For me, 42 is the answer to the universe.  But for baseball fans, 42 is the answer to their personal universe, one where amazing athletes run around a grassy field and whack white balls with sticks of wood.  It references a man who took a giant leap into Major League Baseball and changed the way the game was played.  The man is Jackie Robinson, and besides being a poster boy for positive change, he happened to be a damn fine ballplayer too.  42 the movie is the story of Jackie Robinson’s rise from the Negro leagues into the Major Leagues.  It’s a fitting tribute that’s entertaining, and even when it seems a bit too spitshined, it manages to shine a little light onto the real man that has become so legendary that his jersey number alone is enough.

Not like it was easy.  After World War II, the start of what we all now know as Modern American Life came on at full throttle.  And it was all about mom, apple pie and baseball.  But our national pastime had a shameful side; the “color line” that kept minority players out of Major League Baseball (and the Minor League affiliates).  It’s incredible to me in this day and age that so many people didn’t seem to care about the whole “separate but equal” way of life.  Well, at least not if you were white, it seemed.  One white guy did care though; Dodgers exec  Branch Rickey (played with teriffic “you kids get off my lawn!” orneriness by Harrison Ford).  That sounds like a completely made up name, but back then you apparently needed a cool name to work in baseball (see: Kenesaw Mountain Landis,  Happy Chandler, and — I’m not making this up y’all — Urban Shocker.)

Rickey decided that in order to move baseball forward (and get a tasty bit of the African American dollars spent on leisure activities) he needed to hire an African American player.  After doing a bit of scouting, he decided upon Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman).  “I’m Methodist.  He’s Methodist.  God’s Methodist.”  Hey, sounds good to me too Rickey.  Robinson has some understandable hesitation at first, but decides to take the leap into MLB by playing for the Dodgers’ minor league team the Montreal Royals.  Before too long he was upped to the Dodgers.  Yaaay!  But not everyone loved the idea.  Robinson came up against all sorts of opposition, from fans, other teams and even his own teammates.  And 42 chronicles the struggles Robinson went through to change opinions and play his game.

 

Be it Hollywood glamor or recreation of actual games, 42 gives good baseball.  If only today’s games were this exciting!  Director/screenwriter Brian Hegeland (Mystic River, A Knights Tale) is able to keep things fresh and entertaining.  Does every scene hit a home run?  No.  But there’s more good than so-so here, and plenty of cheer-worthy moments.  The man with the worst job of it is the always entertaining Alan Tudyk (Suburgatory, Firefly) as racist asshole Ben Chapman.  Chapman, the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1947, his ability to scream racist obscenities at Robinson was truly horrific.  Tudyk slings the same type of insults, and though he found it difficult, his performance is impressive.

Boseman as Robinson gives good character as well, though l couldn’t help but wonder how much more I could have learned about Robinson the man if Hegeland had chosen to open up the film to Robinson’s real life instead of focusing almost entirely on Robinson’s profession.  As Robinson’s wife Rachel, Nicole Beharie is the picture of the understanding spouse, but she (along with everyone else) is strictly in the back seat here.  The only other character that gets screen time enough to really make an impression is Ford; as Rickey he’s a cigar chomping bigger-than-life executive that will stop at nothing to get Robinson into his League.  Rickey also plays the part of office father to Robinson, and the scene where Rickey tries to console Robinson after the latter has taken a particularly hideous level of abuse is poignant.

With April 15th now known as Jackie Robinson Day in MLB, it’s the perfect time to catch 42 and see the reason why this number means so much to so many.  And after this film it might just mean more to you too.