April 15, 2013
42 ****
Not a grand slam, but a a solid homer.
As even those who don’t follow baseball know, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball (April 15, 1947).
He wouldn’t have done it without Brooklyn Dodger General Manager Branch Rickey, who chose Robinson because he believed Robinson could handle what would be thrown at the first negro to play in the Majors.
In Brian Helgeland’s new film 42, both those who know little and those who know a lot about baseball will walk away knowing more than when they entered the theater and with admiration for both Robinson and Rickey.
I suspect the far larger part of the audiences seeing the film don’t know many of the details of what happened between 1945-47. They will after seeing 42.
