Three Movies For Your Viewing Pleasure

Catching up on three recently viewed movies.  Let's take them in alphabetical order..... 

"NYAD"

This movie tells the story surrounding renowned marathon swimmer Diana Nyad's open ocean swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida at the age of 60.  After four failed attempts, she finally accomplished the feat in 2013.  It is rather an amazing and inspirational story, and the movie is getting a lot of Oscar buzz, especially for Annette Benning in the title role, Jodie Foster as Nyad's friend and coach Bonnie Stoll, and Rhys Ifans (you might remember him as the goofy roommate in the 1999 Julia Roberts/Hugh Grant RomCom "Notting Hill") as companion boat captain John Bartlett.

The movie is a good one, and the acting is excellent, but I want to go off course a bit and comment on the actresses, Annette Benning and Jodie Foster.   Benning is 65 years old and Foster, who started out as the little girl in the Coppertone commercial and is a two time Oscar winner, is 61.  Both women are to be saluted, in my humble opinion, for allowing themselves to age gracefully and naturally, and both look beautiful in this movie.  The realization is all the more affirming after seeing Meg Ryan in her recent movie, "What Happens Later".  Ms. Ryan opted to go the plastic surgery route early on in her career.  Benning and Foster look much better.

By the way, while doing some background research before writing this post, I learned that governing bodies of Open Water and Marathon Swimming, yes, there are such organizations, have thrown some shade on Diana Nyad's 2013 Cuba-to-Florida swim, and the Guinness Book of World Records has removed her swim from its pages.  Me?  I'll go the Liberty Valence route on this one:  When the facts contradict the legend, print the legend.

Three Stars from The Grandstander.

"Some Kind of Heaven"

This is a documentary from 2020 about life in the sprawling senior/retirement community of The Villages in Florida.  The movie told the story of life in The Villages through three people. (1) A couple dealing with the husband's descent into dementia while having trouble with the law, (2) a woman whose husband died shortly after they sold everything and uprooted themselves from the Boston area to The Villages; she is forced to work in a job she hates while trying to cope with being single, and (3) an 80 year old grifter who lives out of his van while hoping to latch onto a wealthy widow to house and support him.

I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't this viewpoint.  The whole movie was  bit depressing .

One Star from The Grandstander.

"You Berra It Ain't Over"

This documentary opens with Lindsay Berra, Yogi's granddaughter and the main narrator in the film, telling the story of watching the 2015 All-Star Game with  her grandfather.  Before the game, MLB introduced the "four greatest living ballplayers" to throw out first pitches.  The players were Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench, Sandy Koufax, and Willie Mays.  Nice group, but "why wasn't my grandfather there?" Lindsay wondered, and she then proceeded to make a convincing case that Yogi should have been one of the four greatest living players at that time.  Among her arguments were that Yogi won three MVP awards, more than any of the four players honored did, and his ten World Series Championships were more that all of those won by the four players combined.

All I can tell you is that if you are a baseball fan, make it a point to watch this movie as soon as you possibly can.  It is wonderful.  The film drives home the point that the character of Yogi Berra  - the funny sayings, some of which he actually did say, the oddball characteristics, and even his physical appearance - grew to far outlive and overshadow just how great a player he was. 

Just  couple of observations from me on this.  

Remember the famous play in the World Series when Jackie Robinson stole home, and Yogi vigorously argued the call with the umpire.  Sure, you've all seen that film clip.  It is something that bothered Yogi forever.  Years and years later at Yankees old-timers games and spring training camps, players like Don Mattingly and Derek Jeter could get under Yogi's skin just by saying "Jackie was safe."

All three of Yogi's sons are interviewed in the movie including ex-Pirate Dale Berra.  Dale's story of his drug addiction and the intervention, led by Yogi, that the Berra family had with him, and Dale proudly talking about his twenty-seven years of sobriety  were moving beyond words.

Just watch the movie.  It is available on Netflix.  And stick with the entire run of the credits as the various contributors to the film - Jeter, Mattingly, Billy Crystal, Bob Costas, the Berra children, and a ton of old Yankees - tell Yogi that "It ain't over."  Great stuff.

Four Stars from The Grandstander.

To Absent Friends - Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra

1925-2015

If any sports figure can be deemed to be a truly "original" character, one who has never been, and probably never will be duplicated, it is Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra, who died yesterday in New Jersey at the age of 90.

A member of Baseball's Hall of Fame, a case can be made that Berra was and remains the greatest catcher in baseball history.  The obituary that appears in today's New York Times (and I highly recommend that you read it;  it is easy enough to seek out and find on line) makes that case, but it also tells of the Yogi Berra who was a part of the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944 and who was awarded a Purple Heart for his service in the War.  It also tells of his 65 year marriage to his wife Carmen. But if it is baseball stuff you want, consider these facts about his nineteen year playing career....

• A  .285 lifetime batting average, 358 home runs and 1,430 RBI, and a career OPS of .830
• A fifteen time All-Star
• A three time MVP
• Only 430 strike outs in over 8,300 plate appearances
• A participant in 21 World Series, fourteen of them as a player, and a member of ten World Series winning teams
• He still holds World Series records for games played (75), plate appearances, hits (71), and doubles

However, in spite of all of those accomplishments, Berra is most famous for his wacky quotes and aphorisms, some of which he actually said, that have become a part of our everyday language, and are used by people who probably have no idea who Yogi Berra actually was.  You know the most famous of them:

• "90% of this game is mental, the other half is physical"
• "Nobody ever goes there anymore, it's always too crowded."
• "It gets late early out there."
• "You can observe a lot just by watching."

and of course the most famous of all, and it really is true, in life and in baseball, 

• "It ain't over 'til it's over."

Yet for all of Yogi's great lines, perhaps the best line of all comes not from Yogi himself, but from that Times obituary.  In referencing all those pennants and World Series, the Times simply said, "No other player has been a champion so often."  

What an epitaph.

RIP Yogi Berra.