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THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HANK GREENBERG Send This Review to a Friend
In the 1930s Jewish youths reveled in their baseball hero, Hank Greenberg, heavy hitter for the Detroit Tigers, who was a source of ethnic pride. His achievements in the ball park, which included hitting 58 home runs in 1938, two short of Babe Ruth's record, were only part of the story. Harry Benjamin Greenberg, who endured anti-Semitic taunts, became a legend and role model, and when in the 1934 pennant race he refused to play on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, he earned the respect of his co-religionists and others as well, and many a Jewish boy cited his decision with proud recognition that here was a baseball player of exceptional principle. Greenberg's standing shone particularly bright as a symbol of Jewish-American pride as the Nazi assault gathered momentum in Europe.
Filmmaker Aviva Kempner, recognizing the human story of Greenberg both as an athlete and a significant figure reflecting events and emotions beyond the confines of a ball park, has created a warm and memorable tribute to the man. She has done tremendous research and the film, chock full of detail, shows it. Kempner has skillfully woven interview footage with Greenberg in his later years, comments by family members and fans and clips of the slugger in action that demonstrate the athletic prowess that earned him a place in baseball 's Hall of Fame. She uses zippy music that nostalgically recalls the decades and even adds scenes from Hollywood film that have nothing to do with Greenberg but charmingly help make her points.
Enlivened with humor as well as observations about the time in which he lived (he died of cancer at the age of 75 in 1986), Kempner's film is as consistently entertaining as it is informative, and there are emotional moments that can bring a tear or two. The essential baseball facts are there. The handsome 6'4" player, who grew up on Manhattan's lower east side and in the Bronx, had a lifetime batting average of .313, hit 331 homers, scored 1051 runs, had 1628 hits and batted in 1276 runs, as well as having become the first baseball player to be paid as much as $100,000, a princely sum at the time of his 1930s-1940s career on the field. The human story is there, too, including his leaving the game to serve in World War II, his strong post-war return, and the sad treatment by the Detroit Tigers management, which in 1947 abruptly traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates, for whom he played one season and then retired before going on to front office positions with the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox. The film also makes much of how he befriended and encouraged Jackie Robinson when he broke the color barrier and endured a rough period of abuse.
Kempner is best known for her documentary "Partisans of Vilna," which explored Jewish resistance against the Nazis. This film, although about a sports hero, is still rooted in her fascination with Jewish history. She has touched a nerve here, and it is not necessary for one to know anything about sports to enjoy her exaltation of Greenberg, although those who remember his exploits or have heard about them will take special pleasure in this ode to the ballplayer in the context of the time in which he lived. There have been other Jewish athletes of renown in various sports but Greenberg's story is special and makes for a unique movie-going experience. A Cowboy Booking International release, premiered in New York at the Film Forum.
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