42: The True Story of an American Legend

Great job. I really enjoyed that.

 

all the reviews i've seen through this morning range from absolute raves at best and lukewarm praise, at worst. translation: very positive, imho, given the potential for a sappy whitewash, hollywood style. sounds like they made this more real than i'd imagined from a tinseltown biopic; can see this emerging as a box-office hit with legs through the summer as it builds up 'word of mouth' steam.

 

But how will it hold up in 1-run movies?

 

I'll be very curious how it does at the box office. I think the big question will be whether black audiences line up for it. I'm guessing, since it's baseball, they won't... Sports movies generally don't do well at the box office, although there are some exceptions...

They've definitely done a good job with the talk-show circuits. He's been everywhere, which is impressive since nobody had ever heard of the actor before this movie came out.

I'm surprised Harrison Ford hasn't done more, although he is on Kimmel next week.

 

My dad's uncle played for the Yankees, Browns, and Dodgers in 1939 & 1940. (He was in the opening day lineup for one of the greatest teams of all time, the '39 Yankees, but was traded to the Browns.)

He did not make it back to the majors after WWII, but he was teammates with Robinson in Montreal before Robinson was called up to the Dodgers.

 

I'm wary of anything with "true" and "legend" in the same subtitle.

 

I'm wary of any movie that's been rumored, or "in the works" for 20+ years.

Wasn't Spike Lee supposed to do this right after Malcolm X came out?

 

I avoid big Hollywood biopics, at least the ones on people I know about. I don't know anything about George Jung that wasn't in Blow and won't be looking anything up, either, so he becomes a character more than a person to me, as real as Tony Montana. The only biopic on someone I know about outside of the movie that would crack my 50 favorite movies is Raging Bull.

 

Yes. When I was Director of The Film Office in the mid 90s, I had contact with Lee's production company just to set up any possible location filming here...Even had a very brief conversation with Mrs Robinson during that time....

 

One thing I saw was Robinson getting beaned in the temple with a fastball and not laying on the ground dead.
Would it have been so hard to make it a high and tight brushback pitch, or just a fastball in the back?

 

I asked someone who saw an advance of the movie and they didn't recall the bat flip being in the movie (also a concern of mine). "42" currently has a 72% rating at rottentomatoes.com (70% from top critics). FWIW, I know Keith Law gave it a lukewarm review.

 

Does the film mention how blacks were kicked out of baseball in the 1880s?