42

I am very happy that movies are shown in a dark theater.  I just saw

"42", the Jackie Robinson biography and I would not want the other movie goers to have to endure seeing me wipe the tears from my eyes time after time.  

I suffered watching Jackie suffer abuse and indignity at the hands of mindless racist as he broke the color barrier in baseball,  circa 1947.  When you see a movie and feel the pain of a character at that level, you are watching a great movie. 

 I don't find it productive to  label people, but I would tend to question the  intelligence of

  anyone who is not making plans to  see this film in the very near future;  this is not a wait for TV production.

   I think I have indicated my evaluation of "42", so I will move on to the cast and director. 

"Excellent" covers the  work of Chadwick Boseman as Jackie, Nicole Beharie  as wife,Rachel, Chris Meloni ( of Law and Order:S.V.U.) as plain spoken manager,  Leo Durocher, and Harrison Ford is Branch Rickey, mastermind of opening major league baseball to integration.

 Andre Holland is sports writer, Wendell Smith, who breaks the color barrier in  his profession as a consequence of Robinson's stature on the field, James Pickens as a doctor who befriends Jackie, Alan Tudyk is the outspoken racist manager of the Philadelphia baseball team, Ben Chapman.  Lucas Black, the child actor from "Sling Blade", plays the great Pee Wee Reese, who befriends Jackie  and sends a message to fans and players that talent, not race is the measure of a ball player.

I refer you to my comments about the emotional impact of this film and see no need to add more about the talent of director Brian Helgeland.

 I suggest you try to find the wonderful 1950 version of this story, where Jackie plays himself and the great and grand Ruby Dee plays Rachel.   

Warning to parents, the racist language is hard for adults to take, but there is a wonderful scene at the ball park, about how language affects a child's view of reality.