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May on the Criterion Channel will be good to the auteurs. In fact they’re giving Richard Linklater better treatment than the distributor of his last film, with a 13-title retrospective mixing usual suspects—the Before trilogy, Boyhood, Slacker—with some truly off the beaten track. There’s a few shorts I haven’t seen but most intriguing is Heads I Win/Tails You Lose, the only available description of which calls it a four-hour (!) piece “edited together by Richard Linklater in 1991 from film countdowns and tail leaders from films submitted to the Austin Film Society in Austin, Texas from 1987 to 1990. It is Linklater’s tribute to the film countdown, used by many projectionists over the years to cue one reel of film after another when switching to another reel on another projector during projection.” Pair that with 2008’s Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach and your completionism will be on-track.

The former head of the ACLU discusses some of the movies – and sports legends – that made him.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Mighty Ira (2020)

The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)

42 (2013)

Shane (1953)

Panic In The Streets (1950)

Last Year At Marienbad (1962)

The Seventh Seal (1957)

La Strada (1954)

Wild Strawberries (1957) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

The Virgin Spring (1960) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Last House On The Left (1972) – Darren Bousman’s trailer commentary

A Walk In The Sun (1945) – Glenn Erickson’s review

Paths Of Glory (1957) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary, John Landis’s trailer commentary

All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) – Ed Neumeier’s trailer commentary

Lonely Are The Brave (1962)

Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

On The Waterfront (1954) – John Badham’s trailer commentary

12 Angry Men (1957)

Inherit The Wind (1960)

Judgment At Nuremberg (1961)

Witness For The Prosecution (1957)

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

The Verdict (1982)

Twelve Angry Men teleplay (1954)

The Front (1976)

Judgment At Nuremberg teleplay...

I think everyone in this country should be aware by now that our race relations are at an all time low. It seems every time we hear the news another black citizen has been shot by the police or police have been shot by someone angry about these shootings. It cannot continue. We as a nation cannot keep going down this road.

I have always sympathized with Black Americans. In fact as a Scot and Irish American I have always sympathized with anyone who ever got pushed around, starting with Native Americans, Asians, Jewish immigrants, women of any ethnic group, Hispanics from any country.

I also sympathize with the people who are tasked with law enforcement. It’s a tough job. I had some training in that area. A couple of years ago I was hired by a Security company and was trained in unarmed, and armed, uniformed security. I...

In the midst of March Madness and with the Kentucky Derby around the corner, the first pitch of baseball season is almost here.

A quote from Field Of Dreams best describes America’s national pastime, “The one constant throughout the years has been baseball.”

To mark the start of the 2016 season, here’s our list of the Best Baseball movies.

The Bad News Bears

Considered by some to be the best baseball movie ever, the film celebrates its 40th anniversary this month (April 7, 1976). In an article from the NY Daily News, one line reads, “It is a movie that someone like the late Philip Seymour Hoffman called his favorite, and one which resonates on many levels today, with all different generations.”

Who are we to argue with greatness?

After skewering all-American subjects such as politics (The Candidate) and beauty pageants (Smile), director Michael Ritchie naturally set his sights on the...

Film was a particularly difficult industry for black actresses to break into. Hattie McDaniel was the first black actress to ever win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1939, for playing Mammy in Gone With The Wind, opening the door for more black women to appear in prominent roles in film. Specifically for screenings in the 1940s South, where a black actress couldn’t play anything but a servant on screen, beautiful women like Lena Horne were given roles that were expendable, able to easily be cut out of films without affecting the plot. Eventually, movies would reflect the real-life improvements in race relations, leading to Halle Berry becoming the first black woman to win a Best Actress Oscar in 2001. The St. Louis Classic Black Film Festival is proud to present a new film festival celebrating the roles and careers of eight pioneering black actresses in a variety of films spanning four decades.

Is this heaven? Nope, it’s Opening Week.

Recently Mlb rounded up a group of players to recite, word for word, James Earl Jones’ famous “people will come, Ray” speech from Field Of Dreams.

