61*
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Movie Reviews of 61*
Movie Review: An Essential Film About Baseball
Summary: 5 Stars
I hope this doesn't sound insulting, but I never knew Billy Crystal could have directed a film as good as this one."61*" recounts one of the most amazing years in baseball history - 1961, when two of the Yankees' most legendary sluggers, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, went on a hitting streak that took them within striking distance of Babe Ruth's celebrated (and seemingly unreachable) single-season total of 60 home runs. But as the season progressed, and Maris and Mantle kept smacking them out of the park, two things became clear - 1), the baseball commissioner didn't want to see the record broken, and would do everything in his power to ensure it wouldn't be, and 2), fans and sportswriters had a definite preference when it came to which of the two they considered worthy of making baseball history (the overwhelming majority favored Mantle). Still, the home runs kept coming - but so did the pressure, and the animosity, and the injuries, and the death threats. And though the season proved historic, the toll on both players was enormous.
A film like "61*" needs to be perfectly cast in order to succeed, and this is where Crystal really scores - Barry Pepper captures all the drive, intensity, and quiet dignity of Roger Maris, while Thomas Jane nearly steals the film with an effortlessly charismatic (and all-too-human) Mickey Mantle. In fact, all of the cast does admirable work - Bruce McGill makes a memorable Ralph Houk, and former teen star Anthony Michael Hall graduates to the big leagues with an expert turn as Whitey Ford. If there's a problem at all, it's with the characters of the sportswriters, who become an increasingly intrusive and irritating presence as the film goes along (this, however, may be calculated - there's evidence to support both Maris and Mantle viewed a number of sportswriters as intrusive and irritating).
Ultimately, credit for the success of "61*" must go to Billy Crystal, whose filmaking instincts and attention to detail are truly admirable. I should have known all along he was the only director who could do this story justice.
Movie Review: Maris and Mantle as they should have been - great story, if far from historically accurate
Summary: 5 Stars
This terrific film by Billy Crystal highlights the 1961 chase for the HR record between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Both players were trying to surpass Babe Ruth's single season home run record of 60, and the battle lasted for most of the season until Mantle got hurt. The only drama was then whether Maris was going to do it or not. I'm sure if you are reading this, you already know how it ends! There are several subplots to this tale, however. Mantle was the darling of the NY fans, and Maris was never popular. The fans and the media didn't want the Babe's record to be broken, but if it was going to be broken, everyone wanted Mantle to do it, not Maris. A secondary subplot (related to the title of the film) describes how, when Maris broke the record, the HR title was entered into the record book with an asterisk, denoting that Maris's 61 HRs were obtained in a 162 game season. The seasons were only 154 games in the Babe's time. Maris never received in his lifetime the credit that was due him for this monumental achievement, and I think Crystal wanted to relive his youth through this film and right a wrong.
This is a great film, even if you aren't a baseball fan or a Yankees fan (OK, I admit it, I'm part of Red Sox nation!). The story is well acted, the choice of Pepper and Jane to play Maris and Mantle was outstanding. The vignette at the end is particularly touching. Crystal shows actual footage of Mark McGwire breaking Maris's record in the late 90s, then going to talk with Maris's widow and family in the stands. There are a great number of historical inaccuracies in the film, particularly the portrayal of Mantle. This is Billy Crystal's image of Mantle through a boy's eyes, more of how Mantle should have been, not what he was. This is a minor quibble though. If you don't appreciate this film, you aren't an American and don't understand a thing about the United States.
Movie Review: An out-of-the-park homerun for Billy Crystal. Great film!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love baseball films. I even like "Bull Durham" for which I take a lot of flack at home, where Red Sox Baseball is sacred and we have to listen to the "Curse of the Bambino" tape as a ritual every Spring. Even though I had to abandon any love for the Yankees when I moved to New England, I still enjoy Yankee history--having followed Mantle and Maris as a kid.
This film, to a Baby Boomer like me, is like listening to a bard recite the stuff of legend. And Billy Crystal, who knows enough baseball that he consulted with Ken Burns on his monumental documentary, does a fabulous job telling the story of Maris and Mantle's race to break the Babe's homerun record in 1961.
