61*
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Movie Reviews of 61*
Movie Review: A Labor of Love About a Golden Time...
Summary: 5 Stars
Whether you loved baseball or not, the summer of '61 was dominated by Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, and Billy Crystal has perfectly captured the 'feel' of that unforgettable, magical season in "61*". When 'M & M' began their assault on Babe Ruth's 'unbreakable' record of 60 home runs in a single season, those who knew and loved the Babe were angered that this 'Holy Grail' was a target, and, as Crystal illustrates, Ruth's friend, Baseball Commissioiner Ford Frick, laid down restrictive rules to help keep Ruth's record intact (the dreaded asterix, if the record wasn't broken in 154 games), making the competition more than simply breaking the record, but a race against the clock, as well.
With two brilliant performances by actors Thomas Jane and Barry Pepper (who look astonishingly close to Mantle and Maris), the film transcends the sport, becoming a tale of friendship, of an insane loss of privacy and personal dignity, and of two very different, remarkable men. Mantle is universally loved (and expected to win the race), a veteran Yankee of epic talent and overwhelming charm, whose wild boozing and womanizing is 'sanitized' by an adoring press. Maris, on the other hand, is a quiet, focused professional, a family man whose only vice is cigarettes, and, in only his second year with the Yankees, is considered an outsider and usurper to Mantle's 'glory' (having won the MVP award, the year before). As he has little to say to the press, they make a spectacle of him, in a season-long vendetta that fans the flames of hatred that the city already feels towards him. For Maris, the impact is staggering, added to the pressure of the home run race. Welts appear on his body and he starts losing handfuls of hair, he receives daily hate mail, and even his family is threatened. But Maris' biggest ally is Mantle, who truly likes him, admires his devotion to his family and the game, and realizes his own failing body may not allow him the triumph his fans expect.
It is a beautiful story, riveting despite the fact that the outcome is known, before the film even begins.
I highly recommend the 'Making of' documentary, as well as the film. Did you know Thomas Jane had never played any baseball, before he made the film? And Crystal's decision to include a cameo by Mantle's tiny grandson, watching the 'grandpa' he'll never know hit a home hun, is sheer magic!
"61*" is simply a fabulous film, at a really fabulous price. Even if you don't like baseball, I think you'll love this film!
Movie Review: Billy Crystal's Ode to the Summer of Mantle and Maris
Summary: 5 Stars
Billy Crystal grew up during that time, as he tells us in the informative documentary that accompanies his fine film. He KNOWS what Yankee stadium looked like. He knows every bit of trivia about all the Yankees - their batting stances, their body language, even the way they stood in the on-deck circle.
As we discovered with McGwire and Sosa, then Barry Bonds, some of the most cherished records in any American sport are the Home Run records. We dig the long ball.
It's difficult for someone like me who was not born yet to completely imagine what it must have been like to have TWO awesome home run hitters on the SAME team bearing down on that record - and to make it even better, the record was held by Babe Ruth, who was ALSO from the same team. The Yankees, love 'em or hate 'em (I'm a National League Fan, myself) are the most legendary team in baseball, and this year was one of their most legendary.
That forms the setting for this truly entertaining story. Mickey Mantle had the movie-star aura and Roger Maris was a quiet family man from the midwest. EVERYONE was pulling for Mickey to break the record. Hardly anyone outside his own family was pulling for Roger.
It was interesting to me to see in the film just how close Mantle and Maris were in real life, and the movie argues that they probably both had a positive effect on one another. Certainly the film hints that Roger's decency as a man influenced Mickey to concentrate a little more on the game and less on drinking and womanizing. At the same time the movie shows us that as the pressure of approaching the record began bearing down on Maris, he had no bigger supporter than Mickey Mantle.
Barry Pepper looks so much like Roger Maris that you can hardly tell the difference between the two in the documentary accompanying. Thomas Jane also has an uncanny resemblance to Mantle and they both obviously studied the newsreel footage for hours because everything from their posture to their home run swings is a faithful duplication. Baseball movies in the past have often showed actors taking a weak swing with a cut to a ball flying majestically out of the park. Billy Crystal must have used some fantastic CGI imagery to produce shots where you see Mantle and Maris take their swing and without moving the camera, follow the ball arcing up into the upper deck of Yankee stadium. Awesome.
Movie Review: The very BEST baseball movie I've ever seen!