Wamg declares America’s national pastime, Baseball, to be the official sport of movie fans everywhere. As Brad Pitt said in Moneyball, “How can you not be romantic about Baseball?”

It all started Sunday night with the Cardinals at the Cubs with St. Louis winning 3 to 0.

To celebrate the first pitch of Opening Week, here’s our list of the best Baseball movies.

The Rookie

One of the best baseball biopics to come along over the years, The Rookie, starring Dennis Quaid, tells the true story of Jim Morris, a man who finally gets a shot at his lifelong dream-pitching in the big leagues. A high school science teacher/baseball coach, Morris’ players make a bet with him:if they win district,...

Chris Rock is the epitome of comedy stardom in Hollywood today, as he's able to balance paycheck pictures like the Grown Ups series with films that are true passion projects for him. He writes, he acts, and he directs, and can tell any story that he sets his mind to. The same logic applies when Rock turns his thoughts to demolishing something that just doesn't seem right, and if you're the head of a major studio, you might want to read what Chris Rock has to say about 42: The Jackie Robinson Story. IGN shared an exclusive clip from the bonus features to Chris Rock's latest directorial effort, Top Five. In the clip, Chris Rock dissects the film that put star Chadwick Boseman on the map, and it.s delivered through one of his patented comedy bits. In particular, there's one remark we've singled out below that stands out...

Comedian Kathy Griffin is recruited by the Daytime Emmys to "resuscitate" their upcoming ceremony, which will not actually air on television. It will be streamed on the internet instead from the Beverly Hilton on June 22. Two-time Emmy winner Griffin might be the "trophy-show nitroglycerin" needed to bring the event back to TV. Griffin said, "I am beyond thrilled to be hosting what I’m told is the most important television event of the year. Knowing that over 100 million people from every corner of the planet will be watching, I will try to keep my nerves at bay and deliver a great show." Deadline. -Break- Legendary actress Ruby Dee passes away at age 91 in New York. Along with her late husband Ossie Davis, they were a "formidable force" in entertainment and the civil rights movement. Her film credits included "The Jackie Robinson Story," "A Raisin in the Sun," "Do the Right Thing,...

Now she can join her long-time husband and acting partner Ossie Davis. Ruby Dee was Mother Sister, the old black woman who observes the neighborhood goings-ons from the window of her tenement in Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing in 1990. In 1950 she played the wife of Jackie Robinson opposite the ball player himself in The Jackie Robinson Story. Ruby Dee’s seven-decade career included triumphs and awards on stage, screen, print, and in the arena of civil rights. Her many movie credits credits included A Raisin In The Sun (1961), Buck And The Preacher (1972),and American Gangster (2007) for which she received an Oscar nom for Best Supporting Actress. Ruby Dee died today 91.

SAG-AFTRA Mourns the Loss of SAG Life Achievement Award Recipient Ruby Dee in this statement:

SAG-AFTRA today released the following statement on the death of actor, activist and SAG Life Achievement recipient Ruby Dee:

SAG...

Award-winning actress Ruby Dee, best known for her parts in A Raisin in the Sun, American Gangster, and Do the Right Thing, died on Wednesday at the age of 91.

Dee might not be immediately recognizable to many contemporary film-goers, but both her biography and her filmography are impressive ones. She’s acknowledged as a major force in the generation of African-American actors who aspired to greater dramatic roles than those allowed to their forebears. Alongside the likes of Sidney Poitier, Dee appeared in significant film, stage, and television roles across decades, carving a niche for herself and opening the pathway for other African-American stars . She appeared opposite Poitier in the film version of A Raisin in the Sun, where they both reprised the roles they originated on stage. She later appeared opposite Jackie Robinson as his wife in The Jackie Robinson Story. She received an Oscar nomination for American Gangster,...

Celebrated actress Ruby Dee “took her final bow” and died of natural causes on Wednesday at her home in New Rochelle, N.Y., her daughter Nora told The Associated Press. Dee was 91.

