42: The True Story of an American Legend

Nope, that scene was almost completely true to life. Hell, it was probably worse in reality than it was on film, if you can believe that. This is a PG-13 movie after all.

Only difference is Chapman and the Phillies (it wasn't just the manager, of course) pulled that shit over the entire three-game series and Stanky reportedly confronted him during the second game of that series. The film condensed it into a single game, for understandable reasons.

But yeah, that really happened to Robinson (and plenty of other black/Latino players in the majors and especially the minors for two decades afterward.) Horrifying stuff.

 

Joe Sheehan also gave it a "meh" kind of review.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20130412/42-movie-jackie-robinson-chadwick-boseman-harrison-ford/?sct=hp_wr_a5&eref=sihp

Have a feeling the non-baseball loving audience will love it; those who love baseball will find the flaws. Which is probably the case with any true story put on film no matter the genre.

 

i'm not saying i didn't want rap music attached to the movie because i don't like it -- which i don't -- i was saying i don't want rap music attached to scenes of the movie because it would take it to the level of ridiculous. i mean fuck, why not play some guns and roses in the background during the medal presentation of miracle?
that was my point.

 

You're just a "worried" white person Tom. Admit it.

 

no, i take note from other posters here, YF. i'm just concerned. real, real concerned. ; P

 

Only Smasher is afraid of rap.

 

9.5.

 

According to my box office guru, it's going to make about 23.5 million this weekend, about 2.5 million more than the best estimate the studio was hoping for.

In other words, a bigger hit than anyone thought it would be.

 

Completely anecdotal, but it's getting about 75% positive buzz from my social media circles. I'm finding a lot of hardcore baseball nerds who are overlooking its flaws because ... Jackie Fucking Robinson, man. I had a harder time overlooking the flaws, but maybe that's just me. I may go see it again to give it another shot.

Joe Poz wrote a great blog post today explaining how the film got the emotional truth of the story right regardless of the factual truth. And when it comes down to it, I think Poz is right about that. Shades of the classic Tim O'Brien idea about "story-truth" vs. "happening-truth." The film will certainly expose Jackie Robinson's legacy to a wider audience in the 21st century, and I'm happy about that.

 

Saw it last night. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some general thoughts:


Potential spoilers....







I thought they did a good job with the baseball action sequences, although honestly Boseman looks slow when he's running. At least they had people who could throw.

Buckw, you're absolutely right about the timelines, but honestly I was willing to accept those things (the Pee Wee Reese thing in particular) under the header of "based on" simply because of the importance to those things in the story when placed under time constraints for a feature-length film. It wasn't sloppy like the stuff from Friday Night Lights I mentioned earlier in the thread.

I'll also note this, the Southern dialect speaking roles were really well done. Some of it was through casting -- Lucas Black, who plays Pee Wee Reese, is from Alabama, and the guy who plays Dixie Walker is from Oklahoma. Still, I've long complained that Southern accents have been butchered by Hollywood, but I think they pretty much got them right in this movie.

One bit of minutiae stuck with me, and frankly I may not be right here: At the 1945 gas station stop with the Monarchs, a graphic identified the location as Interstate 24. The Interstate Highway System wasn't in place until at least a decade later.

Finally, the crowd: It was the first Friday night of the film's run and the movie was in the local centreplex's largest theatre, but there were only about 20 people. I really expected more.

 

Just back from a Saturday night screening. I'd say the story captured the spirit of the thing [/dickiedunn].

spoiler space ...







One scene that literally made me jump out of my seat was how they recreated the Polo Grounds and the other dearly departed old yards. Curious how they did it.

Historic note: Durocher did not get suspended over the CYO boycott, it was a bit more complex, and I'll defer to the resident historians on this one.

The actor playing Red Barber had the voice down, but I think the scriptwriters worked a little too hard to get in all of Barber's pet phrases. And at the end, there's no way Red Barber applauds.