61*

Rating:
Summary: A Baseball Classic
Review: Upon its release, 61* immediately became a classic. The baseball scenes are the best of any movie ever. You never feel like you're watching actors. But the key to the movie is its realism. Thomas Jane and Barry Pepper are extraordinary as Mantle and Maris, respectively. Everything from their batting stances to the way they stand in the lockerroom is perfect. And older baseball fans will love seeing Yankee Stadium at its finest, complete with Bob Shephard as himself. In the broadcast booth comes more of 61*'s subtle brilliance. Behind Mel Allen and Phil Rizzuto is a WPIX 11 sign, which was the Yankees' flagship station for 40 years. It may not seem like much, but it is just part of the painstaking efforts to make the movie as real as possible. What many baseball movies lack is dialogue from broadcasters. They tend to say the score, situation, etc., but rarely tell stories, which---as any baseball fan knows---is how most air time is spent. 61*, however, features several moments where Rizzuto talks about lasagne he ate at a restaurant, wishing happy birthdays to fans, and joking about how the outfielders positioned themselves when he was batting. Baseball fans should eat that stuff up. The movie has minor flaws---Bob Cerv began the season with LA, for instance---but nothing that detracts from its overall greatness. Everyone involved in this movie, from Billy Crystal to all the actors, did their best to recreate the most famous season any sport has ever seen. If you are a baseball fan, you absolutely must see this movie. If you're not a baseball fan, you should still see it. Fifty years from now, 61* will be as much a classic as Field of Dreams or Bull Durham.

Rating:
Summary: Region 1 Encoding
Review: Just a quick note about the Region encoding for this DVD for UK customers. This DVD WILL work on the PAL PS2 when used with a product called "DVD Region X" (about £10). Just make sure your TV can display 60Hz. 50Hz TVs will play the movie in black and white.

Rating:
Summary: This movie was a lot like baseball-slow and going nowhere
Review: This movie is just like baseball...you sit in a seat for hours watching an incredibly slow game while you drift off to sleep. Sorry all you baseball fans...but I'm a football fan and I need action to sustain life when I'm sitting in a small stadium seat for numerous hours. You have to hand it to Barry Pepper, who plays Marris quite well. I thought that he had hit an all-time low when he played the ape-like human with dred locks in "Battlefield Earth". Back to *61. What is the deal with the asterik? Is that the most interesting thing that a baseball columnist can think of? But with respect for Marris for breaking the Babe's record, I have to give the film two stars, cause if I gave it one you'd all probably find me and beat me with his signed baseball bat.

Rating:
Summary: CRACK!!! Crystal does his homework. Yeah, no bull...
Review: Ok, I'm wondering how many people knew that Billy Crystal was doing a movie like this and thought, "Ha ha!" An HBO production and you really think, "Oh boy! This is really gonna be something!" Uh, don't laugh at this one, fellows. Crystal did his homework for this, and in my book gets a perfect 100% A+!

Yeah, the title is 61*, so the ending is palpable, right? DUH! But Billy Crystal goes a lot deeper than that. He goes into the heart of what the Yankees were back than. It is shown how Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle were best buddies back then, and before this period in time, Billy Martin was among Mickey and Whitey ALL the time. It showed how cruel fans were to Roger Maris and how they really didn't want him breaking The Babe's record. In short, a lot of people thought Maris was a prick.

Crystal goes far enough to show the honesty about Mantle and Maris. He shows the deliberate, somewhat condescending nature of baseball commissioner Ford Frick. Not too many people liked him back then.

Hey, people might knock this for the language. Hey, if you do, than go watch T-ball! Ever read a book by Mickey Mantle? He was always to the point and he never apologized. I hope Crystal doesn't either for an effort like this. Yeah, no bull here, people! Awesome performances by Thomas Jane and Barry Pepper.

Rating:
Summary: Everyone else has said it...
Review: But I truly enjoyed watching this movie on HBO when it first premiered a few years back. I love stories about unlikely heroes. This movie is excellent, and while I'm not sure if it is 100% historically accurate, it did prompt me (an extremely casual baseball fan) to do my own research on these two legends.

Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Good story, but definitely for adults.
Review: I didn't understand until too late that this film is filled with adult themes and language. Not one for the children.

Rating:
Summary: The most greatest baseball movie ever
Review: I have to say that this is the finest baseball movie ever made. You could tell that Billy Crystal's love for the Yankee's inspired him to tell a story that would live on for generations. Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane were perfect as Maris and Mantle. Even my girlfriend who hates sports movies enjoyed this one.

Rating:
Summary: Great film
Review: I'm not a baseball fan, only rented this one because I like Barry Pepper in anything and now I'm a Thomas-Jane worshiper. Ooh....But it sure makes you wish you were around for the Yankee glory days.

Rating:
Summary: Grand slam
Review: 61* belongs on the top-shelf with the great non-fiction sports movies like BRIAN'S SONG and EIGHT MEN OUT. This is Billy Crystal's love letter to the 1961 Yankees, and to his credit it doesn't blink or flinch in its treatment of that greatest of childhood heroes, Mickey Mantle.
In 1961 Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle took aim at Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a season. Barry Pepper plays the young and reclusive Maris with a haunting sadness, Thomas Jane plays the charismatic Mantle with an easy going honesty that masks an emotionally and physically injured young man. Pepper is a dead-ringer for Maris, and both actors get under the skin of the characters they're portraying. There are times when you forget they're not really Maris and Mantle. Couple their performances with 61*'s meticulous attention to detail and you've got a baseball fan's dream movie.
The dvd comes with a commentary track with director Billy Crystal, text biographies of Maris and Mantle, and a `making of' documentary. You should watch the movie before the documentary, since it contains a lot of scenes from the movie.


Rating:
Summary: helps to be a baseball fan
Review: I came across this movie by accident. Wow! Very well done. If you are a baseball fan you will enjoy it. If you remember baseball of the 60's you will love it.