In addition to being an actress on stage, screen, TV and radio, Dee — often alongside second husband Ossie Davis, whom she met in 1945 while (successfully) auditioning to star opposite him in the Broadway play Jeb — was an activist who fought for civil rights.

On TV, Dee’s resume included Peyton Place (as surgeon’s wife Alma Miles), Roots: The Next Generation, Stephen King’s The Stand and voice work for the Nick Jr.

We've lost another showbiz legend.

Ruby Dee photographed by Carl Van Vechten in 1962

Ruby Dee, the showbiz legend and awards magnet -- the list is seriously long and includes an Emmy & Grammy -- rose to fame on stage and screen in the 1940s. Her feature debut was That Man of Mine (1946) but her best remembered roles came later with The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), the screen adaptation of the oft-revived play A Raisin in the Sun (1961, which just netted yet more Tony Awards) opposite Sidney Poitier, and the first Off Broadway production of "Boesman and Lena" with James Earl Jones on stage in 1970.

Ruby Dee during her victory lap of events honoring her in the Aughts. This one is from 2008Younger audiences undoubtedly know her best from her screen return in the classic Do The Right Thing (1989, with her longtime husband Ossie Davie who passed away nine years ago), her political activism,...

Award-winning star of stage and screen and noted civil rights activist Ruby Dee died at her home in New Rochelle, New York on Wednesday. She was 91. She died of natural causes, according to her representative Michael Livingston, as reported by CNN and other news outlets.  Born in Cleveland in October 27, 1922 and raised in Harlem, Dee appeared in several Broadway plays in the '40s before her big screen breakthrough in 1950's "The Jackie Robinson Story," and she continued to appear in films, on TV and on stage in a career which lasted nearly 70 years.  Often appearing alongside her husband Ossie Davis, Dee drew acclaim in films such as 1957's "Edge of the City" and 1961's "A Raisin in the Sun" (both opposite Sidney Poitier) and played a small but pivotal role in Spike Lee's quintessential 1989 film "Do the Right Thing." She also co-starred in ABC's 1994 adaptation of Stephen King's "The Stand.

Oscar-nominated stage and screen actress Ruby Dee died Wednesday at her home in New York. She was 91. Dee made her film debut in 1946′s That Man of Mine, earned notice playing Rae Robinson in 1950′s The Jackie Robinson Story, and famously originated the role of suffering housewife Ruth Younger in the groundbreaking Broadway play A Raisin in the Sun opposite Sidney Poitier – a role she reprised in the 1961 film adaptation, earning the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress. Decades later Dee received her only Academy Award nomination for her brief turn in 2008′s American […]...

Ruby Dee has died at the age of 91.

Dee - an actress, writer and poet and civil rights activist - passed away on Wednesday (June 11) at her home in New Rochelle, New York, with family members at her side.

Ruby Dee dies aged 91 - tributes to the actress and campaigner

Born in Ohio and raised in New York, Dee's acting career began on Broadway.

She starred in movies such as The Jackie Robinson Story, A Raisin in the Sun, St Louis Blues, Do the Right Thing and American Gangster - for which she received an Oscar nomination.

Her TV credits include The Golden Girls, CSI, Peyton Place and Police Woman.

Dee won Grammy, Emmy, Obie, SAG and Drama Desk awards during a career which spanned eight decades, and was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Screen Actors Guild in the year 2000 along with her second husband Ossie Davis.

Ruby Dee, who co-starred in the 1961 film “A Raisin in the Sun” and earned an Oscar nomination for her work in 2007's “American Gangster,” died Wednesday night, her representative told TheWrap on Thursday. She was 91. Dee died in New Rochelle, N.Y. According to her representative, she died peacefully of age-related causes. Born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Dee was raised in Harlem, New York and made a number of appearances on Broadway before co-starring in the 1950 biopic “The Jackie Robinson Story.” See photos: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2014 Dee's television work included appearances on “Police Woman,” “The Golden Girls”...

