42
42
Written by: Brian Helgeland
Directed by: Brian
Helgeland
Starring: Chadwick
Boseman, Harrison Ford, and Nicole Beharie
To me there is nothing more American than baseball. It has been around since the late 1800’s. America grew up at the same time America
did. Baseball was there for the Civil
War, the first World War, the second World War, Vietnam, and still going through
the war on terror. As the country has fought
through so has baseball. It has always
been here being the steady stable hand the guided us through our maturing as a
nation.
When the freight train that is the movie binge I have been
on since the start of the Covid Pandemic headed into the 4th of July
weekend it just made sense that a baseball movie was included on the Watch
List. I feel like I have seen most of
the classic baseball movies: Sandlot, The Natural, Major League, Field of
Dreams, Bull Durham, For the Love of the Game, Rookie of the Year, and Little
Big League to just name a few. So, when
scrolling through my streaming services I came across “42” I knew that it was
the movie I needed to watch this 4th of July. As a mater of fact, I knew it was the right
movie to kick off my 4th of July.
A little bit about my relationship with baseball and why I
think baseball is so important. My early
life all I ever wanted to do was be a baseball player (Well other than being a
writer and Jedi of course). Baseball was
my 2nd love, right after Star Wars, I just happened to meet Star
Wars first. I realize now I had the same
chance of being a jedi as I did of being a big leaguer. I remember being bitter when my brother Bob
got to play t-ball and I did not. I was told I was to young. I remember my first Pee Wee League game. I tripled in my first at bat ever, I still
think it I had an in the park home run, but I am going to let the bitterness
go. Summers growing up was all about
baseball. I was a feared left-handed catcher until my move to first base in
Babe Ruth. Even when I did not make the
high school team, I became the number 1 fan.
The parents of the players would tell me to come to the games because I
made a difference. The Braves on TBS,
Cubs on WGN, Reds on Channel 4 were religious experiences. When ESPN started airing baseball, especially
Sunday Night baseball was heaven for me, nothing was better. My heart still breaks that the year I
consider my year, 1994 (High School Graduation), there was no World Series. I still wonder how many homers Kid Griffey
would have had. Would the Expos have won
the world series? So many unanswered
questions. As the game fell onto hard
times with steroids my love of the game waivered. When A-Rod admitted to using steroids, my
heart completely started, and the love was sucked out of me. I found my love again when the Cubs finally
did it. I kept telling my family just to
believe. Over and over I was the
positive one and I was right. 2016 was
our time. It’s a moment in time I will never forget. I was frustrated that Kid Griffey wasn’t the
first 100% unanimous player voted into the Hall of Fame. No one had a purer swing in all of baseball
and he played the game with a reckless love that he would sacrifice his body
for the love of the game. I am apathetic
now at a time when so many people are stuck at home because of a global
pandemic that major league players and owners are fighting over how much money
they are going to make when the country needs them more than ever. I just hope they will do the right
thing. Play for the love. Play for the people who need you. As you can tell Baseball means something to
me.
Baseball Movie + America Movie = Great 4th of July
Movie.
I am going to admit after I watched “42” I was a little ashamed to be an American. Before I watched this movie, I would have told you of course Jackie Robison faced issues because of the color of his skin. I know that in my brain. I just didn’t except that in my heart, no that isn’t right I guess I just wanted to put my head in the sand and ignore it. Who wants to admit and accept our racist past as country? This movie was important to me see the hate and the ignorance the followed this great man around. I think it was important to watch now especially because we are a turning point in our country. A point where systemic racism will not be tolerated. I know this movie could never make me feel what this man felt. It could help me understand just a little bit of what he went through. It helped me to start to understand a little bit of the engrained hate we have in our country. I think understanding that will help me become a better ally against racism.
In the movie do we not only see Jackie’s great season of
1947 play out in front of our eyes. We
got to meet his lovely wife Rachel and his first-born son. We got to see a great baseball story play out
in front of our eyes. However, we also got
to see some of the of the racism and hatred that he faced every day of his
journey. From teammates wanting to be
traded or walk out on the team instead of playing with someone with a different
colored skin. We saw how Jackie could play
on some of the fields in Florida with the white players, but he couldn’t stay
with them or eat with them. Alan Tudyk,
who is one of those actors I have talked about before, about how I see them in
something early on and then always root for them. Well I wasn’t rooting for Alan this time. He played Ben Chapman. The string of horrors that flowed out of his
mouth in this movie were awful. I wanted
to punch him in the face to shut him up.
If that is how Chapman really was, then Chapman is an asshole, and I
hope people regularly piss on his grave. To think that Jackie Robinson got hate mail
and death threats for the rest of his living days for playing a game with white
people, really does make me feel ashamed.
I remember sitting on my back porch watching my dog play and thinking, I
can’t believe it is the 4th of July and I am ashamed of my country. To be honest there was only one other time I
was ashamed to be an American even more than on July 4, 2020 and that on November
9th and 10th of 2016. I think “42” is a
great movie for anyone who wants to join the fight against racism in
America. Another movie I watched over
the 4th that can help you see what segregated America looked like
was Hidden Figures. Also, I started
reading the book Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi.
I think in this important time we all need to stand together and
contribute to making the world a better place and fighting racism.
Chadwick Boseman who played Jackie Robinson did an amazing
job. I have yet to watch something with
Chadwick in it and not enjoyed it. I won’t
lie I had never heard him speak without his Black Panther accent, so it took a
little getting used too. The only other
Boseman movie I saw was Message from the King and he used his BP accent in that
movie as well. Boseman really did an
amazing job bringing Robinson to life. I felt like I was there with him and living
through it. A testament to his made
acting skills.
Harrison Ford plays Branch Rickey who was an executive for
the Brooklyn Dodgers. I have seen Ford
in a lot of movies, but I thought this might be some of his best work. Sorry Han Solo you are awesome, but I loved
Harrison in this role. Branch made the Jackie
breaking into MLB possible. From the little
I have read about the Branch Rickey he seems like a good man. I am not one of
those people that must go on-line after every based on a true story movie and
do the fact checking. Anyone who helped
bring down the color barrier in baseball should be considered a hero, and I
think Harrison Ford played the role of one.
Nicole Behaire played Rachel Robinson, who was her husband’s
emotional back stop during his integration into the major leagues. I do not know Nicole like I know the other
actors in the movie. I have not seen
here in anything else. I loved the
character she played in the movie and she did a great job playing that role.
Overall, this movie was fantastic, I will be watching it
again. It is obviously a must watch for me. It should be a must watch for anyone who
loves baseball. I would go one step
further for anyone who loves great movies, because I think this one belongs on
that great movie list.
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