This movie was the first offered to me in my Netflix queue, as apparently asteriks come before everything else alphabetically, but the timing worked out well as I recently finished reading October 1964 by David Halberstam. That book is about the 1964 World Series between the Yankees and the Cardinals, but also covers the subject of this HBO movie, the home run race between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.
Media, fans, and to a certain extent management all hoped Mantle would be the one to break Babe Ruth's single season home run record; while Mantle's early relationship with the press was contentious, he quickly adapted to life under the spotlight of the New York media and the relationship became very congenial. Maris, on the other hand, was very blunt and uninterested in schmoozing with the press, earning a reputation as being surly and unfriendly. As a Midwesterner who never adjusted to city life in New York, the quiet and reserved Maris disliked media interviews and social situations, and in a time when the press was essentially the only gateway to the players for the casual fan, led to public opinion swinging wildly in Mantle's favor in the home run race, even to the point where Maris and his family received death threats. The need of the press to have a "hero", someone with "great baseball stature" breaking the record seems insane in a game that so often prides itself on being the sport of an everyman, where people from all different backgrounds can come and experience success.
This is the scene for the Billy Crystal-directed movie, which follows Maris and Mantle from opening day of 1961 through the end of the season. The movie does an excellent job of illustrating the power of the press at the time, a time when objective reporting was not necessarily considered industry standard. The pressure on the players is highlighted, especially Maris, who begins to collapse mentally as the season wears on (although the scene of him sitting alone in his room crying with newspapers with negative articles strewn at his feet while a blues song plays maybe tips the scale at melodramatic. THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL). The biggest issue is probably when Crystal (a Yankees fan) tries to turn the relationship between the two into a Three's Company style bromance (Maris and Mantle live with another player in the movie and there's plenty of scenes of "domestic bliss"). While Maris and Mantle were friends in real life, the friendship was, in Halberstam's words, "decidedly cool" and marked by a competitiveness not seen in the movie.
Another more relavant issue the movie does highlight comes in a scene where the writers and Commissioner Ford Frick debate whether the integrity of Ruth's record will be compromised as Maris and Mantle play a 162 game season, 8 games longer than when Ruth set the record. It's an interesting parallel with today's debate on steroids and broken records involving players known to have used them.
Sports movies obviously have a certain quotient of dramatic scenes; the touchdown hanging in the air, the batter coming to the plate, the soccer player lining up for the penalty kick. These usually happen in slow motion with dramatic music playing behind the action, and it's often hard to keep from going overboard in these moments. This movie occasionally gets to an eye-rolling level of drama, but for the most part tends to keep itself in check. Also, while some elements of the story are obviously played up for dramatic effect, it's nice to watch players breaking records who aren't hulking giants devoid of any semblance of personality like some of today's players. Plus, who doesn't love 1960's costuming and lines like "This could really turn into a cannoli of a season!" As Maris says, "the difference between hitting a home run and popping out is an eighth of an inch." This movie isn't quite a home run, and if you want a more accurate version of the story of the race, a book like Halberstam's or a Mantle or Maris biography is probably the way to go (and I highly recommend one; the stories of the championship Yankees of the 50's and 60's are great reading), but for a more casual fan, the movie is a fun two hours.
Final Score: Triple
*Note: Movies will be rated based on a baseball scoring system. From worst to best: Strikeout, Single, Double, Triple, Home Run, Grand Slam
No comments:
Post a Comment