A few years ago during Black History Month, I reviewed The Jackie Robinson Story which starred Robinson. I mentioned he wasn't much of an actor but his skill in baseball was the reason he was used, anyway, so that made it worth seeing. So now we have another depiction of his major league career as portrayed by Chadwick Boseman and, man, he gets to portray his anger after getting some really appalling comments from a manager of the Pirates team (Alan Tudyk, in a really brave performance). But we also see Robinson get some support from his wife, Rachel (Nicole Beharie),a fellow African-American reporting on him named Wendell Smith (Andre Holland),and especially, Brooklyn Dodgers head Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford). In fact, the most touching part was when Rickey mentions something in his past that made him pick someone like Jackie for his team. So for every awful depiction of racism, there's a just as inspirational depiction of strength among his team of overcoming those odds. So on that note, I highly recommend 42.

Up until this film, probably the best film about Jackie Robinson was the one in which the star played himself. This wasn't a bad film, though it seemed very over-idealized. Finally, after all these years, Hollywood has finally put a nice budget into making a lovely tribute to this baseball great. However, and this isn't a complaint, it is NOT a film about the entire life of Robinson--just a tiny portion. Of course, it's clearly the most important part--his career in the minor leagues and his first year in major league baseball. It does not discuss how his career was unfortunately cut short by diabetes--as was his life. But the movie makers clearly couldn't do EVERYTHING--and they were wise to narrow the focus. But as for me, I'd like to see a sequel--and what happened to Robinson AFTER the 1947 season. In fact, when the film ends, you see that Dodgers win the National League pennant--but you don't learn that they lost the World Series to the Yankees (that WOULD have been anticlimactic).

So what did I think of the film? Well, I thought it was terrific--and I really appreciated how the film tried to get the history correct (with a few tiny exceptions). Ben Chapman (the manager of the Phillies) really was a racist jerk. Robinson did, for a time, live in Sanford, Florida (that's a bit ironic). And, the film tried very hard to get the look right. I also appreciated seeing Harrison Ford try to stretch his range--uglying himself up and changing his voice so much to try to adequately portray Branch Rickey. All in all, a very, very inspiring and touching film--one even non-baseball players could love.

I was born on September 26, 1947 and at that time when I made my earthly debut in Brooklyn, the Dodgers had clinched the National League pennant that year. Just about the time that Branch Rickey's great experiment was concluded and America's national pastime was integrated. I grew up with the Brooklyn Dodgers and well remember how in 1958 they and the New York Giants moved to the West Coast. Jackie Robinson had retired at the end of the 1956 season so forever he was a Brooklyn Dodger.

The story behind 42 needs to be told to a new generation to appreciate what we in Brooklyn lived during those years. Jackie, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, Duke Snider, Carl Furillo, Pee Wee Reese, these were the best and some of the best players at their positions during their careers. Because Branch Rickey stepped up to the plate so to speak and led in the integration of baseball, the Brooklyn Dodgers dominated their league for the ten years after the breakthrough year of 1947. And the other teams that won pennants in those years the Braves and Giants were those that closely followed the Dodgers in signing that untapped pool of talent that were in the Negro Leagues.

Many years ago Denzel Washington played Jackie Robinson in a made for television film about his bad experiences in the US Army before all the action in this film took place. Denzel would have been perfect for this film had he been younger. However the relatively unknown Chadwick Boseman is both suggestive of Denzel Washington and truly steps into the character of Jackie Robinson who bore a lot more of a burden than the normal angst of a team sport athlete trying to see if he has the right stuff to play at the highest level of his chosen sport.

One thing I was glad to see in 42 was the emphasis on Rachel Robinson's character and her support of her husband. When Branch Rickey was looking for the right black athlete to be the great experiment he placed a great emphasis on character. A couple guys did not get to be the first because they led some playboy lives. Rickey worried and rightly so that those opposed to what he was doing wouldn't hesitate to dig up any kind of personal dirt on whomever he chose. Robinson was a deeply religious man and the story he and the former Rachel Isum is one of the great love stories of the last century. Nicole Beharie plays Rachel and by all accounts she also captured the character of the woman who is still alive and has made sure that his memory and achievements are not forgotten. 42 earns its highest commendation from me for making sure that Rachel is not relegated to the sidelines.

You will look in vain for a trace of Indiana Jones in Harrison Ford's portrayal of Branch Rickey. With a little bit of makeup Ford also becomes the character whom some called the Mahatma of baseball after another guy who was freeing his people. Rickey whose other major achievement in the sport was developing the farm system was as you see Ford on the screen. A man who was a Methodist lay minister he and Robinson bonded over the religious faith they shared. Rickey left Brooklyn in 1950 after a front office power play forced him out and gave control of the Dodgers to Walter O'Malley who was the one who moved them to Los Angeles after the 1957 season. Rickey signed on with Pittsburgh as their general manager and integrated a rather lack luster outfit. His work would start to bear fruit in the late Fifties after he had left the Pirates.

42, Robinson's uniform number was retired in all of baseball some years ago in tribute from one generation to a pioneer who made it possible for people like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Ernie Banks to enjoy the star careers they had in my childhood. We who grew up in Brooklyn and idolized the Dodgers are also custodians of a legacy as well. 42 is a film that should be seen and seen again by those who want to know what the post World War II civil rights struggle was all about.

And remember, it all happened in Brooklyn.