Review of A League of Their Own (1992) by Calum B — 14 Jun 2012

Above line is from a very funny scene in the movie where a youngster does Dottie Hinson a favor. He wants her to 'make a man outta him' and she offers 'how about I just slap you around for awhile?' and that is his response.

Its also appropriate because director Penny Marshall seems to want to make a nostalgic womens baseball movie but also a comedy, a drama, a statement and a tribute.

She is mostly very successful.

Geena Davis gives her best performance as Dottie, the 'Queen of Diamonds', a catcher with natural baseball skills who does not take the game that seriously to begin with. Her rivalry with her sister Kit (Lori Petty) is believable to start with but gets to be an annoyance after awhile.

Both of them are much more successful than Rosie O'Donnell and Madonna, who are both pretty bad. Its embarrassing to see Madonna try to have a dramatic moment and blow it. Rosie gets a laugh or two but is mostly around because she looks like a girl who might have played baseball when it was unfashionable.

Tom Hanks is excellent as Jimmy Dugan, a former player who developed a drinking problem and had to leave the game before he was really ready to. His ex-boss, Walter Harvey (Garry Marshall) gives him the job coaching in the new girls league which he reluctantly accepts.

Movie has many memorable moments - the 'there's no crying in baseball' scene; Dottie's dry humor, especially in response to the most obnoxious child in movie history, who is named 'Stillwell Angel'; and Jimmy's drunken entrance in which he relieves himself in front of all the girls.

Director makes note of the fact that black women were omitted just as their male counterparts were, that some women were never educated properly or even taken seriously on many different levels. It seems a little inappropriate that she did not explore any girl/girl themes, which of course existed as well. Also the movie is grossly unfair to Marla, who hits like Ted Williams but does not have physical beauty on her side. She is originally rejected by scout Jon Lovitz (he's a riot in the fifteen minutes you see him) and then is made fun of some more at a 'beauty' school the girls are inexplicably sent to. She meets a nice guy and gets married so at least she gets a happy ending.