61*

Rating:
Summary: Simply a great, great baseball movie
Review: A great, great baseball movie. Up there with Field of Dreams, except this one is based on a true story. Billy Crystal did a phenomenal job getting all the details down for this particular movie. I'm by no means a Yankee fan, but all of a sudden, I've become a fan of Maris and Mantle. Extra features on this movie are pretty cool too.

Rating:
Summary: Inside the park home run
Review: You would almost expect Billy Crystal to go soft on Baseball great Mickey Mantle. Yet he does not. Both Mantle and Maris get from Billy what they did not get from the press at the time ... equal treatment. Mr. Mantle is shown with scars, smiles, and scotch no rocks. Mr. Maris gets his due by showing that he did think that The Babe had set a reall high mark, and that Maris himself was not necessarily boring just because he didn't know how to talk to the press (you should try it yourself sometime ... it's not as easy as you think). But while a majority of the thanks should go to Mr. Crystal, Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane deserve a nod or two for being able to climb in to both of the legendary men with (apparent) ease and comfort. Add to it all the work of director of photography legend Haskell Wexler and some top notch special effects turning Tigers Stadium in to the House That Ruth Build of yesterday, and you have top notch entertainment. So why only 4 out of 5 stars? To quote Whitey Ford, "['62] was a bad year for The Babe." Why? Didn't Mr. Ford break another of The Babe's records that year? You wouldn't know from watching *61.

Rating:
Summary: A top 5 baseball movie .
Review: This film is a must for any true fan of Baseball. The way Yankee stadium has been recreated is truely fantastic. The way Billy Crystal has captured the roles of Micky Mantle & Roger Maris is superb. Please keep making movies like this Billy .

Rating:
Summary: Hate The Yankee's But Love This Movie
Review: HBO has cooked up another masterpiece. This is the first great original HBO movie in a long time. This tells the insiders story of what really happened durning that magical yet frustrating season of 1961. Roger Maris and Mickey Mantale were chasing the Babe's 37 year-old home run record of 60. Since I wasn't born back then it was interesting that they were both on the same team and that everybody was rooting for the Mick and everybody booing Roger. Maris had a very difficult and stressful season. Maris was the beating mickey thourgh almost the whole season. You would think it would be a wounderful that a man would be in a position to break one of the great bambino's records. But Maris was constantly getting riddiculed by the media which he hated, he was getting death threats on the phone and from the "fan mail" and had secuity with him 24 hours a day. And yet what still amazed me was that Roger and Mickey were the best of friends. Even the commishener was rooting against Roger. Billy crystal did an amazing job directing this movie. It has great extras like the hour interview with Billy and the complete home run listings and hisorical stats and bios. This is a must-buy for any baseball fan. Even if you don't like baseball at least rent the film.

Rating:
Summary: Great baseball movie!
Review: If you love baseball you will love this movie. It helps you to know how to never give up even when things aren't going your way.
I didn't know much about Roger Maris or Mickey Mantle but I really respect them as great baseball players.

Rating:
Summary: Saw it on Barry's day!
Review: On Oct 5 I saw this movie on a flight from NY to SFO. I thought it was great; very sincere and believeable. And I realized how timely. When we arrived home, I wasn't exactly aware of the schedule, but flipped on the TV and looked to see if the Giants were playing. Barry was in the on deck circle and 5 minutes later he made history. Seeing this movie and then seeing Barry Bonds tie the record later that day was a beautiful baseball experience. See this movie; its very enjoyable if you remember Mantle and Maris.

Rating:
Summary: really a wonderful film! billy crystal,you did it!
Review: when I rented this one,I thought it was gonna be bad,since a
actor directed it,but it was a great film!

I have always liked billys movies,and this one is his best!

It seemed that Jane and Pepper had Mantel and Maris down pat,
and I liked how they transformed tiger stadium into yankee stadium,my favorite scene was when Maris hit that 61* home run!

I'm starting to like baseball now,I think I always did,my favorite team is the Bluejays,and now the yankees of course.

