Great athlete but a poor sportsman on and off the diamond
Added 9/5/2009
Tommy Lee Jones was superb in playing the great but infamous Tyrus Raymond Cobb. He was without question a great ball player, but he was a surly, misanthropic, pathetic, nasty old codger of a bastard- rotten to the core! He was a racist, sexist, drunkard, and terminally ill. This movie is not about baseball per se, but a character study of Ty Cobb as a man in his twilight days rather than the athlete. His biographer is the noteworthy Al Stump (played immaculately by Robert Wuhl), who was initially intrigued by the offer to write Cobb's autobiography, but on the first day he arrived at the house, the fascination wore off due to the warning of Ty's former caretaker, and the actions that ensued shortly thereafter. Even though I as a black man found the racism of Ty Cobb to be offensive, there were a number of times one cannot help but to laugh at the cracks and antics of this lousy, testy old geezer. Robert Wuhl's Al Stump found himself to assume both roles as biograhper and perhaps his reluctant caretaker. While in the process, Al is torn between writing about Ty Cobb the diamond legend and Ty Cobb the terrible, wretched soul. There were times in the film where one would pity Ty Cobb rather than rightfully resent the hell out of him. There were other actors who I thought did a brilliant job in supporting roles. First I say that Lou Myers (who played Willie the caretaker)did an excellent job; though his role was short, I like how he stood up to Ty's insults and abuse by dishing out some of his own (which I though were funny, too). It was the beginning of the 1960s, as the civil rights movement was gaining momentum and blacks were becoming more assertive and less deferential to whites who treated them like dirt. Lolita Davidovich did pretty good as Ramona, who fascinates both Al and Ty. The reason I bought this film was I wanted to learn why such a great athlete like the Georgia Peach could be such a hateful man. If you like biographies of any sort, please get this in your library!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Great service
Added 5/13/2009
They did a great job the movie came earlier then estimated and exactly the way they said it would be I would buy from them anytime
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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The best sports movie I've seen
Added 1/7/2009
Sure you have movies like the Natural and the Field of Dreams, but Cobb is one of those movies you will remember for a lifetime! It doesn't touch your heart like The Sandlot but Cobb is a movie to remember. I urge everyone to watch this movie, even if your not a baseball fan. Just remember one thing: "Ty Cobb is Baseball!"
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Dark and unsympathetic biopic of baseball great Ty Cobb
Added 9/17/2008
Ty Cobb was certainly one of the greatest ballplayers to ever put on cleats, but this film does not him justice. As a historical biopic it falls far short. Cobb comes across without a shred of humanity and is dislikeable from his first appearance. This really isn't a baseball story per se, it's more of a character study with a baseball backdrop. The story starts near the end of Cobb's life as reporter Al Stump is summoned to Cobb's Tahoe hunting lodge to write the life story of the great ball player (all of which is based on a true story and you can find Stump's books on Amazon). The vast majority of the movie is spent on the interplay between Stump and Cobb as Stump (and the audience) discover what kind of man Cobb really is (and it ain't pretty). Throughout the film we get a few vignettes of Cobb's life, his career in baseball, his early upbringing, the accidental (?) slaying of his father by his mother, but we basically learn that Cobb was a drunken, racist pig. Stump is torn as to whether to write the hero-worship story that Cobb wants, or whether to write the true-to-life story that presents Cobb to the public as he really is, warts and all.
There is a lot to like about this film. The performances of both Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Wuhl (who is the main character in the tale in spite of the title and billing) are outstanding. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this is probably one of Tommy Lee Jones' best performances in his long and varied career. He convincingly makes Cobb dislikable from the get go. Roger Clemens makes a guest appearance as well. In this film, Cobb represents everything that is wrong with professional athletes. The arrogance, the sense of self-indulgence and self-aggrandizement. They are only baseball players, and batting titles in the grand scheme of things aren't that important. Cobb may be rich and famous, but I wouldn't want to have lived his life. If even half this film is true, he must have been a pretty sorry man. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge baseball fan, but some (many) pro athletes lose perspective, and the man presented in Cobb took this to the extreme.
