Two sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry.
Director: Penny Marshall
Stars: Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, David Strathairn.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104694/
Watched online, blurry copy.
I remember GD coming out with a slew of films, and liking what I saw, probably in theatres. This was no exception, and I enjoyed it again today. (I put a bunch of Madonna movies in my queue.)
This has an obvious feminist agenda, and DS gets to express the best explicit feelings about the women almost being sent home after their first season because supposedly the war was going well and FDR was going to send the ballplayers home. From the IMDb quotes page:
Ira Lowenstein (DS): This is what it's going to be like in the factories, too, I suppose, isn't it? "The men are back, Rosie, turn in your rivets." We told them it was their patriotic duty to get out of the kitchen and go to work; and now, when the men come back, we'll send them back to the kitchen.Garry Marshall plays WH, so he gets the punchline, but DS keeps the league going for a while. From Wikipedia: 1943 to 1954. And the candybar king (GM) was actually Mr. Wrigley; wonder why they altered that for the film.
Walter Harvey: What should we do - send the boys returning from WAR back to the kitchen?
There was also a woman lifestyle columnist (radio?) who wrote a scathing criticism of the bending of gender roles by starting women's baseball. I don't remember if she mentioned women working in defense plants.
The women players aren't shown trying to make strides for their gender, they're just trying to make a buck doing something they like.
M & RO are the near-urban yokels you'd expect from them.
The biggest gap in the script: have the sisters had a relationship during the intervening years? We get a hug, and the cast list says there's an older Kit, but she was a foot shorter than GD when they were young, and not so at the reunion. Confusing. I've ordered a disc with c.track; maybe that'll help.
Columbia & more, dir. Marshall; 7+
