Full disclosure, I’m not a baseball fan. The so-called ‘national pastime’ has never interested me and in fact I find it pretty darned boring. However, movies about baseball appeal to me. I love “The Natural” and like many enjoyed “Field of Dreams” so no surprise then that I truly liked “A League of Their Own”. This film tells the story of the women’s baseball league created in the early 1940’s to fill the void when many male professional players hung up their mitts and entered the service during WWII.

The cast is excellent starring Geena Davis as Dottie Hinson, a talented catcher and hitter and Tom Hanks as Jimmy Dugan, a washed up alcoholic ex-big leaguer who has been hired as their coach. Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell also appear as members of the team and John Lovitz makes the most of a short lived part as an obnoxious baseball scout. Directed by Penny Marshall the movie is a delight and has plenty of laughs and captures the era very nicely.

I heartily recommend “A Leauge of Their Own” to anyone even if they’re not sports fans. It’s just as much a story about women overcoming sexism and bonding together as it is about baseball. Nothing blows up, nobody is killed, there’s only a little rough language, there aren’t any superheroes to be seen; instead you get witty writing and an inspiring movie. The DVD does not offer any special features so be aware if that's important to you. Not sure why it took me 28 years to get around to seeing it but I’m glad that I finally did and you will be too if you have never seen it.

Geena Davis is a very appealing actress. This makes it harder to discern what an awful person her character in this movie is. But at the very beginning of this movie we are given a strong hint. Dottie, played by Davis, is going on a trip and admonishes her young grandchildren thusly: to the older one she says, you’re older so be kind to your little brother; to the younger, referring to the basketball game they are playing, she says “kill him”. This passes quickly, but it should give the viewer a warning.

For context, this movie takes place during World War II, when Major League baseball was curtailed as many of the players were drafted or enlisted. To fill the void, girls’ teams were recruited. (I call them girls, although they were grown women, some of them married, because that’s how they are called and treated in this movie, even being required to wear, not normal baseball uniforms, but very short skirts like cheerleaders.) We follow the teams, and especially Dottie and her younger sister Kit. We see, as does everyone in the movie, that the sisters have a troubled relationship, Kit intensely jealous of her older sister because Dottie is taller, prettier, a much better athlete, and married to a very good looking young man (he’s abroad in the Army).

In my reviews, I take great pains to avoid spoilers, but reviewing the most significant parts of this movie requires spoilers. So if you have not yet seen this movie, and intend to, please don’t read further until you have seen it.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Dottie is the star catcher and hitter for her team. Kit pitches but doesn’t hit so well. Their team, the Peaches, does well enough to reach the World Series. By that time, Dottie has left for home with her husband who has been discharged due to injury, and Kit has been traded to another team. In the World Series the games are tied 3-3, so we see the final deciding game. As the Peaches are taking the field, Dottie turns up suited to catch. The manager, Jimmy (Tom Hanks), is totally surprised, but says, OK, she can catch.

Now right here, the film both becomes ridiculous and loses its moral compass. In organized baseball at any level, the number of players allowed to a team is fixed and published. Dottie, who did not play in the first 6 games, is obviously not on the roster. If Jimmy wants to add her to the roster, he cannot just allow her to take her position, he must inform the lead umpire of the change – that is, who is being removed from the roster, and who added. This will then be announced over the PA system so people in the stands can correct their programs. Jimmy does not do this. He just lets her catch; not possible.

But consider the moral issue. What happens to the girl who was scheduled to catch? Undoubtedly her family and friends have traveled from afar to watch her catch the seventh game in a World Series. How does she explain the change to them? At this point, one can only conclude that the manager is a monster – but Tom Hanks can’t be a monster, so what is happening?

Even worse, Dottie’s sister, Kit, is pitching for the opposing team. Will Dottie, knowing Kit’s inferiority complex, be willing to hit a home run against her, making her removal likely? If Jimmy wants to add Dottie as a potential pinch hitter or perhaps substitute if the scheduled catcher is injured or otherwise needs to be replaced, and can spare someone else, perhaps this would make sense. But as it is done, it is not only outrageously unfair and unfeeling, it is virtually suicidal. I have coached baseball teams in summer camps, and I would never allow anything like this to happen, and neither would any of the coaches on the teams we opposed.

Then we come to the ultimate absurdity, meant to manipulate our heartstrings, but rather exploiting them. It is the end of the last inning with the score tied. Kit is the batter. It is of course the job of the catcher to help the pitcher get the batter out, and if the batter should get a hit, to cover home base if needed. At this point, Jimmy surely must replace Dottie as catcher; and unless Jimmy has taken his scheduled catcher off the roster, she is available. Instead, he allows Dottie to catch. Kit gets a long hit, and then there is the play at the plate – Dottie has the ball on time and tags Kit but then drops the ball so Kit is safe and her team wins and Dottie’s team loses. The sisters now are reconciled and hug in the lolcker room and say how much they love each other.

