Baseball - A Film By Ken Burns
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Arthur Ashe, Bud Abbott, Hank Aaron, Red Barber, Roger AngellBrand: Team Marketing
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 1140 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS Paramount
Product features:
- Officially Licensed
- Highest Quality Recording
Movie Reviews of Baseball - A Film By Ken Burns
Movie Review: You're Safe At Home With This One
Summary: 5 Stars
This isn't just for those of us who had carefully rubbed our gloves with Kneatsfoot Oil, had sore throwing arms at the start of each Spring or noticed how the darkness came earlier near season's end, making the spheroid harder to see at the same time of day. "Baseball" by Ken Burns is about more than our childhood memories of the sound of katydids, the sun, longer days, and dreams we would all save the game from the batter's box, with two out in the bottom of the ninth, and the bases loaded. It is uniquely American tracing the game's greatest triumphs and most tragic disappointments that matched an ever evolving culture decade by decade, and season by season. For a boy like me who is still a boy when it comes to baseball and loves history, "Baseball" provides both with everything except the wonderful sting of the bat hitting the ball, or the leather glove that comes between the ball and your face. It's a combination of pitching a perfect game and hitting a grand slammer.
Burns goes back to the beginning of baseball time where he dispels the myth that the game was created by Major Abner Doubleday, and tells us how Walt Whitman extolled the joy of playing a game of bases. With background music in a slow tempo that often includes "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," Burns shows us pictures of now old stadiums being built and great baseball players whose achievements and batting stances I knew by heart: "Hammerin Hank" Aaron, Duke Snyder, Ty Cobb, Harmon Killebrew, Ernie Banks, Al Kaline, Joltin' Joe Dimaggio, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Hank Greenberg, Ted Williams, Mel Ott, Jackie Robinson, Roger Hornsby, Whitey Ford, Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, Christie Mathewson, Tris Speaker, Roy Campanella, Roberto Clemente, Juan Marishall, Willie Mays, my favorite Mickey Mantle, and the oddball who would run to the sound of fire engines every time he heard the local alarm go off. These were giants we revered (all except the last one). We would know these names better than the characters of Shakespeare or other famous figures of history or science.
We also learn about players we never heard of. The Philadelphia Phillies traded one to the (then) hapless New York Mets for a player to be named later. He was so bad that he was traded back to the Phils one month later, as the player named later. He became the only player in baseball history who was traded for himself. Then, there was that mug who chased fire engines.
The series focuses on three teams at the expense of others, the wonderful New York Yankees, the hated Boston Red Sox (who still look like convicts), and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The first one is the team that most Americans love to hate except this one. The second were the hapless Sox who hadn't won a single World Series in four score and six years which was well within this production. There were the Trolley Dodgers who proudly referred to their team and themselves as "the Bums," normally a gross insult in baseball. Each team saw their dynasties, their power players, their wins, and their disappointments. The Dodgers will never forget 1951, nor 1955, just as the people of Boston will still talk about the Series of 1976 and Carlton Fisk. The Yankees will remember Bill Mazerowski batting against them in Pittsburgh in 1960, but they will also remember Murderers Row, the Bronx Bombers, and the farewells of Gehrig, Ruth, and Mantle.
Interviews with relative unknowns brought my childhood memories back from the dugout of my preconscious to a time when I wondered why every adult male didn't own a baseball glove. I felt the same sickness they mentioned wondering, hoping, praying that the nun or teacher would let us out early so we could run home to catch some of the World Series. One interviewee, a former pitcher described how the players' rights allowed "everyone" to profit, the players as well as the owners, but that was not exactly true. Someone always has to lose, and it was the fans who paid, and have ever since which makes the family trip to the park on Sunday afternoon a virtual thing of the past.
"Baseball" is a classic that will be one of the finest stories of our national pastime. What makes this so worth buying is that you can take out any DVD and enjoy watching it again and again. It's even cheaper than going to a, well, baseball game.
You're safe at home with this one.
For my great grandfather, Joe "Ubbo" Hornung, major league baseball player, 1879-1890.
Opening Day, 2009: The average cost of a ticket at the new Yankee Stadium is $76.00. A hot dog costs $5.50.
Summary of Baseball - A Film By Ken Burns
Ken Burns tops himself with this epic of American history, told in "nine innings," with a skilled narration by John Chancellor and the voices of Paul Newman, Jason Robards, Billy Crystal, and other stars. The series spans 150 years, starting with the myth-debunking tale of baseball's true beginnings -- when it was a game "one degree above mayhem." Then follow the growth of America's National Pastime through the decades of glory and record-setting achievements, as well as the scandals, the bigotry, and the big money. The series portrays the game as a mirror of America itself -- the passions, prejudices, and ambitions that have shape the country.Documentary DVD Video
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