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Billy Crystal

Thomas Jane

Mickey Mantle

Barry Pepper

Roger Maris

Anthony Michael Hall

Whitey Ford

Richard Masur

Bruce McGill

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Directed by Billy Crystal

Why did America have room in its heart for only one hero?

In 1961, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle played for the New York Yankees. One, Mantle, was universally loved, while the other, Maris, was universally hated. Both men started off with a bang, and both were nearing Babe Ruth's 60 home run record. Which man would reach it?

Barry Pepper Thomas Jane Anthony Michael Hall Richard Masur Bruce McGill Chris Bauer Jennifer Crystal Foley Christopher McDonald Haynes Brooke Bob Gunton Donald Moffat Joe Grifasi Peter Jacobson Seymour Cassel Robert Joy Michael Nouri Domenick Lombardozzi Bobby Hosea Paul Borghese Renée Taylor Pat Crowley Dane Northcutt Charles Esten Shannah Laumeister Stern Shiva Rose Mike Carlucci Tony Stef'Ano Mark McGwire Sammy Sosa

Director Director

Billy Crystal

Producer Producer

Robert F. Colesberry

Writer Writer

Hank Steinberg

Casting Casting

Editor editor.

Michael Jablow

Cinematography Cinematography

Haskell Wexler

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Billy Crystal Ross Greenburg

Production Design Production Design

Rusty Smith

Art Direction Art Direction

Denise Hudson

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Anne D. McCulley

Composer Composer

Marc Shaiman

Costume Design Costume Design

61* Productions Inc.

Releases by Date

28 apr 2001, 11 sep 2001, 17 jun 2002, releases by country.

Digital Sortie DVD

Netherlands

Physical 6 DVD
Theatrical R

129 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Brennan ★★★★★

Just a fantastic baseball movie about what should have been one of the funnest seasons for 2 teammates ever! Mantle, played fantastically by Thomas Jane, is obviously an all time great player in the sport who was a career long yankee so it makes perfect sense he’d be the favorite. Good lord the hate that Maris, also played fantastically by Barry Pepper, had to endure from his own fans and writers was insane! Goes to show, and the movie touches on this well, what an impact Babe Ruth still had on the game of baseball nearly 30 years after he had stopped playing!

I’ve always loved this movie. I love the history it tells! I love the beautiful score that…

Review by Ryan Bingham ★★★★

For an HBO film, this film is great. It would have been nice to see some bigger names here, but that shouldn't take away from the product that was produced. The screenwriting is great, truly showing what Maris went through emotionally. They do a good job of showing the craziness of people. Whether they are fans, owners, media, or teammates. The creation of the old Yankee Stadium looks fantastic, especially for 2001. 61* is a very well done film with an surprisingly emotional story.

As far as I am concerned, he still holds the record. Everyone ahead of him used steroids, something this film doesn't touch on.

Review by Barry Daulton ★★★★

A movie that is just as much about how players have to deal with the media as it is about the legendary HR chase of 1961. Pepper and Jane really seem to capture Maris and Mantle perfectly. The special effects are still decent if not dated a bit, but were great for the time. At the time framing it with McGwire's breaking his record was neat, but doesn't age well after Bonds broke that and the PEDs of baseball have tarnished those records. 61 is still the record to me.

Review by Pete Talbot ★★★½

It's funny how HBO was able to make some decent baseball movies 15+ years ago at the height of post-strike baseball. Unfortunately, the nostalgia for McGuire and Sosa's runs have worn off very quickly as McGuire missed out on his chance at the Hall of Fame and Sosa looks like he won't come close at all. In a funny way, the asterisk of Maris's 61 homers has denoted it as the home run number to beat as Stanton came close with 59 this year. This movie has great action on the field and I really enjoy the use of rear projection to convey the game play action.

Review by Charles Radbourn ★ 3

A two hour pornhub clip for every boomer who wants to remember the Old Days. Watch the sniper from Saving Private Ryan joylessly smack dingers while a genuinely fun Tom Jane looks on, all the while pretending not to watch Billy Crystal masturbate to nostalgia in the corner. For some reason Mark McGwire is featured.

Review by Citizen Kris ★★★★½

It's only appropriate that on the eve of baseball's Opening Day, I view my favorite baseball movie.

61* is ultimately a straight-to-HBO movie, but it's so much better than that. The baseball savant in me absolutely adores the attention to detail given here. That's a credit to director Billy Crystal, who is likely the most knowledgeable celebrity Yankees fan there is.

I'm a firm believer that out of all the baseball movies I've seen, this has the best game action and I'm very particular about that.

