Solid film biopic of a truly great man

Rating: 9/10 (30 August 2017)

42 (2013) was written and directed by Brian Helgeland. It tells the story of Jackie Robinson, the first Black baseball player to play on a major league team.
I grew up in Brooklyn, and we kids thought of the Dodgers almost as members of our family. I watched Jackie Robinson play in Ebbets Field many times. Chadwick Boseman, the actor who portrays Jackie Robinson, looks like Robinson, and has imitated his style on the base paths perfectly. This is the film to see if you want to know what the game of baseball looked like in the late 1940's into the mid 1950's. (Of course, it looked predominantly White, although other Black players soon followed Robinson into the majors.)
Both Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, and Nicole Beharie as Rachel Robinson give solid acting performances. However, a movie like this rises or falls on the abilities of the star. Boseman has great abilities, and he makes the movie work.
This is an excellent movie to watch with your children or grandchildren. They will find it hard to believe that African-Americans weren't allowed to play major league baseball. It's a great way to bring the segregated universe of the mid-20th Century to their attention. It's also a great way to show them that the right person, at the right time, can bring about a true change in society.
P.S. We kids had no problem at all with a Black player on the Dodgers. All we cared about was winning the pennant and the World Series. We knew that Robinson could help the Dodgers win, and winning was what we wanted!