NEW MOVIE HITS IT OUT OF THE PARK
The film 42 told the story of a young African American named Jackie Robinson. He was a talented, aspiring, baseball player who had to overcome racism and doubt to become a Major Leaguer. The title of the film was the number Jackie wore throughout his major league baseball career. He would be the first to fulfill the dream of many blacks whose civil rights were being violated during that time period. The movie interested me because it was about a baseball legend. I believe this is the best baseball movie ever made because it is a true, inspiring film. Most baseball movies today are fiction people just made up in their sleep like “Angels in the Outfield” or “Field of Dreams”. I like how Hollywood kept it historically accurate. This nonfiction film was authentic in its depiction of the times, the racial divide between whites and blacks was that blacks were seen as second class citizens and segregated from white people in every area of life.

It was written by, Brian Helgeland , an award winning screenwriter. The part of Jackie Robinson was played by Chadwick Boseman. Harrison Ford had an important role as Brach Rickey the man who signed Jackie Robinson to his first major league contract. The skills and talents of Jackie led Mr. Rickey to believe in him. As a member of the Kansas City Monarchs, an all negro league baseball team, Jackie Robinson was a stand out baseball player. He would eventually play his entire major league career for the Dodgers an all white baseball team at the time. During World War II he served our country proudly.

Pee Wee Reese was a Hall of Fame shortstop who was a teammate of Jackie Robinson. Pee Wee Reese was played by Lucas Black in the film. My favorite scene in the movie was when Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers went to Cincinnati, Ohio. There they faced the Reds. The Reds fans were heckling and saying rude comments to Jackie just because he was a black man playing on an all white baseball team. Pee Wee was shocked by the bad behavior of the Reds fans toward his teammate. He engaged Mr. Robinson and put his arm over him to show his friendship. By this gesture support was shown for his teammate regardless of his race. Pee Wee was born near Cincinnati in the southern state of Kentucky that was prominently racist towards blacks. Overall the racial dynamics made an impression that I won’t forget. For that reason I rate this movie a 10 of 10. To get this great movie you can go to your local movie store and buy it on DVD.