lead- based on the life of Pierre Dulaine, who taught high school dropouts how to ball room dance to raise their self respect and confidence

2007

• An American Crime- based on the torture and murder of Sylvia Maria Likens

• The Killing of John Lennon- based on the life of killer Mark David Chapman's plan to kill John Lennon

2008

• Valkyrie- based on the life of Col. Claus von Stauffenberg and his attempt to kill Adolf Hitler

2009

• The Blind Side- based on the life of Michael Oher, a black teen taken in by a white football loving family and raised by them who goes on to become a famous football player
• Coco Before Chanel- the life of fashion designer Coco Chanel before she gets famous
• Notorious- based on the life of rapper Biggie Smalls before he was murdered
• Public Enemies- based on the life of Melvin Purviss, and the FBI's attempt to capture John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during the 1930s

2010

• Bonded by Blood- based on Italian mob activity in the US