42 Information

42 is a 2013 American biographical sports film written and directed by Brian Helgeland about the life of baseball player Jackie Robinson, who wore jersey number 42. The film stars Chadwick Boseman as Robinson, and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey. Christopher Meloni, John C. McGinley, Lucas Black, and Nicole Beharie appear in supporting roles. 42 was released in North America on April 12, 2013.

Plot

The film tells the story of Jackie Robinson and, under the guidance of team executive Branch Rickey, Robinson's signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers to become the first African-American player to break the baseball color barrier. The story focuses mostly on the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers season and somewhat on Robinson's 1946 season with the Montreal Royals.

In 1945, Jackie Robinson and his team, the Kansas City Monarchs, stop by a gas station. When the attendant refuses Robinson entry to the washroom, Robinson says they will find another station at which to fill up the team bus, and the attendant relents. As Robinson comes out, a scout for the Dodgers approaches him and sends him to Brooklyn. He is offered a $600/month contract and $3,500 signing bonus, which Robinson accepts after being warned he must control his temper if he wants to play. Robinson proposes to his girlfriend, Rachel, by phone and she accepts.

During Dodgers spring training, Robinson makes it to the franchise farm team in Montreal. After a great season there and spring training in Panama, he advances to the Dodgers. Most of the team soon signs a petition stating they refuse to play with Robinson, but manager Leo Durocher insists Robinson will play. Durocher is then suspended (for other reasons), leaving the Dodgers without a manager.

In a game against the Philadelphia Phillies, manager Ben Chapman taunts Robinson, causing him to go back to the dugout and smash his bat to vent his anger. With encouragement from Rickey, Robinson then returns to the field and hits a single, steals second and third base, and scores the winning run. When Chapman's behavior toward Robinson generates bad press for the team, the Phillies' owner requires him to pose with Robinson for newspapers and magazine photos. Later, Robinson's teammate, Pee Wee Reese, comes to understand the pressure Robinson is facing, and makes a public show of solidarity, standing with his arm around Robinson's shoulders before a hostile crowd in Cincinnati.

Robinson's home run against Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Fritz Ostermueller, who had earlier hit him in the head, helps clinch the National League pennant for the Dodgers, sending them to the World Series, which they would lose in seven games to the New York Yankees. A concluding postscript describes how Rickey, Robinson, and many of his teammates went on to have distinguished careers, including inductions into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The notes also describe the entrance of other African Americans into the Major Leagues, beginning with the season after Robinson's debut.

Cast

• Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson
• Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey
• Andre Holland as Wendell Smith
• Christopher Meloni as Leo Durocher
• John C. McGinley as Red Barber
• Lucas Black as Pee Wee Reese
• Alan Tudyk as Ben Chapman
• Nicole Beharie as Rachel Isum Robinson
• C. J. Nitkowski as Dutch Leonard
• Brett Cullen as Clay Hopper
• Ryan Merriman as Dixie Walker
• T. R. Knight as Harold Parrott
• Hamish Linklater as Ralph Branca
• Brad Beyer as Kirby Higbe
• Jesse Luken as Eddie Stanky
• Max Gail as Burt Shotton
• Peter MacKenzie as Happy Chandler
• Linc Hand as Fritz Ostermueller

Former minor league player Jasha Balcom served as a stuntman for Boseman in some of the film's scenes.

Production

The film 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.

Most of the interior stadium shots were filmed at Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Utilizing old photographs and stadium blueprints, Ebbets Field, Shibe Park, Crosley Field, and Forbes Field were recreated for the film using digital imagery.

Reception

42 has received positive reviews from critics, as it currently holds a 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 141 reviews. The consensus states: "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." Richard Roeper stated, "This is a competent but mostly unexceptional film about a most extraordinary man." Lisa Kennedy, of the Denver Post, lauded the film, saying "This story inspires and entertains with a vital chapter in this nation's history." Conversely, Peter Rainer, of The Christian Science Monitor, criticized the film as "TV-movie-of-the-week dull and Robinson's ordeal is hammered home to the exclusion of virtually everything else in his life."

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."

The movie achieved the rare "A+" CinemaScore rating and garnered a 63 on Metacritic, indicating "generally positive" reception.

Box office

The film earned an estimated $27.3 million for its opening weekend, the best premiere for a baseball-themed film in Hollywood history.

Home media

42 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 16, 2013.

Historical inaccuracies

The scene of Robinson breaking his bat in the dugout tunnel is not founded 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."

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.

Wendell Smith is said to have been the first black member of the Baseball Writers Association of America; Sam Lacy was the first, having joined in 1948. Smith joined in 1956.

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 was a routine brushback pitch without racist intent as Robinson was known to crowd the plate. There was no fight on the mound afterwards. 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, did not clinch the victory (it made the score 1"0, and Dodgers eventually won 4"2), and did not clinch the pennant; the Dodgers clinched at least a tie for the pennant on that day before clinching the pennant the next day.

While Dodger manager Leo Durocher did have an affair with actress Laraine Day, the official reason for his suspension by commissioner Happy Chandler during Robinsons rookie year was allegations of gambling and not over his relationship with Day.