The nice thing about film is that it never worries about facts getting in the way of a good fiction. Whether it is one of Richard the Lionhearted's many forays into the legend of Robin Hood or Beethoven rocking it Southern California-style in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure , history as it was and history as an imaginative screenwriter would like it to be often intersect.

Here are a few fine examples.

THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987): Though Eliot Ness and Al Capone actually faced off during Prohibition, the events that transpire in this excellent period piece have little to do with the facts. History was far less entertaining. The movie is worth checking out for its amazing homage to Battleship Potemkin alone.

LITTLE BIG MAN (1970): Set as an old man's remembrances of the changing West, Little Big Man stars Dustin Hoffman -- an actor who just screams cowboy hero -- as an unlikely everyman who runs up against Wild Bill Hickok, Col. George Custer and Buffalo Bill Cody, among others. A wildly entertaining epic.

THE SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION (1976): It goes without saying that the fictional supersleuth Sherlock Holmes never hung out with the real father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. Still, that doesn't stop this enormously entertaining film from pondering the what-if of such a meeting. Alan Arkin stars as the good doctor, Nichol Williamson plays Holmes and Robert Duvall is faithful Watson.

SUNSET (1988): There is a grain of truth to this fanciful mystery tale. Wyatt Earp -- played by James Garner -- did in fact spend the last years of his life in Hollywood, and Tom Mix -- played by Bruce Willis -- was a friend and pallbearer at Earp's funeral. What is not true is this rollicking adventure/murder mystery. A light, fun film.

TIME AFTER TIME (1979): H.G. Wells wrote about a time machine. He did not, in fact, own one. Nor did he chase Jack the Ripper into the future. Still, why let facts get in the way of a really great story? Malcolm McDowell stars as the British writer transported to then-contemporary San Francisco. David Warner plays the Ripper, and Mary Steenburgen plays Wells' modern-day love interest.