"42" (2013) - The story of the player that broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Jackie Robinson was chosen by Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Bra.nch Rickey as the player with both the skill and the strength of character to make history.
Jackie Robinson's story is one of the amazing tales in the world of sports. Rickey (played by Harrison Ford) decided to take on the unwritten rule that black players were not permitted in the Majors. Robinson (played by Chadwick Boseman) faced an astounding challenge with virtually no support system. The movie does a wonderful job of walking through the issues that surrounded this moment in history. Good writing, acting, and directing. Nothing gets in the way of the story.
There is one unfortunate historical goof. Much is made of the conflict between Robinson and a Pirate pitcher named Fritz Ostermueller. In the movie he hits Robinson in the head. It never happened in real life and it's unfortunate that they tagged him with a particularly nasty moment.
There's one final reason why this movie is great. Prior to "42" the baseball movie with the highest opening weekend gross receipts was a movie called "The Benchwarmers". Astoundingly this Rob Schneider/David Spade movie held the record at over 19 million dollars. Perhaps even more astounding is the fact that this bad movie (I have I seen the movie? No. How do I know it's a bad movie? It's a Rob Schneider movie. Case closed.) finished the year as the #52 movie gross of 2006 with 59 million dollars. How is it that no other real baseball movie managed a better opening weekend than this one? "Moneyball" just missed. "The Benchwarmers" out grossed "The Natural", "Bull Durham", "Major League" and "Eight Men Out" among others. That's just so wrong. Thank God for "42".
This is a really outstanding movie.
Rating - **** Recommended
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