42

Warner Bros.

Rated PG-13

Running time: 128 Minutes



Click below to watch the 42 trailer.



In Warner Bros. 42, World War II is over and America's baseball players return home from the war to the game of baseball. Brooklyn Dodgers team executive Branch Rickey/Harrison Ford wants to increase attendance - by bringing in a black player, Jackie Robinson/Chadwick Boseman.

Based on the true story of Jackie Robinson and the part he played in American history, and written and directed by Brian Helgeland, this biographical movie basically showed Robinson's/Boseman's 1946 season with the Montreal Royals in Panama and Robinson's/Boseman's first season as a Brooklyn Dodger in 1947. I am rather surprised that this is only the second theatrical biography of Jackie Robinson - with the previous one, The Jackie Robinson Story in 1950 which stared Robinson as himself. Although some of the material was created for dramatic purposes, such as Pee Wee Reese's line about the Dodgers someday wearing the number 42 - which in reality was actually said by Dodgers outfielder Gene Hermanski in 1951 - I felt that I got to know Jackie Robinson and got a glimpse of what his life was about. It was incredible to see what an all around great player Robinson/Boseman was, and Boseman went through weeks of baseball training to prepare for being such a great player. With Birmingham, Alabama's Rickwood Field - the oldest surviving professional baseball field in the U.S. - being used in the movie, the baseball stadiums felt very authentic for the time period. It was great to hear about and see such famous names of Dodger baseball, such as Leo Durocher/Christopher Meloni and Pee Wee Reese/Lucas Black in the movie.

Because there was a huge crowd for the Negro League Baseball players, Rickey/Ford wanted to bring that crowd to Major League Baseball. Granted, Rickey/Ford had a great respect for the talent of the Negro players and really wanted to bring that talent to the game and breaking the baseball color barrier instead of being that interested in the money. To see Robinson/Boseman signing the contract to be a Brooklyn Dodger was a great moment to see for me.

The prejudice at that point of time after WWII was intense. You can kill for them, but you can't play for them. Certainly the Dodgers did not want Robinson/Boseman playing for them, let alone the entire baseball league. The most graphic display of the Major League's prejudice was the Philadelphia Phillies manager Ben Chapman/Alan Tudyk's treatment of Robinson/Boseman. I had never knew that the Dodgers had a petition going that they would not play with Robinson/Boseman. Considering Robinson's/Boseman's supposed temper, which was why he got court-martialed while he was in the Army, I was expecting to see Robinson/Boseman to be seething most of the time while playing baseball and trying to hold in his temper. I felt that Robinson/Boseman was too laid back in the movie while everyone was insulting him. Actually, I felt that there was more tension shown with Robinson/Boseman in the trailer than what there was shown proprotionately in the movie. Robinson's/Boseman's court-martial was only just mentioned in the movie and they did not go into it. The story of Robinson's racist court-martial is more covered in the TV movie The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson.

Seeing Robinson's/Boseman's wife Rachel Robinson/Nicole Beharie encounter a White's Only restroom for the first time emphasized the difference between their California home and the rest of the country. It reminded me of my Asian Filipino cousin's travels in the Southeast with her white American husband.

What got to me was how much of a hero Robinson/Boseman was to the black kids, which was incredible - while the prejudice of a white kid in the stands was disturbing to me and my boss, who saw the film before I did. Actually, the movie made me think of the red tagged You're Black, They're White segment in the raunchy film Movie 43 that in a sense represents blacks in all sports. As black sportswriter Wendell Smith/Andre Holland has told Robinson/Boseman, "you are not the only one with something at stake here."

I must admit when I first heard of 42, I was thinking that the movie was the answer to the ultimate question from Douglas Adam's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. While I knew of Jackie Robinson and is a hero of mine, I never knew his number. Now, I can not forget Robinson's jersey number - even though Adam's number 42 has no connection to Robinson's number 42.

It was great Jackie Robinson Day at the end of the movie and to hear during the end credits Count Basie's song Did You See Jackie Robertson Hit That Ball from 1949 which reached number 13 on the music charts.

Click below to watch another trailer of 42.



Click below to watch behind the scenes of 42.



Pancho
All people smile in the same language.