More Baseball than Personal History

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2013)

My first reaction to sports films is how realistic sports action is. If you are a long time fan, it's easy to spot inaccuracies and lame moments. This one does a nice job of making the on-field events believable. They did a nice job of showing how Robinson was quite a remarkable player. I don't know what Branch Rickey was really like. Harrison Ford certainly made him a crusty, driven person who has decided to leave a legacy. What may be missing are the more subtle aspects of race discrimination. We are used to the white- only restrooms and the hotels. Those were visible things that most would be aware of. What could have strengthened this movie would be the edgy treatment blacks would have received, less blatant, but every bit as destructive. Except for Pee Wee Reese and the guy who got traded because of his hostility, we don't have a whole lot of interaction among the Dodger players. I remember Reese as a kind, friendly person who used to do the Game of the Week with Dizzy Dean on Saturdays. Sometimes his character is too good; we don't really get to know him very well. He must have had a price to pay as well, coming from Kentucky. These are things that would turn a good, fairly inspirational movie into a really serious study of segregation and how it affected America.