I should add that at several points in the movie, Dottie is shown catching balls with her bare hand, which astonishes her teammates; Dottie never drops a ball. In other words, to save her sister’s feelings, Dottie throws the game, betraying her teammates and their families and friends in the stands, and the manager and owner of her team, and anyone who has bet on the outcome. There is no greater crime in sports than throwing a game, no matter what the incentive. The final scene is many years later, when the girls are all invited to the baseball Hall of Fame. Dottie is greeted with hugs and smiles; not remotely credible.

The first half of this movie is quite good, some scenes even moving. But this ending totally spoiled this movie for me. I shouted at the TV set and was tempted to throw it out the window, but I own the set and the window, so all I did was fume for several hours and then write this review.

A League of Their Own is two hours and ten minutes and was released in theaters on July 1, 1992. The movie tells the story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. There are some truths to this movie first all the players had to go the charm and beauty school. Two unlike the movie the league was poplar in the Midwest due to a lack of professional baseball teams and television and television would be the main reason the league folded. Some other footnotes about the film is that director Penny Marshall had tryouts for the movie, if you did know how to play baseball, no matter how big a star you were, you did not get cast. Though the movie is not a true historical film of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League it does a good job of drawing a picture of what is was like for the ball players. A League of Their Own gets an AAAAA+++++

DVD Extras

1. Chapter Selections
2. Spoken Languages
a. English Dolby Surround
b. Spanish
c. French
3. Subtitles
a. Spanish
b. Korean
c. Subtitles Off

During World War II when so many men went off to war including many star athletes the idea was birthed to have a professional female baseball league. That’s the basis of A League Of Their Own. While being a comedy the main theme is women’s rights

The first thing the women considered for the league have to contend with is sexism. Jon Lovitz as Ernie Capadino is sent out to scout women who might be able to play. One of his criteria is that they have to look good because one of the draws of the league won’t just be baseball, but eye candy for men. Second, the league will have the women play in skirts to again show off their bodies. Third, they’re given etiquette lessons so that they act like proper women. Last, each one has their looks modified so that they look prettier. These all arose out of the fact that the baseball league was created by and for men. They wanted women to look at just as much as to see them play. The players therefore had to fit the stereotypes of women that men had for them. Their athletic skills were secondary.

it’s against this background that women have to play. That’s what the majority of the film is about the women proving themselves as baseball players. They have to go through the cat calling, the low attendance, the doubts, etc. The movie is about how they persevered.
C

This movie was divine. Acting superb, even Rosie O'Donnell and Madonna did a great job. A true story of one of the first women\s baseball clubs. Geena Davis was catcher and a heck of a ball player. Her sister Lori Petty was a dynamite hitter. the movie was very moving in some places and hilariously funny in others. Two scenes are memorable. Tom Hanks plays the manager perfectly - in the playoffs tensions are high and out of the corner of his eye he sees one of his key players crying and he says "Are you crying!!!" There's no crying in baseball.!!!" Another memorable scene was in the ninth with minutes to play and Geena Davis puts her arm up with NO glove and catches the ball .. magnificen!!! Great scene. Loved this movie!!!

Decent story here, marred by an abundance of crude humor and adolescent attitudes and behaviors exhibited by many of the adults. If this movie had actually been released in the 1940s, it would have been condemned for its vulgar humor, leering and licentious attitudes, and revealing costumes. But the movie is a product of the 1990s, and the relentlessly low moral tone becomes tiresome, constantly surrounding the viewer with drunken, crude, loudmouthed characters that are less interesting by far than the quieter characters who might want to live normal, stable lives. I'd have found a 1940s version of this movie more likeable.

I absolutely love this movie. I grew up playing softball and in a family who played and loved baseball. Even if you don’t love the sport this story is heartfelt, hilarious, and totally worth watching.
Actors are excellent and who doesn’t love Tom Hanks and Geena Davis. All the women are memorable and can actually play baseball. No CGI and the focus is on the team the love of the game and the challenges they face during a time of war.
To me it’s timeless to me. I first saw it as a teenager and I’m in my 40’s now.
It’s sentimental to me all these years later and seems timeless. It will make you smile, laugh, and maybe even cry and touch your heart which is rare with movies now. A must see.

Kudos to Penny Marshall who fought all the way for this movie, who fought to only have actresses who could actually play baseball, and who fought to end the movie with the real life women players. An amazing piece of Americana.