Ruby Dee once said, “The kind of beauty I want most is the hard-to-get kind that comes from within — strength, courage, dignity.” The groundbreaking actress, who died Wednesday in New Rochelle, N.Y. at the age of 92, achieved that goal time and again throughout her career, which spanned over 60 years. Dee’s daughter, Nora Davis Day, confirmed Dee’s death to the Associated Press Thursday afternoon.

A pioneer of the civil rights movement, Dee (who was born in Cleveland, but grew up in Harlem) studied at the American Negro Theater in New York City, where she met her husband of 56 years,...

Ruby Dee, an acclaimed actor and civil rights activist whose versatile career spanned stage, radio, television and film, has died at age 91, according to her daughter. Nora Davis Day told the Associated Press on Thursday that her mother died at home in New Rochelle, New York, on Wednesday night. Dee, who frequently acted alongside her husband of 56 years, Ossie Davis, was surrounded by family and friends, she added. Dee's long career brought her an Oscar nomination at age 83 for best supporting actress for her role in the 2007 film American Gangster. She also won an Emmy and was nominated for several others.

Actress and pioneer of the civil rights movement Ruby Dee died on Wednesday at her home in New Rochelle, N.Y. She was 91.

Ruby Dee Dies

Dee began her lengthy career on the stage, working steadily on Broadway during the 40s. She appeared in 12 shows during the decade, including South Pacific (1943), Walk Hard (1944), Arsenic and Old Lace (1946) and John Loves Mary (1946).

The Jackie Robinson Story in 1950 was Dee’s breakout film, in which she played Rae Robinson. She went on to play Ruth Younger in the A Raisin in the Sun movie, and appear in a number of other films, including Edge of the City, Gone Are the Days , The Incident and Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. She received an Oscar nomination for her work in 2007’s American Gangster alongside Denzel Washington.

Dee was also a constant presence on the small screen, making appearances on a number of TV series.

Based on the Washington Post article “A Butler Well Served by This Election,” Lee Daniels’ The Butler is a historically expansive film that tells the life story of our country’s civil rights revolution through the eight presidents-long employment of a black butler in the White House. With the title butler played by Forest Whitaker, he is joined by a cast list that includes Oprah Winfrey playing his wife, David Oyelowo as his son, Robin Williams doing a Dwight D. Eisenhower impression, John Cusack waxing Richard Nixon, Jane Fonda embodying Nancy Reagan, and much more.

Title director Daniels gained notoriety for producing Monster’s Ball, which featured Halle Berry’s Oscar-winning performance. He received some of his own award kudos when he was nominated for “Best Director” for Precious Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, which also was nominated for “Best Picture,” and won actress Mo’Nique an Oscar for her performance.

Baseball Biopic Surpassing Expectations: Will Easily Top Domestic B.O. Chart This Weekend Written and directed by Academy Award winner Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential screenwriter), and starring Chadwick Boseman as pioneering black baseball player Jackie Robinson and veteran Harrison Ford as the Brooklyn Dodgers' team executive Branch Rickey, the biopic 42 was the no. 1 movie at Friday's domestic box office; it'll surely be the weekend's top film, too. As per early, rough estimates found on the web site Deadline.com, the period drama will be the only movie grossing more than $20 million at the domestic box office. (See below more information about Scary Movie 5 and last weekend's holdovers.) (Pictured above are an unrecognizable Ford as the Brooklyn Dodgers' team executive Branch Rickey and Boseman wearing Robinson's baseball uniform.) The 42 movie brought in an estiamted $8.5 million at 3,003 U.S. and Canada venues on Friday (April 12) and by Sunday evening may possibly...

"They say if you go to the movies long enough you will finally see yourself on the screen." –Roger Ebert, review of Joe Dante's 'Matinee'

Greetings from the apocalypse! As you may have heard this past week we lost the big enchilada of film criticism, Roger Ebert. Neither as fanged as Pauline Kael nor a Peter Travers-style studio kiss-ass, Ebert's prose was both literate and fiercely proletariat, with modern film journalism positively maggoty with his influence. Yours truly is honoring his sensei by quoting him throughout this week's column, with a heartfelt tribute at the end.

