I watched this film for the nth time after many times as part of the "Trailblazing Women" series on Turner Classic Movies. After watching the Rosie the Riveter documentary, it really stands out how much women were "used" during World War II. They were told how important they were to the war effort. What wasn't emphasized was the transient nature of the situation, that it was "until the men come back", so they got used to doing something other than housework if they were married or pretty mind numbing low paying jobs if they were not. The women working in the factories during the war had good paying jobs and some independence for the first times in their lives, the same with the girls in this movie. They not only had good pay, but a place in the limelight, doing something they were good at doing - baseball - with crowds rooting for them, but like Dottie and Kit, they had just been playing as amateurs pre-War. Dottie doesn't want to join the league at first. What Kit says is true - Dotty is the prettier sister, the sister with more baseball talent, and she doesn't want to admit her own competitive spirit until she is given a chance to exercise it, and then that competitiveness somewhat scares her. Tom Hanks is brilliant as Jimmy Dugan, a washed up ball player who drank away the five best years of his career and is recruited to coach the Rockford Peaches. At first he doesn't take this job seriously, but time, a few verbal bouts with Dottie, and a growing attachment to the girls change that. Towards the end of the film he delivers one of the best monologues that I have ever heard about talent, opportunities lost, and the fact that certain moments never come again. I know somebody else wrote these lines, but he delivered them with heart. One line should be emblazoned on everybody's mind - "If it wasn't hard everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great." Don't run away from anything because it is hard.
Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell provide great comic relief - they actually had a pretty good off-screen friendship - so their back and forth comes across naturally. Even if you don't like these two individually, I think you'll like them here. It's funny how much women playing ball just offends American society's sensibilities about what is proper for a woman so much that a big part of the girls' training is basically a charm school, and that as players the women actually have curfews and places like bars that are off limits to them due to publicity, as though they were minors or gentle flowers that need protection.
And now let me talk about Oregonian sisters Dottie and Kit, specifically Kit. Kit has talent. Kit has beauty. She just doesn't have as much as her sister. She definitely shows the audience how to be both a bad winner and a bad loser and just how much jealousy can make anybody ugly inside and out. And now the debate on the ending - that has been rehashed endlessly. I'll just say what I THINK happened makes me furious, because if I'm right then one person let an entire team down just to give another person who was green with envy a false victory in the hope that it would give them a lifetime of confidence. I know this is just a movie, but envy is a condition that is not cured by an external victory, earned or not. It can only be cured by a person changing their viewpoint, that THEY are responsible for their lives and actions. Give a jealous person one victory today and this time next year it will just be something else they feel is unfair and responsible for their misery.
I highly recommend this one. It is almost perfect on every level, even the soundtrack!
Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell provide great comic relief - they actually had a pretty good off-screen friendship - so their back and forth comes across naturally. Even if you don't like these two individually, I think you'll like them here. It's funny how much women playing ball just offends American society's sensibilities about what is proper for a woman so much that a big part of the girls' training is basically a charm school, and that as players the women actually have curfews and places like bars that are off limits to them due to publicity, as though they were minors or gentle flowers that need protection.
And now let me talk about Oregonian sisters Dottie and Kit, specifically Kit. Kit has talent. Kit has beauty. She just doesn't have as much as her sister. She definitely shows the audience how to be both a bad winner and a bad loser and just how much jealousy can make anybody ugly inside and out. And now the debate on the ending - that has been rehashed endlessly. I'll just say what I THINK happened makes me furious, because if I'm right then one person let an entire team down just to give another person who was green with envy a false victory in the hope that it would give them a lifetime of confidence. I know this is just a movie, but envy is a condition that is not cured by an external victory, earned or not. It can only be cured by a person changing their viewpoint, that THEY are responsible for their lives and actions. Give a jealous person one victory today and this time next year it will just be something else they feel is unfair and responsible for their misery.
I highly recommend this one. It is almost perfect on every level, even the soundtrack!