The movie "42"

[trsent]

Re: The movie "42"

My one question (not about the movie itself) is the reaction of the descendants of Ben Chapman, Fritz Ostermueller, Kirby Higbe, Dixie Walker, etc as to the portrayals of those players as out-and-out racists. History may well support those portrayals, but I have yet to hear one son, daughter, granchild, etc. of any of these players react to the image that their ancestor was portrayed as.

As Jimmy Piersall used to say - The truth hurts.

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: The movie "42"

But I recall one case of defiance from my childhood: One store in Macon, Ga had a "colored only" sign in front. Even as a child, I understood it was his way of responding to the indignities of all the "White only" rules.

Wow! That's awesome. I would have liked to meet that store owner!

-Chris

[coxfan]

Re: The movie "42"

Kirby Higbe later published his autobiography. In it, he affirmed his opposition to Robinson, and the desegregation of baseball in general, because it went against the way he was "raised." Higbe was a native and resident of Columbia, SC, where I met him briefly in his later years, only walking distance from my home.

I'm 64 and a lifelong southerner, and I recall segregation at its worst in my childhood. I'm proud my family didn't support racism and readily accepted integration when it started to come in, though we were whites living in a small Georgia town. In the early 60's, about half my white high-school classmates accepted integration and civil-rights; though probably 90% of the older whites objected to the changes at first. By the mid-70's a majority of older whites had accepted the changes, but the minority who didn't could still be quite vicious. It was a long process in all areas of society; and not just in the South.

But I recall one case of defiance from my childhood: One store in Macon, Ga had a "colored only" sign in front. Even as a child, I understood it was his way of responding to the indignities of all the "White only" rules.

[gingi79]

Re: The movie "42"

My wife and I saw 42 earlier in the day today and we both loved it. A great balance of on-field, off-field and personal life activity for the Robinsons, and also a balance of ups and downs. SEE THIS IF YOU LOVE BASEBALL!!

My one question (not about the movie itself) is the reaction of the descendants of Ben Chapman, Fritz Ostermueller, Kirby Higbe, Dixie Walker, etc as to the portrayals of those players as out-and-out racists. History may well support those portrayals, but I have yet to hear one son, daughter, granchild, etc. of any of these players react to the image that their ancestor was portrayed as.

Dave Miedema

Holy Improbable Outcomes Batman. Dave saw a MOVIE?

[sox83cubs84]

Re: The movie "42"

My wife and I saw 42 earlier in the day today and we both loved it. A great balance of on-field, off-field and personal life activity for the Robinsons, and also a balance of ups and downs. SEE THIS IF YOU LOVE BASEBALL!!

My one question (not about the movie itself) is the reaction of the descendants of Ben Chapman, Fritz Ostermueller, Kirby Higbe, Dixie Walker, etc as to the portrayals of those players as out-and-out racists. History may well support those portrayals, but I have yet to hear one son, daughter, granchild, etc. of any of these players react to the image that their ancestor was portrayed as.

Dave Miedema

[trsent]

Re: The movie "42"

I enjoyed the movie. It is very light about the story but I had no issues with it overall. Harrison Ford was amazing. Nice to hear him speak and you can understand him for a change.

[geoff]

Re: The movie "42"

I just saw 42 today and was blown away.I loved it and is one of the top baseball movies I have ever seen.I would go see it again.Go see it if you have not yet.

[coxfan]

Re: The movie "42"

I just learned today of another personal connection between me and "42" (in addition to having met Kirby Higbe in his last years.) Much of "42" was filmed in Macon, Ga, a city which was 30 miles from my home. I had family in Macon, and have made many visits there.

It was nice to see Macon dignitaries speak highly of the movie, since in my childhood, Macon was a bastion of segregation. Hopefully, the pleasant reviews given by today's Macon officials to "42" indicate that we've made some progress as a nation since the 50's.

[godwulf]

Re: The movie "42"

Apparently, that moment in Cincinnatti was immortalized in bronze in 2005, and stands at the entrance to MCU Park in Brooklyn, where the Mets' Single A Short Season team, the Cyclones, play.

http://www.brooklyncyclones.com/mcupark/jackieandpeewee/

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: The movie "42"

I think my favorite scene from the movie is when the team is in Cincinnatti, where the racism directed toward Robinson is particularly bad, and Pee Wee Reese walks over to Jackie on the field and just puts his arm over his shoulders and stands there talking to him, while the crowd boos them both. Jackie asks, "Why are you doing this?" and Reese (who was from Kentucky) nods toward the bleachers and says, "I've got family up there. They need to know who I am." Then, before he trots away, Reese says, "Maybe tomorrow, we'll all wear 42, and they won't be able to tell us apart." This movie is a revelation, even to those of us who already knew the story.

