3/5 A Nice Baseball/History Story but.....
  by Lawrence Wood (Bowmanville, Ontario Canada)
I have personally read several bios about Robinson and Paige, yet have no recollection of their closeness with each other or the unfortunately disturbed Gibson. This movie partrays them as an inseparable trio. Paige was, to say the least, a free spirited party animal who marched to the beat of his own drummer, constantly walking away from his teams to play for others. He was an elusive loner and the single biggest gate attraction of Negro League baseball. He knew it and went wherever the money took him, on his own terms and at his own pace. Punctuality, or reliability for that matter, was never a priority in his life. The extreme bitterness and resentment he displayed toward Robinson in this movie was nowhere to be seen in Paige's autobiography. Paige didn't even claim to know Robinson very well. In fact, Paige was making more money on his own, marketing himself in Negro Baseball than most big leaguers earned at the time; his problem was hanging onto his pay.

Likewise, Robinson didn't claim Paige as a mentor, consultant or confidante in his memoirs. The movie is an attempt to entwine the lives of these three men in a convenient package to tell the story about the integration of Major League Baseball, an event that should never have been necessary in the first place. It scores higher in the category of entertainment than that of historical accuracy.

Near the end of the film, the start of an eventually rained-out game between the white Major Leaguers and the Negro League All Stars is shown, with a lady lip-syncing the words to American the Beautiful. Old Glory, the Stars and Stripes of the U.S. is proudly displayed flapping in the breeze. Unfortunately, it's the flag bearing the 50 stars, indicative of 50 states. At the time of this game, about 1946, the U.S. consisted of 48 States. The flag appropriate to that era would have been better.

The authentic uniforms supplied for the movie by Ebbet's Field Flannels of Seattle were great.

Larry Wood, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada

5/5 excellent movie allstar performances
  by Richard Scott (USA)
the movie was excellent. The all Star line up of actors played their roles to the max. good movie for historical sports fans and for anyone who just wants a good movie

5/5 A HOMERUN!!
  by Loves To Read (Twin Cities, MN USA)
This HBO movie is almost a docudrama. While the facts aren't necessarily historically accurate, the people involved are historical and the overall story happened. It's 1945 and it's time for baseball to integrate. There are two 'separate but unequal' professional baseball leagues. There is the Negro League and the Major League. Everyone knows integration has to happen and it will be sooner rather than later. But Judge Landis, the Major League Commissioner keeps trying to stop it. Some of the greatest players in America are being kept out of Major League baseball because of the color of their skin. Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, is anxious to bring Negroes into the league, not only because he knows they belong there, but he knows what they can do for his team. Under the pretext of wanting to start another team in Brooklyn for the Negro League, he begins to seriously 'scout' the Negro League for talent. He's really looking for the right one to break the color barrier. He knows it will take a very special player, not only talented, but someone who has the courage NOT to fight back. The film centers around three of the top, if not the top, candidates to be that pioneer: Satchell Paige, the legendary and colorful pitcher, Josh Gibson, a catcher and one of the greatest hitters ever to play the game (white or black) and Jackie Robinson, the college graduate and football star as well as tank commander in the Army who is new to the Negro League. We all know, of course, that Jackie Robinson became the first Negro Major League player and what an amazing career he had and how he opened the doors for scores of great black players to follow. In this film, we see the competition between these three legendary players as they begin to understand what might be happening when a certain white scout keeps showing up at the games. We see the genius of Branch Rickey as he goes through the decision making process, knowing that the first player must be the right one or it will set the cause back for decades perhaps. A terrific movie with a good historical basis as well as some creative imagination about the relationships between these three great players. Language might be a little rough for younger children but older teens and up will definitely enjoy this outstanding made for TV movie. www.lusreviews.blogspot.com



5/5 Very good movie!
  by Steven Pinkston (Indiana, USA)
Great movie depicting one of the most important times baseball ever went through. Also does a great job showing three of baseball's greatest people to influence the game. The movie sheds some light on what happened to Josh Gibson and what hindered him from becoming the greatest power hitter of all time. Delroy Lindo does an outstanding job as Satchel Paige.

4/5 Real Baseball History
  by Lynn F. Kile II (Alaska)
A great look at Black baseball in the early days before blacks where accepted into the league. It shows how special these players where and how important it was to break the color barrier and make baseball as it is today! A absolutly great DVD!