Friday, April 12

You Down With VOD?

Terrence Malick is one of the true unique voices of film. Not "modern film," just "film." Period. His elliptical, transcendent style is given perhaps its most undiluted outlet in the form of "To the Wonder," this week's much-coveted "Survivor of Thunderdome." Let's get...

In 1950, United Artists released The Jackie Robinson Story, a biopic about the iconic athlete’s rise from the Negro Leagues to the Major Leagues, where he made history as the first black man to break the baseball color barrier. The film starred a then-31-year-old Robinson, playing a watered-down version of himself in a watered-down reenactment of the prejudices and indignities he faced as a black man in a white-dominated sport. Now, over sixty years later, writer-director Brian Helgeland presents 42, a well-intentioned, visually striking, but just as watered-down biopic that unfortunately fails to go much deeper than its predecessor.Despite being over two hours long, the movie only...

By Tara Fowler

It's a film that's been 20 years in the making: a biopic on Jackie Robinson, the man to break the color barrier in baseball. Sure, there've been others, such as 1950's "The Jackie Robinson Story" (starring Robinson himself) or TNT's "The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson" or HBO's "Soul of the Game." And yet, there's never been one like this weekend's "42," starring Chadwick Boseman as Robinson and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, the Dodgers' general manager who signed him. I don't want to spoil it, so all I can say is, don't miss seeing "42." But to prepare you, here are five interesting facts you didn't know about the man himself:

1) Robinson's older brother Mack finished second behind Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics: James was not the only competitor to break the standing Olympic record for the 200-meter dash that year. Matthew Robinson, also known as Mack, broke that...

Before going to see the new Jackie Robinson biopic 42, which opens Friday, you can see an earlier depiction of the baseball hero... starring the man himself. The Jackie Robinson Story was released in 1950, just a few years after Robinson broke the color barrier for the Mlb. Not only had he achieved a great step for African-Americans in sports, but in cinema as well. It was still a pretty big deal for a major motion picture to have a black lead and be about a black hero. The only major Hollywood studios initially interested pushed for a white actor to be the primary star, as a character who teaches Robinson to play so well. Fortunately, that didn't happen and the production went low budget and was distributed by B-movie label Eagle-Lion Films.  And it wound up being...

Read More...

Jackie Robinson himself starred (along with Ruby Dee) in the 1950 film which will air this Sunday, April 14 at 10/9c. The film is on DVD as well. Details of the Bounce TV affair via press release from Bounce TV below: Bounce TV To Premiere "The Jackie Robinson Story" On April 14 To Celebrate Jackie Robinson Day And New Theatrical "42" Atlanta, April 9, 2013 -- On April 15 every year, players across Major League Baseball wear the number 42 to honor the late Jackie Robinson , the man who broke baseball's color barrier on that date in 1947. As part of that celebration, Bounce TV, the nation's first-ever broadcast television network for African Americans, will honor the...

Los Angeles -- There's a scene in "42" in which Jackie Robinson, the first black player in Major League Baseball, endures intolerably cruel racial slurs from the Philadelphia Phillies' manager.

It's early in the 1947 season. Each time the Brooklyn Dodgers' first baseman comes up to bat, manager Ben Chapman emerges from the dugout, stands on the field and taunts him with increasingly personal and vitriolic attacks. It's a visible struggle, but No. 42 maintains his composure before a crowd of thousands.

As a viewer, it's uncomfortable to watch – although as writer-director Brian Helgeland points out, "if anything, the language we have in that scene was cleaned up from what it was."

Such hatred may seem archaic, an ugly episode in our nation's history that we'd rather forget. But remembering Robinson's accomplishments is more important than ever, say people involved with "42" and baseball historians alike. And because he was such an inspiring cultural figure,...

Here’s to you, Jackie Robinson.

