Barnes & Noble

Originally broadcast on HBO, Mantle etches a striking portrait of the quintessential New York Yankee Mickey Charles Mantle, who succeeded Joe DiMaggio as both the center fielder and the centerpiece of baseball's most dominant franchise. Over his 18-season Yankee career, Mantle clubbed 536 home runs, was named Most Valuable Player three times, and played on seven World Series-winning teams. It is observed that grown men would weep in his presence. But injuries and alcohol took a devastating toll that would leave Mantle a "broken, bitter man." "I blew it," he says in one interview. The intrusive music score of this documentary is strictly bush league, but Mantle fields an all-star roster of family, friends, former teammates such as Moose Skowron and Whitey Ford, journalists and sportscasters like Bob Costas, and such celebrity admirers as Billy Crystal. Actor Ed Harris charmingly recites a poem he wrote about Mantle when he was about ten ("For these are arms that compare with few / On a normal man, one would make two"). At only an hour in length, this can't claim to be Mantle's definitive story, and Yankee fans especially would probably prefer more diamond heroics and less of the True Hollywood Story psychoanalyzing and dramatics. But this documentary scores by looking beneath Mantle's mythical aura to capture the American sports legend, "up-close, blemished, and vulnerable." Donald Liebenson

All Movie Guide

The remarkable life of baseball's most beloved icon comes to the screen with the kind of loving attention to detail only achieved by the respectful, sports-loving documentary filmmakers at pay-cable giant HBO. Filmed in part to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the legendary switch-hitter's death, this film tells the remarkable tale of the athlete who overcame constant, nagging injuries to blast 536 home runs out of the ballpark over the course of 18 unforgettable seasons and swing his way into the history books. A charming country boy who would beat the odds to become the toast of New York, Mickey Mantle's charmed life came to a tragic end when, as he was receiving an operation to replace his damaged liver, doctors discovered that the baseball great had inoperable cancer. As filmmakers speak to the people who knew Mantle best, including his teammates, his sons, his wife Merlyn, and sportscaster Bob Costas, baseball fans are afforded the rare opportunity to watch from the stands as history is made in the ballpark. Jason Buchanan

Product Details

• UPC: 026359323126
• Source: HBO HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Pre-1954 Standard (1.33.1)
• Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Language: English, Español
• Time: 58:00
• Sales Rank: 32,231

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Mickey Mantle / Babe Ruth / Joe DiMaggio Pack

Features:

DVD MENU