Summary: 5 Stars
There is no finer example of baseball on film than Billy Crystal's 61*. In fact, there are few better MOVIES, period, that I have ever seen (and that's saying a lot -- I introduced my three-year-old son to this movie a few months ago, and he has seen it every single DAY since then -- which means I've seen it too.) And can you believe it still is wonderful -- though I know every line, every word, every camera angle and cut? Crystal takes the heart of the subject -- Mantle & Maris and their pursuit of the record in full public view -- and shows us what we didn't know about them in 1961 -- Maris, the quiet, inarticulate but thoroughly decent family man, Mantle the hard-drinking, hard-living but ultimately insecure superstar who played despite constant, crippling pain -- and shows how they both attempted to rise above themselves and be the heroes they were already thought to be for the space of a few months in one special summer. That striving to be better than you are, with terrific pressure to perform (and in Maris's case, a lot of pressure NOT to perform, because fans didn't want HIM breaking Ruth's record) is, to me, the emotional center of the movie. It is so thoroughly understandable and so human, that even if you don't love baseball (are there such people?), you can still get close to this film. And if you do love it -- well, there can be no better film to see. We got it on DVD out of sheer self-defense -- there were too many `good parts' we wanted to see again and again -- and I think we may just have worn out the DVD. Don't miss the MAKING OF ... feature as well -- it's absolutely terrific in and of itself -- the clever and creative way Crystal and his people turned an old Detroit ballpark into the old Yankee Stadium and turned Anthony Michael Hall (who plays Whitey Ford) into a left-handed pitcher when he was, in fact, right-handed, is a lot of fun to watch just for the moviemaking trivia. In short (and I could go on and on) -- buy it. Watch it. Pass it on. There is simply nothing to touch it that I've ever seen on film -- it leaves pictures like FIELD OF DREAMS, BULL DURHAM, THE NATURAL and all the rest in the dust. This is the real thing. Be part of it -- and let it become part of you.Movie Review: Thanks Billy Crystal
Summary: 5 Stars
I grew up in the late 50's / 60's loving the game of baseball and although I've been a life long Boston Red Sox fan, it was very difficult (if not impossible) to fall under the magical "spell" of names like Mantle and Maris.
And director Billy Crystal was able to capture that magic on film with this incredibly moving motion picture, which followed the exploits of the "M & M boys" as they both pursued the most elusive and prized goal in all of professional sports - Babe Ruth's 1927 record season 60 home runs.
But this is far more than just a baseball movie. It's a film about an incredibly decent, humble and modest man, who had to endure a hellish 1961 season from the NY fans, the NY media and even the baseball commissioner's office. It's about the incredible friendship and bond that existed between both Maris and Mantle. But in my opinion, it's a movie about a wonderful husband and family, who left us far too early (Roger died at the age of just 51 years old).
I can't come up with enough accolades for the performances of the two leads, Thomas Jane (Mantle) and Barry Pepper (Maris) and the incomparbale supporting cast, who played the other Yankees and press. And the attention to detail that director Billy Crystal conjured up in taking us all back to 1961 is breathtaking.
There are some magnificent baseball movies in circulation (i.e. Field of Dreams), but 61* easily stands along side them and is a must-own film for any baseball fan's library.
This is a love letter from Billy Crystal to his boyhood heros and the Cathedral that we called (old) Yankee Stadium. But I think I'll be eternally grateful to Billy for showing us all what a hero / role model that this quiet and unassuming man (Maris) was and how he maintained his dignity and self-respect despite being crucified by the NY media / fans. It was shameful the way Roger Maris was treated and why this great ball player isn't in the Hall of Fame is absolutley baffling.
Thanks, Billy. Although my allegiance with always be with the Red Sox, I'm grateful for this incredibly poignant and heartwarming story you gave us.
Rest in peace, Roger.
Movie Review: Don't hesitate to pick this up
Summary: 5 Stars
It really is a great film! I'm so glad that I came accross it because it was a complete accident. I'd never heard anything about the film before, and knowing that sports movies could be really good or really awful, I was hesitant to pick this up. But being a lifelong baseball fan and being that it was only $6, I decided right before I walked out the door at MovieStop to turn back and buy it.
Anybody who watches the Yankees on TV knows that Billy Crystal is a familiar face at the Stadium, whether it's April or October, and bringing what was certainly the most cherished baseball season of his youth to life, albiet not on the big screen, has to have been a huge thrill for him. He did a wonderful job of it too.
Although I was not alive at the time, the setting seems to be a flawless throwback to the early 60's, right down to the appearence of Yankee Stadium before its renovations in the mid 70's. I was actually suprised to learn that it was filmed in Tiger Stadium, because Crystal and his entire crew had made it come alive with the true aura of the Bronx. The acting in the film is superb and throughout I couldn't get over how similar Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane looked to Maris and Mantle.
The film really brings to light what Roger Maris had to go through, being the soft-spoken guy who the press often considered surly (sound familiar?), he was far from the fan favorite in the Bronx, even though he was clearly their most dangerous hitter that year and one of the key features in that championship season. It is just a crime that it took more than 30 years after the record was broken for it to be officially recognized as baseball single-season home run record (Babe Ruth had hit 60 in a 154 game season, while Maris only had 59 at that point), and that Maris was not alive to see it.
I would highly reccomend 61*, even to Red Sox fans.
The bonus area on the DVD is exceptional, with commentary from Crystal and all kinds of behind the scenes stuff about the making of the movie and who and what went into its production.