Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Barry Pepper | ... | Roger Maris | |
Thomas Jane | ... | Mickey Mantle | |
Anthony Michael Hall | ... | Whitey Ford | |
Richard Masur | ... | Milt Kahn | |
Bruce McGill | ... | Ralph Houk | |
Chris Bauer | ... | Bob Cerv | |
Jennifer Crystal Foley | ... | Pat Maris ('61) | |
Christopher McDonald | ... | Mel Allen | |
Bob Gunton | ... | Dan Topping | |
Donald Moffat | ... | Ford Frick | |
Joe Grifasi | ... | Phil Rizzuto | |
Peter Jacobson | ... | Artie Green | |
Seymour Cassel | ... | Sam Simon | |
Robert Joy | ... | Bob Fitschel | |
Michael Nouri | ... | Joe DiMaggio |
Aiming for one of the most famed records in sports history, a pair of very different baseball players hit home runs at an impressive rate. Roger Maris, a reserved sort, is much less popular than his hard-partying New York Yankee teammate Mickey Mantle, the player who many observers think will be the one to challenge Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in one season. But in the summer of 1961, Maris surges ahead of Mantle, making a run at Ruth's mark. Written by Jwelch5742
First off, I'm a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan and thus not much of a Yankees fan. However, this may be one of the best baseball movies, if not one of the best sports films, ever made; even though baseball fans know how the story ends, your emotions will be stirred and you will find yourself rooting for these two players whether or not you have a preference for pinstripes.
Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane steal the show as Maris and Mantle, two Yankee teammates that form an alliance to help carry them through the turmolterous race to break the single-season home run record of Babe Ruth in 1961. While everyone from the press box to the peanut vendor appears to favor seeing the lovable Mick, even the commissioner of baseball seems to have an agenda against the misunderstood Maris. Trying to eclipse a mark of a legend against such adversity proves to be no easy task for either player, and the film does a great job of demonstrating the pressure that each player experienced from his own angle.
Director and noted Yankees fan Billy Crystal obviously put his heart and soul into directing and producing this masterpiece and deserves credit for putting an honest face on the race to the home run record between these two legends. Most impressive was how much care was taken to make the actors appear to step comfortably into the roles of each player; Jane and Pepper appear and act so much like "the M&M boys" that it's spooky. Being a passionate fan of the game probably puts a bias on this review but, even if you don't know the difference between a squeeze play and a double play, it's a great story about friendship and facing odds.