Rating: PG13
Genre:
Historical Film
Release Date: 01/23/2001
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Sound: 1/2
Run Time: 94 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations
Distributor/Studio: HBO Home Video
This original
HBO production documents, in dramatic form, the rivalry between
Jackie Robinson,
Satchel Paige and
Josh Gibson to see who would be the first African-American to play Major League Baseball.
Paige (played by
Delroy Lindo) and
Gibson (
Mykelti Williamson) are more aggressive about seizing the opportunity that arose in the mid-'40s with the death of baseball commissioner
Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who had publicly avowed that the color line in baseball would never be broken.
Branch Rickey (
Edward Herrmann), the owner of the
Brooklyn Dodgers, is the first to seize that opportunity, sending his scouts to check out all the stars of the Negro Leagues. He narrows his choice down to
Robinson, in part because of
Paige's age (he was around 40) and
Gibson's health (he behaved erratically in public, though it rarely affected his game).
Rickey was looking for a player with the talent to compete in the big leagues and the character not to allow the inevitable harassment that would come his way to get to him.
Robinson was signed in October 1945 and made his big-league debut in April 1947.
Paige made it to the big leagues in 1948;
Gibson died at the age of 36 in 1947 of a brain tumor.
~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
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