Cert 12A
128 mins
BBFC advice: Contains racist language
Of all sports, baseball tends to lend itself best to film.
And I write that as someone who has only ever seen one baseball game live (at Baltimore Orioles stadium in 2003).
Despite my lack of knowledge I have lapped up Field Of Dreams, Bull Durham, A League Of Their Own and even The Babe.
On the flip side, I have never seen a good movie about my first love, football (soccer).
Anyway, the chances were that I was always going to have a soft spot for 42 but Brian Helgeland's true story easily outweighed my expectations.
In particular it is worth watching for a surprisingly engaging performance by dear old Harrison Ford.
I've been a fan of his movies over the years but never thought he had much of a range as an actor.
Here, he is scarcely recognisably as Branch Rickey the craggy and outspoken post-war owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Rickey took the brave step of introducing the first black player into the major league in the shape of Jack Robinson (Chadwick Boseman).
Robinson is a bristling, fleet-footed player who has to take abuse from all sides as he pushes back the all-white boundaries with Rickey's sponsorship.
Boseman is excellent as Robinson who Rickey convinces to turn the other cheek despite appalling racism.
Thus, he becomes a talisman not only for black ball players but the whole of the black community.
There is decent action in 42 but while the baseball ebbs and flows through the film, politics hits it like a tsunami.
The BBFC advice warns of the racist language which made me wince many times but was absolutely essential in demonstrating the huge barriers to Robinson playing for the Dodgers.
Regardless, 42 is a absorbing picture and I am surprised it is not on wider release. We travelled to Sheffield Cineworld to see it.
Laughs: two
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 8.5/10