Penny Marshal (Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Big, Awakenings) directs this 1992 sports dramady offering a fictional account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1943-1954), which formed when World War II threatened to shut down Major League Baseball as players went to war.
The story centers on two sisters—Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) and Kit Keller (Lori Petty)—who agree to join the league while Dottie’s husband is at war, but as Dottie’s success grows, so does their sibling rivalry. Despite that tension, it’s a story about women learning to support one another. It may be a man’s world, but these women are out to prove they can put on a show.
Tom Hanks is terrific as manager Jimmy Dugan, a former Cubs slugger reduced to a cynical alcoholic who at first treats the league as a joke, but he too is eventually moved by the women’s chutzpah. Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, and Ann Cusack co-star. A hilarious Jon Lovitz appears as Ernie Capadino, a scout for the burgeoning women’s league. It’s a terrific film with laughs and heart that was a box office bonanza when it was released, and it remains a classic with important lessons to impart. (128 min.)
—Glen Starkey
