42 (2013)

It's a hit! We loved the bio-pic of Jackie Robinson and Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey who together broke the color barrier in American baseball in the 1940s. A moving story, good acting, beautiful production design, period details, and oh, those picture cars (here are some photos--my favorite is shown in 8, 12, and 27)! Chadwick Boseman (a relative newcomer, he has acted in a few things, written a play, and made a couple of short films) is properly intense as Robinson, Harrison Ford (profiled in Cowboys & Aliens) properly gruff as Rickey, and Nicole Beharie (was in Shame, though I didn't write about her) sweet but determined as Robinson's significant other Rachel. Among the 85 actors credited, the ones that particularly stand out for me two weeks after seeing the movie are André Holland (was in Sugar, another outstanding baseball movie, and Miracle at St. Anna, among others, and now plays a White House operative in the TV comedy 1600 Penn) as reporter Wendell Smith, Lucas Black (covered in Get Low) as Pee Wee Reese, Alan Tudyk (28 Days (2000), Knocked Up (2007), 3:10 to Yuma (2007), the original English version of Death at a Funeral (2007), and the neighbor in Suburgatory, among others) as Ben Chapman, and John C. McGinley (best known as Dr. Perry Cox in 182 episodes of Scrubs, he has 96 other titles in his credits, including six Oliver Stone pictures) as Red Barber (the radio announcer who made a baseball fan of my mother later in the 1950s).

Director/writer Brian Helgeland (won an Oscar for writing L.A. Confidential (1997) and also wrote Mystic River (2003), but I haven't seen the few others that he directed) spins an entertaining story that will keep you happily in your seat. Props (ha) also go out to Production Designer Richard Hoover and his team and Cinematographer Don Burgess (I wrote about him in Source Code).

Composer Mark Isham (last blogged in Warrior) has long been a favorite of mine. Here's a taste of the soundtrack (you can preview the entire album on amazon). Imdb also lists the songs.

Everyone who knows Jack and me knows we love baseball, albeit different teams. But loving baseball isn't a prerequisite for liking this movie.