The faults of this film are many, however. The story bounces along as Cobb commits one outrageous, druken, racist act after another, becoming more despicable to the audience. In fact, the story is essentially the same series of scenes repeated throughout the film. Stump/Wuhl is torn about the story he wants to write, Cobb commits another self-indulgent, offfensive act, Stump and Wuhl argue about it, then patch things up and it happens again. The film really drags at times. Additionally, for a film purportedly about one of the early stars of baseball, you'll learn almost nothing about Cobb as a player, and even less about the dead-ball era in baseball more generally. This film is largely a character study, and I would have liked to know more about Cobb's baseball days. Don't be misled thinking that this film is largely about Cobb's playing days, because it isn't. This is a decent film that even a non-baseball fan can enjoy as a rental. No need to add this to your collection though, even a hardcore baseball aficiando isn't likely to be watching this over and over.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Like Being Spiked By A Runner Swiping Third Base
Added 6/17/2008
Ty Cobb was no angel in the outfield and writer/director Ron Shelton delivers a masterpiece on one of the most respected and reviled professional athletes ever.
Tommy Lee Jones portrays Cobb in this no-holds-barred account of his final years, as cancer was destroying the "Georgia Peach" from the inside and his vile, crazed actions shredded any grudging respect that a controversial, all-time great should receive in the ninth-inning of life.
Cobb biographer Al Stump is played by Robert Wuhl. Stump is as much a confidant as a writer attempting to piece together the real story from fiction, fact and fear fueled by Cobb's unstable rantings - oftentimes induced through a prodigious consumption of alcohol.
At one point, in a rambling diatribe, Jones belts out the line, "Life's too short to be a diplomat." And that was Cobb coming in spikes-high into third base...on the diamond of life.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Great athlete but a poor sportsman on and off the diamond
Added 9/5/2009
Tommy Lee Jones was superb in playing the great but infamous Tyrus Raymond Cobb. He was without question a great ball player, but he was a surly, misanthropic, pathetic, nasty old codger of a bastard- rotten to the core! He was a racist, sexist, drunkard, and terminally ill. This movie is not about baseball per se, but a character study of Ty Cobb as a man in his twilight days rather than the athlete. His biographer is the noteworthy Al Stump (played immaculately by Robert Wuhl), who was initially intrigued by the offer to write Cobb's autobiography, but on the first day he arrived at the house, the fascination wore off due to the warning of Ty's former caretaker, and the actions that ensued shortly thereafter. Even though I as a black man found the racism of Ty Cobb to be offensive, there were a number of times one cannot help but to laugh at the cracks and antics of this lousy, testy old geezer. Robert Wuhl's Al Stump found himself to assume both roles as biograhper and perhaps his reluctant caretaker. While in the process, Al is torn between writing about Ty Cobb the diamond legend and Ty Cobb the terrible, wretched soul. There were times in the film where one would pity Ty Cobb rather than rightfully resent the hell out of him. There were other actors who I thought did a brilliant job in supporting roles. First I say that Lou Myers (who played Willie the caretaker)did an excellent job; though his role was short, I like how he stood up to Ty's insults and abuse by dishing out some of his own (which I though were funny, too). It was the beginning of the 1960s, as the civil rights movement was gaining momentum and blacks were becoming more assertive and less deferential to whites who treated them like dirt. Lolita Davidovich did pretty good as Ramona, who fascinates both Al and Ty. The reason I bought this film was I wanted to learn why such a great athlete like the Georgia Peach could be such a hateful man. If you like biographies of any sort, please get this in your library!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Great service
Added 5/13/2009
They did a great job the movie came earlier then estimated and exactly the way they said it would be I would buy from them anytime
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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The best sports movie I've seen
Added 1/7/2009
Sure you have movies like the Natural and the Field of Dreams, but Cobb is one of those movies you will remember for a lifetime! It doesn't touch your heart like The Sandlot but Cobb is a movie to remember. I urge everyone to watch this movie, even if your not a baseball fan. Just remember one thing: "Ty Cobb is Baseball!"
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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