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2013 American biographical sports film From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
42 is a 2013 American biographical sports film produced by Howard Baldwin and distributed by Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. It was written and directed by Brian Helgeland. 42 is based on baseball player Jackie Robinson, the first black athlete to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) during the modern era. The title of the film is a reference to Robinson's jersey number,[4] which was universally retired across all MLB teams in 1997.[5] The ensemble cast includes Chadwick Boseman as Robinson, alongside Harrison Ford, Nicole Beharie, Christopher Meloni, André Holland, Lucas Black, Hamish Linklater, and Ryan Merriman in supporting roles.[6]
| 42 | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Brian Helgeland |
| Written by | Brian Helgeland |
| Produced by | Thomas Tull |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Don Burgess |
| Edited by | |
| Music by | Mark Isham |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 128 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $31–40 million[2][3] |
| Box office | $97.5 million[3] |
Spike Lee originally planned to write and direct a Jackie Robinson biopic in 1995, with the project set up at Turner Pictures under his 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. The studio aimed for a 1997 release to mark the 50th anniversary of Robinson breaking the color barrier, with Denzel Washington considered for the lead role. However, creative differences led to the project's collapse in 1996. In 1997, Lee signed a first-look deal with Columbia Pictures, which had hopes of expanding his audience, but the Jackie Robinson biopic was not revived. In 2004, Robert Redford took up the mantle as producer for a new biopic, planning to star as Branch Rickey. In 2011, Legendary Pictures announced a new Jackie Robinson film, with Brian Helgeland set to write and direct. The project involved input from Robinson's widow, Rachel Robinson. Principal photography took place in Macon, Georgia and Atlanta Film Studios Paulding County in Hiram as well as in Alabama and Chattanooga, Tennessee.[7]
42 was theatrically released in North America on April 12, 2013.[8] The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of Boseman and Ford, and it grossed $97.5 million on a production budget of $31–40 million.
In the years following World War II, baseball grew in prominence, capturing the hearts of Americans as the national pastime. Yet, for African Americans, the pervasive specter of racism and the enforcement of Jim Crow laws remained barriers to equality. At this time, the Major Leagues were exclusively white, with 400 players on the roster.
In 1945, Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey meets with sportswriter Wendell Smith and scout Clyde Sukeforth regarding wanting to recruit a black baseball player for his team. Reviewing potential candidates, Wendell suggests Jackie Robinson of the Negro league's Kansas City Monarchs. Sukeforth approaches Robinson, leading to a meeting with Rickey. Rickey outlines the challenges Robinson would face while breaking the color line and emphasizes the need for restraint in responding to provocations. Robinson agrees to join the Dodgers under these terms. Robinson proposes to his girlfriend, Rachel, and she accepts. In Sanford, Florida, Robinson prepares for spring training with the Montreal Royals, the AAA affiliate of the Brooklyn farm system. After performing well his first season, he advances to the Dodgers and is trained as a first baseman in Panama City. Some Dodgers players draft a petition refusing to play with Robinson, but manager Leo Durocher rebuffs them. Word of the petition gets out to Rickey, who confides in Durocher. During a car ride, Wendell explains to a silent Robinson that he sits behind third base with his typewriter on his knees because black reporters are not allowed in the press box.
Durocher is suspended by Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler over his extramarital affair. Robinson signs with the team and plays on opening day; Burt Shotton later takes over as manager. Sometime later, Robinson and Rachel have a baby boy. During a game, Robinson faces relentless harassment, particularly from Philadelphia Phillies manager Ben Chapman, who taunts Robinson with racial epithets. In the dugout, Robinson angrily strikes his bat against the wall, overcome with emotion. Rickey steps in, telling him that Chapman expects him to stand up for himself. Robinson returns to the field, still facing Chapman's taunts, but his teammate Eddie Stanky steps in to defend him. Robinson scores the winning run. The next day, the Dodgers are disallowed access to a Philadelphia hotel they had reserved, leading to a confrontation between a player and Robinson. When Chapman's behavior toward Robinson generates negative press for the team, Phillies' general manager Herb Pennock requires Chapman to pose with Robinson for magazine photos. Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese, after seeing several negative letters towards Robinson, sympathizes with Robinson. At a game in Cincinnati, Pee Wee makes a public show of solidarity, standing with his arm around Robinson's shoulders before a hostile crowd at Crosley Field, silencing them.
