Produced obviously as a response to the assault by Mark McGwire (and Sammy Sosa) on baseball's single season home run record, this is a generally entertaining and well-acted story of the friendly battle waged between Yankee teammates Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris to beat Babe Ruth's home run record of 60, back in the year 1961.
Billy Crystal (who also produced) showed a surprisingly deft touch as a director, giving viewers a very realistic glimpse of life inside the pressure cooker of Yankee Stadium and major league baseball in general. Maris (Barry Pepper) comes across as an all around good guy who would really rather not be in the spotlight, who nevertheless has to deal with a hostile media and less than supportive home fans, neither of whom really want to see Ruth's record broken and who, if it is to be broken, would rather see Mantle ("the real Yankee") do it. Pepper was extremely good in this role. Thomas Jane put on an equally good performance as the wilder Mantle, who actually becomes Maris's roommate partway through the season, mainly to keep himself out of trouble.
This is an enjoyable enough baseball movie. Suspense is lacking, because we already know how the thing is going to turn out, but it's worth watching if only to see the dressing room tension building and the effect on the team as a whole. It's also an interesting look at how the media creates and destroys heroes. It's a little bit long (slightly over two hours) but very enjoyable.
7/10
Billy Crystal (who also produced) showed a surprisingly deft touch as a director, giving viewers a very realistic glimpse of life inside the pressure cooker of Yankee Stadium and major league baseball in general. Maris (Barry Pepper) comes across as an all around good guy who would really rather not be in the spotlight, who nevertheless has to deal with a hostile media and less than supportive home fans, neither of whom really want to see Ruth's record broken and who, if it is to be broken, would rather see Mantle ("the real Yankee") do it. Pepper was extremely good in this role. Thomas Jane put on an equally good performance as the wilder Mantle, who actually becomes Maris's roommate partway through the season, mainly to keep himself out of trouble.
This is an enjoyable enough baseball movie. Suspense is lacking, because we already know how the thing is going to turn out, but it's worth watching if only to see the dressing room tension building and the effect on the team as a whole. It's also an interesting look at how the media creates and destroys heroes. It's a little bit long (slightly over two hours) but very enjoyable.
7/10