The Jackie Robinson Story

THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY is a slightly formulaic, but nonetheless solid, biopic that really deserves more attention that it receives. Robinson stars as himself, the first African American to break through pro baseball's color barrier. It's by no means an easy task as he confronts a society that is far from united in wanting to see this groundbreaking endeavor succeed.

The film is to be credited for not shying away from the racial tension of the time. Robinson endures racial slurs, unyielding boos, the indignity of sitting at the back of the bus, and so on. It's both shocking and infuriating to be reminded of how bigoted and unreasonable society was just a few decades ago. In many ways Robinson's is a heartbreaking story, even though we know it has a happy ending.

Robinson won't be mistaken for an Academy Award winner, but his performance is decent. He proves to be a highly likable screen presence, portraying the sort of gentleman that by many accounts he was in real life. Some of his supporting cast is stiff, but by and large the performances work.

Surely this important story will again one day be given the big screen treatment. And whoever gets behind the camera for that effort will have a solid foundation to which to refer in THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY.

True story of Brooklyn Dodger ballplayer Jackie Robinson the man who broke the color barrier in professional Baseball and made it possible for future black ballplayers, like Willie Mays Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson to name a few, to follow him.

After the end of WWII it was Brooklyn Dodger owner Branch Rickey, Minor Watson, who saw what a reservoir of talent there was in the then segregated Negro League and attempted to tap in on it. It was Jackie Robinson who was not only a star in collage football basketball baseball and track and field but was educated and well spoken, unlike most Negro players at that time, who was chosen by Rickey's top scout William Spaulding to be the man to do it: Brake Baseball's color barrier.

Jackie not at first believing that he's to play in the major leagues is surprised when Spaulding knocked at his hotel room while he was playing with the Black Panthers Negro Baseball team and convinced Jackie that he was the real thing, a scout or the Brooklyn Dodgers, not someone trying to play a joke on him! Like Jackie and his fellow Black Panthers at first thought.

In knowing that it was far more important for him to succeed for his race not just for himself Jackie not only had to be able to hit run and field on the baseball diamond but put up with the insults and threats to him and his family. Not just by the racist fans but his fellow baseball players, some on his own team, to make his and Branch Rickey, who put his reputation on the line in giving Jackie a chance, dream come true.

It was in the Triple A Brooklyn farm team the Montreal Royals that Jackie got his first taste of what he was to run into being the only black not on the team but in the entire league. The taunts and insults that Jackie suffered from both the fans and players just toughened his resolve to succeed to the point that he not only ended up leading the league in batting with a .349 average but was named the league's "MVP" Most Valuable Player. There was a very touching and bittersweet scene in the film where Jackie being taunted by the fans about him being black is shown a cute little black cat and told to come over and say hello to a relative of his. Jackie instead of whacking the guys in the mouth like he should have got up out of the dugout and took the cat, with those who were holding it running for safety, back into the dugout with him petting the cute litter kitzel as if he somehow knew that it was suffering the same kind of abuse that he was going through at the time.

Finally making it to the big leagues in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers who lost the 1946 National League Pennant on the very last day of the season in a two out of three game playoff, with the Dodgers losing the first two games, to the World Champion St.Louis Cardinals he in fact was the extra ingredient that was able to get the Dodgers to become the 1947 National League Champs. Jackie did all that not just with his hitting fielding and dazzling running on the bases running but with his courage as well both on and off the field which earned Jackie the 1947 Rookie of the Year Award.

Made in 1950 while Jackie Robinson was still an active player "The Jackie Robinson Story" is about as autobiographical a movie as a movie could be. It showed that by turning the other cheek and concentrating on his game and not letting his temper get the best of him Jackie achieved the impossible in being a both fiery combatant as well as gentleman at the same time. Which in the end even had his biggest detractors,fan and ballplayers alike, end up standing up and cheering wildly for for him whenever he hit the ball either out of the park or the infield. It was that, Jackie's ability to stand tall and not give into his pent up emotions, far more then his baseball playing ability that made Jackie Robinson the Baseball legend that he is today.

P.S Jackie Robinson #42 uniform was retired not only from the Dodger team but from all of Major League Baseball in 1997 making him the first and only Major League Baseball player to have that honor. What most people don't know is that there was a Dodger player George Jeffcoat who had the famed #42 before Jackie did while he was a pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers back in 1939.

Continuing to review African-Americans in film in chronological order for Black History Month, we're now at 1950 when the first black to play baseball in the major leagues, Jackie Robinson, stars in his own life story in a motion picture made three years after becoming a player in the Brooklyn Dodgers. Since he's basically playing himself, he doesn't need scenes that challenge him, just recite lines that I'm sure were written in a way to make things easy to remember. We're not meant to be impressed by his acting, anyway, but his athleticism whether catching balls, throwing them, or especially hitting them. No, the real acting challenge came to Minor Watson who-as the actual President of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey-has to present authority and conviction as someone who truly believes in baseball as the democratic sport meant to give fair chances to all Americans of all races and creeds, which was convincing enough to me. So on that note, The Jackie Robinson Story was an inspirational enough movie that can still touch some heartstrings, old-fashioned though some of it may be. P.S. Since it is Black History Month, I'd like to note some of the supporting performers that happen to be people of color: first off, there's Ruby Dee as Jackie's wife, Rae, in one of her earliest roles. Then there's Louise Beavers, who I last saw in the 1934 Imitation of Life back in 2008 when I last did similar reviews for BHM, as Jackie's mother. Both are adequate enough in their parts. The others-Bernie Hamilton as Ernie-a player for the Panthers, Mildred Boyd as a roommate of Rae, Howard Louis MacNeely playing Jackie as a boy, and Kenny Washington as the Tigers manager. He was previously a halfback for the Los Angeles Rams. Two more worth mentioning: Roy Glenn as attorney Mr. Gaines. He would later appear in "Amos 'n' Andy", Carmen Jones, and "The Jack Benny Program" among other movies and TV shows for the next 21 years. And, last but not least, Joel Fluellen as Jackie's older brother Mack. He was born in Monroe in my home state of Louisiana.

I grew up at a time after Jackie played so I couldn't experience Jackie enough because he died before his time, This film is a chance to see and hear a very important man. This film makes the man more real to me. It's not so much for entertainment as it is for posterity. How many other films will you find with the real Jackie Robinson in it? The quality of the film is secondary to having a visual account of such an important man. The baseball sequences are reenacted but that is Jackie swinging at the ball and running the bases. I could care less if the film was good or not. Direction, editing, even acting are of little consequence. For the record, it's not great but it's okay.

A wonderful film that acts as a homage to Jackie Robinson (played by himself). The early life of the first black Major League baseball player is shown in a way that makes the picture wholesome and appropriate for all audiences. Ruby Dee is perfect as Robinson's loving wife who stands behind her husband when it seems that no one else will. "The Jackie Robinson Story" was made in 1950 so the social issues and the intense prejudices that Robinson faced are only given a minute glimpse. I have been wanting a movie to be made that goes into greater detail about this individual's life as Robinson was just as important to Civil Rights as people who fought vehemently for equality in the 1960s. The integration of baseball is something that most never believed would happen before 1947 and many forget just how important a piece of American history that is. Not the best film ever made, in fact it is not even great for its time period. I still like and respect the production for what it is though. 4 stars out of 5.