ActuallyGlimmer
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Sameer Callahan
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Keira Brennan
The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.
classicsoncall
Yes, there really was an All-American Girls Professional Baseball League; it existed from 1943 through 1954, and the Rockford Peaches won four championships over the course of the twelve year run, though not until the third season. Their main opponents in this picture, the Racine Belles, actually beat them to the punch by winning the league title during the very first 1943 season. Kind of makes me wonder why the film makers didn't reverse the teams for the movie, but the Rockford Peaches does sound like a more colorful name.Though the film is a fictionalized version of the women's professional baseball league, it's still pretty entertaining with an interesting cast. Geena Davis probably deserved top billing except for Tom Hanks's star status when the film came out, but that's a small nit-pick. I didn't care much for Hanks's character in most of the early part of the picture, he was just too lewd and crude. What really got my attention though was the brief sidebar about how the formation of the league was responsible for the 'masculinization of women', a theme that might be addressed some day in reverse, with the very apparent 'feminization of men' in the culture today. Not to mention the idea of 'safe spaces' for those of both sexes who find it just a bit too hard to cope with reality when it rears it's ugly head.But I digress. This is an enjoyable little flick for sports and non-sports fans alike. I would like to have seen more of Jon Lovitz as the wise-guy baseball scout; he had the best lines in the story. And Madonna seemed to be appropriately cast as 'dirt in the skirt' Mae Mordabito, who's real talent showed up at Willie's Suds Bucket. One of the more memorable game scenes had Hanks and Davis going at it in that battle of the batting signals when Marla Hooch (Megan Cavanagh) came up to the plate. It preceded Coach Dugan's (Hanks) second best line in the story - "Way to go, whatever your name is." Finally, at the risk of offending half the audience here, I think Dottie Hinson (Davis) dropped the ball on purpose. And in keeping with the general tenor of the league's avowed determination to deliver an entertaining and properly respectful entertainment, I thought she did it gracefully and grandly.
gavin6942
Two sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry.This is Geena Davis in her prime. I mean, not to sell her short, but 1985-1995 was the golden age of Geena, with one hit after another. This is one of those, maybe second only to "The Fly". And alongside Lori Petty and Tom Hanks? Priceless.Some may ask, how factual is this? Well, strictly speaking, not very. These are made up characters. But the Rockford Peaches really existed, and there really was a women's baseball league for about a decade. If not for this film, they might be completely forgotten. So, thank you movie!
SimonJack
"A League of Their Own" is an enjoyable film about the short stint that women's professional baseball had in the U.S. From 1943 to 1954, there was a professional league that was the brainchild of Chicago chewing gum magnate Philip Wrigley. He and other baseball owners started the league supposedly to keep baseball "alive" in the minds of the public during World War II. The thinking was that the sport might die out because so many men who played professional baseball went off to war. The women's league went through a few name changes. In 1943, the All- American Girls Softball League was changed to the All-American Girls Baseball League. The league ranged from four to 10 teams each year and had a total of 15 teams over its 12-year history. It started with four teams, two of which are portrayed playing the first girls baseball world series in 1943 – the Racine Belles and the Rockford Peaches. The movie is a highly fictionalized story of the founding and first year of the league. But it includes a reunion of many of the girls at the National Baseball Hall of Fame when its Women in Baseball exhibit opened on Nov. 5, 1988. Penny Marshal who produced and directed the movie, attended that opening and shot scenes there. The lead character, Dottie Hinson (played by Geena Davis) was said to be a composite of two of the real girl players – Dottie Kamenshek and Pepper Paire Davis. In the movie, Dottie is married and plays just one year until her wounded husband returns from the war. The real Kamenshek, however, began playing when she was 17 and never married. She was considered the best player of the league and led her team, the Rockford Peaches, to four of the 12 series titles. She led the league in many stats. All the rest of the characters in the film were fictional as well, as was the Peaches' manager, Jimmy Dugan, played by Tom Hanks. I suppose Hollywood thought a straight story based mostly on facts and real characters wouldn't be as glamorous or interesting. There's no doubt that Hanks' Jimmy Dugan added some color to the film. But the film does give an accurate portrayal of the training the girls were required to take – off the field. They studied etiquette and manners. And it is a good account of the uniforms and other aspects of the girls professional baseball. The girls teams played mostly at larger towns outside of the major league cities. That also makes the supposed purpose of the league – to keep baseball alive in the minds of the public – suspect. After all, the big leagues (National and American) continued to play ball all during the war. They did suspend play for a couple days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. But the game went on and each year the World Series games were played at the end of the regular season. For the record, the St Louis Cardinals won the 1942 World Series over the NY Yankees. The Yankees turned the trick the next year against the Cards. Then, the Cards won the 1944 Series over cross-town rivals, the St. Louis Browns. Finally, in 1945 the Detroit Tigers took the Series over the Chicago Cubs. I mention this because a scene sticks in my mind from the 1943 movie, "Guadalcanal Diary." William Bendix is a corporal who's listening to a game on the radio and rooting for the Brooklyn Dodgers. There's some talk among the men about the possibility of the Dodgers winning the pennant to play the Yankees in the World Series. That probably was the year of the movie – 1943. The Dodgers finished third that year in the National League, behind Cincinnati and far behind the Cards. Still, one wonders if there might not have been one or more other reasons behind the women's pro baseball league. For starters, how about another venue of wholesome and interesting entertainment for folks back home during the war? Especially since the folks outside the cities didn't often get to see big league games. Remember – this is before television. Then there's always the profit motive. One scene in the film addresses this. The Walter Harvey character (of chewing gum fame – guess who) played by Garry Marshall tells Ira Lowenstein, the league manager, played by David Strathairn, that the league will have to shut down after the first year because it's losing money. Of course, Ira does some things to turn that around, with the help of some of the players. The movie completely dodges one aspect of the girls pro baseball league. That has to do with sizes and distances. The ball they used to start with was the same size as a softball – 12 inches in circumference (compared to the 9-inch baseball). And they pitched it underhanded. The infield was considerably smaller than that of pro baseball. The distance between bases was 65 feet, compared to 90 in baseball. The pitcher's mound was 40 feet from home plate, compared to 60 feet, six inches. As the years went on after the war, the field distances widened and got closer to those of baseball, and by 1948, the ball size was 10 3/8 inches and overhand pitching was allowed. This is an enjoyable film to watch and a nice tribute to women's baseball and sports in general. For more history and an accurate account of the girls pro baseball league, one might visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, NY.
tns1
I'd like to vote 10, but I feel its doing the film an injustice. I wasn't a great Madonna fan, yet I love the theme song (and have gelled to her in later years) and being a Brit Baseball, I have played. Yet this film bring out an emotion of a time when a generation was hard done in a world war, the ups and downs of this film leave you with a feeling of I would watch it again. It's hard not to quote from the movie, but to think my mother was once living with all the emotions that every generation has to deal with. I love the whole idea of this type of film. We look back at great times and people who still have a passion. I think all too often we overlook things in the present and make films that are there as money cows, with special effects or some boring theme that all the studios copy until its died a death. My only regret is reading that the soundtrack hasn't got the Madonna song on it and that only a limited version was produced in a shorter time. Madonna should release it as a bonus track, even you-tube do not have the song listed now. But back to the film, I miss my parents and as I get older then I think that I should record things for my kids to read, maybe make a film script themselves. For every generation has a story to tell and I think todays generation will have the hardest yet. But if you want to look back on days of simple pleasure then watch this film.
