Sports Legends - Jackie & Joe (The Jackie Robinson Story, The History of Joe Louis)
by Robert Gordon, Alfred E. Green
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Coley Wallace, Hilda Simms, James Edwards, John Marley, Paul StewartDirector: Alfred E. Green, Robert Gordon
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-08-24
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Sling Shot
Movie Reviews of Sports Legends - Jackie & Joe (The Jackie Robinson Story, The History of Joe Louis)
Movie Review: "I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being."---Jackie Robinson
Summary: 5 Stars
THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY stars Jackie Robinson himself. Ruby Dee plays his wife Rachel. This 1950 film is a very bowdlerized account of Robinson's life and the struggles he faced integrating Major League Baseball. Jackie played for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1947 to 1956 (their halcyon years), and was one of the most creative players on the field.
The baseball diamond, however, was simply the stage where Jackie played out, in complete isolation at first, one of the most dramatic social transformations in American history. By stepping onto the grass at Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947, Jackie singlehandedly thrust the issue of civil rights into the forefront of the American consciousness. He paid a terrible price in verbal and psychological abuse, injuries inflicted by other players, death threats, and more. He prevailed, and America is a better place because of it, but Jackie's life was undoubtedly shortened by the ordeal. He died in 1972, blind and halt from diabetes, white haired and aged far beyond his 52 years.
This film is crucially important because it is a document of Robinson's struggle, no matter how gentrified for a film audience. It is unique, because Robinson portrays himself. It is timely, as Robinson's field debut occurred only three years before the film's release, and virtually everyone represented in the film was still directly involved with Robinson. This is Hollywood's sincere attempt to come to grips with the impending Civil Rights Movement, a Movement spearheaded by Robinson.
Robinson is an unpolished actor whose great talent is his intensity. Even though this is a film, and even though this illuminates past events, Robinson is living through every minute of every experience, not acting at all. The film has an air of having been hastily thrown together, but despite the roughnesses of its 8mm home movie feel, this film is compelling to watch.
No one can really understand what Jackie Robinson, "the loneliest man in baseball" felt in his gut, but we can honor him, and have. He was a trailblazer. His talent was legendary. His number, 42, has been retired throughout the Major Leagues. He was the first Rookie of the Year, a Most Valuable Player, a Hall of Famer, and posted impressive statistics even in his rookie year when the possibility of his being shot from the stands was an ugly, very real, possibility. He may have been the loneliest man in baseball, but he was also the bravest man in America for the longest stretch of time.
More Sports Legends - Jackie & Joe (The Jackie Robinson Story, The History of Joe Louis) reviews:
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Summary of Sports Legends - Jackie & Joe (The Jackie Robinson Story, The History of Joe Louis)
This DVD showcases two vintage film biographies of the greatest African American sports superstars of their day, Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis. The Jackie Robinson Story is unusual in that Robinson portrays himself, and the movie was produced in 1950, barely three years after he took up his position at second base for the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke the "color line" in professional baseball. After providing a fast portrayal of Robinson's early life, up to his collegiate sports career at UCLA and his stint in the U.S. Army, the story turns serious when Branch Rickey offers him a contract to play for a Brooklyn Dodgers farm team. Interestingly, some of the scenes, such as an incident when Robinson and his teammates were locked out of a stadium at a spring training game in Florida, may have more impact with viewers today than when the film was first released.The 1953 biographical film about boxing legend Joe Louis features actor Coley Wallace in the title role, and is somewhat remarkable because the portrait of Louis is not entirely complimentary. Though a great fighter and a hero to black Americans, Louis had lifelong problems handling his money, and that aspect of his life is part of the screenplay. These films provide credible, if somewhat simplistic, portrayals of Robinson and Louis, but they are perhaps most remarkable for delivering a strong message about racial equality a full decade before the Civil Rights Movement would galvanize America. --Robert J. McNamara
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