42

For the first time in a long time I’m scared to go see a movie.

Considering that the film 42 is supposed to be the uplifting tale of Jackie Robinson breaking down the color barrier in sports my fear appears to be irrational. Since Robinson was one of sports iconic pioneers there is no way I should be nervous about how Hollywood retells his tale.

However, the gravity of Robinson’s life off the field and his accomplishments on it cannot be fully measured in a two hour time frame. My fear is that 42 will not adequately capture everything that was Jackie Robinson, thereby belittling his accomplishments.

I’ve never hoped to be wrong this much before.

If someone really wants to make a feature film about Robinson, they would be better served doing one on his whole life rather than just his major league debut.

There was so much more to the life of Jackie Robinson than just that day on April 15, 1947. Robinson was a four sport athlete in college, and his best sport was track not baseball.Robinson was also the first black baseball analyst for ABC after his hall of fame career drew to a close. Yet 42 could pass these factoids up altogether even though they were part of his life.

This film’s potential shortcoming will likely not be due to a lack of preparation by the cast.

Harrison Ford has spent a lot of time researching the role of Branch Rickey, the Dodgers general manager who signed Robinson, and supposedly he’s worried about exposing the horrid racism Robinson dealt with during the early phases of his career.

Ford told wickedlocal.com “This movie is about Racial Equality in the United States…people that will go forward in their lives and their experiences and recognize that this is something to be worked against, this is something they don’t want their children exposed to. They recognize both the truth in it and the undeniable evil of it.”

If Ford and the film’s makers really wanted to show racism in Robinson’s life they would also be forced to include a few episodes during his military service.

Robinson was drafted in 1942 and became a second lieutenant in 1943 after completing officer candidate school. Robinson was assigned to the 761^st “Black Panthers” Tank Battalion. The Black Panthers unit went on to become the first black tank unit to see action in World War II; yet Robinson was not among them.

On July 6, 1944 Robinson boarded an Army bus with an injured ankle and the bus driver ordered him to go to the back of the bus; even though the bus line was not segregated.

When the bus reached the end of the line, the driver summoned the military police and they took Robinson into custody. When Robinson confronted the investigating officer about a racist line of questioning, the investigating officer ordered Robinson to be court marshaled.

Robinson’s commander, Paul B. Yates, refused to acknowledge the court marshal, bur Robinson was transferred. Upon relocation Robinson’s new battalion commander charged him with public drunkenness, even though Robinson did not drink.

 If 42 actually were the “Jackie Robinson Story” it would include that tidbit because it would give a more complete picture of both Robinson’s life and racism at that time.

Racism was there long before Robinson was a Dodger and it didn’t end when his career was over.

Yet because the film will be roughly two hours long, it could make an audience feel that Robinson single handedly killed racism with a baseball bat; which is historically inaccurate.

Also racism was still very much alive in the world of sports after Robinson’s debut. The last team to sign a black player in baseball was the Boston Red Sox in 1959; 12 years after Robinson shattered the color barrier in sports. (Ironically the Boston Celtics drafted Chuck Cooper in 1950, the NBA’s first black player. Go figure.)

Still Robinson breaking the color barrier in sports was a significant step in establishing social equality. Without Robinson we have no Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry Rice, or Michael Jordan; without Robinson we may not even have Barrack Obama.

Robinson’s life was intertwined with racism, the same was the United States was and the same way the world of sports was for a long time. While Robinson was a pioneer for racial equality in a different way, his setting foot on the diamond didn’t end racism.

I’m just petrified that 42 will make it seem that way. Although I really hope that I’m wrong.