movie review 42 jackie robinson

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Movie Review

That Rookie at First Is in a New Position

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By A.O. Scott

• April 11, 2013

Biographies of great athletes can be roughly sorted into three categories. There are hero-worshiping fables suitable for fourth-grade classrooms, scandalous feet-of-clay exposés and, rarest of all, narratives that link sports with significant, nonathletic historical events and social issues. In America those events and issues almost always have to do with race, which makes the life of Jackie Robinson especially ripe for sweeping, comprehensive treatment.

But while “42,” Brian Helgeland’s new film about Robinson, gestures toward the complicated and painful history in which its subject was embroiled, it belongs, like most sports biopics, in the first category. It is blunt, simple and sentimental, using time-tested methods to teach a clear and rousing lesson.

In other hands — Spike Lee’s, let’s say, or even Clint Eastwood’s — “42” might have taken a tougher, more contentious look at the breaking of Major League Baseball’s color barrier. But Mr. Helgeland, whose previous directing credits include “Payback” and “A Knight’s Tale” (and who wrote “Blood Work” and “Mystic River,” speaking of Clint Eastwood), has honorably sacrificed the chance to make a great movie in the interest of making one that is accessible and inspiring. Though not accurate in every particular, the movie mostly succeeds in respecting the facts of history and the personality of its hero, and in reminding audiences why he mattered.

After a clumsy and didactic beginning — in which every scene ends with Mark Isham’s score screaming “This Is Important!” in Dolby — the movie settles into a solid, square rhythm. By then we have met Robinson, played with sly charm and a hint of stubborn prickliness by Chadwick Boseman.

A shortstop for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro leagues, a four-sport athlete at U.C.L.A. and a commissioned Army officer during World War II, Robinson has been selected by Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) to become the first African-American major leaguer of the modern era. After some time with the Dodgers’ minor-league affiliate in Montreal, Robinson, now married and with a baby (his wife, Rachel, is played by Nicole Beharie), starts at first base, wearing No. 42, for the Dodgers on opening day in 1947.

The story of what happened before and after that game has been told well before — in Arnold Rampersad’s biography and in parts of Ken Burns’s “Baseball,” for instance — but “42” does a good job of dramatizing the salient emotions of the moment and the racism that surrounded Robinson and every other black American of his time. To his credit Mr. Helgeland avoids the trap that so many depictions of the Jim Crow era fall into, which is to imply that racial prejudice was an individual or regional pathology rather than a national social norm.

So while there are a handful of snarling Southern bigots — most notably Ben Chapman (Alan Tudyk), the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies — their actions are treated not as exceptions to the rule but as especially ugly instances of it. Robinson is threatened and harassed by vigilantes and police officers in Florida during his first spring training, but white fans in the North, Brooklyn included, are hardly shy about showering him with boos and slurs when he takes the field.

The other players — including Robinson’s own teammates — are not much better. He is spiked by base runners and beaned by pitchers. A petition circulates in the Dodgers’ clubhouse demanding his removal from the team, and rival owners call Rickey demanding the same thing.

As I said: a well-known story. But it is useful for young viewers to have a look at the world their grandparents were born into, a world that is still frequently given, in movies and on television, a glow of nostalgic innocence.

Of course there was decency and courage as well, here embodied by Rickey, the Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca (Hamish Linklater) — one of the only Brooklyn players to shake Robinson’s hand when he first walks into the locker room — and the shortstop Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black), whose public embrace of Robinson before a game in Cincinnati is the emotional high point of the movie. But “42” does not give these men disproportionate credit for passing a fairly easy test of character that most of the country was proud to fail, and it does not pretend that Robinson’s story is really theirs.

His triumph is edged with bitterness and shadowed by profound loneliness. In spite of Rachel’s steadfast support and the enthusiasm of black fans, Robinson is surrounded by hostility and by people who, even if they are on his side, cannot begin to understand his experience. When Rickey describes his new player as “superhuman,” he is bestowing a curse in the form of praise, and identifying a paradox central to postwar racial politics. To be accepted as human, as equal to whites, the black pioneers of the era had to rise above all kinds of ordinary human temptations — to fight back, to show anger or fear — and become flawless exemplars of their race.

“42” not only identifies this burden but also surrenders to it. Robinson, the film’s undisputed hero, is in some ways its least interesting character. Rickey is a cigar-chomping, Scripture-spouting old coot; Leo Durocher (Christopher Meloni), the Dodgers’ manager, is a cynical womanizer who speaks in cracked aphorisms, while the radio broadcaster Red Barber (a wonderful John C. McGinley) extemporizes jewels of English prose.

In contrast, the main African-American figures in the story — Jackie, Rachel and the journalist Wendell Smith (Andre Holland) — seem a little stiff, unable to be themselves in their own story. Which may just be to say that the cultural transformation in which Jackie Robinson played a significant early role is still incomplete.

