Homerun

I had heard nothing but bad things about this movie, which is why I waited about 30 years to see it. I came away greatly impressed. "Cobb" isn't a movie you 'like.' Tommy Lee Jones plays Ty Cobb as a guy who was mad, bad and dangerous to know. Robert Wuhl, the ostensible hero, a sportswriter who is working on Cobb's biography, can be seen as a two-faced weasel. Some of the scenes of Cobb being ill are difficult to watch.

And yet, "Cobb" gives the sense of catching life and American culture on the screen to a far greater degree than most movies ever try. "Cobb" opens with a newsreel about Ty Cobb, so I suppose this movie is begging to be compared to "Citizen Kane," but I think "Cobb" can stand in "Kane's" company as a film that says something about the national character. "Cobb" doesn't look away from the fact that people in the past acted and thought differently than we do.

1994 was a good year for films, so I guess everybody was too busy talking about "Pulp FIction" and "Forrest Gump" to pay attention to this film, which is a shame.

First things first, this movie is based off of a book written by Al Stump, who is played by Robert Wuhl in the film. Al Stump in recent years has proved to be a liar and a forger so sports historians are calling into question a great deal of his supposed insight into Ty Cobb. In other words, in all likelihood Mr. Stump exaggerated or outright made up most of his allegations against Cobb to sell books. That isn't to say Ty Cobb was a prince of a human being because there's enough contemporary evidence to show that he wasn't. But some of the most vile things that have been said about him can be traced to Stump's writing. So take the things this movie has to say with a huge grain of salt.

Another black mark against the film is that it has very little actual baseball in it. This movie doesn't care about Cobb the baseball giant. It only cares about Cobb the asshole. To include one side of the man without the other is a pointless exercise in self-righteousness. Why is a biography of Ty Cobb even necessary without his baseball accomplishments? Because he was a racist and a bully? There are millions of those, past and present, who aren't getting movies made about them. It just defies reason. Cobb was one of the greatest (and dirtiest) baseball players ever. Going by this movie, however, you would think he was just some crotchety old man who shared wacky adventures with a sports reporter.

Tommy Lee Jones was too old to play this role, as is especially evident in the flashbacks to when Cobb was younger. He plays Cobb as a silly cantankerous cartoon of a man. Every bit as over the top as his performance of Two Face in Batman Forever. Let that sink in for a minute. Robert Wuhl plays himself as he always does. The movie is entertaining in spots. The comedic parts work better than the dramatic. I can't really recommend it because the bad outweighs the good and, personally, knowing about Stump leaves a bad taste in my mouth over the whole thing.

In bio-pics and other movies claiming to possess an historical basis, reviewers should stick to evaluating movies as movies and not as history, unless they happen to have a fair bit of grounding on the subject and/or events. Sad that so many here obviously hold an image of a a man on the basis of having read-or at least believing themselves familiar with the subject-a single work, and that, a book that has been utterly debunked a number of times (most recently in "War on the Basepaths" (Tim Horbaker-2015) and "Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty" (Charles Leerhsen-2015). Knowing what the screenplay was based upon, I went expecting a fictional portrayal of Cobb's last years and, my only reason for going, an accomplished and powerful performance by Tommy Lee Jones; both expectations were entirely met.

I remember that I said that Tommy Lee Jones could walk on the moon and wouldn't even need a spacesuit. This man is an incredible actor. He deserved the Oscar that he won for playing Lieutenant Gerard in The Fugitive. He played a tough guy with a heart of gold and was wonderful. In this film, however, he plays a very different role. EVERYONE HATED THIS BASEBALL LEGEND AND HE LOVED IT!!!That was the ad that accompanied this film. Ty Cobb may have been the greatest baseball player that ever lived. Even today, he has set records that other players have not passed. However, was he really a hero? I think that it is very interesting that this film came out about the same time that the O. J. Simpson case was grabbing the headlines because it brought into our collective minds the question. WHAT MAKES A HERO? Ty Cobb was a vicious bigot, he was a wife and a child beater and he murdered a man in cold blood. Someone said once that he was the most terrifying figure that you would ever encounter in a biography except for Adolf Hitler and some comparisons favor Hitler! They said that he makes Vince Lombardi look wishy washy! Tommy Lee Jones is excellent in portraying Cobb's egotism and cruelty but at the same time he makes you feel sorry for him. Cobb's father had been shot and killed when he was a young man (a classic Frued situation). However, it makes me think that Cobb was just a bad seed to begin with. Robert Wuhl plays Al Stump as an ignorant fool who finally just gives in and tells his friends that Cobb was a great man "know ye that a prince and a great man has fallen". He says that it wasn't because the kids of America needed heroes or some other nonsense it was because in the very end that I needed him to be a hero and I plead guilty because that is my weakness.

If this movie exaggerates the nastiness of Ty Cobb, his descendants could sue. Then again if the movie is accurate, his descendants clearly despise him as much as anyone else. The weirdly symbiotic relationship between Cobb and his hapless biographer Aaron Stump is engrossing to watch, but it is Tommy Lee Jones' performance that makes the movie. The performance borders on chewing up the scenery, but it's mesmerizing.