Several months ago I posted this about 42, the forthcoming biopic about Jackie Robinson.
As we get closer to the scheduled April 12 release date expect to see more stories, like this one from SB Nation’s Beyond the Box Score and this from Baseball Musings.
In the trailer, we see Christopher Meloni doing a pretty good Leo Durocher in an event where the Brooklyn Dodger manager faces down a team of insurgents who offer a petition stating they would not play with a black man. I still have mixed feelings about Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey.
Some of the more familiar actors (at least to me) in the cast include Lucas Black as Pee Wee Reese; Alan Tudyk as Ben Chapman, a nemesis of Robinson’s; T.R. Knight as Dodgers’ PR man Harold Parrott; Max Gail as Burt Shotton, who managed the Dodgers after Durocher was suspended for the 1947 season; and John C. McGinley as the southern-born Dodgers’ radio announcer who was conflicted about the situation. Several other ballplayers from the era are included in the film.
The trailer states the movies is “based on a true story,” and you know what that means — lots of “artistic license,” making incidents more dramatic (what, Robinson’s experiences weren’t dramatic enough?), lots of exposition that baseball fans already well-versed in the story might find distracting, if not insulting.
All that said, it certainly looks like a lovely production.
is available on Amazon.com,
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