61

61

61* is an endearing ode to the baseball days of yore when the press was the enemy, salaries were in check, and breaking records with bat and glove took on Ruthian proportions. In 1961 baseball expanded its season from 154 games to 162, allowing weaker pitching into the major leagues and two New York Yankees teammates–the colorless Roger Maris and golden boy Mickey Mantle–to make an assault on the sport’s ultimate record: Babe Ruth’s 60 home runs. To add to the stew, baseball commissioner Ford Frick announced any record set in the last eight games of the season wouldn’t count toward the official record; records had to be achieved in 154 games.

Director Billy Crystal guarantees success for his movie in the perfect casting of the leads. Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan’s religious sniper) is deft as Maris, and Thomas Jane is a perfect Mantle, a superman in a Yankee uniform. Despite the differences between family man Maris and hard-living Mantle, they form a rewarding friendship amid the media and fan frenzy. The shy Maris took the brunt of the storm, even facing boo-birds in his home stadium. Crystal and first-time writer Hank Steinberg keep the pace moving quickly between the field, the locker room, the press box, and the home front. The film never tries to dazzle with more than the facts (and it softens Mantle up a bit), yet it belongs on the short list of grand baseball movies. –Doug Thomas

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars great movie and in great shape
I love this movie. It is the true story of the M&M boys. I received it within a week of placing my order and it was in mint condition (it was advertized as new, so it should have been).Real cheap price too. I will be buying a lot more from this seller.

5 Stars An amazingly true story of two of baseball’s best.
61* is the true story of one of baseball’s finest moments, the race for Babe’s homerun record. Back then baseball was America’s favorite past time and America’s favorite sport. People absolutely loved the game. And if you were a Yankee fan it was even better. When Babe set the record for 60 homeruns it was in 1927 and he was a Yankee. Well skip ahead 34 years later to 1961, and the two stars hammering for the record just happen to both play for the Yankees. Roger Maris (Barry Pepper) and Mickey Mantle (Thomas Jane), two of the big hitter for the Yankees.

Mickey is adored by the fans. He’s got the charming good lucks and the play boy attitude. Roger is liked, but not like Mickey. He’s a family man, but he’s got the personality of a tree when it comes to talking to reporters and looking good for the on field cameras. Mickey has been with the Yanks for around 10 years now, while Roger was brought over from Kansas City a year ago. So of course the fans are going to have their favorites. But as the race gets farther along, the favoritism gets out of hand and really becomes hatred. Death threats, kidnapping his kids threats, on-the-field abuse from fans, reporters lying about things he said and does. It was really crazy to see these events happen.

And Roger didn’t deserve it. From the beginning we see how great Roger is and how good of a friend he is. We see that Roger and Mickey are really good friends and even become better friends as the year goes on. Roger just loves the game of baseball and really wants to win the series, but he knows they can’t do it without Mickey. The thing is Mickey lives up to his playboy antics and is constantly abusing his body with alcohol and women. He comes home at any time of the hour, drunk as a skunk, and then has to wake up to play ball with an enormous hang over. Roger, being the friend he is, asks Mickey to move in with him and Bob Cerv (another player) at their NY `home’ to hopefully get Mickey to straighten up his act. When Mickey agrees, you can see the improvement in not just his game but also Rogers game. And so the race begins between two amazing players and amazing friends.

I really liked this movie and consider it one of my favorite sports movies ever. What makes it even better is that it’s a true story. It really was a lot of fun to witness the interactions of these two iconic legends. To see the joy of the game with these two, but also the pressure it brought. It was a lot of fun to watch each of them root for each other and try to make the other one better than themselves, even though the press was telling the fans they were arguing and hating each other. There is so much I could say about this movie, but I really think I would just bore you because I would type out the whole darn movie if I could.

There are only two things I didn’t like about the movie. One is a scene where Roger Maris breaks down from the pressure and begins to cry a little. It just felt weird and the music didn’t help. And the other thing is, is that there is a good amount of cussing thrown around, especially the F bomb. It doesn’t bother me at all, and make the movie feel even more real to me, but I know how some people and some parents are about cussing. So just be warned if you are that type of person. It’s not used to much, and it’s used in places you’d expect, but I’m just letting you know.

In the end, if you are a lover of good sports movies, baseball movies, true life movies, or even dramas, then definitely own this movie. This is what baseball is all about. Not what we have nowadays on T.V.

P.S. - Man I miss playing baseball. Watching this movie really brought back some memories. I can just hear the crowd, the bats cracking, the smell of the dirt and grass, the smell of the leather of the gloves. Oh to be young again.

