The Meaning Of Life Is 42

 

I finally had a chance last weekend to see the film 42, which I had been anticipating for some time. Jackie Robinson has always been one of my favorite ball players, not only because he broke the color barrier, but because I believe he was one of the best players in history. I had read all the reviews, realizing that there really can't be spoilers for a story you already know.

In the 10th grade, I checked out two books from my local public library's main branch to use for a report on Jackie Robinson. Our assignment was to write a 1000 word report on a true American hero. I chose Jackie, because of my admiration for what he did for the game, and because baseball was my favorite sport. At this point in my life, I was not really inclined to read entire books, and these books were pretty long. One of the books was over 400 pages long, while the other was over 300 pages. Once I really got into the assignment, I began reading and found myself unable to put the books down. Jackie's story is one that draws you in, and captures a moment in time perfectly.

As I poured over the pages, I learned of when Jackie grew up in California, when his brother went to the Olympics, and when he himself lettered in high school sports and went on to play for two local colleges. Throughout the pages, you are taken through his time in World War II, before being court martialed over bus racism, and ending up back home in the Negro League. It didn't take long to realize I had already gone through a third of the book, something very uncommon for myself in the 10th grade on a night where I could have been doing a million other things. Jackie's story has that factor, it grabs on to your imagination.

Subsequently, I kept these books. I had meant to return them to the library, but never made it back with the books. I remember receiving a letter in the mail for a free return day with no fine, but I completely missed the date by accident. Less than a year later, they closed the main branch of our library, selling most of the books that weren't transferred to other branches. All fines for overdue books at this branch were absolved. Completely unintentionally, I became the now rightful owner of two great books on the legacy of Jackie Robinson, which I would recommend to any serious baseball fan. The better of the two is Jackie Robinson: A Biography by Arnold Rampersad. I highly recommend it.

In the film, we essentially begin with Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) already playing in the Negro League. At the time, he had no idea he was being scouted by Branch Rickey as a potential candidate to break the unwritten rule of the Gentlemen's Agreement.  Rickey selected Jackie because of his age, experience and temperament. Branch Rickey is portrayed by Harrison Ford in the film, who I feel did an excellent job of capturing the essence of the man. At points in the film, you forget entirely that you are watching Ford, and become lost in his spot-on identity theft of Branch.

Most know the story, so I won't spend too much time on the details. Jackie Robinson finds himself at Spring Training as the outsider. He isn't there to become one of the guys, but to fill one of the roster positions. He lands a contract with the Montreal Royals. To this day, you can buy a Jackie Robinson Montreal Royals jersey.

</center>Jackie endures racism at every stage of his ascent to the big leagues. Robinson's life is threatened multiple times, and he handles it with a cool temperament in situations that would break most men. Jackie marries his wife, Rachel and they have a child together. He is called up to the big leagues and takes heaps of abuse from fans on all sides, some from his own team's fan base. The players are no better. Certain players see Robinson as a threat, coming from an inferior breed of human being no less. Other players quickly take his side, most notably Pee Wee Reese.

Reese becomes Robinson's strongest ally on the team, and in the league. When Robinson steps out on the field in Cincinnati, Reese stands by Robinson at first base before taking his own position, telling Robinson that he was as welcome on the field as anybody. Reese also used this moment to make a statement to his family that he was accepting this change openly. 

Playing first base, Robinson took abuse from many players who reached, and some who did not. Robinson was spiked intentionally by Enos Slaughter, and this is portrayed in the film. Another moment portrayed in the film is when Fritz Ostermuller hits Jackie in the head with a pitch. This didn't happen. Although Jackie Robinson was hit by more pitches than any player in the league in 1947 and 1948, Ostermuller simply wasn't the villain the film turned him into. I think there are a few sketchy details in this film that really detract and paint unfair pictures.

When filming a historical event and using the real names and likenesses of people of that time, you must be careful in how you portray each event and person. People leaving the film will now have only one view of Fritz Ostermuller: villain. There were plenty of real villains to portray as such for the purposes of the effect of the film's stirring moments. There is no need to create villainy in moments where villainy didn't exist in actual history. We should remember that the film and reality are often and not parallel.

Ben Chapman becomes another villain in this film. Rightfully so, in this case. However, this may be another case of not portraying a person accurately. In the film, Ben Chapman is the very outspoken manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. Chapman showers Robinson with racial language until he is "shut up" in the later innings by a solid Robinson hit. He deserves to be portrayed as a villain, but his entire story is not on display.

Later in his life, Ben Chapman became a slightly different person. As reporter Allen Barra tells of his time with this older Ben Chapman, he never apologized for his attitudes but did seem to become a lot more comfortable with people of all races. Amazingly, during his interview with Chapman at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, Chapman essentially stated the same word-for-word lines used in the film. Here's an excerpt from his article: "In 1979, having graduated the University of Alabama with no ambition more worthwhile than becoming a sportswriter, I had occasion to meet Ben Chapman—the "Alabama Flash," as we knew him—during a college baseball game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham.

"You ought to come over and interview me sometime," he said. "I'll tell ya some stories."