“42” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Some rough language, including racial epithets.

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Common Sense Media Review

Feel-good Jackie Robinson biopic is simplistic but positive.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that 42 is a feel-good biopic about the two years in which Major League Baseball legend Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) broke the sport's color barrier. It's not a complete biography, just a snapshot of the 1946 and 1947 seasons. Expect many (many) instances of White characters using…

Why Age 11+?

The "N" word and "boy" are used several times, particularly in a game against th

Adults drink in a couple of scenes. Smoking, particularly cigars.

Several kisses, a few more passionate than others. Two different scenes of coupl

A pitcher throws a baseball at someone's head and hits him (no lasting injury).

Dodge car, Budweiser ad, and a few other fleeting ads in baseball parks.

Any Positive Content?

In addition to its anti-racist message, 42 promotes the idea that it's

Jackie Robinson, as portrayed in 42 , demonstrates exceptional courage a

42 centers around an important moment of progress in American civil rig

Parents need to know that 42 is a feel-good biopic about the two years in which Major League Baseball legend Jackie Robinson ( Chadwick Boseman ) broke the sport's color barrier. It's not a complete biography, just a snapshot of the 1946 and 1947 seasons. Expect many (many) instances of White characters using the "N" word and other racial slurs, including "boy," "monkey," and "coon"; other language includes "s--t" and "a--hole." A White man threatens Black men by saying that he and a group of other White men will cause "trouble" if they don't leave town. A calf injury is shown being stitched up by a doctor (no blood visible). Fistfights nearly break out; a man is hit in the head with a baseball (no lasting injury). Several kisses, a few more passionate than others. Couples shown in a bedroom or in bed together, talking and embracing (men shirtless, women in chemises). Adults infrequently drink and smoke.The movie spotlights an important moment in American and civil rights history.

To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

The "N" word and "boy" are used several times, particularly in a game against the Phillies, in which a White team manager incessantly ridicules Robinson and calls him epithets like "coon," "monkey," and many others. "Negro" and "colored" are used as neutral terms to describe Black people. Also a couple of uses of "s--t," "a--hole," "hell," "son of a bitch," "damn," "goddamn," and "ass." Ableist language includes "What are you, deaf?"

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Several kisses, a few more passionate than others. Two different scenes of couples in a bedroom or in bed together, talking and embracing (men shirtless, women in chemises). It's later revealed that one of these couples was having an extramarital affair.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

A pitcher throws a baseball at someone's head and hits him (no lasting injury). Teammates nearly go fist-to-fist but are stopped by their fellow players. A White man threatens Black men by saying that he and a group of other White men will cause "trouble" if they don't leave town. One player spikes another in the calf; the wound is later shown being stitched up by a doctor (no blood visible). A character screams in frustration and breaks his bat against a wall. Almost all of this violence is racially motivated, which adds psychological distress to these physical acts of harm.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

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Positive messages.

In addition to its anti-racist message, 42 promotes the idea that it's worth being considered an outcast to stand up for something important.

Positive Role Models

Jackie Robinson, as portrayed in 42 , demonstrates exceptional courage and self-control in the face of virulent racism. He doesn't engage people who ridicule him, nor does he ever instigate any conflicts. Branch Rickey is shown as a man of faith and wisdom who knew he was breaking the "color line" in his desire to integrate Major League Baseball. Rickey calls people out on their racism and makes the other players see why whatever inconveniences they faced pale in comparison to the abuse and the threats Jackie faces. Dodgers Pee Wee Reese, Ralph Branca, and Eddie Stanky come around to be supportive of Robinson, and at least some of the characters who exhibit racism are punished/penalized.

Diverse Representations

42 centers around an important moment of progress in American civil rights history. Black actor Chadwick Boseman shines as Robinson, even if the script does make him out to be more "perfect" than human. But the film is written and directed by a White man, and White saviors populate the story to varying degrees -- most notably manager Branch Rickey, who "discovers" Robinson and spends most of his screen time heroically defending the Black player against racists. Overall, the film's take on racism is shallow and takes too many pains to ensure that its viewers come away feeling good about this moment in time rather than curious about how racism still exists in major league sports. In other areas of representation, Robinson's wife is a cookie-cutter housewife who exists solely to root for her husband from the stands, get pregnant, have a baby, give her husband endless emotional support, and look immaculate while doing it.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update .

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (26)
• Kids say (78)

Based on 26 parent reviews

its amazing

What's the story.