5 Stars Excellent Biography of Roger Maris
Video shows the pressures on Roger Maris during his pursuit of the single season homerun record. Also great for Mickey Mantle fans. I highly recommend this film. No fluff, just the real stuff.

5 Stars great drama, great actors, great story
As a big Barry Pepper fan I found another proof for him being such an amazing actor. But it is not just about him, this is a moving interesting tale of 1960s NY baseball, told with great love for the game and its players. And I don’t even like baseball!

5 Stars 61-The best insiders view of the life and times of two of the NY Yankees Best
When I first saw this autobiography of Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris stars, it was like being there with them.

Growing up in Brooklyn, NY, and Joe Pepitone (another Yankee local scouted and signed with the Yankees, his brothers Billy and Jimmy were our neighbors. I lived that era and thought I knew everything about every Yankee. This film, I have sought for years and now that I immediately purchased it through Amazon.com, I can tell any fan of baseball that is has all the fun, drama, trials and problems of any normal person that brought tears to my eyes of what went on during and after their professional careers. The class and charachter that more then describes those great players were my idols. But meeting them in person, in the dugout, never, ever gave me anything else but goosebumps.

This film I would highly recommend to any father not knowing these greats to sit with their children for a heart warming and insite not only how to behave and present themselves but a learning lesson of how a sport brought out the finest in them that will last forever.

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Bang The Drum Slowly

Bang The Drum Slowly

Only those with ice water in their veins won’t get misty-eyed watching this moving film about the friendship of two professional baseball players, one of whom–in every sense–is playing his last season. A pre-stardom Robert De Niro portrays a rather simple-minded rookie catcher who comes under the wing of a veteran pitcher (Michael Moriarty). When De Niro’s character is diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, Moriarty tries to help him get through one more season. Directed by John Hancock and based on the novel by Mark Harris (who also wrote the screenplay), the film builds on baseball’s ability to foster its own lore of courage, nobility, loyalty, and–sadly–tragedy. Watching the youthful De Niro and Moriarty, with all that promise in their bones, adds to the overall romance of the film today. Also appearing are Vincent Gardenia and Danny Aiello. A perennial favorite for many. –Tom Keogh

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Half hearted attempt at melodrama…
A lot of people love this movie, so I’m preparing myself for a verbal beating, but really; I’ve yet to find a film as manipulative and generally unfulfilling as `Bang the Drum Slowly’. I say `yet to find’ and I know that’s rather harsh. There are far worse films, but for the genre, this is certainly at the bottom.

It’s like `Brian’s Song’ without the spark.

Bruce Pearson and Henry Wiggen are teammates. When Bruce gets diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease they form a close bond as Henry looks out for Bruce, covering up his illness and sticking up for him, making sure he stays on the team and can play out his `last season’. There is growing suspicion as Bruce has to make plenty of doctor’s appointments, and their coach Dutch Schnell roots around trying to find answers to his many questions, which makes it harder and harder for Bruce to keep his condition a secret.

Sooner or later, it all has to come out.

I know that many will not agree with me, but I felt that `Bang the Drum Slowly’ lacked a lot of heart and soul. It just seemed very textbook and came off like an overly manipulative `Lifetime’ movie. It had all the elements to create a satisfying tear jerker, but it couldn’t quite construct them properly. The film wasn’t as touching as it could have been because it lacked a natural spark, a life that made it feel a part of the audience. I think that De Niro is to blame for some (not all) of that. I actually found this to be a very weak performance given by one of the best actors to have ever worked in the business. I was shocked to see him sift through each scene rather lazily. Some will balk at that accusation, but hear me out. He gave a very clich

Fever Pitch Widescreen Edition

Fever Pitch Widescreen Edition

The Farrelly brothers continue their good-natured winning streak with Fever Pitch, a romantic comedy charmed by fate and last-minute improvisation. The movie was originally written with a bittersweet ending, but something unexpected happened (kismet, or perhaps divine intervention?) when the Boston Red Sox scored miraculous victories in the 2004 playoffs and World Series, and Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon were there, in character, to celebrate love and baseball as a pair of amiable lovers who learn to share their lives while accommodating Fallon’s life-long passion for the Red Sox. You really have to love baseball to forgive the formulaic romance by veteran Hollywood screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (who also wrote A League of Their Own, and could write this stuff in their sleep), but the codirecting Farrellys make it work, along with the easygoing chemistry of Barrymore and Fallon. The movie bears little resemblance to Nick Hornby’s source novel (which was more faithfully adapted as a 1997 British comedy starring Colin Firth), but anyone who enjoyed High Fidelity or About a Boy will recognize Hornby’s keen understanding of men and women, and the hazards we all endure when playing the game of love. –Jeff Shannon

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars A Movie about All the Great Things of Boston…The Red Sox, Young Professionals and Students and Truly Believing !!
Great Movie about Truly Believing in Something that is Totallty Out of Your Control….Through It All. The Legacy of the Red Sox and the Curse. Oh Yeah..The Main Plot of the Movie is Great Too. Buy It…Rent It…Download….Well Worth It !!

