Product Details

• Actors: Barry Pepper, Thomas Jane, Anthony Michael Hall, Richard Masur, Bruce McGill
• Directors: Billy Crystal
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 11, 2001
• Run Time: 128 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005M20M
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #20,596 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #5 in	Video > Television > HBO > Sports
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  #10 in	Video > Sports > Baseball > New York Yankees

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

When asked to comment during Barry Bonds's 2001 pursuit of the single-season home run record that he himself shattered in 1998, Mark McGwire said, "I was lucky enough to reach 70, and now they're all talking about it like it's a piece of cake." It wasn't for Bonds, it wasn't for McGwire, and it certainly wasn't for Roger Maris, who in 1961 competed with his much more popular teammate Mickey Mantle to break Babe Ruth's benchmark of 60 home runs. Originally broadcast on HBO, 61* is the movie that lifelong New York Yankee fan Billy Crystal was born to make; an affectionate but unflinching look at this historic season, the unlikely friendship between the two ballplayers (who were opposites on and off the field), and the pressures Maris in particular faced from a badgering media and increasingly hostile fans. The lineup, while not all-star caliber, is loaded top to bottom with MVP candidates, including a dead-on Barry Pepper as the stoic Maris and a pitch-perfect Thomas Jane as swaggering good ol' boy Mantle. Buffed-up former Geek Hall of Famer Anthony Michael Hall (Sixteen Candles) is pitcher Whitey Ford, and Bruce McGill goes from Animal House to the House That Ruth Built as manager Ralph Houk. Christopher McDonald, usually cast as a smarmy villain, is all smiles as legendary broadcaster Mel "How about that?" Allen.

Though R-rated, this is not as shocking as Jim Bouton's myth-shattering Ball Four. But when it comes to being politically correct, director Crystal plays hardball. Maris smokes, and Mantle drinks and carouses. There are a few errors, none costly. The welling music that accompanies the home-run heroics of "the M&M boys" is as bush league as Glenn Close rising in the stands to rally Robert Redford in The Natural. But baseball movie lovers wouldn't have it any other way. -- Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An out-of-the-park homerun for Billy Crystal. Great film!, September 9, 2002

By	Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: 61* (DVD)

I love baseball films. I even like "Bull Durham" for which I take a lot of flack at home, where Red Sox Baseball is sacred and we have to listen to the "Curse of the Bambino" tape as a ritual every Spring. Even though I had to abandon any love for the Yankees when I moved to New England, I still enjoy Yankee history--havning followed Mantle and Maris as a kid.

This film, to a Baby Boomer like me, is like listening to a bard recite the stuff of legend. And Billy Crystal, who knows enough baseball that he consulted with Ken Burns on his monumental documentary, does a fabulous job telling the story of Maris and Mantle's race to break the Babe's homerun record in 1961.

The cast is absolutely superb, with actor Pepper looking so much like Maris I could hardly believe it. And Thomas Jane takes on Mantle's persona incredibly well. In one scene, the way he folded the baseball cap's bill and how he held the angle of his head -- suddenly Thomas Jane WAS Mantle. It was downright eerie. The acting, the script, the supporting cast were perfect.

Of course Crystal cleverly ties the 1961 record race with Sosa and McGwine's homerun race in the 90's, with Mrs. Maris reprising the bittersweet role of the Babe's widow, watching nervously as the most treasured achievement of her late husband is threatened. This device, following the widows of the greats was a fantastic way to tie the threads of history together, from the Babe, to Maris, up to McGwine. This is probably the best baseball film I've seen, surpassing even "The Natural" and "Field of Dreams", both of which I love.

Here's a spoiler-- not in the film: Maris is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame! He never batted over .300 , and you just don't get into the Hall without that stat. Absurd.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Baseball Classic, June 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: 61* (DVD)

Upon its release, 61* immediately became a classic. The baseball scenes are the best of any movie ever. You never feel like you're watching actors. But the key to the movie is its realism. Thomas Jane and Barry Pepper are extraordinary as Mantle and Maris, respectively. Everything from their batting stances to the way they stand in the lockerroom is perfect. And older baseball fans will love seeing Yankee Stadium at its finest, complete with Bob Shephard as himself. In the broadcast booth comes more of 61*'s subtle brilliance. Behind Mel Allen and Phil Rizzuto is a WPIX 11 sign, which was the Yankees' flagship station for 40 years. It may not seem like much, but it is just part of the painstaking efforts to make the movie as real as possible. What many baseball movies lack is dialogue from broadcasters. They tend to say the score, situation, etc., but rarely tell stories, which---as any baseball fan knows---is how most air time is spent. 61*, however, features several moments where Rizzuto talks about lasagne he ate at a restaurant, wishing happy birthdays to fans, and joking about how the outfielders positioned themselves when he was batting. Baseball fans should eat that stuff up. The movie has minor flaws---Bob Cerv began the season with LA, for instance---but nothing that detracts from its overall greatness. Everyone involved in this movie, from Billy Crystal to all the actors, did their best to recreate the most famous season any sport has ever seen. If you are a baseball fan, you absolutely must see this movie. If you're not a baseball fan, you should still see it. Fifty years from now, 61* will be as much a classic as Field of Dreams or Bull Durham.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grand slam, August 5, 2004

By	Steven Hellerstedt "SH" - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: 61* (DVD)

61* belongs on the top-shelf with the great non-fiction sports movies like BRIAN'S SONG and EIGHT MEN OUT. This is Billy Crystal's love letter to the 1961 Yankees, and to his credit it doesn't blink or flinch in its treatment of that greatest of childhood heroes, Mickey Mantle.
In 1961 Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle took aim at Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a season. Barry Pepper plays the young and reclusive Maris with a haunting sadness, Thomas Jane plays the charismatic Mantle with an easy going honesty that masks an emotionally and physically injured young man. Pepper is a dead-ringer for Maris, and both actors get under the skin of the characters they're portraying. There are times when you forget they're not really Maris and Mantle. Couple their performances with 61*'s meticulous attention to detail and you've got a baseball fan's dream movie.
The dvd comes with a commentary track with director Billy Crystal, text biographies of Maris and Mantle, and a `making of' documentary. You should watch the movie before the documentary, since it contains a lot of scenes from the movie.