42 Movie: Remembering Jackie Robinson & Chadwick Boseman
The 42 Movie was a movie released in 1993 commemorating the life of Jackie Robinson. Wednesday was the 79th anniversary of his breaking the color barrier in baseball. There were all kinds of poignant commemorations in baseball of the watershed event. Robinson died in 1972. The movie is a sports drama that accurately depicts the blatant racism Robinson was forced to endure.
The 42 Movie stars Chadwick Boseman as Robinson. It was his first feature role. Boseman has been in several movies since, including starring as the Black Panther in the 2018 Marvel movie of the same name. He has played James Brown and Thurgood Marshall. He worked hard for this role, as Robinson in the 42 Movie, to mimic Robinson’s mannerisms and athleticism. Do you think actors have to work hard for all kinds of roles in movies?
The 42 Movie Plot
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The movie starts with the end of the Second World War and juxtaposes the joys of victory and the pride of place held by baseball with the overwhelming racism faced by people of color in the South. In baseball, people of color had always been prevented from playing. Prevented, that is, until Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey selected Robinson to be the first black player in Major League Baseball.
The film spends a significant amount of time on Rickey’s selection of Robinson. The 42 movie suggests Robinson, who played for the Kansas City Monarchs, was not the only choice of the Dodgers. The film similarly spends a lot of time stressing that Robinson was instructed, and agreed, to react with restraint when taunted with racist slurs.
Instead of giving a recounting of Robinson’s career, 42 the movie focuses on a couple of seminal moments from Robinson’s career. The movie does this to underscore the trials faced by Robison. The strain he was under is clearly depicted in the movie. We see how he was taunted, shunned by some of his teammates, and was the subject of physical violence. The movie ends with a montage of his career and his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, with teammates Pee Wee Reese and Branch Rickey. The movie does show that the number 42 is retired across baseball.
About Last Night
Yesterday was the 79th anniversary of Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball. 42 Movie adequately depicts these events, though it sure did not seem like Robinson would be lauded at the time. However, lauded, revered in fact, he is. Yesterday, all baseball players in the Majors wore Robinson’s number 42. Where did this tribute come from? Near the end of his career, Ken Griffey Junior called Baseball’s Commissioner at the time, Bud Selig, to ask if he could wear the number 42. Selig thought it was a good idea and asked Griffey if he could call some other players to wear that number as well. Then the rest is history.
That was not the only tribute. Rbinson was a four-sport athlete at UCLA. Yesterday, they wore uniforms that looked similar to those of the 1947 Dodgers. ESPN, for the day, changed all players’ numbers to 42. Many players chose to pay individual tribute to Robinson. Jazz Chisholm Junior, who plays second base for the New York Yankees, bloused his trousers. He wore his pants like Robinson to honor him.
Parting Shots
It is not possible to overstate the impact Robinson had. He not only changed the sport of baseball, but he also changed the United States. The events, particularly the early ones, are depicted in the 42 Movie. One of the best aspects of that movie is that the viewer gets a good understanding of the blatant racism Robinson faced.
