42 - The Jackie Robinson Story

[Chris D]

Just saw this one on an airline flight, but it's about to be released on DVD/BD. Biopic story of Jackie Robinson, the first black player in Major League Baseball. I'm not sure how much liberty was taken in making the movie, but I was amazed at the things that were portrayed. I'm not a baseball fan, so my knowledge of Jackie Robinson was limited, about him being the first black player. But what an amazing person! I know I myself for sure could not have taken the kind of abuse that he did, even if I were anywhere close to the athlete that he was. Movie was good too. Like I said, I'm not a baseball fan, but there were parts of the movie where I could really understand how people love baseball for some of the purity and sport involved. I enjoyed the film, and very much admire Jackie as a person. Good stuff. :4: out of :5:

[George Bellefontaine]

I saw the original Jackie Robinson Story in 1950. Jackie played himself in the film. He was quite a man. I'll probably skip this current version.

[Chris D]

Huh... didn't even know about that one!

[Ovation]

I saw the original Jackie Robinson Story in 1950. Jackie played himself in the film. He was quite a man. I'll probably skip this current version.

I haven't had a chance to see this yet, but I'm surprised you're not interested in it. It has gotten decent reviews, Harrison Ford is said to be very good in his role (best performance in a while, according to what I've read and heard) and it's a good story (perhaps overly sanitized, but sometimes a "feel-good" movie is the right choice). I'd have pegged this as something you'd be looking forward to seeing. Oh well.

[George Bellefontaine]

Well now you've gone and made me feel bad. I wasn't interested because I had seen the original and pretty much knew what it was all about. But you're correct, Paul, I should give it a watch, at least because of Harrison Ford's performance.

[Ovation]

No need to feel bad. I was just surprised. I tend to watch historical feature films regardless of whether the topic has been addressed before--occupational hazard in my case.

[George Bellefontaine]

I hear you.

[aud19]

Watched 42 on the weekend. The two main characters are very well acted and the movie is certainly interesting from a historical/racism aspect (albeit uncomfortable too watch at times..even in this surely toned down version). Well acted, written, presented (audio, video and cinematography) and good subject matter...8/10.

If anything, the only reason I feel I can't rate it higher is that it feels like we've seen this movie before. I guess there's been so many sports and/or fighting against bigotry etc movies that it just felt... already done. There's nothing ground breaking here. For such a groundbreaking moment in history/sports, that disappoints me a bit.