4 Stars 3 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:

Though the film admittedly works a lot better if the viewer is a baseball fan or at least knows a lot about the game, Fever Pitch is nonetheless recommended for its suprisingly good performance by Jimmy Fallon, warm romance and consistently amusing comedy.

5 Stars I’m a Yankees fan, but that’s okay
The first time I saw this movie, my college roommate and I had rented this movie. We popped in the movie, watched it, then promptly started it over again. Tragically, I later lost the copy I purchased and had to resort to good ol’ Amazon.com.

Anywho, this is truly one delightful movie and I happily consider it one of my favorite romantic comedies. “Fever Pitch” is sweet, funny, and packs a pretty darn good message about relationships and priorities. Fallon and Barrymore have wonderful chemistry. The story balances detailed side characters without going overboard. In fact, all the characters are properly quirky. The film flows well with plenty of romance and laughs, and who can resist that overall devotion to the spirit of baseball?

Though at times I am one of those geeks that has to have every little detail on the DVD, I’m quite happy with the bare essentials this has–including a trailor and various documentaries. It’s all done very well and kept in the same spirit of the movie itself.

This is a handy little DVD, and the movie should appeal to baseball fanatics and hopeless romantics alike.

5 Stars Yankee fan likes a Red Sox movie?
I am a true Yankee fan and although the Red Sox are now our biggest rivals I still enjoyed this movie. I had to close my eyes at the end for a few seconds when they showed the Red Sox comeback in the AL Championship series.

Because the Red Sox our biggest American League rival people think it was always that way. But it wasn’t. When I grew up in the 1950s the Red Sox had great hitters like Ted Williams and Pete Runnels. But they were never a contender. The Yankees rivals were the Indians and White Sox, the only two teams to beat them out for the American League pennant. But those rivalries were nothing compared to the Brooklyn Dodger vs New York Yankee rivarly that develop when they meet in the World Series 4 times in the decade.

In this movie Jimmy Fallon meets Drew Barrymore and falls in love with her. But this happens in the winter and the true Red Sox fanaticism doesn’t really come until baseball season. She gets a hint when she see how his apartment looks like Fenway Park. But the true understanding doesn’t hit until she see him with friends on ESPN while they were down in Florida watching for the new prospects.

The theme of the story is all about her finding time for a man in her life and we see how this very succesful woman is embarrassed when she is caught sleeping on the job. For Fallon it is about finding time for her with his busy schedule attendiing Red Sox games. He inherited two season tickets and before the season starts he and his friends get to decide who gets to go with him for these games. With Drew in his life he picks her to go with him to the most important games. One day he had to miss a game for a dinner appointment with her parents.

The last straw seems to be when he hesitates about taking a trip with her to Paris because the Sox would be in town. In the end he is depressed and decides to sell his tickets and show her that he would give up the Red Sox for her. If you go see it watch how it plays out. It is very funny and romantic.

For me the most interesting part was that it was filmed during the 2004 season and so as they filmed the outcome was in doubt because it hinged on how the Red Sox would do. The soap opera story of the Red Sox being humiliated in game 3 of the AL Championship Series, then being down with no wins and three losses even their die hard fans were throwing in the towel. After all no team in the history of the playoffs and World series had ever comeback down 3-0 to win a 7 game series. But in Hollywood fashion they did. That gave them the impetus to reverse thecurse and sweeo the Cardinals in the World Series. Fallon and Barrymore actually attended some of the games and were filmed there.

This film is good for men and women. Men love it for the baseball and an undersanding of how serious fans can be about their team. Women love it for the romance, a real chick flick.

4 Stars Part Baseball Movie, Part Romantic Comedy
There are two stories in Fever Pitch: one) the city of Boston’s love/hate relationship with their Red Sox and two) a romance between a diehard Red Sox fan and a yuppie woman.

While some of the plot is a bit formulaic, the chemistry between Drew and Jimmy was fantastic. I found this a bit surprising, since to a certain degree, Jimmy Fallon was pretty much playing Jimmy Fallon. However, I think Drew Barrymore really makes a great effort in this role: you could tell she has come a long way in some of her “romantic” roles. Because the two characters have vastly different lives, they have to make sacrifices and accommodations in their own lives, especially when they begin to fall for each other.

