42: The Jackie Robinson Story

42 (2013)

Grade: C+

Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Nicole Beharie, Andre Holland, Lucas Black, John C. McGinley, Christopher Meloni and Alan Tudyk

Premise: Jackie Robinson is handpicked by Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey to become the first African-American in Major League Baseball.

Rated PG-13 for thematic material including frequent racial slurs, profanity, sensuality and some intense emotional content

Even before the end credits at the end of the new baseball movie 42 appeared on the screen, the audience I saw it with burst into unexpectedly enthusiastic applause. And as we filed out, I heard people saying “it was so good” and “I loved it”. I wish I could join them in those sentiments. I don’t know what it is: maybe I was tired after a long work week, maybe I just wasn’t in a movie-watching mood, maybe I was annoyed after about a dozen previews (or else sorry I wasn’t about to watch some of those movies instead); whatever it was, 42, a movie based on Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947, made surprisingly little impression on me. And that’s disconcerting, seeing as I’m a huge baseball fan.

            42 was Jackie Robinson’s jersey number, a number that has since been retired in all of baseball (with the notable exception of one current player in the final stages of a Hall of Fame career), and those hallowed digits help emphasize the impact of the actions of the man who wore them. It’s impossible to imagine professional baseball today without African-Americans (to say nothing of other minorities), but in 1947, it was a joke, an indignity, an outrage, and Robinson (played in the film by unknown Chadwick Boseman) was dealt blood-curdling insults, 90-mile per hour fastballs aimed straight at his head, and hundreds of letters containing messages of hate and threats to himself, his wife and his son. Even his own teammates didn’t want to share a bus or a hotel with him. But because Robinson came gamely to the ballpark everyday, and, most notably, because he didn’t react in any way to any of the abuse, African-Americans were soon a regular part of American’s pass-time. And they still are.

            The film detailing this is part biopic, part history lesson and part (very small part) baseball movie. It starts with Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey (an especially craggy Harrison Ford) who knows the day is coming when Major League Baseball will have to bring in African-Americans, and decides to hasten it. Against the wishes of his colleagues and advisors, he goes out and finds Robinson, a shrew individual with home run power and blazing speed. So Robinson goes from the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues to the Dodgers’ minor league team in Montreal. And after just one year, he’s proved himself enough to join the big club. But some of his teammates don’t want him, to say nothing of the local press corps, opponents, and especially fans, who think their entertainment is being tainted by the presence of a black man on the field with their favorite stars.

            Part of the problem with 42 is that it tries to cram a lot in, from Robinson’s stardom in the Negro Leagues and his burgeoning relationship with his wife, Rachel (Nicole Beharie), his interaction with his personal biographer, Wendell Smith (Andre Holland) to his on-field feats for the Dodgers and the reactions of his teammates, coaches, Rickey, and the fans. As a result of all this cramming, none of this is fully-baked. Rickey’s interest in integrating baseball is never fully explained (a shame, since Ford really does give a good performance), Robinson himself is only given a shred of a personality, his relationship with his wife is wallpaper on the film and could’ve been cut completely, and a few isolated incidents of Robinson receiving racist insults go on for many long minutes. And not to mention, Robinson’s white teammates are a dime a dozen, lucky to get any distinguishing characteristics.

            Since most baseball games are longer than most movies, I don’t expect a movie like this feature a whole lot of baseball action, but the movie bounces around like a pinball, unsure of whether it wants to be a seedy biopic, a commentary on the cruelty of racism, an ensemble picture about the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, a buddy-buddy relationship with Robinson-Rickey or Robinson-Smith or something else. But the movie starts slow, most of the scenes are short and most of the dialogue clichéd inspirational hokum (“because I love this game”, “you’re a good man, Jack”, “because I believe in you”). Call me a killjoy, but it didn’t add up to a very invigorating 2 hours. I won’t tell you not to see it, but I found myself undeniably uninspired.

Bottom Line: While 42 commemorates Jackie Robinson’s breaking of baseball’s color barrier effectively enough, the movie is long, slow and talky, staying mostly off the field and struggling to find an entertainment factor. Harrison Ford’s very un-Harrison Ford performance is interesting, though.

42 (2013)

Written for the Screen and Directed by Brian Helgeland

Rated PG-13

Length: 128 minutes