Baseball - A Film by Ken Burns
List Price:
Our Price: $130.55
You Save: $47.43 (27%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $39.75 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Charles McDowell, Daniel Okrent, George Will, John Chancellor, Ossie DavisDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Black & White, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 1500 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-10-17
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Pbs Home Video
Movie Reviews of Baseball - A Film by Ken Burns
Movie Review: Irresistible for any baseball fan
Summary: 5 Stars
This exceptional series from documentarian extraordinaire Ken Burns is a baseball lover's delight. For a huge number of Americans, the game of baseball holds a special place in our hearts that cannot be effaced by other interests or supplanted by another sport. It embraces a host of paradoxes and yet seems pure and primal and simple in a way that other team sports do not. It has emerged as the thinking-person's sport, with a wealth of literary works-whether fictional, historical, analytical, or statistical-that dwarves the literary products of all other sports combined (only boxing can even remotely make the same kinds of literary claims). Yet, it is almost impossible to express all the reasons for the appeal that baseball holds for its fans. Usually a case has to be made obliquely, by teasing out the maze of puzzles at its heart-e.g., it is the only major sport where you score without the ball or the only sport where the ball begins in the hands of the defense-and for those impatient to dismiss the sport as boring it is not an easy case to make. But for the nonfan, this superb series can at least provide some hints for why some of us love it so much. For the fan, it is heaven.
Burns's and his crew follow the history of baseball from its earliest days all the way down to the present (or at least circa 1990, the series debuting in 1994). Some of the most fascinating parts of the series consists in the remarkable photographs and footage shown in the first two or three episodes. I had never previously seen Ty Cobb in action, or any footage at all of Christy Mathewson, and while I had read about Walter Johnson's sidearm, almost underhanded, throwing motion, what that precisely looked like, I had no idea. Now I do. The series provides a host of revelations about idols from the past. Some of the footage is unbelievable, such as a clip featuring Babe Ruth where he actually shuffles up to the front of the batter's box to get a better angle on a pitched ball before slugging it. I didn't think that such a thing was possible (though a friend of mine has informed me that Ted Williams on at least one occasion did the same thing to attack an Eephus pitch, towering curve that arrives with a massive arch and minimal velocity), but constant replays on the DVD confirmed it. On nearly every major figure in the history of baseball there is either remarkable footage or spectacular photographs. And the ballparks! I now have a better idea of what Forbes Field and the Polo Grounds looked like than I ever did before.
The series also excels at covering some of the more important aspects of the history of baseball. For instance, the shameful treatment of African Americans, banning them from baseball, despite the fact that many black players were among the best players of their age, or even of all time. Burns's covers the careers of such great black players as Rube Foster, Satchell Paige, Josh Gibson, and Cool Papa Bell, all of which is brought even more vividly to life through numerous interviews with Buck O'Neill. The Jackie Robinson story is given especial and proper focus, and actually begins early in the series by covering carefully the early career of the great Branch Rickey.
Most of the great moments in the history of baseball are covered, such as Ruth's supposed called shot, Bill Mazerowski's World Series ending homerun, a severely hung over Grover Cleveland Alexander's groggily walking out to the mound to pitch an inning in the World Series the day after he celebrated his victory in the previous game, Bobby Thompson's home run heard around the world, Hank Aaron's 715th homerun, Willie Mays's spectacular catch of Vic Wertz's drive to deep center field, and Brooks Robinson's almost surreal throw from the 3rd base coaches box to snag a runner at first. Not all of the great plays are included. As a Cub fan, I was disappointed to see one of the most famous home runs in baseball history, Gabby Hartnett's "Homer in the Gloamin'" omitted, and I am utterly perplexed as to why the Cubs' famous collapse in 1969 received no mention. Any Cub fan is aware that that season virtually defines the post-1945 Cubs, and ignoring it also meant ignoring Billy Williams and Ron Santo. These omissions do point out the only serious fault I find in the series: the extreme New York-Boston bias of the series. One can come away from it with the impression that virtually nothing of importance to baseball took place outside of those two northeastern cities. Granted, there have been times when the game did seem to exist primarily there, such as the 1950s, but baseball has definitely been played elsewhere as well.
