Cobb (1994)

A reporter hired to write the 'official' biography of Ty Cobb discovers just how dark the baseball legend's real story is.

Director:

Ron Shelton

Writers:

Al Stump (article), Al Stump (book)

Stars:

Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Wuhl, Lolita Davidovich

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Ty Cobb
Robert Wuhl	...	Al Stump
Lolita Davidovich	...	Ramona
Ned Bellamy	...	Ray
Scott Burkholder	...	Jimmy
Allan Malamud	...	Mud
Bill Caplan	...	Bill
Jeff Fellenzer	...	Sportswriter
Doug Krikorian	...	Sportswriter
Gavin Smith	...	Sportsman's Lounge Bartender
Lou Myers	...	Willie
William Utay	...	Jameson
J. Kenneth Campbell	...	William Herschel Cobb
Rhoda Griffis	...	Amanda Chitwood Cobb
Tyler Logan Cobb	...	Young Ty

Storyline

Al Stump is a famous sports-writer chosen by Ty Cobb to co-write his official, authorized 'autobiography' before his death. Cobb, widely feared and despised, feels misunderstood and wants to set the record straight about 'the greatest ball-player ever,' in his words. However, when Stump spends time with Cobb, interviewing him and beginning to write, he realizes that the general public opinion is largely correct. In Stump's presence, Cobb is angry, violent, racist, misogynistic, and incorrigibly abusive to everyone around him. Torn between printing the truth by plumbing the depths of Cobb's dark soul and grim childhood, and succumbing to Cobb's pressure for a whitewash of his character and a simple baseball tale of his greatness, Stump writes two different books. One book is for Cobb, the other for the public.

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Plot Keywords:

ghost writer | male full frontal nudity | baseball movie | based on article | based on true story | 

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Taglines:

Everyone hated this baseball legend. And he loved it.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language, and for scenes of nudity and violent behavior

Did You Know?

Trivia

Much of how Cobb was portrayed in this film has now been widely recognized as inaccurate. Al Stump's books and magazine articles on Cobb have now been widely discredited, and serious baseball historians give Stump's account of the later years of Cobb's life very little credence. Charles Leerhsen's biography, "Ty Cobb, A Terrible Beauty," sets the record straight. Cobb did NOT attempt to have sex with the cocktail waitress in Las Vegas and then attempt to pay her off (Stump fabricated this), and many other alleged darker aspects of Cobb's life are just plain not true. Several serious baseball historians have labeled this film highly inaccurate.

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Goofs

Cobb is seen being treated by a black nurse at Emory University Hospital shortly before his death. In 1961, Georgia hospitals and their staff were still strictly segregated.

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Quotes

Ty Cobb: The South may not rise again young man, but my dick will.

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Crazy Credits

The latter half of the credits has a voiceover by Jones, narrating as Cobb, regarding the finer points of batting and other aspects of baseball, and how he regretted not going to college, and should have been a doctor.

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Connections

Referenced in Jeopardy!: Episode #22.220 (2006)

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Soundtracks

At a Georgia Camp Meeting
Written by Fred Mills, Herman Darewski
Conducted by Artie Butler

User Reviews

Intense and Enjoyable, if lacking historical accuracy

I read about Ty Cobb in a baseball book when I was a kid, and while it was only a short bio it did manage to touch on many of the infamous incidents he was involved in along with his spectacular statistics. So when I heard a movie was going to be made with Tommy Lee Jones in the title role, I expected the worst and hoped for the best. The result is somewhere in the middle. I had always wondered if Cobb ever changed much in his old age, or ever had any regret over the way he treated people in the past. If he did, it didn't make it into this movie. Jones' portrayal is angry, belligerent, and over the top, and comes off as a man who has done nothing but make enemies his entire life, and intends to die as he lived, because to do anything otherwise - to show even a shred of remorse, would be admitting he had been wrong. It's something of a sensual overload to watch, is certainly not a movie to take a first date to see. But I was captivated by the rage on the screen, and watching very carefully for any cracks to appear. And the movie's biographer, Al Stump, is also looking to find a chink in the Cobb's armor, and Cobb knows it and exposes that fact as well. But the telling moment comes when this symbiotic pair suddenly reverse roles. Stump has been doing his best to stick with Cobb and keep him out of trouble through most of the film to this point. But then a process server knocks on the door of their motel with a divorce summons for Stump. A very drunk Stump then brandishes Cobb's ever-present Luger and threatens to kill the process server... and it's Ty Cobb who plays the sane one, and calms down the situation. It's a very telling moment in a film that otherwise fails to explain the man as the bastard, all the while depicting him with a savage intensity. As to the accuracy... I never met Ty Cobb, and I doubt anyone reviewing this film ever did, nor did Tommy Lee Jones I'm sure. So the real mystery of Ty Cobb died with him, as I'm sure was his intent... was it all an act? Or was the man truly psychotic? That mystery is left more or less untouched by this film, which I can recommend for anyone who has ever known anger, felt it, or been subjugated to it - but if you are prone to flashbacks of "Daddy Dearest", or you just aren't comfortable with harsh, angry, domineering behavior onscreen or otherwise, it's best avoided.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 December 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cobb

Filming Locations:

Rickwood Field - 1137 2nd Avenue W, Birmingham, Alabama, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$63,786, 4 December 1994

Gross USA:

$1,007,583

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,007,583

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alcor Films, Aleor Films, New Regency Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor) Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1