In 42, in the aftermath of World War II, Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey ( Harrison Ford ) decides the time is right to recruit the first Black baseball player into Major League Baseball. After going through the stats on various noteworthy Negro League players, Rickey targets Jack "Jackie" Robinson ( Chadwick Boseman ), a 26-year-old player for the Kansas City Monarchs. Rickey offers Robinson a spot on the Dodgers' minor league team, the Montreal Royals, and then in 1947 officially gives him a place at bat with the Brooklyn Dodgers. With the support of his devoted wife, Rachel ( Nicole Beharie ), Robinson faces the racism of everyone from fellow players to umpires to opposing teams -- not to mention fans. But as he proves he's got what it takes to steal bases, hit homers, and score runs, teammates and fans have a change of heart.

Is It Any Good?

This isn't a perfect film, but it's entertaining and, by most accounts, historically accurate. But director Brian Helgeland definitely pulls a bit too hard at the heartstrings with slow-motion shots of little children and audiences watching Robinson play. As a result, 42 frequently teeters on the brink of being overly sentimental. Still, Boseman gives a wonderful performance as an amazing athlete, a loving husband/father, and a man who knows how to respond to racists and critics on the field, not with his fists.

Ford's performance is over the top and gets more screen time than strictly necessary for a biopic about a Black icon, but he believably portrays what drove Rickey's desire to integrate Major League Baseball: his business savvy (a Black player meant more Black fans) and his Christian principles (he's a Methodist who often compares Robinson's trials to those of Jesus). Ultimately, the biopic is about both men, perhaps to its detriment. Crowd-pleasing and uncomplicated, 42 isn't likely to win awards, but it's a great pick for families -- whether they love baseball or not.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about 42 's themes and messages. Why are Jackie Robinson's accomplishments so significant? Can you think of other athletes/public figures who've faced similar challenges?

How have profesisonal sports in the United States changed since the 1940s? Are some of the issues raised in the film still present?

Talk about the difference between a biographical film that covers an entire life and those that concentrate on one time period of a historical figure's life. Which do you prefer? Why?

Does this film have a " White savior complex" ? If so, how could the filmmakers have avoided this pitfall?

How does Jackie demonstrate courage and self-control ? Why are those important character strengths ?

Movie Details

• In theaters : April 12, 2013
• On DVD or streaming : July 16, 2013
• Cast : Alan Tudyk , Chadwick Boseman , Harrison Ford
• Director : Brian Helgeland
• Inclusion Information : Black actors
• Studio : Warner Bros.
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Sports and Martial Arts , Great Boy Role Models , History
• Character Strengths : Courage , Self-control
• Run time : 128 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : thematic elements including language
• Award : NAACP Image Award - NAACP Image Award Nominee
• Last updated : September 12, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

The Jackie Robinson Story

A League of Their Own

Field of Dreams

The Natural

Hidden Figures

Great sports movies, best baseball movies, related topics.

• Self-control
• Sports and Martial Arts
• Great Boy Role Models

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42: film review.

Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford provide engaging performances as Jackie Robinson and Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey in the Legendary/Warner Bros. drama about the man who broke MLB's color line.

By Todd McCarthy

Todd McCarthy

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42 Harrison Ford Chadwick Boseman - H 2013

Pretty when it should be gritty and grandiosely noble instead of just telling it like it was, 42 needlessly trumps up but still can’t entirely spoil one of the great American 20th century true-life stories, the breaking of major league baseball’s color line by Jackie Robinson . Whether in the deep South or the streets of Brooklyn, life here looks spiffy and well-scrubbed enough to appear in a department store window, while the soaring musical accompaniment seems to be stamping all the protagonists’ passports for immediate admission to that great ballpark in the sky. All the same, lead actors Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford cut through the artifice with engaging performances as Robinson and Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey , respectively, and audiences who don’t know much about the first black man to play professional baseball will be suitably impressed. Hit-starved Warner Bros. should be able to stir moderately good attendance domestically, although foreign prospects, as always with baseball yarns, are slight.

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PHOTOS: Take Me Out: Hollywood’s Best Baseball Movies

The Bottom Line A too self-consciously inspiring rendition of Jackie Robinson's genuinely inspiring accomplishment of breaking baseball's color barrier.

The key scene in 42 , just as it was in the low-budget 1950 The Jackie Robinson Story , which starred the ballplayer himself, comes when Rickey, warning his prospect about the abuse that inevitably awaits him, demands to know if he’s “got enough guts not to fight back” when provoked by other players or fans. Robinson was not the best player in the Negro Leagues, but he was reckoned to be the one who might best withstand the trial by fire posed by teammates who didn’t want to play with him and a society that often wouldn’t allow him to travel, eat or lodge with the rest of the team.

