AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

vespatian75 If you are not a baseball fan or if you are familiar only with the legends surrounding Ty Cobb you may enjoy this film. As a film I found it tiresome. I felt that Tommy Lee Jones, a great actor, was over the top playing an admittedly outlandish character.But the real problem with the film is it just isn't true. It's really not the director's or script writer's fault. The problem lies with the source material. Mr Stump spent aome time with Cobb but a lot of his work written after Cobb died is a pack of lies. Ty Cobb was a tough perhaps over the top competitor and a lot of his contemporaries resented that. Also he was jealous of some of his rivals particularly Babe Ruth who changed the game from the style which Cobb had excelled in, but he was not nearly the racist that he appeared in the film. He stated that talented black athletes should be allowed to compete with whites. He greatly admired Willie Mays and Roy Campanella. Before integration he frequently went to Negro League games and occasionally threw out the first ball. Stump had a bad reputation among other writers for plagiarism, historical inaccuracy, and was even accused of forging or stealing Ty Cobb memorabilia. Much of his work was discredited in a much better book that came out recently "Ty Cobb, A Terrible Beauty" by Charles Leershen. Cobb was no saint. He was certainly a "wild child" from Georgia. But he wasn't the monster depicted in this film.

martinmcdonough A movie like this one just goes to show that if anyone involved in making this movie had bothered to do a shred of research into the life of Cobb, they would have quickly realized that Al Stump fabricated the vast majority of what has become the unfortunate long held beliefs about Cobb. It's too bad that no one looked any further than his book and just ran with it as Gospel. Al Stump has been largely discredited due to these fabrications, false statements, forgeries and sensationalizing events in Cobb's life to cast him in an unflattering light. This movie hones in on them and magnifies them. To start with the small stuff, Cobb was not, as commonly believed, a dirty player - and this is according to men he played against. He was tough, rough, and an agitator, but he never "sharpened his spikes" as legend (and the film) attest. Nor did he pistol-whip blacks for no reason. Nor was he a raging racist (he said that blacks should be allowed to play ball wholeheartedly). If you want to know the true Ty Cobb, the one that Al Stump threw into the dustbin in favor of his fabrication, read "A Terrible Beauty" by Charles Leerhsen. HE did some actual research. It's a shame that people as bright as Ron Shelton (director) and Ken Burns (Baseball mini-series) never took the time to investigate any of Stump's wild accusations.

capone666 Cobb You would think that in a sport where teams carry around baseball bats that its players wouldn't so blatantly insult each other.However, the outfielder in this biography ran his mouth as much as his feet.Hiring famed sportswriter Al Stump (Robert Wuhl), the cantankerous Ty Cobb (Tommy Lee Jones) hopes to whitewash his blemished baseball reputation with a glowing autobiography.While staying with the 72-year-old alcoholic at his home in Lake Tahoe, Stump, himself, experiences the legendary irritability of the Hall of Famer.Over the many months and miles he spends with Cobb, Stump must decide if he's going to pen a sanitized memoir or his own tell all.Based on Stump's book, Tommy Lee Jones' performance is certainly a homerun, however, the story revels too much in Cobb's senility and deep-seated racism.Furthermore, portraying baseball players as racists is insulting to those players who are just degenerate gamblers.Yellow Light vidiotreviews.blogspot.com

Steve Pulaski Tommy Lee Jones may not look much like the infamous ballplayer Ty Cobb, but he sure does embody his spirit, hatred, and consistent belligerence wonderfully. To play a person of his magnitude certainly requires ambition and drive but also talent and diversity. Jones tackles the player with the hatred and evilness that many archived articles and reports have claimed he proudly wore with piercing accuracy.Today, in 2012, baseball players are often viewed as "heroes," "role models," and sometimes even people who provide us with more motivation and passion than those we know in real life. Players like Starlin Castro, Alfonso Soriano, and Jim Thome have etched themselves into the hearts of many. Cobb would've etched himself in the dark side of someone's heart. He was a racist, sexist, selfish, mean-spirited, cocky, gun-toting ignoramus who hated everyone except himself. He thought of himself as "the sport of baseball," completely shunning teamwork and thoroughly enjoyed being hated by literally everyone in the audience. He thought the fact that they showed up to the stadium to throw food and garbage on him was the highest compliment someone could pay.The film centers around not his baseball career, but how a famed sportswriter had the questionably fortunate opportunity to dig into Cobb as a real person in 1959. That man was Al Stump (Robert Wuhl), who was hired to act as a ghostwriter for Cobb's autobiography. Initially, Stump is incredibly honored and thrilled to be given such a job, being able to spend days and nights with "the best baseball player of all time." But when Stump arrives, he is immediately greeted with loud rants from a writer who walks on him and we eventually see Cobb, as he lies in bed, frail and uninspired, verbally assaulting the poor man as he tries to simply reason with him and remain civil.Cobb suggests that him and Stump drive down to Reno to have sex with random women - an act he hopes to accomplish before he dies. He insists on driving recklessly through a terrible blizzard and, as he slips and slides down the road, Cobb briefly illustrates his baseball history for Al.You'd believe the film was told entirely in flashback, but the flashback ceases only after a few minutes and we are back in the present with Al and Cobb, and that's where we remain for the remainder of the picture. It is widely known that Stump published a book shortly after spending days on end with Cobb, but that was the fabricated version he was conned into writing for the man, which the film heavily explores. Al secretly kept a real recollection of his treatment and relationship with the man, but resorted to scribbling notes on cocktail napkins, small pieces of paper, etc. He then released a book detailing the true accounts of the man years after his death - accounts that are depicted in this film.Ron Shelton's Cobb is far from a perfect biopic. It's a little choppy, somewhat dry in sequences, and may run twenty minutes too long, but the fact that it humanizes an unbelievably despicable character, is written with little tongue in cheek innuendos, and the fact that it showcases many honorable performances makes it one that proves its existence nicely.Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Wuhl, and Lolita Davidovich. Directed by: Ron Shelton.