O/T: Saw "42" tonight and loved it...

[bbsports]

Saw the movie this afternoon. I thought the movie was done & the characters that portrayed their parts did a great job. Especially the actor who played Branch Rickey. If you remember the first movie, The Jackie Robinson Story, Branch Rickey gets little credit for bringing Jackie Robinson to organized baseball. However, Branch Rickey gets more credit in this movie.

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by bbsports

Especially the actor who played Branch Rickey. .

"The actor"?!? That's Han Solo man!

[nolemmings]

Hey, he was Bob Falfa first!

[t206blogcom]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

"The actor"?!? That's Han Solo man!

Indiana Jones!

[ElCabron]

Guess I saw a different movie than everyone else. It was not great. Way over-Hollywoodized. The true story is so amazing and dramatic, they didn't need to try to make it more dramatic. You know that scene at the end of The Natural when Roy Hobbs hits the home run into the lights and they explode and the music is playing and it's in slow motion? This movie tried to make every scene into that. It was pretty much what I expected (and feared) it would be. They did do a great job on one very emotional and true scene where Pee Wee Reese comes over to Jackie and puts his arm around him on the field in Cincinnati to show everyone in the stands "This guy is okay." Best scene in the movie, in my opinion. I really wish they'd gone into more detail about his college years, his military years, and his life after baseball. Jackie Robinson was such a complex and amazing human being. His entire life was movie-worthy. But this movie was really only about the 1947 season. If I had to sum it up I'd say this movie needed more Ken Burns and less Michael Bay.

-Ryan

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by NoizeBringer

I really wish they'd gone into more detail about his college years, his military years, and his life after baseball. Jackie Robinson was such a complex and amazing human being. His entire life was movie-worthy. But this movie was really only about the 1947 season. If I had to sum it up I'd say this movie needed more Ken Burns and less Michael Bay.

-Ryan

Absolutely no problems with anyone disliking this or any movie.. but you've got to realize that what you want is an entirely different movie. One in which it's no longer possible to tell the story of that first year's obstacles, emotion, team dynamics, etc with the focus they did.

I think filmmaking is one of the most challenging things there is, and a filmmaker has to make a lot of tough choices.. basically infinite choices when you take into account that on each take they need to choose camera angles, lighting, set and character staging, etc. One of those difficult early choices is choosing the scope and focus of your story. The writer/director (and studio) chose to focus on that first season which is fair enough. I'd be fine sitting through a 9 hour movie about his whole life (as I'm guessing you would also).. one that is able to give each key moment its due, but the viewing audience would not, and that movie would never be made. If they were to try to squeeze college/military/negro league/minor league/'47-'55 series/maybe some civil rights activism/capped off by a Jesse Jackson eulogy into a 2 hour movie, they'd have had to make so many compromises, zipping through years at a time, and would have lost many of those key 1946-1947 moments/emotions they chose to focus on.

I hope someone else makes that more comprehensive movie down the road.. but at this point I think it will be a long time, since I don't think many studios are lining up to make another J Robinson story anytime soon.

ADDING: I watched K Burns' 1940's episode Baseball late last night..So good! That series will never be outdone.