Haven't had time to see the film yet but that is an awesome response above from Pee Wee Reese.

-Chris

[godwulf]

Re: The movie "42"

I watched '42' last Saturday, and it was a GREAT movie. Ford will absolutely get an Oscar nomination, so his performance alone would be enough of a recommendation, but the entire film is so...powerful. I think my favorite scene from the movie is when the team is in Cincinnatti, where the racism directed toward Robinson is particularly bad, and Pee Wee Reese walks over to Jackie on the field and just puts his arm over his shoulders and stands there talking to him, while the crowd boos them both. Jackie asks, "Why are you doing this?" and Reese (who was from Kentucky) nods toward the bleachers and says, "I've got family up there. They need to know who I am." Then, before he trots away, Reese says, "Maybe tomorrow, we'll all wear 42, and they won't be able to tell us apart." This movie is a revelation, even to those of us who already knew the story.

[coxfan]

Re: The movie "42"

The cnn.com website, under the "Sports" tab, has an interesting article called 42 things you may not know about Jackie Robinson. One of those facts I didn't know: His older brother won a silver medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and Hitler didn't shake his hand, as he also refused to do for Owens, because of skin color.

[coxfan]

Re: The movie "42"

The movie's good, but some details differ from historical accounts. Commissioner "Happy" Chandler is portrayed rather unfavorably in suspending Durocher at a critical point, supposedly for having an affair. But Chandler took credit for helping Rickey bring in Robinson (a point not addressed in the movie); and Durocher's suspension had more to do with gambling-type issues rather than extra-marital ones, though Chandler's actions toward Durocher haven't enjoyed a completely favorable review.

In the movie, Durocher's "Nice guys finish last" was quoted in another context from the one where he reportedly actually said it. But it's questionable whether he actually said that at all. Some claim he said: "nice guys; finish last" while discussing another team, and in the context he meant to say that "niceness" is irrelevant to winning or losing. But the semi-colon was later dropped and the meaning of his quote changed to imply that niceness causes losing. However, his strong statements on Robinson's behalf seem to be correctly given in the movie.

One sad thing: Rickey showed a file full of threats toward him, Robinson, and Robinson's wife and child. But Hank Aaron, in his "I Had a Hammer" book, gives a sampling of numerous similar threats toward him and his family in the early 70's. At one point, Aaron's daughter was apparently being stalked by menacing strangers on her college campus; the strangers disappeared when the police showed up. So Robinson's actions were only the beginning of a long process of facing vicious racism.

On the whole, though, a good movie. I found Ford's portrayal of Rickey to be a very good one of that complex man.

[godwulf]

Re: The movie "42"

I've read that Ford lobbied hard to get the role. Have also heard that many who knew Rickey are saying that Ford nailed it.

Meant to go see the film yesterday, but other things intervened - mostly having to go meet a guy who sold me 23 bats for my collection (photos to follow in the appropriate thread) and then a classic pitcher's duel between Trevor Cahill and Josh Beckett that ended, with a 1-0 score, in Paul Goldschmidt's first walkoff hit in the bottom of the ninth.

Back to the thread topic, I heard that Christopher Meloni, formerly of Law & Order: SVU and Oz, plays Leo Durocher.

[jake33]

Re: The movie "42"

They shouldn't have used Harrison Ford, I found that distracting. A polished no-name actor would have been fine too. Also, why do they need to have it "based on a true story" and add hollywodd flair? The story itself is good enough, and even bette with a bigger scope to really give the high and lows from 1947-1955.

I would have liked a grittier movie and a much better scope. I would have liked it to start at the same point but culminate with the 1955 team winning the series. Plus they could have put a wide array of great Brooklyn Dodgers at that time peroid.

The changing of the Dodgers' manager's was a element in the moviee that didn't really add anything to the overall story.

To me, the movie had a bit too much Public Relations, Robinson family and MLB influence. For a casual fan, i am sure it served its purpose though.

I really cannot image that a high budget Roberto Clemente movie won't be made within the next 10 years.