This also has a stellar ensemble cast. My favorite performance was from Bruce McGill who played Yankees manager Ralph Houk and had "baseball manager" down to a T.

92% Movie Collection

Review by James White ★★★½ 1

Only Yankees fans could boo and send death threats to their own player when he's succeeding

Review by Cameron ★★★★ 2

What is it about baseball movies that always makes me cry? (And, yes, I include Major League: Back to the Minors)

Review by Diego Rocke ★★★½

Me dieron muchas ganas de volver a ver esta película después de lo de ayer. Para dar un poco de contexto, yo amo el béisbol, es el deporte que más adoro y siempre he sido fan de los Yankees. Ayer, Aaron Judge conecto su homerun #61 del año, mismo que empato la marca impuesta por Roger Maris de 61 en 1961, es decir, hay algo mágico dentro de ese número, además de que Judge usa el número 99 y Maris usaba el 9, y Judge conecto el homerun en el estadio "Roger" Centre de Toronto. En fin, yo considero que nada es coincidencia, todo ya está predestinado de algún modo u otro y eso me hizo sentir algo muy especial…

Review by matnol9 ★★★★★ 2

*** Minor Spoilers***

One one my favorite baseball biopics...excellent job by director Billy Crystal who is a die-hard Yankees fan and idolizes No. 7 Mickey Mantle, superbly depicts the NY Yankees 1961 phenomenal season, which focuses on teammates Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris pursuit of Babe Ruth’s prestigious single-season home run record of 60 set in 1927...But one of the main antagonist were certain members of the press, they relentlessly try to put a wedge between Roger and his teammates, the fan’s and even his lovely wife...and did it for various reasons, for one they thought if this sacred Yankees record was to be broken, then it probably should be by the most cherished Yankee Mantle..and besides they thought Roger was…

Review by C.A. DeStefanis ★★★★ 4

While the Mark McGwire bookends have aged poorly and a lot of the digital effects look pretty spotty on a HD television this is still a fantastic little baseball flick directed by none other than Billy Crystal. The story of the 1961 home run race between New York Yankees Micky Mantle and Roger Maris as they try to surpass the seemingly insurmountable mark set by Babe Ruth and the obstacles that litter their paths. This is a no-frills, workman like retelling of the actual events. Nothing fancy at all. What does set it apart are the performances. Much like the actual Yankees of yore the supporting cast is a murderer's row of talent and familiar faces who all do excellent…

Review by TajLV ★★★½

Bravo to director Billy Crystal, a die-hard Yankee fan, for making this poignant docudrama about two of his childhood heroes, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. The story contains all of the great moments one might expect from an epic sports movie, tinged with the hue of truth. Well cast, well acted and well delivered.

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By Alan Ng | January 9, 2022

Sixty years ago, New York Yankee Roger Maris did what was once believed to be impossible: he beat Babe Ruth’s single-season record of 60 home runs. In 1998, Mark McGwire would eventually surpass Maris with 70 homers prompting comedian and lover of baseball Billy Crystal to tell Maris’ story in HBO Original, 61* .

Directed by Crystal and written by Hank Steinberg, the sports drama recounts the 1961 Yankees season when Roger Maris (Barry Pepper) broke Ruth’s record. As the season starts, Maris is coming off his MVP designation from the previous year even though veteran Yankee Mickey Mantle (Thomas Jane) is still on the team and beloved by all of New York. Right out of the gate, the “M&M Boys,” Maris and Mantle, begin a hot streak of home runs, and it doesn’t take long for the press to wonder if either of these men could break Babe Ruth’s 1927 record.

“… recounts the 1961 Yankees season when Roger Maris broke Ruth’s record .”

As much as this is about Maris’ run at the record, the film is a snapshot of the state of baseball in 1961 when the sport was more about the game, the players’ personalities, and less about the money (though it’s never not about the money). Maris and Mantle are a study of contrasts. Mantle is a Yankee legend, and Maris is a quiet guy who just wants to play baseball. Mantle likes to drink and party, while Maris is a family man locked up in his apartment to stay out of trouble. Yet, both the public and the press want the former to break the record, and at the same time, wish the latter would break his arms.

61* explores the relationship between Mantle and Maris well. The press and dirt sheets tell stories of their bitter rivalry and backstabbing over who will break the record. The reality was that Mantle and Maris shared an apartment in New York, so Maris could help Mantle clean up his partying lifestyle. The two admired one another, and any conflict was born from Mantle’s alcoholism and feared that the end of his storied career would be imminent.

Directed: Billy Crystal

Written: Hank Steinberg

Starring: Barry Pepper, Thomas Jane, etc.