Needing a manageable window through which to dramatize a sports breakthrough fraught with racial, social, political and attitudinal meaning, this pet project of writer-director Brian Helgeland and producer Thomas Tull zeroes in on the years 1945-47, concluding with Robinson’s first year in the majors. Although there is quick mention of a sports career at UCLA (which, the film does not note, had the most integrated sports program of any school in the U.S. at the time) and a quick temper that earned him an Army court-martial, the 26-year-old member of the American Negro League Kansas City Monarchs seems like the picture of rectitude, a well-spoken young man with a lovely wife-to-be, Rachel ( Nicole Beharie ), and none of the wild traits of some of his teammates. PHOTOS: The Faces of The Dodgers: The New Blood and the Stalwarts

A religious man anxious to win as well as to integrate the league, Rickey first assigns Robinson to the Montreal Royals farm team. Spring training in Florida is no picnic; his manager and other players shun him, he’s unwelcome at the team hotel, forcing him to stay in a private home with a black family, and a good ol’ boy drives by to warn that some fellas will be coming by to “do something” about him. As Rickey has insisted, Robinson must speak only with his actions on the field of play, and so he does, hitting a homer on opening day in Jersey City, an accomplishment boldfaced and underlined by a script that insists upon having his manager then comment, “He might be superhuman after all.”

This is typical of the hyperbole and unnecessary inflation that infects the film as a whole. Rather than letting its hero’s accomplishments and behavior speak for themselves, Helgeland hammers home every achievement and then puts a halo around it, as if anyone won’t get it otherwise. The racist resistance Robinson confronted is pungently presented, especially in scenes of white Dodger teammates preparing a petition refusing to play with a black man and of Philadelphia Phillies manager Ben Chapman ( Alan Tudyk ) relentlessly taunting Robinson in the batter’s box with the n-word and every other epithet he can summon.

But these moments are almost invariably followed by immediate comeuppance for the perpetrators and victory for the stoical athlete, who receives reliable support not only from Rickey but from manager Leo Durocher (a live-wire Christopher Meloni ) and fellow players like shortstop Pee Wee Reese (a very good Lucas Black ) and pitcher Ralph Branca ( Hamish Linklater ), who, in a tricky scene, convinces his reluctant black friend that he should shower with the rest of the team.

42 , which takes its title from its subject’s uniform number (subsequently retired by all major league teams), gets into its best groove once Robinson, after one season in the minors, makes his big-league debut on April 15, 1947, at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field. Forced to play at the unfamiliar position of first base, Robinson inspires a wide range of reactions: embrace by black fans, skepticism from reporters and viciousness on the part of some opponents who deliberately throw at him, roughly slide into him and otherwise try to take him out of the game.

For his part, Robinson provides excitement with his daring base running and powerful hitting, which help the Dodgers, in his debut season, turn the tables on the previous year’s National League pennant winners, the St. Louis Cardinals, by finishing in first place. In the bargain, Robinson becomes the first recipient of a new baseball honor by being voted rookie of the year. Isn’t this victory enough, without all the triumphant blarings of Mark Isham ‘s mawkishly inspiring score and such bogus sights as Pittsburgh fans cheering when Robinson helps the Dodgers clinch the pennant while playing the Pirates? The film is so averse to bad news that it avoids mentioning that the Dodgers then lost the World Series to the Yankees.

VIDEO: ’42’ Trailer Teases Jackie Robinson’s Historic Journey

On the other hand, now-vanished stadiums, including those in Philadelphia and Cincinnati, as well as the Polo Grounds in the Bronx and Brooklyn’s own Ebbets Field, have been re-created more convincingly than in any previous films thanks to CGI adornments made to old Engel Stadium in Chattanooga. Other stadiums in the South were used for various spring training and Negro League games. A real affection for baseball and everything to do with it palpably permeates the film.

It’s a strange thing to say, but it’s true that Boseman is considerably more convincing playing Robinson than Robinson himself was in the 1950 film; when actors are sometimes derided for “just” playing themselves, there’s no recognition that this can be harder than it looks. Untrained and a bit shy in front of the camera, Robinson was pleasant enough but never forceful or dramatic. Sporting a charming lopsided smile, Boseman has the necessary appeal, proves convincing as an athlete and is expressive in spite of the fact that the man he’s playing must mostly keep his true feelings bottled up. For a long time, Robinson has no one to confide in except his wife, who’s often not around, and the sense persists that an opportunity was missed by not building up their relationship with more depth and complexity.

By contrast, it’s OK that Rickey in Helgeland’s script is a one-dimensional role; the whole man is not needed, just the committed integrationist and smart executive who knows just how to advise Robinson and keep him from exploding or imploding during the self-described “noble experiment.” Ford’s engaging performance is part-caricature and part-ingratiating father figure who knows just what to say in any crisis.

A particularly eye-and-ear-catching turn is given by John C. McGinley as the Dodgers’s legendary radio announcer Red Barber .

As one of the last century’s most inspiring and literally game-changing personal sagas, Jackie Robinson’s life can hardly help but be stirring and will no doubt impress many younger viewers, some of whom may be completely unfamiliar with his story. It’s just too bad that Helgeland can’t go for broke and get his uniform as dirty as Jackie Robinson used to do.

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