Google is celebrating what would have been the famed baseball player’s 94th birthday today with a new Doodle. The new sound-free Google Doodle, above, features Robinson, who broke Major League Baseball’s segregated barrier in 1947, swinging a bat and wearing his iconic ’42′ Brooklyn Dodgers uniform. Robinson passed away in 1972, and posthumously, his number 42 was retired by every team in the Mlb in 1997.

Robinson — while always a popular figure – may have a bit more pop-culture clout this year with the release of the film 42 in April. The biopic, co-starring Harrison Ford, will surprisingly be...

“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again.” – Field Of Dreams.

No truer words were ever spoken about America’s Pastime. Baseball began this past Spring with 30 teams vying for the chance to become World Champions and now it’s been decided. The San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers will play ball in the 2012 World Series. Before the final hurrah of nine innings, stats, bases and 3 strikes you’re out, Wamg has compiled a list of the Best Baseball Movies. Did we leave any in the dugout or are there some that should be sent to the showers?...

Brooklyn Goes Hard in the trailer for 42.

Baseball movies. There have been plenty of movies made about America's favorite pastime. And while it's too early to tell whether Clint Eastwood and company have created a new all-time baseball movie classic with Trouble With the Curve until after it opens next week, it looks like next year might have a new entry to that list with L.A. Confidential screenwriter and A Knight's Tale writer-director Brian Helgeland's Jackie Robinson biopic 42. Harrison Ford actually acting? Chadwick Boseman (The Express, The Kill Hole) looking picture perfect as Robinson? The movie's first trailer gives audiences only a taste for what's in store. A few seminal moments from the baseball great's life are revealed while Jay-z's "Brooklyn Go Hard" plays in the background. As postseason October rounds the corner, baseball fans have another reason to get excited for next April: 42.

all the trailer hits...

By Colin Greten

"Trouble with the Curve" is officially in theaters today, however its different premiere that has die-hard baseball fans excited. The trailer for the new Jackie Robinson movie, "42," is here, and with Jay-z's "Brooklyn We Go Hard" in the background the film already looks like a homerun.

"42" (Robinson's number) chronicles the story of Jackie Robinson, who became the first African American to play in the modern era of Major League Baseball in 1947, despite the fact that America itself was still very segregated. The trailer conveys the film's depth, detailing not only Robinson's fame and success but his struggle to get to that point and his impact on society as a whole.

This film will be the first about Robinson since "The Jackie Robinson Story" (1950), which starred the baseball legend playing himself and focused more on the positive aspects of his rise to prominence without getting too controversial in any way.

The story of Jackie Robinson is a a milestone in both baseball history and American history. The first African-American player to break through the colour barrier and play in the previously white-only Baseball League, Robinson faced much opposition but nonetheless blazed a path that thousands have taken since. His story has naturally found itself the subject of a few documentaries, most notably 1950′s The Jackie Robinson Story, which saw Robinson playing himself. 42, however, marks the first biopic of Robinson, with Chadwick Boseman taking on the role of the historic figure. Mystic River and Green Zone scribe Brian Helgeland takes on writing and directing duties, and co-starring with Boseman are Harrison Ford, Alan Tudyk, John C. McGinley, Christopher Meloni, Lucas Black, and Brett Cullen. A trailer for the movie has now been released, and can be seen below.

-...

One of the most instrumental figures in professional sports, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball when he signed with Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey in 1945, and started for the Dodgers in 1947 after a year in the minor leagues. Despite that monumental achievement only one feature film has been made about Robinson’s life, 1950′s The Jackie Robinson Story – starring Robinson as himself — until now.

Some 66 years after his first major league game, Robinson’s story will return to the big screen on April 12, 2013, with Harrison Ford as the tenacious Rickey and relative unknown Chadwick Boseman as Robinson.

If you’ve hunted around for movie bargains, you’ve probably seen some of Mill Creek Entertainment’s 50-Movie Packs on DVD. Apart from other great releases by Mill Creek, these packs are phenomenal boons to cinephiles looking to collect older titles.

There are three new packs available, and I want to not only let you in on a discount code, but I have one of the packs available for you to win.

