61* |  | Director: Billy Crystal
Actors: Barry Pepper, Thomas Jane, Anthony Michael Hall, Richard Masur, Bruce McGill
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $5.98
Buy Used: $0.95
as of 3/9/2010 01:41 PST details
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Seller: airportplacebooks
Rating:  123 reviews
Sales Rank: 2657
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 129 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
MPN: TM2502
ISBN: 0783118430
UPC: 026359178221
EAN: 9780783118437
ASIN: B00005M20J
Theatrical Release Date: April 28, 2001
Release Date: September 11, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Summer, 1961: Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle are on pace to break the most hallowed record in U.S. sports, Babe Ruth's single-season 60 home runs. It's a big story, and the intense, plain-spoken Maris is the bad guy: sports writers bait him and minimize hi
Amazon.com
61* is an endearing ode to the baseball days of yore when the press was the enemy, salaries were in check, and breaking records with bat and glove took on Ruthian proportions. In 1961 baseball expanded its season from 154 games to 162, allowing weaker pitching into the major leagues and two New York Yankees teammates--the colorless Roger Maris and golden boy Mickey Mantle--to make an assault on the sport's ultimate record: Babe Ruth's 60 home runs. To add to the stew, baseball commissioner Ford Frick announced any record set in the last eight games of the season wouldn't count toward the official record; records had to be achieved in 154 games. Director Billy Crystal guarantees success for his movie in the perfect casting of the leads. Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan's religious sniper) is deft as Maris, and Thomas Jane is a perfect Mantle, a superman in a Yankee uniform. Despite the differences between family man Maris and hard-living Mantle, they form a rewarding friendship amid the media and fan frenzy. The shy Maris took the brunt of the storm, even facing boo-birds in his home stadium. Crystal and first-time writer Hank Steinberg keep the pace moving quickly between the field, the locker room, the press box, and the home front. The film never tries to dazzle with more than the facts (and it softens Mantle up a bit), yet it belongs on the short list of grand baseball movies. --Doug Thomas
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 123
 61* (2001) December 14, 2009
David Margules (Englewood NJ)
61* (2001) This just my oppinion this is the best baseball movie ever made Barry Pepper (Roger Maris) and Thomas Jane ( Mickey Mantle.
Billy Crystal has created a master piece in the likeness of all the characters to the exact detail of the dimensions of the old Yankee stadium ( Monuments,The facade you name he has done it) To make a movie in involing my all time favorite hero Mickey Mantle Nobody pound for pound had more power and hit the ball further ( Maybe excluding Josh Gibson who never saw hit )certainly a wounded hero.
Enjoy this movie...
61* October 27, 2009
Griz89.7 (Moab, Ut)
Pretty accurate. I witnessed some of the behavior towards Maris, saw his 50th, and saw Mantle make a ball disappear. Shows who these people were and what they had to deal with without going overboard.
A Labor of Love About a Golden Time... October 22, 2009
Benjamin J Burgraff (Las Vegas)
Whether you loved baseball or not, the summer of '61 was dominated by Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, and Billy Crystal has perfectly captured the 'feel' of that unforgettable, magical season in "61*". When 'M & M' began their assault on Babe Ruth's 'unbreakable' record of 60 home runs in a single season, those who knew and loved the Babe were angered that this 'Holy Grail' was a target, and, as Crystal illustrates, Ruth's friend, Baseball Commissioiner Ford Frick, laid down restrictive rules to help keep Ruth's record intact (the dreaded asterix, if the record wasn't broken in 154 games), making the competition more than simply breaking the record, but a race against the clock, as well.
With two brilliant performances by actors Thomas Jane and Barry Pepper (who look astonishingly close to Mantle and Maris), the film transcends the sport, becoming a tale of friendship, of an insane loss of privacy and personal dignity, and of two very different, remarkable men. Mantle is universally loved (and expected to win the race), a veteran Yankee of epic talent and overwhelming charm, whose wild boozing and womanizing is 'sanitized' by an adoring press. Maris, on the other hand, is a quiet, focused professional, a family man whose only vice is cigarettes, and, in only his second year with the Yankees, is considered an outsider and usurper to Mantle's 'glory' (having won the MVP award, the year before). As he has little to say to the press, they make a spectacle of him, in a season-long vendetta that fans the flames of hatred that the city already feels towards him. For Maris, the impact is staggering, added to the pressure of the home run race. Welts appear on his body and he starts losing handfuls of hair, he receives daily hate mail, and even his family is threatened. But Maris' biggest ally is Mantle, who truly likes him, admires his devotion to his family and the game, and realizes his own failing body may not allow him the triumph his fans expect.
It is a beautiful story, riveting despite the fact that the outcome is known, before the film even begins.
I highly recommend the 'Making of' documentary, as well as the film. Did you know Thomas Jane had never played any baseball, before he made the film? And Crystal's decision to include a cameo by Mantle's tiny grandson, watching the 'grandpa' he'll never know hit a home hun, is sheer magic!
"61*" is simply a fabulous film, at a really fabulous price. Even if you don't like baseball, I think you'll love this film!
Friendship and competition October 12, 2009
Claude Lambert (Savannah, USA)
Could you remain friends when you are competitors and the Press and the public put pressure on you all the time? The relationship of Maris and Mantle moved me to tears: the movie makes you understand everything that goes through their mind. There is no preaching, no important dialogue: just the attitudes and beautiful beautiful baseball.
One of my ten best movies of all times
One of my ten best historical movies
My best baseball movie
My best friendship movie
Perfect Gift For My Dad! April 23, 2009
Sirvan E. Hefta (Omaha, Ne)
I got this movie for my father. He turned 61 this year and is a huge Bronx Bombers' fan and his favorite player is Roger Maris.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 123
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