A League of Their Own
A League of Their Own
PG | 01 July 1992 (USA)
A League of Their Own Trailers

As America's stock of athletic young men is depleted during World War II, a professional all-female baseball league springs up in the Midwest, funded by publicity-hungry candy maker Walter Harvey. Competitive sisters Dottie Hinson and Kit Keller spar with each other, scout Ernie Capadino and grumpy has-been coach Jimmy Dugan on their way to fame.

Reviews
Mike LeMar

Good movie except for that I'm lost about Doris' attitude. She feels for Evelyn crying about the coach yelling at her for missing her cutoff man, pointing him to the hall to the locker room when the ump tosses him, and then walks by the dugout and makes fun of Kit for not being able to finish the game. Not only that but Kit understandably retaliates by nailing her in the head with her glove, only for HER to take offense for some reason by firing her water in her face. She insists Kit "not start with her" when Kit pursues her. How in the world is Kit starting with her? Is Doris on drugs? Finally, the coach hauls KIT off to the showers to "cool off" after brawling with her. So again, I'm lost.

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mattkratz

If you like feel-good sports movies, then you will love this movie. It features an all-woman baseball team after all the men are drafted into World War II. It features a perfect cast (especially Tom Hanks as the manager in his "comeback" role and Geena Davis, Rosie O'Donnell, and Madonna), good characters, humor, drama, and sports action. I loved the bratty little kid and the urination scene, as well as all the game scenes. Unforgettable line:"There's no crying in baseball!" This is the type of movie you will want to watch over and over again and enjoy it each time! You will like each character,each scene, and just about everything about this movie. *** out of ****

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kols

Finally, after 20+ years, I recorded and watched what I thought was going to be a middling Tom Hanks comedy. Reason for that was the trailers I'd seen hundreds of times: "Crying. There's no crying in baseball!"What I saw was a movie that should have been allowed to give Unforgiven serious competition for Best Picture and Geena Davis an Oscar for Best Actress in a leading role. Apparently I wasn't the only one fooled by those trailers.Penny Marshall's movie is a brilliant, beautifully crafted homage to a little remembered period when, just as Rosie became a riveter, numbers of talented women filled in for their men as ball players. Proving, like Rosie, they were every bit as capable as the absent males.More than that, of course, is the broader theme of the individual refusing to buckle under to social conventions. A very common American theme with Marshall's contribution ranking with the best of its expositions. Pretty good as a Baseball pic, too.It is a long movie, over 2 hours, but, despite the simplicity of the story, it doesn't play like two hours. From the first scene you (or at least I) fall in love with the screen and time becomes meaningless.Two people, supported by a strong supporting cast, are responsible: Peggy Marshall and Geena Davis. Marshall and her editor crafted a truly remarkable piece of cinematography that may be perfect; not a clang or misstep anywhere.Such movies need glue to make it all hang together and that's where Davis comes in: though brilliantly supported, without Davis the whole house would have failed. League is very much Geena Davis' movie, she's the one who puts flesh to the bones of Penny Marshall's vision.As Americans we love and should love movies like this, these celebrations of the best of our values, of how hundreds of women kept a league of their own alive for ten years.That achievement was quickly forgotten, buried in the reactionary conservatism of the '50s, which should anger us, but that anger can easily be tempered by Marshall's rediscovery and loving treatment of their story.For all of that seriousness, League is a successful comedy and fun to watch while, also successfully, demonstrating both how far we've come and how far yet to go.A large part of that 'yet to go' are those trailers that made me think that League was a Tom Hanks movie. It isn't; Hanks is almost a tertiary figure. Davis and the supporting cast, all women, are the Stars. Hanks character, Jimmy Dugan, is important and, especially at the last, honored but, as the movie unfolds, more comic relief than mover. Very much a second fiddle; to his credit, Hanks plays that fiddle masterfully.However, the fact that the distributors felt the need to exaggerate his presence to the point of ridiculousness speaks volumes about how, even in 1992, we weren't ready to embrace a movie by women about women. The Oscar's Nominating Committee's failure to recognize League as the masterpiece it is stamps paid to that point.As a movie, judged by objective cinematic standards, League should rank with the best of the best.

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Marc Israel

Let me start out by saying that A League Of Their Own is a fun movie. Geena Davis fulfills the role of "baseball dolly" and seems believable while Tom Hanks as washed up coach plays to the crown to everyones delight. Is there anyone out there who doesn't know that there's no crying in baseball? Even the Jon Lovitz scout was peppered with great one-liners and lovable schmaltz. Unfortunately the rest of the movie is unlovable schmaltz. The sports scenes seemed to be created for TV, as if it didn't matter if the positioning of balls, catches and players made no sense. The pushing of Madonna gave us one current pop culture moment from Rosie (I'm supposed to be an athlete, but maybe nobody noticed that I don't belong) O'Donnel stating, Mae, do you think there's any man left in America who hasn't seen your bosoms? Penny Marshall handled some scenes that worked and others that felt like Happy Days. Maybe it was her father on the set, but this plays like a "Laverne and Shirley" extended episode.

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