absolutely astounding film

Only reason I don't give it the full 10 is the need to include the obligatory "feelings" scene. I'd really like to ask Crystal if he ever wished he would've left that on the editing floor.

But other than that, this film is absolutely jaw-dropping in its accuracy and lack of fakeness. If you know Crystal, you know he absolutely exudes a total love for the game, and it shows. It appears that he simply refused to let any false notes in. Sports movies pretty much always have fake-looking scenes, stars who can't really be taught to throw a ball or swing a club, or whatever, accents that aren't quite right, guys who don't seem to move and talk in the way actual players do. As a former (actually lifelong) athlete and coach myself -- and most of us spot this kind of stuff a mile away, and are accused of being hypercritical about sports films because of it -- I am just floored by how well this film avoids all that. It's the gold standard, as far as I'm concerned. Platinum, actually.

The likenesses of the actors, too, are just stunning. Unbelievable, actually. I think I actually drew a big breath and blinked my eyes a couple of times when I first saw Thomas Jane on the film as Mantle (I'd already seen posters of Barry Pepper -- who has quietly compiled a really amazing resume as an actor -- as Maris). Jane has a slightly narrower face than Mantle, but dang...other than that, the mannerisms, the accent, everything is just crazy good. And Pepper, who looks like he got in serious athletic shape for the film, has that lean-athlete look and a face that really does recall Maris' face. Then there's Berra and the others...man. It's quite a re-creation.

(Even Jane's accent works, which amazes me. Southern accents in particular are routinely screwed up by actors and directors who have no idea how people in the flyover states sound; to them, an Oklahoman sounds like a Louisianan, who sounds like a North Carolinian. All the same. But of course they don't really. And speaking as a West Coaster whose mother came from just across the Kansas line from where Mantle grew up, and who also is married to an Oklahoman, this accent is very close to spot-on, so much so that I actually though Jane might be from Oklahoma, or maybe north Texas or western Arkansas, somewhere in the general area. But no, he's from Maryland. I also thought he was probably a pretty good baseball player, but...it turns out he actually never played before getting the role here. You won't believe it when you see the film.)

So yeah...the players can play, virtually nothing looks even a little bit fake...it's unprecedented among sports movies, IMHO.

But it's not just that it's well-done at a technical and athletic level. It's a worthy subject, too, if you know anything about Maris' run for the record and all the crap that got attached to it. It's real human drama about a subject more complex than you might think. The characterizations are worthy of the real humans represented in the film, and by all worthwhile accounts (you'll know this if you love the game and have read much about these guys), they're accurate.

It's really hard to find enough good things to say about the film. Honestly.

One word about the language: If you read through these boards, you'll see the typical "should I let my kid watch this?" posts, along with the usual "stop being such a Puritan, you should let your 8-year-old hear the F word a hundred times or you're just an old f@#$ yourself" kind of stuff. Truth is, there is some strong language here, and some of us aren't so comfortable with kids hearing it. If you want to let your kid hear it, fine, but spare the lectures about it. Yes, kids have "heard those words before," or most kids have. Most kids have heard of child murder and sexual abuse, too, and I'm not going to let them watch films about that, either. So it's a false standard. If you're OK with it, it's your business. If others of us aren't, that's our business. But just sticking to the facts, it's true that there is some strong profanity in the film. It isn't pervasive; it is absolutely in keeping with how athletes talk in locker rooms and so forth, and with what vulgar fans yell at athletes; but the point is, it's there.

And one last thing: Don't miss the "making of" feature on the DVD. I usually skip those, but this is the rare one that's really worth it.