The cast is absolutely superb, with actor Pepper looking so much like Maris I could hardly believe it. And Thomas Jane takes on Mantle's persona incredibly well. In one scene, the way he folded the baseball cap's bill and how he held the angle of his head -- suddenly Thomas Jane WAS Mantle. It was downright eerie. The acting, the script, the supporting cast were perfect.
Of course Crystal cleverly ties the 1961 record race with Sosa and McGwine's homerun race in the 90's, with Mrs. Maris reprising the bittersweet role of the Babe's widow, watching nervously as the most treasured achievement of her late husband is threatened. This device, following the widows of the greats was a fantastic way to tie the threads of history together, from the Babe, to Maris, up to McGwine. This is probably the best baseball film I've seen, surpassing even "The Natural" and "Field of Dreams", both of which I love.
Here's a spoiler-- not in the film: Maris is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame! He never batted over .300 , and you just don't get into the Hall without that stat. Absurd.
Movie Review: APPLAUSE!! For Billy Crystal, Barry Pepper et.al.
Summary: 5 Stars
Billy Crystal has shown baseball fans (and especially die-hard Yank fans) that it is possible to turn a labor of love and a 'kid's' dream into a reality-on-film epic of the M&M boys and do it with style, an eye for detail, credibility and truth (even if it may hurt..sorry guys!). Barry Pepper et. al. are superb, realistic and down to earth in depicting the behind-the scenes 'sagas' that were going on while the baseball fans held their collective breath for the home run race. Sure, you cannot jam all the details of this baseball era into one film, both good and bad: would you watch an 8 hour movie? There is enough 'meat' to chew on here and experience the relationship of two baseball greats perceived as being at odds and understand that while totally different personae, they were good buddies, they loved the game, played their hearts out and were darn good at it!! Billy Crystal lavishes the audience with much to ponder and an up close revelation at how bad sports management can really be, while the players do all they can to be the very best. This sports film is without question one of THE very best out there. It comes as no suprise that Maris' wife presented Barry Pepper with her husband's playing glove after she saw this film, as a token of admiration and appreciation for his very credible role as her late husband; if you can impress the wife who shared in the agony and the joy..then you can certainly turn a few heads towards the T.V. to watch this film, be it H.B.O or not...doesn't matter. Grab this DVD (or VHS) and enjoy. Applause to Billy Crystal..yes I do admire him tremendously; he's not just all about laughs; he is a serious person about acting and the craft of going behind the lens to have baseball history come alive and credible on film.Movie Review: "61*" touches 'em all
Summary: 5 Stars
"61*" tells the story of the epic home-run battle between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in 1961. For the better part of the season, the sports world stood on its ear as the New York Yankee outfielders belted homer after homer in their quest of baseball's most hallowed record, the 60 round-trippers posted by Babe Ruth in 1927. While game re-creation is marvelously done (thanks to some sprucing up of old Tiger Stadium, made to look like pre-renovation Yankee Stadium), Billy Crystal's labor of love is really more of an insightful look into the outer and inner pressures that threatened Maris' sanity. Physically, Barry Pepper is a virtual dead ringer for Maris. At first sight, Thomas Jane doesn't remind you that much of Mantle, yet the more you see the movie, the more like the Mick he looks. Crystal pulls no punches in his portrayal of the crude yet beloved Mantle - a womanizer and the antithesis of his good friend Maris, ever the family man. Anthony Michael Hall (yes, the same actor who starred years ago in "Sixteen Candles" and "Weird Science"), plays the great Whitey Ford, but it's regrettably only a minor role. Still, one can see why the Yankees called Whitey the "Chairman of the Board." Another great nuance: Hoyt Wilhelm, who retired Maris in the ninth inning of Game 154, preventing him from tying Ruth's record in the "prescribed" number of games set forth by baseball commissioner Ford Frick, is perfectly played by former major-league knuckleballer Tom Candiotti, who holds his head in tilted fashion just like Wilhelm did. While I question how much a non-baseball fan would like the movie, for an old Mantle-Yankee fan like yours truly, it's definitely a must-see and must-own.