Tonight's Movie: 42 (2013)

Last weekend I enjoyed seeing the baseball movie THE HILL (2023).

The Jackie Robinson film 42 (2013) came up in the comments of my HILL review (thanks, Margot!), and I decided it was finally time to pull out the bargain Blu-ray I bought a few years ago and watch it. I'd lent the film to multiple family members who enjoyed it, but this was the first time I watched it myself.

The late Chadwick Boseman is outstanding as Dodger legend Jackie Robinson, who agreed to an audacious plan formulated by Dodgers executive Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) to desegregate Major League Baseball.

Rickey's plan was to find and sign an excellent black player to the team; that player would have to be willing to patiently, peacefully put up with the outrageous racist treatment sure to come his way in order to ultimately succeed and pave the way for other blacks to join him in the majors

Jackie agreed that he had the "guts" not to fight back, and he was called up to the major league Dodgers team in 1947. Rickey calculated the public would get behind Jackie, which they did, and in ensuing seasons the Dodgers added additional black players including Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe.

42 is a 128-minute film, written and directed by Brian Hegeland. It's presented as a fairly straightforward, traditional baseball biopic, but it's extremely well done.

Boseman's appealing performance once more makes me regret his too-early death, and I thought Harrison Ford was quite a revelation as Rickey. It's not a flashy "Look at me not being Harrison Ford!" role, but as the same time he completely sinks into the character, allowing the viewer to focus on Rickey rather than one of our better-known actors. He's excellent; his Rickey clearly relishes what he's doing, though we're slow to understand some of his motivation.

Nicole Beharie is quite winning as Jackie's smart wife Rachel, and I also particularly enjoyed John C. McGinley as Dodgers broadcaster Red Barber. I've heard many stories about Barber and his sayings over the years from Vin Scully, who became a Dodger broadcaster in 1950, but it was quite enjoyable to see and hear someone impersonating Barber and get a feel for what it was like to hear him call games.

42 was filmed by Don Burgess.

The cast also includes Chris Meloni as Leo Durocher, Lucas Black as Pee Wee Reese, Hamish Linklater as Ralph Branca, Andre Holland as sportswriter Wendell Smith, and Alan Tudyk as Ben Chapman, the racist manager of the Phillies. GREY'S ANATOMY veterans James Pickens Jr. and T.R. Knight also have roles. Brett Cullen, who I remember from TV's THE CHISHOLMS (1980), has a nice role as a veteran manager.

Parental Advisory: This film is rated PG-13. Numerous racial epithets are heard throughout the course of the story, but it's part of telling the story of a hero. The themes are adult but I think it's fine for younger children if they're interested; I would have been fine with my kids watching this when they were young. (They did see the 1950 film THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY, in which Jackie played himself.)

A love of baseball is an added plus as far as enjoying this film, but I think the story is so compelling that it could be enjoyed by anyone.

Although these events happened when the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn, I'll always be proud that Jackie Robinson played for the team I've loved my entire life. Jackie Robinson Day is celebrated annually not only by the Dodgers but by all of Major League Baseball. His number, 42, has been retired not only by the Dodgers but by all of baseball.

Jackie was only 53 when he died in 1972; he was posthumously given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1984. As I write this, his widow, Rachel, is 101.

This film is available on Blu-ray and DVD. A trailer is here.

42 is recommended.

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