A League of Their Own (1992)

[baumer]

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[baumer]

One of the great things about doing THABOS is I get to go back in time and reconnect with some of my favourite films from years gone by.  And this allows me to watch some of them again for the first time in a very long time.  A League of Their Own is one film I loved as a 20 year old and still love to this day.  

 

It's the early 1940s and World War is in full swing. With most American males, including famous baseball players, going off to war, a plan is made to keep the baseball industry going by drafting women to entertain folks until the men return from war.  Enter Dotti Henson and Kit Kellar, two sisters who battle each other both at their home on the farm and on the ball field. Kit, a decent pitcher at best, feels as though she's constantly in the shadow of her older, married, more athletic and all-around better sister, Dotti. During the girls' struggle to see who can truly be "The Best," we meet many colorful characters, including Jimmy Duggan (a brilliant Tom Hanks), coach of the Rockford Peaches, the team Kit and Dotti play for. 

 

Penny Marshall had some good hits to her name when she was making movies and along with Jumping Jack Flash, this is her opus.   Geena Davis, Hanks, and Lori Petty shine in their leading roles, while Rosie O'Donnell, Madonna, and David Strathairn are brilliant as the supporting cast. This timeless piece of cinematography will pull at your heartstrings in ways you've not felt in a long time. 

 

It's also a very sombre film in some ways accentuated by a scene where one of the girls gets a letter informing her that her husband has been killed in action.  But first and foremost this is a comedy and it's one of the very best.  Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz provide most of the comedy.  Lovitz has some of the best one liners you'll ever hear.  At the beginning when the girls are waiting to get on the train, an annoyed Lovitz looks at them and in a deadpan delivery tells them, "See how it works is, the train moves, not the station."  And of course you have the famous, "There's no crying....there's no crying in baseball."

 

A League of Their Own is loosely based on a true story and it's the kind of film everyone should see, imo.  Even @Emperor Tele-Limai can't hate this film.  

 

9/10