Sunday, June 2, 2013

Movies for June 2013:
42 and The Express

Don Nugent will be hosting for June. The movies to watch are:

42

Trivia:

  • The role of Branch Rickey was originally intended for Robert Redford. 
  • Spike Lee had tried to make a film about the life of Jackie Robinson in 1995 with Denzel Washington as Robinson but the project never got off the ground. 
  • Pee Wee Reese's line about someday all Dodger players might be wearing the number 42 was actually said by Dodgers outfielder Gene Hermanski in 1951. But writer/director 'Brian Helgeland liked the quote so much, he had the famous shortstop Reese say it in the movie since he is a central character. 
  • The second theatrical biopic of Jackie Robinson, the previous one being The Jackie Robinson Story, in which Robinson starred as himself. Robinson was also the subject of the TV movie The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson. 
  • Harrison Ford's portrayal of Branch Rickey marked Ford's first film role in which he played a real life character. 
  • Broke the record for highest box office opening weekend by a baseball movie. The previous record holder was 2006's The Benchwarmers. 
  • Jackie Robinson 's number, 42, was universally retired in 1997 by Commissioner Bud Selig. The handful of players then wearing the number were grandfathered in and allowed to keep it. As of this film's release, only Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees continues to don 42 on a daily basis. 
  • Jackie Robinson Day, where all uniformed players, coaches and umpires in Major League Baseball Games wear number 42 in homage to Robinson occurs annually on April 15th.
  • At one point in the movie, in frustration, Branch Rickey blurts out "Judas Priest!" According to those closest to Rickey, this was the worst profanity he would ever utter. 

Trivia

  • Journalists and film critics noted that a scene of "racist vitriol"involving the October 24, 1959 game between Syracuse and West Virginia University, was fictitious and, as Film Journal International critic Frank Lovece noted, "veers remarkably toward outright slander." He said the game was "falsely shown as taking place at WVU's Mountaineer Field" in Morgantown, West Virginia, "rather than at Syracuse's own Archbold Stadium," the Orangemen's home field in New York state. Additionally, Lovece remarked that "Aside from the fact that the game didn't even take place there, Schwartzwalder had earlier led West Virginia high-school teams to state championships, and was a beloved and respected figure with devoted fans there who wouldn't have given his teams any lip — so much so that on his death in 1993, WVU even instituted the Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy". Syracuse quarterback Dick Easterly, who played with Davis in Morgantown the following year, on October 22, 1960, after the events of the Cotton Bowl Classic against the University of Texas, recalled no such events and said, "I apologize to the people of West Virginia because that did not happen. I don't blame people in West Virginia for being disturbed. The scene is completely fictitious."
  • Some claim that the racial tension depicted in the 1960 Cotton Bowl Classic versus the Texas Longhorns is inaccurate, though this is highly disputed. Bobby Lackey, quarterback for the University of Texas states, "I told the Cotton Bowl people that those things didn't happen, and they were making up stories to try and sell more movie tickets, I wasn't going to watch any of that." Lackey continued, "Larry Stephens was my roommate, if anything, he was trying to get the guy into a fight so he could get him thrown out of the game because their athletes were so much better than ours. But I don't know a one of my teammates that said anything derogatory. How are you going to say the N-word in a football game and spit on somebody? Coach Royal would not have put up with that kind of behavior. It was a long time ago, but I know we shook hands and told him nice game and that his team deserved to win." Lackey said, "Then we all walked off the field." However, Lou Maysel, in his University of Texas football history bio "Here Come the Texas Longhorns", wrote that Stephens, "possibly the most even-tempered player on the Texas team," told John Brown, a black offensive tackle for Syracuse, "Keep your black ass out of it," when Brown protested a penalty to an official. Brown stated that there were "guys who called us racist names on the field," including a Texas lineman who kept calling him "a big black dirty [expletive]." Brown says that the player has since apologized and that he has forgiven the player. Additionally, Al Baker, Syracuse's black fullback, said after the game, "Oh, they were bad. One of them spit in my face as I carried the ball through the line."Patrick Whelan and Dick Easterly, both white players for Syracuse, said that although the film may have fictionalized parts of the story, the 1960 Cotton Bowl Classic was the team's worst confrontation with racism.
  • The film premiered in cinemas on October 10, 2008 in wide release throughout the U.S.. During its opening weekend, the film opened in a distant 6th place grossing $4,562,675 in business showing at 2,808 locations. The film Beverly Hills Chihuahua soundily beat its competition during that weekend opening in first place with $17,502,077. The film's revenue dropped by 52% in its second week of release, earning $2,191,810. For that particular weekend, the film fell to 12th place screening in 2,810 theaters but not challenging a top ten position. The film Max Payne, unseated Beverly Hills Chihuahua to open in first place grossing $17,639,849 in box office revenue. During its final week in release, The Express opened in 31st place grossing $151,225 in business. The film went on to top out domestically at $9,793,406 in total ticket sales through a 4-week theatrical run. Internationally, the film took in an additional $14,718 in box office business for a combined worldwide total of $9,808,124.

Notes from the last meeting:

We brainstormed a list of great Burt Lancaster films, in no particular order:
...we'll have to do a Burt Lancaster Film Festival!

Other films of (positive) note:
Catch 22 and Carnal Knowledge were good. Especially Paula Prentiss!

Not recommended movie double-header for a first date: Carnal Knowledge and Eyes Wide Shut.
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