42 - but who's counting?

As a dues-paying member of The Southern New England Brooklyn Dodgers Fan Club, how could I not like 42? Any retelling of the amazing story of Jackie Robinson's debut in Major League Baseball in 1947, breaking the shameful color barrier, is going to be worth watching - and worth retelling to generations who may not comprehend the magnitude of his accomplishment. Robinson's personal bravery and strong, dignified personality did so much to change the sport and to change our culture. All baseball fans of my era, particularly Dodger fans, are also somewhat familiar with the key episodes in Robinson's rookie season - the hostility from fans and in particular from racist plays such as teammate Dixie Walker and opposing manager Ben Chapman (Phillies), the withering media attention, the fortitude of Branch Rickey, the despicable silence of commissioner "Happy" Chandler. And everyone's aware of Robinson's great skills as a ballplayer - and how so many great black players followed him through the door that he and Rickey opened. So, yes, 42 reminded us of all of that and is a great movie to show kids and others. Wisely, it's not a biopic in the traditional sense - there's virtually nothing about Robinson's life before Rickey signed him. It's a story of two seasons, postwar - 46 is Montreal and his rookie season in Brooklyn. Sadly, the movie isn't really so great as a film: it's absurdly sanctimonious (cue the strings! cue the orchestra!), full of absurd set pieces (Rickey, way overplayed by Harrison Ford, bucking up Robinson's confidence again and again, for example), and in my view none of the actors looks like a ball player of the era and the company seemed to care very little about accurately re-creating the look or feeling of spring training or major league ball in the 1940s. A couple of good scenes - Robinson driven from his lodging in Florida by a gang of racists - aren't enough to outweigh the stodgy set pieces and the heavy-handed messaging Not a bad movie at all, but not nearly what it could have or should have been. On the DVD edition, Warner Bros cheaps out, taking plenty of time and space for innumerable promotional trailers and including only one crappy special addition - why not some clips showing Robinson in action or on camera?