61* with Barry Pepper: DVD Cover
  • Cover Image

61* Director: Billy Crystal Cast: Barry Pepper, Thomas Jane, Anthony Michael Hall, Richard Masur

DVD - Wide Screen / Dolby 5.1 / Stereo Learn more

BUY THIS ITEM

  • $5.99 Online price
    $5.39 Member price
    Join Now
    • skip to cart
  • Add To List uiAction=GetAllLists&page=List&pageType=list&ean=026359178221&productCode=DV&maxCount=100&threshold=3

GET FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OF $25 OR MORE

DELIVERY & GIFT DETAILS:

Usually ships within 24 hours

Delivery Time and Shipping Rates

Eligible for gift wrap & gift message.

Enter a zip code

  • DVD Release Date: 09/11/2001
  • Rating: Not Rated
  • Sales Rank: 3,018

Viewer Rating: (9 ratings)

See All Detailed Ratings

Customers who bought this also bought

 
  • Overview
  • Editorial Reviews
  • Scenes
  • Customer Reviews
  • Cast & Crew
  • Full Product Details

Scenes

Features

Audio commentary by director Billy Crystal; The Making of 61*; player bios and stats; 1961Home Run list; original trailer; cast and director bios; DVD-rom links to mlb.com.

Full Product Details

Scene Index

Side #1 --
0. Chapters
1. Main Title/Rendezvous with History [4:16]
2. Opening Day 1961 [6:27]
3. Most V* Player [3:34]
4. Mr. & Mrs. Maris [1:56]
5. "I Love Mickey" [2:19]
6. Whatever's Best for the Team [3:47]
7. On the Town [3:29]
8. Saving Mickey [3:48]
9. From the St. Moritz to Queens [5:08]
10. The M & M Boys [5:07]
11. 61* [5:40]
12. Dogs Gone Wild [2:58]
13. Home Run for Randy Maris [1:11]
14. "This is my home!" [6:06]
15. "Are the boys really rooting for Mickey?" [3:11]
16. "X*" [4:10]
17. The Underdog [5:51]
18. Fighting the Demons [6:35]
19. "Am I really the bad guy?" [3:01]
20. "Happy Birthday, Raj!" [1:46]
21. Fallout [4:05]
22. "You go get that fat fuck!" [3:31]
23. Nobody Knows Me [:42]
24. Bigger than the Game [4:30]
25. Game 154 [2:06]
26. "I couldn't do it" [10:22]
27. Maris Ties the Babe [2:08]
28. Last Games, Last Chance [3:30]
29. "You're a good man, Raj" [4:40]
30. 62 (period) [3:31]
31. Coda/End Credits [1:39]

Scene Index

Editorial Reviews

Billy Crystal, among Hollywood's most passionate sports fans, steps up to bat as director of 61*, the HBO film chronicling the most famous home run chase in baseball history and the two men at its center, outfielders Roger Maris (Barry Pepper) and Mickey Mantle (Thomas Jane). A newcomer to the already legendary New York Yankees, Maris finds himself lost amid the team's glitz and eclipsed by the shadow of fan favorite Mantle. He also finds himself on a slugging streak, and soon Maris and Mantle are in a neck-and-neck race to break Babe Ruth's single-season home run record (60). The media attempts to spin the two athletes as bitter rivals, but as Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa would show several decades later, it doesn't necessarily work that way. Maris tries to help the Mick overcome his alcoholism and womanizing, while Mantle tries in vain to teach his teammate the nuances necessary to becoming a media darling. Pepper and Jane -- who truly, uncannily look their parts -- turn this simple story of breaking records into a hard-hitting tale of competition and camaraderie. Sumptuously shot by renowned cinematographer Haskell Wexler, 61* revisits a moment that baseball fans old and new are not likely to forget. The rest, as they say, is history. Jason Bergenfeld, Barnes & Noble

More reviews and recommendations

Customer Reviews

61*by Anonymous

Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings

April 11, 2006: This is an amazing baseball movie. Directed by Billy Crystal, huge Yankee fan, the love of the game comes through. The bonus feature movie on "The Making of *61" is almost better than the movie. This is the number one baseball movie in my collection! Buy it don't rent it. You will want to own it!

61*by Anonymous

Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings

July 13, 2004: So many sports movies are made to manipulate the viewer into cheering at the climax, as if the audience was a spectator in a stadium. This extraordinary movie prompts a lump in the throat and leaves your eyes stinging with the realization of what these people have been through and all that they have accomplished. Somehow, Billy Crystal has constructed a movie that appeals to the head as well as the heart, a film that reveals his love of baseball without resorting to cliches or mawkish stereotypes. Barry Pepper's portrayal of Roger Maris obviously drives this movie and he excels at showing a good, quiet, solid man striving to accomplish a landmark achievement while dealing with brutal pressure. What makes this film work for me is Thomas Jane's remarkable rendition of Mickey Mantle. Mantle is not played as an icon here. He is seen as a complete human being, with an affection for booze and women as well as a capacity for loyalty and understanding. This three-dimensional characterization is due in equal parts to Jane's acting and a script that allows Mickey Mantle to presented as an earthy, complicated individual rather than a mere cardboard cutout of a professional athlete. This relationship between Maris and Mantle is told against the backdrop of an amazing menagerie of Sixties popular culture. Crystal has truly captured 1961. The efforts to recreate Yankee Stadium before it was refurbished and the cinematography are fantastic. The supporting cast is remarkable, from Maris' wife to the Yankee teammates, from a wide range of sports writers serving as a Greek chorus to the widow of Babe Ruth rooting for Roger to fail. It all comes together perfectly. When I first saw this movie, I was a little chagrined to see the references to Mark McGuire's quest to break Maris' record. As I watched though, I understood what Crystal was doing. McGuire was treated as a hero as he reached for the record. Maris was treated as some sort of traitor for challenging Babe Ruth. The difference in the circumstances under which McGuire and Maris fought to establish themselves is dramatic, and it lends even more weight to what Roger Maris was able to accomplish. This movie captures that perfectly. If you love baseball, this film is the best representation of what goes on, both on and off the field, I have seen. Even if you don't care about baseball, this movie captures the complexity of human beings interacting under remarkable circumstances.


More Customer Reviews