Cobb (1994)

Released: December 2, 1994
Director: Ron Shelton
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Wuhl, Lolita Davidovich

Ty Cobb is arguably one of the greatest baseball players in the history of the game. Playing from 1905-1928, he set multiple batting records that lasted years after his career and even with the steroid era his career batting average of .366, and other records still stand. And he did this in the famous "dead-ball era", which consisted of low scoring games that required more strategic play.

Cobb tells the story of up and coming sportswriter, Al Stump who gets his dream job to work on an biography for Ty Cobb in the 1960's. Stump (played by Wuhl) is excited at the opportunity to meet Ty Cobb, but when he goes to his home in Nevada he receives a warm welcome in the form of gunshots. Immediately Cobb isn't the kind of guy Stump was expecting. He's arrogant, selfish, cranky, and eccentric. He spends his days getting drunk and bragging about his baseball career to Stump, Tommy Lee Jones plays Cobb and he's very entertaining to watch on screen.

The film deals with Al Stump and Ty Cobb's uneasy relationship, Ty Cobb wants Stump to tell a great "heroic" story about him, but the more time Stump spends with Cobb, the more he starts to realize that the guy isn't the hero that he thought he was, but Cobb keeps a close eye on him and will not let him write the biography he wants. The film paints Cobb in an interesting light, portraying him as a classic sports villain, there are many scenes in the film where they show flashbacks to Cobb's playing days, sharpening his cleets on the bench, intentionally trying to hurt other players by driving his cleets into their bodies, taunting opposing players and the fans who boo him relentlessly but Cobb enjoys the boo's and taunts soaking it in on the field while people threw garbage at him.

But the film portrays him as a villain beyond the flashbacks. He abuses women, nearly raping a waitress that he picked up at a resteraunt with Stump, and he talks down about other players including Willie Mays for his skin color, and Babe Ruth saying that he ran pretty fast for a fat guy. My favorite scene in the film is when him and Stump are at the resteraunt/venue and Cobb goes on stage, the host asks him what his batting average would be if he decided to return to baseball right now, and he responds in both a realistic/arrogant tone saying he would bat .290. The host asks him why he would only bat .290 against today's pitchers, his response, "Cause I'm fucking 72 years old you ignorant son of a bitch!!!"

The film chronicles the time Al Stump spent with Ty Cobb from the 1960's to his death on July 17, 1961. It is an interesting biography, portraying The Georgia Peach in both a positive but mainly negative light...basically it comes off as "he was a hell of a player, but a total asshole". The film has some interesting flashbacks to Cobb's playing days but there isn't many, the movie mainly focuses on Cobb in the 1960's just before his death. Tommy Lee Jones was a blast to watch in this film but I didn't really like Robert Wuhl as Al Stump. He's more of a comedic actor and he just didn't feel right to me in this role. Whether some of the claims the film makes are true (Cobb murdering a guy during his baseball career but getting off because of his status, or fixing games) the film is an entertaining ride from start to finish carried ont the back of Tommy Lee Jones.

The Verdict: 3.5