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The Rookie (2002)
I love baseball. I've been hooked on the game since I was a kid. Sure it doesn't move as fast as other sports but that's part of what I love about it. It moves along at a pace unhurried by a clock or officials. It has its own rhythms. It has a wonderful collection of sights and sounds that can be counted on regardless of whether you're watching a game played today or fifty years ago. It's an elegant game that masks its difficulty with that very slow pace. The Rookie is a movie about one man's dream coming true in baseball. The story is a fascinating one, made even better by being based on true events, but what makes this movie even better is a format that understands baseball and everything that is beautiful and important about it.
Jimmy Morris was a child obsessed with baseball. Like many children he dreamed of playing in the big leagues. He would spends countless hours pitching in all kinds of weather. Not all in his life was great though. His father, a cold and distant man, was in the Navy and was moved from place to place regularly. The family's last move landed them in Big Lake, Texas, a dusty oil town that, like much of Texas, was far more concerned with football than baseball. This is where Jimmy grows up. The movie flashes forward many years to Jimmy (Dennis Quaid) as a man approaching middle age. He is married, has three children and works as a physics teacher in the local high school. He also coaches the school's brand new baseball program.
It seems that Jimmy got so far as to be drafted by a major league team but blew out his arm, ending his baseball career. He has moved on but his regret is obvious. He has a tendency to still pitch when he thinks he's alone. His team is pretty pathetic. They have only ten men and only a dirt patch to play on. They collected a grand total of two wins in their first two seasons. This season looks little different. Jimmy gives them a pep talk on fulfilling their dreams but they turn it around on him, demanding to know why he gave up. This leads to a challenge where he promises to try out for the majors if they can win their division. Miraculously they succeed and he has to make good on his promise.
Jimmy Morris is a real person. At the age of 35 he came to the major leagues after a brief trip through the minors. He played for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays briefly for parts of two seasons. What makes him most interesting is that at a point in life where most people give up being an athlete, he finally chased down his dream. It's the kind of story that would seem like a horrible cliche if it hadn't actually happened.
Dennis Quaid does a great job with the role. He doesn't try for any sort of flashy acting, instead going for a very subtle and restrained performance that makes his character exceedingly likable. He's such a decent person that you really want the best for him. He's spent so much of his life having his dreams dashed, first by a stern father and then by injury, that when the opportunity arrives to achieve his dream he seems almost afraid to take it. When he finally makes it, the joy on his face is priceless. He looks like a kid who just got the world's greatest toy. The movie does such a good job of introducing him and telling his story that the audience is almost equally as pleased for him.
The film wisely takes its cues from baseball. It has a similarly unhurried pace that can at times seem to drag a bit but always rebounds nicely to redeem itself. It takes great care with the details of the game too, creating a convincing feel to the film. Little things like the sound of a great fastball smacking into a catcher's mitt may not seem like much but they all help to build up an impression of how much Jimmy loves the game. Even his students feel these things. For instance, check out the awe and wonder on their faces as they exit the tunnel to the stands of Arlington Park and see that huge expanse of an impossibly green baseball field before them. It just feels right. I remember having the exact same reaction the first time I walked out of the tunnel in Shea Stadium's upper deck and saw that field.
The dramatic elements have a similarly convincing feel to them. Jimmy's wife (Rachel Griffiths) is less than thrilled when major league scouts start calling for him. She has good reason too, they have several young children and financially it makes no sense to skip on a good paying job offer to play ball in the minor leagues for what is very poor pay. Jimmy then has to deal with awkwardness of being a men among boys and dealing with the grind of the job.
This is a feel good movie and that's the kind of thing I generally don't mean nicely but The Rookie is a big exception. It may not be the greatest baseball movie ever made but it is a solid drama about a man getting an improbable opportunity to achieve his dream. Quality acting, nice cinematography and a good story make for a film that is very hard to resist. Really the only objection I have is that at times the pace becomes sluggish, dalying a bit more than needed, like a batter spending too much time adjusting himself between pitches. That's a minor gripe though in a thoroughly enjoyable movie. Hopefully, in the future Disney will spend more time making movies like this instead of things like Snow Dogs. They took a real life event and built upon it a film that understands the feel of baseball to come up with a genuine feel good movie that even this grouchy critic couldn't resist.
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