The true story of Jackie Robinson, the first black baseball player recruited to play in the major leagues, by Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey.
Robinson is played by Chadwick Boseman, a name you're unlikely to have heard of before unless you're an astute watcher of such TV programs as Fringe, Justified, Castle, Cold Case and bunch more of the same ilk. I must admit to rarely, if ever watching them. Whatever, he played the role without too much apparent verve, something I thought was lacking throughout the movie.
Rickey was played with much more charisma by Harrison Ford, who looked and sounded every bit the gnarly, old man that owned the Brooklyn Dodgers.
In 1946, Jackie Robinson played in the Negro League, before becoming part of Rickey's bold idea to start bringing in the more exciting African American players. Until that time, Major League baseball had been a whites only sport, and that factor barely hid the rampant racism that pervaded the sport - players, managers, and fans alike.
Robinson's entry into the Major Leagues was fraught with challenges for him, his family and his team.
Harrison Ford aside, the movie struck me as a bit too straightforward - not to belittle for one minute the pressures on the player and owner for undertaking this move. But I'm sorry to say the film just wasn't exciting enough.
It was interesting though to see in detail the way the game was played back then - no helmets, no batting gloves. And the way the teams motored around - particularly those in the Negro League - in beaten up old buses - to beaten up, dusty playing fields.
I was thinking about my great friend Bill - the world's biggest baseball fan - throughout this film, wondering what he'd think of it all.
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