The guest commentators are, for the most part, eloquent and articulate. No one individual stands out in the way that Shelby Foote did in Burns's THE CIVIL WAR, not even Foote, who makes some a couple of appearances, but as a group they are either quite entertaining or insightful. My one regret is that more of the game's great players did not participate. In many instances this isn't a surprise. Joe DiMaggio, one of the more unpleasant personalities in the history of baseball despite the love the public lavished on him, certainly would not have been interested. Sandy Koufax would have been great, but his desire to stay out of the limelight probably precluded his involvement. Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Bob Feller, and a few others appeared, but they are far surpassed by the great players who did not appear. This I very much regret.
I hope that this remarkable series might someday be brought out in a new DVD edition. We expect far more in the way of extras today than when this first appeared as a DVD set, and one can imagine that there is a large body of material eligible for inclusion. One can access "Baseball Cards," for instance, of the key players, but these could have been so much more interesting, including stills and even film footage. Even as it is, however, this series will be essential viewing for any person who cares at all for the American pastime. For those who don't love the game, it can serve as a great introduction to understanding those of us who do.
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.After the national success of his 11-hour epic, The Civil War--the highest-rated miniseries in public-television history--many wondered if Ken Burns could capture the same energy and passion with smaller subjects. His reply, the 18-hour history of America's greatest sport, Baseball, not only quieted these worries, it also perhaps surpassed his prior achievement. Massive in scope (it covers more than 100 years), exhausting in detail, and filled with celebrities, journalists, politicians, historians, and the men who played the game, Burns's romantic love letter to the game achieves the impossible: even those who hate baseball can't help but become immersed in it. This is because Burns doesn't just detail the great players and the memorable plays and games; he also presents baseball as a cultural and social mirror, reflecting the beauty and hypocrisy of the nation that created it. Divided into nine innings, two hours each in length, the video examines complex social issues such as segregation, racial inequality (its section on Jackie Robinson, baseball's first African American player, should be required school viewing), labor battles between owners and players, politics, technology and gender conflicts, among others. Then, of course, there's fascinating footage and biographies on the players--troubled icons such as Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, heroes such as Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, and tragic figures such as Pete Rose and Lou Gehrig--the men who, despite a rocky and often hypocritical history, constructed baseball's tradition and preserved its invincibility. --Dave McCoy
Similar DVD Movies
Eight Men Out (20th Anniversary Edition)Sony; Release date: 2008-03-18; DVD
Best price: $7.23
Price in other shops:
Major League Baseball, MLB - The Official World Series Film CollectionTeam Marketing; Release date: 2009-11-10; DVD
Best price: $59.97
Price in other shops:
Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of DiscoveryPAR; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $13.20
Price in other shops:
The War - A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn NovickParamount; Release date: 2007-10-02; DVD
Best price: $40.97
Price in other shops:
Ken Burns Presents: The WestParamount; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $49.74
Price in other shops:
![The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns (Boxed Set) [VHS] Image](/images/The-Civil-War-A-Film-by-Ken-Burns-Boxed-Set-VHS-6301996135-X.jpg)
The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns (Boxed Set) [VHS]Pbs Home Video; Release date: 1997-06-03; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $22.00
Price in other shops:
Jazz : A Film By Ken BurnsParamount; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $49.43
Price in other shops:
Baseball: The Tenth InningPBS; Release date: 2010-10-05; DVD
Best price: $10.99
Price in other shops:
Ken Burns: The Civil War (Commemorative Edition)PBS; Release date: 2011-03-29; DVD
Best price: $37.29
Price in other shops:
Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns (Includes The Tenth Inning)Team Marketing; Release date: 2010-10-05; DVD
Best price: $37.99
Price in other shops: