“The only music I make…is with my bat.” – Roy Hobbs, The Natural
I watched 61* last night, an underrated baseball movie that I enjoy immensely. One of the more disappointing aspects of this particular made-for-cable baseball flick is that director Billy Crystal is just a little too attached to the subject matter, so things tend to get a little emotionally exaggerated.
Where Crystal excelled however, is in his casting choices for Mickey Mantle (Thomas Jane) and Roger Maris (Barry Pepper). Jane nails the Mick’s charisma and his painful, self-destructive streak, while Pepper exudes the transition in Maris from Midwestern wallflower to anti-media recluse.