In a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Enos Slaughter spikes Robinson on the back of the leg with his cleats. The Dodgers want revenge, but Robinson calms them and insists they focus on winning the game. Robinson's home run against Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Fritz Ostermueller, who had earlier hit him in the head, helps the Dodgers clinch the National League pennant, sending them to the 1947 World Series. As word spreads of the Dodgers, the black community in Sanford erupts in cheers. Wendell documents Robinson's journey and achievements as Robinson confidently sprints toward home plate. An epilogue highlights Robinson's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame alongside Rickey and Reese; Wendell Smith becoming the first African American member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America; and the widespread recognition of Robinson's impact, commemorated annually by all players wearing his number, 42, which remains retired across baseball. One boy inspired by Robinson, Ed Charles, later played for the 1969 World Series champion "Miracle Mets".
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Spike Lee planned to write and direct Jackie Robinson based on the life of Robinson and had it set up at Turner Pictures under his 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks in 1995. The studio wanted to release it in 1997 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Robinson's breaking of the color barrier, and courted Denzel Washington to star,[9] but the project fell apart in 1996 over creative differences. In March 1997, Lee found favor with Columbia Pictures, who signed him to a three-year first-look deal. Columbia President Amy Pascal reflected that it would bring "enormous potential for Spike to reach audiences that are not traditionally associated with Spike Lee movies."[10] The project eventually fell apart, but in 2004 Robert Redford set up a separate biopic as producer with Deep River Productions, as well as his own production company, Wildwood Productions. Redford also intended to co-star as Branch Rickey,[11] and Howard Baldwin joined as producer the following year.[12] In June 2011, it was announced that Legendary Pictures would develop and produce a Jackie Robinson biopic with Brian Helgeland on board to write and direct, under a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Legendary collaborated with Robinson's widow, Rachel Robinson, to ensure the authenticity of her husband's story. She had previously been involved with Redford's project.[13]
42 was filmed primarily in Macon, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; and Chattanooga, Tennessee. Some interior scenes were shot at Atlanta Film Studios Paulding County in Hiram, Georgia.[14]
Most of the interior stadium shots were filmed in Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, while some were shot at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, which also served as the set for game-action scenes at Forbes Field, Roosevelt Stadium, and Shibe Park, as well as itself in the film's opening. Using old photographs and stadium blueprints, Ebbets Field, Shibe Park, The Polo Grounds, Crosley Field, Sportsman’s Park, and Forbes Field were recreated for the film using digital imagery.[15] Boseman's deep character study enabled him to note when his stunt double was playing Robinson incorrectly, and he insisted on doing his own stunts,[16][17] but former minor league player Jasha Balcom was Boseman's stunt double for some scenes.[18]
42 grossed $95 million in the United States and $2.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $97.5 million, against a production budget of $40 million.[3][19]
The film earned $27.3 million for its opening weekend, the best-ever debut for a baseball-themed film.[20] It then made $17.7 million and $10.7 million on its second and third weekends, finishing second and third, respectively.[21]
42 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 16, 2013. This release sold 1.3 million units ($18 million), becoming the 33rd highest-grossing DVD of 2013 in the United States.[22]
After Boseman's death in August 2020, several theater chains, including AMC and Regal, re-released the film in September.[23]
Boseman and Ford received nominations for various awards, including Best Supporting Actor (Harrison Ford),[24][25] Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture (Ford),[26] and Most Promising Performer (Chadwick Boseman).[27]
