Os Campeões

...Yet no one seems to really know about it, which actually fits with the subjects of the film. Most mainstream Jackie Robinson movies are about the effect his life and career had on the world (aka the white community), but this one zeros in on the black community, specifically the Negro League athletes who set a path racial integration and had to watch someone else get the glory. A strong story well-told, with a wonderful lack of sensationalism and tons of heart.

Everybody knows that director Spike Lee wants to make a film about Jackie Robinson, and he's probably the best man to do it. While we are waiting, here we have an honest TV movie about the early days of Robinson un pro baseball. The film shows us the two greatest athletes of the Black Men Baseball league, Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige. I think it's a bit sad to portray these men with foolish minds, always tryin' to have some fun, because I'm sure that discipline was necessary to them to be so excellent on the field. Anyway, I think this movie is entertaining, well done and it can be a good filler while we're waiting for Mr. Spike Lee epic.

As a short text at the end of this movie explains, this is not a documentary but rather a movie based on historical events that takes certain liberties with them.

That probably should have appeared at the beginning, rather than being buried in the long credits at that end.

Be that as it may, this is really a very good movie with some first-rate performances.

The outstanding performance, to me, was Delroy Lindo as Satchel Paige. Lindo makes him a very 3-dimensional character. I found the scene between Paige and Rickey, where Paige so desperately wants Rickey to ask him to play for the Dodgers but will not beg for it, deeply moving. Lindo knows how to act with his face as well as his voice, as only the best actors do.

Mykelti Williamson was good as Josh Gibson, a tragic figure.

I don'.t think it's Blair Underwood's fault that he was not convincing as Jackie Robinson. To begin with, he was a strange choice, since he does not at all have Robinson's very impressive/intimidating physique. Part of the problem was that Robinson was given some weak lines, and made to come off as totally detached from the world of the rest of the players, to the point that he gets into a lockerroom fight over that with one of the other players for the Monarchs. I've read enough books on Robinson to know that, while he was well educated and a fine speaker, he did not try to distance himself from the less educated. I don't understand why that was included in the script.

I also thought that this movie's version of the first meeting between Rickie and Robinson paled next to its equivalent in both *The Jackie Robinson Story* and *42*.

Especially in the earlier part of the movie, there were moments when it seemed as if the script writers had simply copied passages from books into the dialogue. That seemed rather stilted.

All that said, however, I think this is a fine movie, and one that will interest not just those with an interest in baseball history, but more generally those who enjoy a good film with at least some well-developed and portrayed characters.

The soul of the game is a movie that follows around 3 prominent negro league baseball players with Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and Jackie Robinson. Branch Rickey is looking to integrate the Dodgers but is looking for just the right guy to do it, he chooses Robinson who at the time didn't have as much notoriety as the other two. But he didn't have as much baggage as Gibson and a lot younger then Paige and Rickey felt that Robinson had the background to handle all of the heckling far better then either of the other two.

Excellent performances by everyone involved and the movie tells a good story about how the game of baseball and conversely all sports and if you think about it the whole world was changed in the process. If you it wasn't for the success of the movie you wouldn't have had Jim Brown in the NFL or Bill Russell in the NBA.

This is a great movie. With accurate depictions of Satchel Paige, John Gibson, and Jackie Robinson, this is one of the unsung great baseball movies of the mid 90's

Great performance by Delroy Lindo as Satchel Paige and a good story line.. If you are a baseball fan you will love this movie, if you aren't you should watch it to become informed about some trials faced by african-american ballplayers