In the movie city slickers,billy crystal is talking about how
his father took him to yankee stadium,and mickey hit one out,I
found that very interesting,since he did go to a yankee game in
real life,and he did know Mickey Mantel!

my parents really liked this one too!

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps The Best Baseball Movie Ever
Review: I knew when I read about this movie and saw Billy Crystal's name attached to it that it would be a work of love. And I was not diasppointed.

61* takes us back to 1961 and retells the classic home run race between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris as they both tried to catch Babe Ruth's then record of 60. The initial part of the story is told from the the Maris family perspective in 1998 as Mark McGwire was chasing Roger on his way to the then record of 70 (smashed by Barry Bonds with 73). If you will recall that historic moment, you will recall the homage that McGwire paid to the Maris family.

61* is not so much a baseball movie (even though I called it that) as it is a movie about rivalry and friendship between two very different men. The movie is not afraid to show them as fallible but it does so with dignity and explains why they may have these foibles. Mantle is shown as being the utlimate Amercian icon. Every kid growing up wanted to be Mickey Mantle. Blond, good looking and playing centerfield for the Yankees - what more could one ask for. But the dark side of Mantle - his womanizing and drinking is not ignored. But we come to understand that Mantle was afraid of dying. No man in his family had ever lived to 40 and we get the feeling that he wanted to enjoy life when he could. Maris is shown as being quite and introverted and moody, but when we see the enormous pressure he is put under, we understand. Maris never asked for the limelight. All he wanted to do is to help his team win.

Mantle and Maris are shown as rivals - there's tension and there is also love. We see that Maris had no greater fan and supporter than Mantle. Mantle admires what his friend is going through and perhaps is relieved that some of the pressure is removed from him - after all - Mantle was expected to hit a home run every time at bat.

The dark side of the story is the totally unnecessary pressure and hatred that Maris endures. He gets hate mail, he has chairs thrown at him, the press gangs up on him. Why? Because he was breaking a record of an Yankee and the public wanted only another Yankee icon - Mantle - to break that record. Maris was not a real Yankee (he was acquired in a trade) and that was what irked and irritated his detractors. Never mind that he had been MVP in 1960. Flash forward to 10 years later and you can get a glimpse of what Henry Aaron went through as he approached the Babe's career home run record. 61* is also an indictment of sports fans and reporters and how we have our priorities totally out of whack, especially when we think about how these days, New Yorkers wish that all they had to care about WAS a home run race.

The DVD's main bonus feature, worth the viewing alone, discusses how the movie was made. It was fascinating to hear of the transformation of old Tiger Stadium in Detroit into Yankee Stadium, and how the movie was cast. In a bit of trivia which ties into the Bonds home run record, Thomas Jane (who plays Mickey Mantle) had never picked up a baseball until he got this part. Billy Crystal sent him to a school to learn some baseball skills. Jane's instructor was Reggie Smith, a distant Bonds' cousin. Isn't it funny how life comes full cycle?

Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane are fully believable as the duo and give excellent performances. 61* will delight baseball and non baseball fans, because the beauty of the movie is the relationship between the two men ad how, in the face of immense odds, friendship can endure.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Movie--Even for the non-athletic among us.
Review: Truth to tell, I know absolutely zero about baseball. The only thing I know is that Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were baseball players from a while ago, and that was it. Despite that, I LOVED this movie. It was interesting to see Maris and Mantle as best friends even though they were very different people and fans were constantly comparing one with the other (with Mantle always coming out on top). The actors who played them did excellent jobs. I could sympathize greatly with the characters. The plot was subtle but very compelling. And I'm glad to hear that Maris finally got the appreciation that was his due, even though it wasn't until after he died. The storyline was universal with no knowledge of baseball required to understand the movie. I would recommend to everyone, even those, who like me, don't know diddly squat about baseball.

Rating:
Summary: an amazing movie
Review: this movie has to be one of the best movies i've ever seen., my family loves baseball so i have grown up watching every baseball movie imaginable. and i can honestly say this is one of the very best whether you are a baseball fan or not, this movie will become a fast favorite.