I know a lot of people may be quick to overlook these packs, and not every movie included stands out as a major value, but there are some great titles in each of them, and fans of the genres will be pleasantly surprised by what they get out of the deal. I have to admit that there is something about seeing a 50-movie pack, especially when it doesn’t cost a couple of hundred dollars, or more,...

Already a baseball legend forever present in America's memory, Jackie Robinson, the barrier-breaking first black man to play Major League Baseball, will be immortalized on the silver screen.

Legendary Pictures officially announced the long-gestating Robinson bio film, with the company's CEO Thomas Tull producing and "La Confidential" writer Brian Helgeland behind the camera.

"My family and I are thrilled to have this important film on Jack produced by Legendary Pictures," Robinson's widow, Rachel Robinson, said in a statement (via The Hollywood Reporter). "We are proud of his lasting impact on our society, and we know that the legacy he left is inspiring and worth preserving."

While the role of the baseball legend has yet to be cast -- and won't be nearly as accurate as the 1950 film, "The Jackie Robinson Story," in which Robinson himself starred -- Robert Redford is already attached to star as Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers executive who signed Robinson.

Think Will Smith as Muhammad Ali. Think Denzel Washington as Malcolm X. That’s the burden (and the opportunity) that will be placed on the shoulders of the actor who eventually takes the field as Jackie Robinson. Legendary Pictures and former Disney exec Dick Cook announced today that they’ve made a deal with the Robinson estate and are finally positioned to bring the story of modern baseball’s first African-American player to the screen after years of attempted projects from Spike Lee, Ken Burns, and Robert Redford, who is not involved with this most recent incarnation.

Brian Helgeland is writing and directing,...

Most geeks know the number 42 as Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And if that's the case, Jackie Robinson is the Ultimate Question. Robinson was the first African American Major League Baseball player and is the only player to have his number, 42, universally retired throughout Major League Baseball (at least it will be when Mariano Rivera stops saving games for the Yankees) as well as his own day celebrated throughout the sport. He is one of the most important sports figures in history and his struggle and triumph is ripe for dramatization. Legendary Pictures, hot off another rousing financial success with The Hangover Part II, has announced that they're working with the family of the sports and civil rights icon on an official biopic based on Robinson's life that will be written and directed by Brian Helgeland.

In early April, we reported that Robert Redford was set to star in a biopic about Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey from writer-director Brian Hegleland. The film would center on Rickey's decision to integrate Major League Baseball by hiring Jackie Robinson. At the time, I voiced my disappointment that we would have to see Robinson's story through Rickey's perspective when—all due respect to Rickey's legacy—it was Robinson's story that was worth telling on its own. Now it looks like I've gotten my way. Legendary Pictures has sent out a press release annoucning that Helgeland will still write and direct, but it now looks like the movie is now about Robinson. Nowhere in the press release is Rickey mentioned. While Robinson's story was previously filmed as The Jackie Robinson Story, and that movie actually starred Robinson as himself. For the new biopic, Legendary will collaborate with Robinson’s widow,...

Filed under: Movie News

Legendary baseball star Jackie Robinson is getting the big-screen biopic treatment from 'A Knight's Tale' writer-director Brian Helgeland, who calls the athlete's story "powerful and inspiring."

Robinson had a major impact not just as a ballplayer but as a civil rights pioneer, breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947 when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was also the first black Most Valuable Player in 1949 and played in six World Series before retiring in 1956. His number 42 is the only one that has ever been retired across the entire sport.

The athlete starred as himself in 1950's 'The Jackie Robinson Story,' which followed him from baseball's Negro Leagues to the majors.

He was also portrayed by 'Men of a Certain Age' star Andre Braugher in the 1990 TV movie 'The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson,' about his early life in the military,...

