The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg
by Aviva Kempner
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alan M. Dershowitz, Carl Levin, Hank Greenberg, Rabbi Reeve Brenner, Walter MatthauDirector: Aviva Kempner
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-10-16
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg
Movie Review: Greenberg, #5, 1st baseman, Detroit Tigers
Summary: 5 Stars
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg may be the best baseball documentary ever. Not as thorough, long or epic as ken Burns' Baseball from 1994, L&T of H.G. is a wonderful vision of a player who's legacy is fast fading from the era still associated with DiMaggio, Gehrig and Ruth. His ascension to baseball immortality is partly due to his being the first great Jewish ball player. Besides Sandy Koufax, Greenberg can easily be considered the greatest Jewish player ever. He was the winner of two MVP's and two Championships with the Tigers in 1935 and 1945. Greenberg lead the Tigers to their first series appearance in 25 years in 1934, which they lost to St. Louis. He also lead them to a series in 1940, losing to Cincinnati. He served in WWII for three years and returned in 1945 to hit a home run in his first game, and lead the Tigers to a World Series victory. As it goes, his Tigers beat the Cubs in both of his Worls Series victories.
According to the doc, Greenberg was one of the first ballplayers to enlist and consequently return from the war.
What works about the film is the relaxed nature of Greenberg, seen in archived interviews (he died in 1986 at 75) and the interviews with fellow players and people who grew up idolizing him. Greenberg seems to have taken his success in amazing stride, assuming a responsibility he may or may not have wanted for Jewish Americans. No doubt his success as a player, like Jackie Robinson, who came into the league during Greenberg's last year, provided cushion for the horrors both experienced from fans and fellow players alike.
Edited with these interviews is excellent footage of games and newsreels, which together illuminate the times and by extension Greenberg's impact.
The film concludes with information on Greenberg's post career, including an ownership and management interest in the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox. His time with the Indians saw the largest accumulation of black players yet in MLB history, a championship (their last as of June 2008) in 1948 and a pennant in 1954.
This will play terrifically in a school for kids from elementary through high school, as part of history, sports and cultural studies.
Highly recommended.
Summary of The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg
Aviva Kempner's Peabody Award-winning documentary is about baseball like Field of Dreams is about cornfields. Kempner efficiently covers all the bases of Detroit Tigers Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg's magnificent career with archival footage and talking heads, including family members, former teammates and baseball legends, broadcasters and sportswriters, and such unabashed fans as Alan Dershowitz and Walter Matthau. If this biography's style is not remarkable, its subject certainly was. Greenberg, the son of immigrant parents, was a beacon of hope to Jews. As one observer notes, baseball was a way of "showing we were as American as everybody else." To see one of their own succeed in the national pastime at a time of virulent anti-Semitism was a source of pride and inspiration. One lifelong fan, a rabbi, states, "He was the baseball Moses." Winner of several critics association awards for Best Documentary, this is a stirring film for all seasons. --Donald LiebensonAs baseball's first Jewish star, Hammerin' Hank Greenberg's career contains all the makings of a true American sucess story. An extraordinary ball player notorious for his hours of daily practice, Greenberg's career was an inspiration to all and captured the headlines and the admiration of sportswriters and fans alike. This is the story of how he became an American hero.
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