Entertaining, but falls short of transferring Robinson's greatness to the screen

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2013)

Growing up in Manhattan meant that Brooklyn, for me, was on the wrong side of the tracks and I never went to Ebbets Field to see the Brooklyn Dodgers play baseball. I can never forget, however, listening to the old redhead, Red Barber, sitting in his catbird seat, marveling at the talent of the first African-American player to break baseball's "gentleman's agreement" and play in the major leagues. Robinson could do it all - hit, run, field, and generate the kind of enthusiasm that is so rare in today's game. His achievement paved the way for other baseball greats such as Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella, and Willie Mays.
Robinson, who spent his entire major league career (1947 to 1956) with the Dodgers, was voted Rookie of the Year in 1947, Most Valuable Player in 1949 with a .342 batting average, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1962. How Robinson faced and overcame the obstacles to success is dramatized in the film, 42 written and directed by Brian Helgeland. While the film is mostly accurate and captures the truth of racism in baseball during the years 1945, 46, and 47, it is cliché-ridden and falls short of transferring Robinson's greatness to the screen.
Played by the excellent Chadwick Boseman, Robinson signed with the Dodgers organization after a search of "suitable" black players by team President and General Manager Branch Rickey. Though Rickey is portrayed as more of a saint rather than a business executive, he was indeed instrumental in breaking baseball's color barrier. The film begins in 1945 when Rickey, in one of the best performances by Harrison Ford in many years, tells his staff of his determination to integrate baseball. When told that he will become an outcast, Rickey responds, "So be it. New York is full of Negro baseball fans. Dollars are not black and white, they're green - every dollar is green." Overlooking some of the older, more established players in the Negro League like Satchel Paige, Rickey signs Robinson from the Kansas City Monarchs (without compensation to the team) to tryout in Spring Training in Florida. Robinson appeals to Rickey because he had excelled in four sports at UCLA, had been an officer in the army, and had played with whites. He was also hitting .350 for the Monarchs. The film describes the racially-motivated abuse the young ballplayer and his new wife Rachel (Nicole Beharie) faces during his first spring training in Florida. Aside from Rickey, his main source of support is black sports writer Wendell Smith (Andre Holland) who, not surprisingly, is not allowed in the press box but has to sit in the stands with a typewriter on his lap.
Having survived spring training (the next year it was moved to Panama), Robinson signs with the Montreal Royals and has an outstanding rookie season. Rickey tells Jackie that if he wants to play for the Dodgers, however, he will have to turn the other cheek and endure racial taunts without responding. When Robinson asks him if he wants someone without the guts to fight back, Rickey tells him "I want someone who has the guts not to fight back." Soon after joining the Dodgers in 1947, he is subjected to racial slurs not only from the other team, but from his own teammates as well.
Many on the team sign a petition refusing to play if Robinson is on the team, but with Rickey's guidance, manager Leo Durocher (Christopher Meloni) tells them in no uncertain terms that either Robinson will play on the team or they won't. "I don't care if he is yellow or black, or has stripes like a zebra," he says. "If Robinson can help us win and everything I have seen says yes he can, then he is going to play on this ball club." On opening day at Ebbets field before a large crowd, half of whom were black, Robinson became the first African-American to play in the major leagues since the 1880s.
One of the dramatic highlights of the film is Robinson's barely restrained stoicism in the face of the nonstop slurs delivered by Phillies Manager Ben Chapman using the word "nigger" probably more than any other time in the history of cinema (I haven't seen Django Unchained). Also moving is Brooklyn shortstop Pee Wee Reese's public show of support for Jackie by embracing him on the field, a key moment commemorated in a bronze sculpture in Coney Island, Brooklyn. In spite of its shortcomings, 42 is an engaging and highly entertaining sports movie.
Though it largely ignores the fact that the integration of baseball was part of a larger political movement in which progressive unions, civil rights organizations, activists, and other protest groups fought for a decade to eliminate discrimination in housing, jobs, and other sectors of society as well as baseball, the film will help to introduce Jackie Robinson to a new generation. Even if you're not a baseball fan, you cannot help but respect his courage and determination and cheer for him to overcome the barriers placed in his path. Sadly, many of these barriers still remained when Robinson retired from baseball in 1956. No team offered him a position as a coach, manager, or executive.