Bronx is Burning: A revised assessment

Prompted by this review of Jonathan Mahler’s best-seller, and after finally having finished watching the miniseries, I have come away with a new appreciation for the televised version.

Several weeks ago, I was skeptical about the project. I amend my criticism somewhat. Platt was an excellent Steinbrenner and most of the series depicted the difficulties of bringing in Reggie Jackson into a new “ecosystem.” The producers incorporated original sports and news footage nicely into the story. Eric Jensen made a good Thurman Munson, and Kevin Conway did a nice job of portraying Gabe Paul, the Yankees’ general manager who was clearly frustrated with all parties.

I still say that John Turturro’s Billy Martin was a bit over the top (although Maury Allen said in an interview that the feisty skipper was pretty much like that) Daniel Sunjata as Reggie Jackson was mixed. There was little physical resemblance — Jackson was much more muscular — and a whole lot of whining going on. Was the real Reggie that self-centered? Brrr. Many of the other Yankees seemed interchangeable. Is that supposed to be Lou Pinenlla, Bucky Dent, or Dick Howser? The backstories that filled out the hour broadcasts, with the real-life players, only enforce this situation.

The actors portraying Phil Pepe and Stan Issacson seemed a bit stiff and on screen only to serve as straight men for the nominal stars (Maury Allen’s doppleganger, though, was much more relaxed, as I think a veteran in that job would be). And things really started to slow down in the last two episodes, which centered on the World Series (again using original footage of the ABC broadcasts).

As much as I’ll watch anything about baseball, I would give the broadcast version a B-.