On Rotten Tomatoes, 42 holds an approval rating of 81% based on 197 reviews, with an average rating of 6.90/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "42 is an earnest, inspirational, and respectfully told biography of an influential American sports icon, though it might be a little too safe and old-fashioned for some."[28] On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[29] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+" grade.[30][31][20]
Richard Roeper wrote, "This is a competent but mostly unexceptional film about a most extraordinary man."[32] Lisa Kennedy, of the Denver Post, lauded the film, saying "This story inspires and entertains with a vital chapter in this nation's history."[33][34] Conversely, Peter Rainer, of The Christian Science Monitor, criticized the film as "TV-movie-of-the-week dull.... Robinson's ordeal is hammered home to the exclusion of virtually everything else in his life."[35]
The film's actors were generally praised, with Owen Gleiberman saying of Ford, "He gives an ingeniously stylized cartoon performance, his eyes atwinkle, his mouth a rubbery grin, his voice all wily Southern music, though with that growl of Fordian anger just beneath it".[36] The Hollywood Reporter commented that Boseman "has the necessary appeal, proves convincing as an athlete and is expressive in spite of the fact that the man he's playing must mostly keep his true feelings bottled up."[37]
Jackie Robinson's widow, Rachel Robinson, was involved in the production of the film and has praised the end result, saying, "It was important to me because I wanted it to be an authentic piece. I wanted to get it right. I didn't want them to make him an angry black man or some stereotype, so it was important for me to be in there. ... I love the movie. I'm pleased with it. It's authentic and it's also very powerful."[38]
In 2020, Boseman told Essence Magazine that he spoke with Rachel Robinson while preparing for the role. “When you’re doing a character, you want to know the full landscape. You want to know them spiritually, mentally and physically. So I asked her: were there any physical things that he did that stood out. We sat down for hours and talked about his personality and what his tendencies were,” he recalled of their meeting. “The way he stood, and the way he held his hands in the backfield…all of those physical things I tried to do.”[39]
In a 2023 interview with James Hibberd of The Hollywood Reporter, Ford said Branch Rickey is one of his roles he is most proud of.[40]
Robinson and Rachel Isum became engaged in 1943, while he was still in the United States Army and before he began his professional baseball career, unlike in the film, where he proposes after signing the contract with the Dodgers.[41]
The Dodgers 1947 spring training was in Havana, Cuba, not in Panama, as shown in the film.[42]
The suspension of Leo Durocher was not directly as a result of his affair with Laraine Day, but largely because of his association with "known gamblers."[43]
The scene of Robinson breaking his bat in the dugout tunnel is not based in fact. Both Rachel Robinson and Ralph Branca, film consultant and Dodger pitcher in the dugout that day, say it did not happen. Director Helgeland concurs, explaining that his justification for including the scene was that he felt "there was no way Robinson could have withstood all that abuse without cracking at least once, even if it was in private."[44]
Red Barber would not have broadcast Dodger away games from the opposing team's ballpark in Philadelphia and Cincinnati, as shown in the film. Radio broadcasts of away games in this era were recreated back at the studio from a pitch-by-pitch summary transmitted over telegraph wire from the stadium where the game was being played.[45][46]
In the film, Wendell Smith is said to have been the first black member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). In reality, Sam Lacy was the first, having joined in 1948.[47]
Pirates pitcher Fritz Ostermueller threw left-handed, not right-handed as in the film. His first-inning pitch hit Robinson on the left wrist, not his head, and he claimed it was a routine brushback pitch without racist intent. There was no fight on the mound afterwards.[48] The climactic scene in which Robinson hit a home run to clinch the National League pennant for the Dodgers came in the top of the fourth inning of the game and did not secure the victory or the pennant (it made the score 1–0, and the Dodgers eventually won 4–2). The Dodgers achieved a tie for the pennant on that day, before winning the pennant the next day.[49]
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