You can probably forgive the fantasy ending. It is a movie after all? Romantic comedies have a way of suspending belief just like action films sometimes.

This movie is a winner in the end, though, because I think that it is a great baseball fan movie. You will love the fantastic scenery of Fenway Park. It is also a great romantic comedy, something light without too much “mushiness.” There is a lot of wittiness in Fallon’s character that give it the light edge. Maybe guys and gals will both agree on this one.

Buy/More Info

Fever Pitch Full Screen Edition

Fever Pitch Full Screen Edition

The Farrelly brothers continue their good-natured winning streak with Fever Pitch, a romantic comedy charmed by fate and last-minute improvisation. The movie was originally written with a bittersweet ending, but something unexpected happened (kismet, or perhaps divine intervention?) when the Boston Red Sox scored miraculous victories in the 2004 playoffs and World Series, and Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon were there, in character, to celebrate love and baseball as a pair of amiable lovers who learn to share their lives while accommodating Fallon’s life-long passion for the Red Sox. You really have to love baseball to forgive the formulaic romance by veteran Hollywood screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (who also wrote A League of Their Own, and could write this stuff in their sleep), but the codirecting Farrellys make it work, along with the easygoing chemistry of Barrymore and Fallon. The movie bears little resemblance to Nick Hornby’s source novel (which was more faithfully adapted as a 1997 British comedy starring Colin Firth), but anyone who enjoyed High Fidelity or About a Boy will recognize Hornby’s keen understanding of men and women, and the hazards we all endure when playing the game of love. –Jeff Shannon

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars A Movie about All the Great Things of Boston…The Red Sox, Young Professionals and Students and Truly Believing !!
Great Movie about Truly Believing in Something that is Totallty Out of Your Control….Through It All. The Legacy of the Red Sox and the Curse. Oh Yeah..The Main Plot of the Movie is Great Too. Buy It…Rent It…Download….Well Worth It !!

4 Stars 3 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:

Though the film admittedly works a lot better if the viewer is a baseball fan or at least knows a lot about the game, Fever Pitch is nonetheless recommended for its suprisingly good performance by Jimmy Fallon, warm romance and consistently amusing comedy.

5 Stars I’m a Yankees fan, but that’s okay
The first time I saw this movie, my college roommate and I had rented this movie. We popped in the movie, watched it, then promptly started it over again. Tragically, I later lost the copy I purchased and had to resort to good ol’ Amazon.com.

Anywho, this is truly one delightful movie and I happily consider it one of my favorite romantic comedies. “Fever Pitch” is sweet, funny, and packs a pretty darn good message about relationships and priorities. Fallon and Barrymore have wonderful chemistry. The story balances detailed side characters without going overboard. In fact, all the characters are properly quirky. The film flows well with plenty of romance and laughs, and who can resist that overall devotion to the spirit of baseball?

Though at times I am one of those geeks that has to have every little detail on the DVD, I’m quite happy with the bare essentials this has–including a trailor and various documentaries. It’s all done very well and kept in the same spirit of the movie itself.

This is a handy little DVD, and the movie should appeal to baseball fanatics and hopeless romantics alike.

5 Stars Yankee fan likes a Red Sox movie?
I am a true Yankee fan and although the Red Sox are now our biggest rivals I still enjoyed this movie. I had to close my eyes at the end for a few seconds when they showed the Red Sox comeback in the AL Championship series.

Because the Red Sox our biggest American League rival people think it was always that way. But it wasn’t. When I grew up in the 1950s the Red Sox had great hitters like Ted Williams and Pete Runnels. But they were never a contender. The Yankees rivals were the Indians and White Sox, the only two teams to beat them out for the American League pennant. But those rivalries were nothing compared to the Brooklyn Dodger vs New York Yankee rivarly that develop when they meet in the World Series 4 times in the decade.

In this movie Jimmy Fallon meets Drew Barrymore and falls in love with her. But this happens in the winter and the true Red Sox fanaticism doesn’t really come until baseball season. She gets a hint when she see how his apartment looks like Fenway Park. But the true understanding doesn’t hit until she see him with friends on ESPN while they were down in Florida watching for the new prospects.

The theme of the story is all about her finding time for a man in her life and we see how this very succesful woman is embarrassed when she is caught sleeping on the job. For Fallon it is about finding time for her with his busy schedule attendiing Red Sox games. He inherited two season tickets and before the season starts he and his friends get to decide who gets to go with him for these games. With Drew in his life he picks her to go with him to the most important games. One day he had to miss a game for a dinner appointment with her parents.

