42

42 tells tells the amazing story of Jackie Robinson, the first person "of color" to be admitted to major league baseball.

Impossible for me to be a spoiler here: most of us know the shameful chapter in American sports history.  Jackie Robinson came to the majors in 1947, and when he arrived, he was greeted with hate mail, boos from the crowd, racial slurs, threats against him and family, and a variety of other sundry treats typical of bigots of the time.

Most folks also know that Robinson stood tall, never reacting to the terrible racism, simply doing what he did best: baseball.  By excelling at the sport, he showed fans he was a quality ball player.  But that did not stop many idiots from harassing him, denouncing him, and showing the lowest, basest behavior that was all-too-common in an era when, in the south, African Americans sat in the back of the bus and used separate facilities.

The fun of the movie is in the details.  How many of us know the people who facilitated Robinson's rise to the majors?  How many of us know his history prior to breaking the color barrier?

I learned so much from this film about the real Jackie Robinson, up to the year 1947.  I checked a lot of sources online after viewing the flick, and indeed, every detail is true.

My only complaint is that the movie ended in 1947.  That was Robinson's rookie year with the Brooklyn Dodgers.  What about after that first year?  There is so much to the man after he started in baseball.

Did you know he was a Conservative Republican who supported the war in Viet Nam?  Did you know he was a compulsive eater in his later years and succumbed to diabetes at age 53?

This film is a must-see.  Very painful, of course.  You will watch the bigots in action and wonder how, in this country, more than a century after the Civil War, we allowed so much injustice.

The picture I chose was a defining moment in baseball.  That's the famous shortstop Pee Wee Reese with his arm around Jackie in front of thousands of fans.  Reese was from the south and raised with prejudice.  But he overcame his upbringing to show the world that it was time to end the racism.

See the film and weep.  See the film and be uplifted.  See the film and learn.

Grade: A