A League of Their Own Dir. Penny Marshall

A League of Their Own Dir. Penny Marshall

Anna Urick

            I have always heard about the movie A League of Their Own, but never got around to watching it so I was excited when I realized it was from 1992. I absolutely loved this movie. And similar to The Babe, I was surprised by how much I liked it because of my little interest in baseball.

            A League of Their Own is the story of two sisters who are picked to play in the Professional Women’s Baseball league. The National League for women was started because the majority of men were away at war. First I loved the cast, Tom Hanks and Geena Davis were incredible in this movie. This film covers a lot of different areas of issues and human emotions, which is one of the reasons why it’s so amazing.

            Tom Hanks plays Jimmy Duggan, an ex-baseball player that could not go to war because of his leg problems. At first he completely resents that he is coaching women and thinks girls “can’t play baseball”. The girls do not only prove Jimmy wrong on his team, especially Dottie, but he grows to care for all of them. We see a coming of age role for Lori Petty as Kit, Dottie’s younger sister. She is immature, jealous and trying to break out of her older sister’s shadow. We see Dottie who was the best player in the league but was facing more important personal struggles. Her husband was away at war and she only joined the league so her sister could try out. Mae used to “dance” for money, while Marla learns social and feminine skills throughout the film. I loved that the audience sees a different personal background and struggle from each of the characters. They’re all very different but you see them work and play together and become a family that truly cares for one another. Most of the characters grow throughout the movie either emotionally or in baseball and you really can see the changes.

            As a girl, I loved the feminine power in this movie. Its completely focused around these women who are doing something that has never been done by women before and how they prove they are good enough to play professional baseball against an unsure and unsupportive nation. They go to great lengths to play and win the support of the country to keep the league going.

            The filming was very good also, I liked the close ups during emotional parts and slow motion during intense baseball scenes. I liked the cuts between what was going on and what the televisions were showing about the league so you saw what was actual happening and what the country was seeing about the league. I also liked the way the games themselves were filmed.