Robert Redford is already in the baseball hall of fame for playing the lead in The Natural, which is a benchmark in baseball on film. That was a piece of fiction, but now Mr. Redford is poised to play one of the most important real figures in the history of the game: Branch Rickey, who broke the color barrier in baseball by hiring Jackie Robinson to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The La Times [1] says that Legendary Pictures is putting together a historical drama about Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey, and that this one will be more about the men than the game. Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River) is writing and will direct. Other screenwriters have worked on the story in the past, but Mr. Helgeland's draft will reportedly be a new take. The paper says the film will " look less at the specifics of Jackie Robinson breaking...

The Natural star, Robert Redford, finally has signed on to an untitled film by Legendary Pictures – the historical drama about the Brooklyn Dodgers executive Branch Rickey and one of the most famous real-life baseball players Jackie Robinson.

According to Redford, Mystic River and L.A. Confidential screenwriter Brian Helgeland will scribe and direct the untitled project that will be produced by Legendary Pictures’ Thomas Tull (Inception, The Dark Knight) who has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. They have not yet cast an actor for the Jackie Robinson’s role.

As you know, Robinson broke the baseball color barrier when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers. As the first African American to play in the major leagues he was involved in bringing an end to racial segregation in professional baseball.

The character played by Retford was a guy known by signing Jackie Robinson to be the first black player in the major leagues.

Filed under: Features, Cinematical

Before the 1950s, African-Americans did not appear in leading roles in American movies, with the odd exception like Jackie Robinson playing himself in the low-budget 'The Jackie Robinson Story' (1950). It took Sidney Poitier to become the cinema's Jackie Robinson, the color barrier-breaker. Poitier did his best to slog through a series of socially relevant movies, all designed to comment safely on relations between blacks and whites, including 'The Defiant Ones' (1958), 'In the Heat of the Night' (1967) and 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' (1967). And so Poitier's career has become more historically important than it is interesting.

All this really wasn't so long ago in the grand scheme of things, and when 25 year-old Denzel Washington broke into movies in 1981, things hadn't changed much. His striking demeanor quickly caused him to be cast in more of those noble, socially relevant-type movies,...

Filed under: Features, Cinematical

Before the 1950s, African-Americans did not appear in leading roles in American movies, with the odd exception like Jackie Robinson playing himself in the low-budget 'The Jackie Robinson Story' (1950). It took Sidney Poitier to become the cinema's Jackie Robinson, the color barrier-breaker. Poitier did his best to slog through a series of socially relevant movies, all designed to comment safely on relations between blacks and whites, including 'The Defiant Ones' (1958), 'In the Heat of the Night' (1967) and 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' (1967). And so Poitier's career has become more historically important than it is interesting.

All this really wasn't so long ago in the grand scheme of things, and when 25 year-old Denzel Washington broke into movies in 1981, things hadn't changed much. His striking demeanor quickly caused him to be cast in more of those noble, socially relevant-type movies,...

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) selected 10 favorite Baseball movies in a list that includes acclaimed blockbusters such as Bull Durham (1988) and Field of Dreams (1989), plus performances by Babe Ruth in Speedy (1928) and Jackie Robinson in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950). To coincide with the Major League Baseball playoffs - TCM along with sister network TBS.s coverage of the Postseason, bring Baseball to the smallscreen in a varied list including The Bad News Bears (1976), Bull Durham (1988) and Field of Dreams (1989); the biographical dramas The Pride of the Yankees (1943), The Stratton Story (1949) and The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), the latter with Jackie Robinson himself in the lead role; the Harold Lloyd comedy...

By Matt Singer

In honor of the start of the 2008 baseball season, Ifc.com will be paying tribute to the national pastime's long relationship with the movies every day this week by giving you everything you'd ever want to know about the odd little quasi-autobiographical ditties in which baseball players have played themselves. Peanuts and crackerjacks not included.

"The Jackie Robinson Story" (1950)

Directed by Alfred E. Green

As Himself: Jackie Robinson

Game Story: "This is the story of a boy and his dream, but more than that, it is the story of an American boy and a dream that is truly American," an off-screen narrator says as we watch a young African-American boy walk down a suburban street. The boy grows up to be Jackie Robinson and the film shares his struggle to reach...