"I'll bet you could," I thought to myself. I knew Chapman only by reputation. He had been a pretty good ballplayer on the Ruth-Gehrig Yankees and then later with several other teams, but he was remembered for his savage heckling of Jackie Robinson in Robinson's first year in the major leagues, 1947, when Chapman was manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. Chapman was 71 and gray-haired when I met him, but he looked younger, and very fit—unlike most former big leaguers I've encountered over my career.

I took him up on his offer to talk, and we got together the following week. He was very gracious, always smiling. But when the talk turned to something he was uncomfortable with, the smile seemed to freeze and he bared his teeth. This happened about two minutes into our interview.
"Is it true," I wanted to know, "that you said those things to Jackie Robinson? You know, the names, the words, that everyone said you used?"

"Heck, yeah," Chapman said with a loud guffaw. "Sure I did. Everyone used those kind of words back then. Heck, we said the same things to Joe DiMaggio and Hank Greenberg."

I was puzzled. "You mean you called DiMaggio a ....?"

"We tried to rattle him by saying, 'Hey, Dago' or 'Hey, Wop.'"

What about Greenberg? "Oh, we called him 'Kike.' It was all part of the game back then. You said anything you had to say to get an edge. Believe me, being a southerner, I took a lot of abuse myself when I first played in New York. If you couldn't take it, it was a case of if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

If you are familiar with the film, you will recognize this as the exact dialogue Ben Chapman's character speaks during most of his scenes, nearly word-for-word. Barra states that he quickly realizes after this interview, that Chapman must have told this exact same story many times, enough times that it was dialogue included in the film.

So there are grey areas when painting historical figures, and those grey areas should be addressed. I realize that 42 is a film about oppression, racism and hatred, and there must be heroes and villains. However, these shouldn't be created in such a way that there is no room for grey areas. Chapman earned his villain tag, but maybe somewhere within the man, he did evolve into a slightly less Batman-esque villain toward the end of his life.

Overall, I felt like the film was well acted. The characters bear mostly striking resemblances to the people which they portrayed. Not only do the people look the part, they play the parts very well. I was surprised by how well Dr. Cox from Scrubs hit on all the aspects of Red Barber. If you are unfamiliar with the real Red Barber, check out this clip. Boseman did an excellent job portraying Robinson.

There was one part of the film I did not like. I hated the ending. The film just, fades. We are left reading a bunch of "He went on to do this." and "They went on to do that." Then there's completely false information in this section. It is stated that Ben Chapman never coached in MLB again, but he did. He coached for the Cincinnati Reds in 1952.

On a side note, Jackie Robinson was elected to the Hall Of Fame on his first ballot in 1962. While he appeared on more than 75% of ballots to receive the honor, he only appeared on 77% of the ballots total. This was a sign of the still lingering racism against Robinson and what he had done for the game. (or to the game for some people) This was not portrayed or discussed in the film and could have been used to highlight how far or how little we may have come by that point in time. The fact that every other player who was elected first ballot around that time appeared on more than 90% of ballots attests to this fact. Robinson's 77% of ballots on his first year, is tied with Robin Yount for the lowest number of ballots received by any first-ballot inductee.

I felt that we missed out on the portrayal on screen of one of the greatest moments in Robinson's career. Instead of acting out or showing us the Dodgers winning the 1955 World Series, we are left reading about it instead. The film had a run time of just over 2 hours, and I feel like we should have been given a portrayal of Jackie's elation of winning it all. That could have been done without spending even five whole minutes more on the run time.

By giving a micro-focus on the year 1947, we miss a lot about Jackie. We never get to see him play second base at the big league level, where he spent almost all of his career. We never get to see Jackie go through the anguish of losing the World Series four times before reaching the ultimate pinnacle in 1955. By not portraying the 1955 World Series, we never get to see one of his best moments re-enacted: stealing home in the World Series.

While the acting is excellent, and the CGI creates a perfect representation of 1947, some created histories and a lack of a proper ending are what holds this film back. Also, the film seems to only portray his story at the surface level. We are not given any real in-depth look at what Robinson went through. While I realize that Robinson went through hell to get to the top, he wasn't the only person facing insurmountable odds, even in 1947. There is no mention of the THREE other players who entered MLB in 1947, one of whom was Hall Of Famer Larry Doby, who integrated the American League. (the others being Hank Thompson and Willard Brown, both for the St. Louis Browns)

Essentially, the film could have been better, and it could have been worse. It didn't quite miss the mark, but it didn't hit the bullseye either. This was not a documentary, and as such, did not have to stay completely true to all aspects of the story. That may hurt it for some, it may not be an issue at all for others who just want to see a good film about baseball.

For me, it just lands somewhere in the middle and scores a solid B.

Sources For Some Information In This Post:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/04/what-really-happened-to-ben-chapman-the-racist-baseball-player-in-i-42-i/274995/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/11/fritz-ostermueller-misrepresented-jackie-robinson-42_n_3259230.html

http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/42-movie-jackie-robinson.php

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0453562/

http://www.thediamondangle.com/marasco/negleg/timeline.html

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/First_Ballot_Hall_of_Famer