A League of Their Own (1992)

Just perfect...

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Great Film overall

As Good As It Gets

Warning this review has spoilers!A wonderful film that revisits the days of women in professional baseball at the onset of World War II. Reluctantly, Dottie Hinson played by (Geena Davis) along with, sister Kit Keller played by (Lori Petty) are recruited and make the cut to join an All-American Girls Baseball League, alongside Mae Mordabito played by Madonna and Doris Murphy played by Rosie O'Donnell. Their team the Rockford Peaches is managed by former baseball great Jimmy Dugan played by (Tom Hanks). Throughout the film there are struggles with the complexity of human relationships and each character makes the most of their newly found roles as women baseball players during the war.Dottie struggles with the idea of attending a reunion of former players and her sister Kit, whom she hasn't seen in many years, at the first induction of women players in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The motif that is represented in this film is a bus. Dottie returns to the Doubleday Field and reunion on a newer Greyhound Bus. After Dottie arrives she began to reminisce of the time that she spent as a Rockford Peach. The more modern music soundtrack that is playing transitions to the music of an old Columbia Movie-Scope clip that gives headway to what the baseball league is going through during the war efforts, Black and white film is also used to show how this portion of the film clip is a flashback. During their time as a Peach several of the women's husbands were away at war, including Dottie's, and women began playing professional baseball to keep the league going so it could help support the war. Although, Dottie did not want to leave her home in Oregon and her traditional role of a wife, she chose to leave home so that her sister Kit could have a chance to play in the league. With the use of invisible sound, the train whistle breaks the silent thoughts of Dottie when she decides to take Kit up on pleads to try out for the league. Kit had to work through the problem of low self-esteem, because the league did not want to recruit her without her sister. Kit was self-conflicted because Dottie was haled as the "better" sister, taller, faster, prettier, smarter, bossier and a better baseball player. Whereas, in the film Death at a Funeral brothers Aaron, the older brother, played by (Chris Rock) and Ryan, the younger brother, played by Martin Lawrence had a similar struggle with their relationship but the roles were reversed.During the era of the war, in the year of 1943 it was very nontraditional for women to be ball players. They were subjected to heavy scrutiny because they were taking on roles of men, by playing baseball and traveling from town to town on buses. Several of the players endured receiving telegrams telling the fate of their husbands in the war, Doris met a pair of new love interests and let her old relationship go, all the while of living in transition traveling from town to town on a bus. However, Dottie's husband returned from the war and she decided to leave the team to return to Oregon with her husband, because living the life of a professional ball player was too hard.Enduring the change of the times, relationships, love, marriage and losses being a woman playing professional baseball in 1943 was a very liberating but hard thing to do. "It's supposed to be hard, if it wasn't hard everyone would do it, the hard is what makes it great!" stated Jimmy Dugan as the team leaves for the first Women's World Series (Abbott, 1992).

For a long time, "A League of Their Own" was one of those movies that I had never watched all the way through. Of course, I knew the iconic "No crying in baseball!" quote, but I had just never sat down and experienced the whole thing. What I found upon doing that is a movie that starts off quite slowly and seems a bit "low-rent", but then builds and builds to an emotional experience and ending.For a basic plot summary, "League" tells the story of of the Rockford Peaches, a team in the first ever Women's Professional Baseball League (organized during WWII with most of the men professionals overseas). It focuses primarily on the contentious relationship between sisters Dottie (Geena Davis) and Kit (Lori Petty), as well as featuring some great banter between characters played by Rosie O'Donnell and Madonna. Of course, overseeing it all is manager Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks), a boozy former pro charged with "leading" the Peaches.For the first 20-30 minutes or so, it is very easy to get bored by this movie. If not outright bored, then surely a bit wary of what looks to be a rather low-rent experience. It seems like something one would find in a made-for-TV movie. As soon as Hanks' Dugan is introduced, however, everything starts to come together. By the end of the film, I can also guaranteed you'll be moved emotionally...a far cry from what it looks like in the early goings.It helps that the acting is generally quite solid throughout. Madona and O'Donnell play the perfect roles for their types, while Davis easily has the acting chops to carry the whole thing. Hanks, as usual, is brilliant throughout, providing the funniest lines of the film (including that one iconic one, of course).I wish the film would have taken itself a bit more seriously, but I can't really blame it for being a product of its times. In today's culture, I think a bit more care would have been taken in telling these women's stories (instead of so much tongue-in-cheek, almost goofy setups), but that wasn't the case in 1992.Overall, "A League Of Their Own" is a solid movie, if not grand enough to be spectacular. It might be a little tough to get into because of the slow start out of the gate, but it truly does a remarkable job of building up steam and ending on a very emotional high. It's a movie that all baseball fans should see, for sure!

A League of Their Own (1992)It's funny, but I remember seeing this when it came out in a tiny theater with an oversized screen in upstate New York, and I really liked it. It seems big and fun, with some great characters, and I was just getting to know Tom Hanks. This time I still loved the fun parts, and with Madonna being silly and Rosie O'Donnell being a crack-up it was worth the look. But it's not an especially good movie. In fact, it's kind of a pastiche of ideas, even though there is a solid historical basis for the plot (the creation of a woman's professional baseball league to replace the men's league during WWII). At times it's trying to be a touching story of young women with real dreams of greatness. Other times it's making hay off the historical quirks, including the sexist madness of it all (without any actual comment on that sexism). Other aspects include a businessman's world mercenary intentions (with David Strathairn as the good guy in that mix). It's cobbled together without a lot of realism—in other words, it's all for entertainment.Which is fine. But then there is the Penny Marshall touch. This famous director/writer has a way of making things as simple and sugary as possible, as if we are all living in a Hallmark commercial. It undermines every single aspect listed above, including the touching part, which is her real goal. By the very end, with the inevitable look at the contemporary women (who are played by actresses, don't be fooled into thinking they are the real deal), it gets moving but in that pushy way that makes you kind of glad the film is finally ending.Too bad. There is more potential here than all that.There is a host of striving baseball movies that fall flat due to sentiment. I like baseball, but movies like "42" and "The Natural" (and even the recent Clint Eastwood "Trouble with the Curve") seem to acknowledge that the sport is something mired in a nostalgic past. Only in something like "Moneyball" does it morph into something bigger, and much better. So maybe it's me wanting baseball to be great but also realistic and vivid and intense. Not sticky with honey and amber glows.Yeah, an enjoyable movie on many little levels, including moments of nearly everyone's performances. But don't expect more.

Geena Davis helms a plucky, extroverted squad of girls embroiled in the inaugural season of a ladies' baseball league. It's got heart and charm to spare, but often veers too close to super motivational, Lifetime Network feel-good material for my taste. The talent is there, with strong support from Tom Hanks, Jon Lovitz and Madonna, though their roles frequently edge near the cartoonish. Some are able to pull that off - Lovitz has been making bread with such exaggerated characters for years - but others, like Rosie O'Donnell's stereotypical feisty Jersey girl, aren't as adept. Puffy, padded, and egregiously predictable, its message about the irresistible force of gender equality in the midst of WWII is nice, but often feels secondary to the manufactured lite drama in the locker room.