The last straw seems to be when he hesitates about taking a trip with her to Paris because the Sox would be in town. In the end he is depressed and decides to sell his tickets and show her that he would give up the Red Sox for her. If you go see it watch how it plays out. It is very funny and romantic.

For me the most interesting part was that it was filmed during the 2004 season and so as they filmed the outcome was in doubt because it hinged on how the Red Sox would do. The soap opera story of the Red Sox being humiliated in game 3 of the AL Championship Series, then being down with no wins and three losses even their die hard fans were throwing in the towel. After all no team in the history of the playoffs and World series had ever comeback down 3-0 to win a 7 game series. But in Hollywood fashion they did. That gave them the impetus to reverse thecurse and sweeo the Cardinals in the World Series. Fallon and Barrymore actually attended some of the games and were filmed there.

This film is good for men and women. Men love it for the baseball and an undersanding of how serious fans can be about their team. Women love it for the romance, a real chick flick.

4 Stars Part Baseball Movie, Part Romantic Comedy
There are two stories in Fever Pitch: one) the city of Boston’s love/hate relationship with their Red Sox and two) a romance between a diehard Red Sox fan and a yuppie woman.

While some of the plot is a bit formulaic, the chemistry between Drew and Jimmy was fantastic. I found this a bit surprising, since to a certain degree, Jimmy Fallon was pretty much playing Jimmy Fallon. However, I think Drew Barrymore really makes a great effort in this role: you could tell she has come a long way in some of her “romantic” roles. Because the two characters have vastly different lives, they have to make sacrifices and accommodations in their own lives, especially when they begin to fall for each other.

You can probably forgive the fantasy ending. It is a movie after all? Romantic comedies have a way of suspending belief just like action films sometimes.

This movie is a winner in the end, though, because I think that it is a great baseball fan movie. You will love the fantastic scenery of Fenway Park. It is also a great romantic comedy, something light without too much “mushiness.” There is a lot of wittiness in Fallon’s character that give it the light edge. Maybe guys and gals will both agree on this one.

Buy/More Info

Babe Ruth The Life Behind the Legend

Babe Ruth The Life Behind the Legend

Considered by many to be the greatest baseball player who ever lived, he was a legend in his own time, and for all time. This is the extraordinary life of the man who changed the face of baseball.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Excellent Babe Ruth documentary
This is a great Babe Ruth documentary! I bought it as a gift for my boyfriend and he loved it! He watched it twice in 2 days. It really does a great job of explaining and illustrating the life of Babe Ruth. Has lots of photos and video clips and stories from Babe’s friends. Good narration too!

2 Stars 25% Substance 75% Repetition
There was so much more to Babe’s life than this documentary shows..There is next to nothing about his relationship to Lou Gehrig, Miller Huggins, his wives, Father Tobias (spelling may be off) who changed his life,,his barnstorming trips where his All Star teams played against some of the great black players of those days like Stachel Paige…

The first 20 minutes consist of a verbal tribute from some very old gentlemen…it was tribute..homerun..tribute..homerun..tribute..homerun etc..that went on and on…we didn’t have to be told over and over that he was a great player…About one fourth of the film is VERY interesting…but generally a real disappointment

5 Stars best I’ve seen on the Babe
This is the best documentary I have seen on Babe Ruth. It includes tons of video of Ruth. It even includes a home movie of him pointing on the “called shot”. Excellent insights into who he was and what drove him including comments from contemporaries, family and former teammates. If you want to know who Babe Ruth was, buy this and find out.

5 Stars BEST BABE RUTH DOCUMENTARY I’VE SEEN
Unique, never before seen clips and stories. Very balanced and skilled in representing Ruth with his strengths and weaknesses. This vhs represents his life from reform school to death.

Indicates how he influenced America during the hard times and changed baseball forever. Despite Ruth’s rough life style his talents and popularity are unprecedented and unquestioned. This was the age before good equipment (bats, gloves, etc), and strength enhancing drugs.

Very good narration and dialogue on this vhs. Highly recommend it for baseball and history fans alike. There will never be another Ruth and he’s the proof and that’s the truth. Look how his totality of records have stood the test of time and are the measure to which others are compared.

This is my favorite baseball documentary for the subject matter, quality, balance, nostalgia, historical setting, etc.

An hour well spent.

5 Stars Great Babe Bio
I’ve watched this DVD time and time again. The people who knew him really give some insight here as to what kind of player and person Babe Ruth was.

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