Themes: Baseball Players, Work Ethics, Writer's Life
Main Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Wuhl, Lolita Davidovich, Lou Myers, Stephen Mendillo
Release Year: 1994
Country: US
Run Time: 128 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
What does a biographer do when the truth about his subject is far less pleasant than the legend? That is the moral dilemma at the heart of Cobb, which explores the lives of both baseball's premier hitter, Ty Cobb (Tommy Lee Jones), and the sportswriter assigned to set his story down, Al Stump (Robert Wuhl). Stump arrives at the Tahoe home of the dying Cobb to write the official life story of the first man inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame. He finds a drunken, misanthropic, bitter racist who abuses his biographer as well as everyone else. Stump must either candycoat his subject's life or present an accurate picture of a disgusting man who happened to become an American sports hero. The movie's biting focus on Cobb, ferociously performed by Jones, is not matched by its weaker representation of Stump, an imbalance which ultimately weakens the film's overall effect. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
Review
Ron Shelton could not have painted an uglier portrait if he'd made a movie about Adolf Hitler. But with one of the most notorious personalities of the 20th century as his subject, it doesn't even feel like caricature. Cobb is a triumph of original thinking in many respects: a baseball movie with very little baseball in it; a biopic that focuses on the last year of its subject's life, sparing the viewer his "greatest hits," both literally and figuratively; and a career-best performance from a small-time actor (Robert Wuhl) who holds his own alongside Tommy Lee Jones at his blistering best. The dynamic Shelton explores between the legendary ballplayer and Al Stump, his harried biographer, is thoroughly engrossing, eliminating the need to rely on re-created old-time footage that might have served as a crutch. Several scenes perfectly capture the reckless, spiteful essence of the man, including a trip around the bases in which he spikes no less than three fielders, and one in which he drives down a mountain at 60 miles per hour in a blizzard. Counterbalancing this, however, is the gracious treatment given Cobb wherever he goes, which demonstrates the empty flattery accorded celebrities by starstruck fans who don't really understand who they are. Shelton's adaptation of Stump's book makes Cobb and his biographer more similar than either would like to admit: each exploits the other for his own self-aggrandizing purposes, even if Stump's are sanctioned under the guise of journalism and the slippery quest for "truth." ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
William Utay - Jameson; J. Kenneth Campbell - Prof. Cobb; Rhoda Griffis - Ty's Mother; Allan Malamud - Mud; Ned Bellamy - Ray; Jimmy Buffett - The armless guy; Scott Burkholder - Jimmy; Bill Caplan - Bill; Eloy Casados - Louis Prima; Michael Chieffo - Young Doctor; Reid Cruickshanks - Pie Traynor; Ernie Harwell - Hall of Fame MC; Dana Hill - Wife at Motel; Don Hood - Older Doctor; Jeanne McCarthy - Nurse; Reynaldo Rey; Clive Rosengren - Hall of Fame Director; Bradley Whitford - Process Server; George Wilbur - Casino Security Man; Bill Wittman - Newsreel Narrator; Grace Zabriskie; Artie Butler - Harrah's Bartender; George Rafferty - Teammate; Michael H. Moss - Lover; Fred Lewis - Philly Fan; Steven Brown - Husband at Motel
Credit
Charles Butcher - Art Director, Troy Sizemore - Art Director, Victoria Thomas - Casting, Ruth E. Carter - Costume Designer, Ron Shelton - Director, Paul Seydor - Editor, Kimberly Ray - Editor, Arnon Milchan - Executive Producer, Elliot Goldenthal - Composer (Music Score), John Blake - Makeup, Ve Neill - Makeup, Armin Ganz - Production Designer, Scott Ritenour - Production Designer, Russell Boyd - Cinematographer, David Lester - Producer, Claire Jenora Bowin - Set Designer, Jim Fredburg - Special Effects, Kirk A. Francis - Sound/Sound Designer, Ron Shelton - Screenwriter, Al Stump - Book Author
Based on a true story, sportswriter Al Stump is hired to write an authorized "autobiography" of the great Ty Cobb, one of the most legendary baseball players of all time.
Stump arrives at the Lake Tahoe home of the dying Cobb to write the official life story of the first baseball player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He finds a drunken, misanthropic, bitter racist who abuses his biographer as well as everyone else.
They travel together cross-country to a Hall of Fame induction weekend in Cooperstown, New York, where many players from Cobb's era attend, and then on to Cobb's native Georgia, where his estranged daughter continues to live. After spending time with Cobb, Stump is torn between writing the book that Cobb wants and writing the truth.
Much of the Cobb location filming was done in Northern Nevada. The hotel check-in was at the Morrison Hotel on Fourth Street in Reno. Casino outdoor and entry shots were done outside Cactus Jack's in Carson City and outside the then-closed, now-reopened (2007) Doppelganger's in Carson City
Baseball announcer Ernie Harwell, a member of the Hall of Fame, is featured as emcee at a Cooperstown, New York awards banquet. Real-life sportswriters Allan Malamud, Doug Krikorian, Jeff Fellenzer and boxing publicist Bill Caplan appear in the movie's opening and closing scenes at a Santa Barbara bar as Stump's friends and fellow scribes. Carson City free-lance photographer Bob Wilkie photographed many still scenes for Nevada Magazine, the Associated Press and the Nevada Appeal.
Tommy Lee Jones was shooting this film when he won the Academy Award for The Fugitive. Since his head was shaved for his role as Cobb, the actor made light of the situation in his acceptance speech, saying. "All a man can say at a time like this is, 'I am not really bald,'" Jones said. He added, "But I do have work." In addition to his shaved head, Jones also endured a broken ankle, suffered while practicing Cobb's distinctive slide.[1]
Tyler Logan Cobb, a descendant of Cobb's, played "Young Ty."
Reception
Criticism
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone hailed it as "one of the year's best" and Charles Taylor of Salon included it on his list of the best films of the decade. Others took a harsher view of the picture. Owen Glieberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a 'D', claiming it to be a "noisy, cantankerous buddy picture" and presented Cobb as little more than a "suptegenerian crank". He noted that while the film had constant reminders of Cobbs records, it had little actual baseball in it, besides one flashback where Cobb is seen getting on base, then stealing third and home, and getting into an altercation with a fan. He explained: "By refusing to place before our eyes Ty Cobb's haunted ferocity as a baseball player, it succeeds in making him look even worse than he was."
Box Office
The film opened in limited release in December 1994. It earned a reported $1,007,583 at the U.S. box office.
