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Rating:  - Like Being Spiked By A Runner Swiping Third Base
Ty Cobb was no angel in the outfield and writer/director Ron Shelton delivers a masterpiece on one of the most respected and reviled professional athletes ever.
Tommy Lee Jones portrays Cobb in this no-holds-barred account of his final years, as cancer was destroying the "Georgia Peach" from the inside and his vile, crazed actions shredded any grudging respect that a controversial, all-time great should receive in the ninth-inning of life.
Cobb biographer Al Stump is played by Robert Wuhl. Stump is as much a confidant as a writer attempting to piece together the real story from fiction, fact and fear fueled by Cobb's unstable rantings - oftentimes induced through a prodigious consumption of alcohol.
At one point, in a rambling diatribe, Jones belts out the line, "Life's too short to be a diplomat." And that was Cobb coming in spikes-high into third base...on the diamond of life.
Rating: - Amazing!
"Cobb" is simply the best baseball biopic ever. Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Wuhl are excellent as Cobb and his annointed biographer Al Stump. The recreated baseball scenes of the deadball era are right up there with "Eight Men Out" as far as realism goes. Jones is "scary" good in his portrayal of Cobb, arguably the greatest ballplayer ever (I'm pretty convinced he was). This movie is an underappreciated classic of the sports movie genre and a great profile of the genius/madness that was Ty Cobb. The extras are short but interesting. Recommended!!
Rating: - Cobb
This is a great movie. The language is strong so I do not recommend it for children. Ty Cobb was bestrayed well in this movie.
Rating: - One of Jones' best performances to date
The movie opens in a bar with half a dozen writers sitting around a table giving their 'best of' lists. They cannot agree on much--but all but one of them called out Ty Cobb's name as the best baseball player.
One of the men is called away from the table and he's jubilant. Ty Cobb has called him to do a book about his life.
Al Stump (Robert Wuhl) is quickly of two minds. There's nothing heroic about Cobb--although he understands greatness and has achieved it. Cobb goes from one misbehavior or abuse to the next without question, pause, or apology--he doesn't accommodate others and he doesn't let up.
Stump's got a problem. He's got two stories to tell--the one Cobb wants told and the real one. Which one does he want to tell--Cobb's or the one Cobb's told him in confidence? And which one should be told?
If you ever question Tommy Lee Jones' acting ability, watch "Cobb" and "Valley of Elah". Both performances show the actor at his top form and not just 'playing himself.'
"Cobb" is a hard film to watch--it's two hours of bare knuckle fighting and abuse, but it's well worth the time for the performances.
Rating: - Thought Provoking film about a great baseball player
Cobb is a haunting type of film, mostly because it chronicles the end of a man's life. This man was Ty Cobb, one of the most spectacular athletes in the sport of baseball. Hailed as one of the greatest of all time, Cobb's ability to steal bases was just as good as his inability to be a gentleman. Cobb's personality flaws were well known and brought out well in this film by the actor Tommy Lee Jones. The film swirls around a man interviewing Cobb for a spell in which there would be no tomorrow. Cobb is a man who is dying of cancer and is just as ornery and blunt in nature as he was during his playing days. Jones is great as Cobb, and the direction of this film is haunting, with some very, very poignant if not extremely sad moments that are shown. A woman looking through a window at a man she knows is her father, but does not speak to is one of them. The look on Cobb's face as the car drives off for this scene is one of those sad ones. The sometimes hateful, irritable disposition is replaced by a look of somber sorrow as he realizes some of the most important things in his life are gone.
The prophetic statements about the stock market were interesting, as Cobb was an avid investor up to the end. "They are going to start putting coca cola in these cans made out of aluminum" he says. Remember, the 60s had just started so even at that time for Cobb to have the open mind to accept a progressive future in technology was incredible, considering the film shows his final years spent in a large, dark house out in the middle of nowhere. The musical score is also impressive and does nothing but add to the film.
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