Movie score: 7.5/10

"…a nostalgic look back at when the business of baseball was simple."

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61* Reviews

2 hr 8 mins
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Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle race to break Babe Ruth's single-season home-run record in 1961. As the two NY Yankees come within grasping distance of Ruth's record, their loyalty as friends and teammates is put to the ultimate test.

Director Billy Crystal captures the sixties zeitgeist in this made-for-Cable movie about a key season in the history of America's favorite pastime. As baseball enthusiasts cheer Mark McGwire's record-breaking batting rivalry with Sammy Sosa in 1998, older fans recall a similar frenzy back in simpler, steroid-free times. In 1961, the Yankees headed for the pennant race with two dissimilar star players, Mickey Mantle (Thomas Jane) and Roger Maris (Barry Pepper). Everyone's fair-haired boy, Mantle was charismatic enough to deflect criticism about his boozing and womanizing. Straight-arrow Maris, a recent addition to the team, played by the rules but didn't make for good copy, and lacked the social skills to galvanize the press on his behalf. Badmouthed by the media and booed by the fans, Maris remained an outsider. Neither baseball Commissioner Ford Frick (Donald Moffat) and Ruth's widow (Renee Taylor) wanted to see Babe Ruth's home-run record broken, but if the inevitable were to occur the cry from the newsrooms and the bleachers was, "Let it be Mantle!" No rivalry existed off the field. Maris and teammate Bob Cerv (Chris Bauer) became Mantle's house-mate in Queens and Maris encouraged Mickey to curb his self-destructive carousing. Maris and Mantle both wanted glory, but for Yankees rather than for themselves. When Mantle's injuries caught up with him, Maris stood poised to outdo the Babe and ignored death threats and bad vibes to break the Babe's home run tally in only one more game than it took Babe Ruth. Screenwriter Hank Steinberg tries to cover all the bases, using baseball fandom as a metaphor for the insularity of the American public. Though Crystal doesn't entirely realize the script's social ramifications, he does a stunning job of recreating the Yankees' corps d'esprit and of resurrecting a less crass era when major league players were both human and heroic.

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HBO has become best known as the home of Tony Soprano’s New Jersey crew, but the net’s newest TV movie, director Billy Crystal’s ebullient 61* , deals with a different breed of tristate area hitmen. The title refers to the home run record set by New York Yankee Roger Maris in 1961 — a feat asterisked due to the fact that the season was eight games longer than when Babe Ruth set the mark in 1927. The film contends Maris’ achievement was diminished in this manner because fans, major league execs, and, most of all, the media would rather have seen his flashier teammate Mickey Mantle break the Babe’s coveted record. (The asterisk was removed by commissioner Fay Vincent in 1991.)

Crystal sets out to resuscitate Maris’ reputation and succeeds, thanks to the casting of Barry Pepper. The actor, so creepy as the scripture quoting sniper in ”Saving Private Ryan,” exudes Midwestern decency as the North Dakota bred slugger. At home, he’s a doting husband and dad, yet on the diamond, he cracks fewer smiles than Russell Crowe on Oscar night. (One reporter dubs the MVP ”Most Vacant Personality.”) With his brush cut and stoic countenance, Pepper looks so much like Maris, it’s scary.

Thomas Jane (”Deep Blue Sea”) doesn’t resemble Mantle as closely, but he captures the Mick’s cocky swagger. The contrast between free swinging Mantle and family man Maris stands at the heart of ”61*.” Crystal doesn’t view his childhood hero through misty eyes; he honestly depicts the imbibing that would cost Mantle his liver and his life. Yet while the movie is unabashedly pro-Maris, it isn’t antiMantle. Rookie writer Hank Steinberg’s affecting screenplay hints at the demons that drove both men: Mantle’s father died of Hodgkin’s disease at 39, instilling his ”live for today” mentality, while Maris’ older brother (also a promising ballplayer) was sidelined by polio.

The filmmakers depict the teammates’ relationship with a gratifying complexity — they’re both competitive and protective of each other. In an attempt to curb his carousing, Mantle moves into Maris’ sleepy Queens pad, and there’s a priceless scene in which the two sit dumbfounded as they watch a TV report about their alleged ”feud.” The press bashing ultimately becomes tiresome, but ”61*” provocatively illustrates how pop culture demands that celebrities provide entertainment both on and off the job.

Crystal directs in an endearingly old-fashioned style, making use of spinning headline montages and period tunes (such as Mantle’s wooden duet with Teresa Brewer, ”I Love Mickey”). With his fondness for borscht belt comics (the subject of his 1992 directorial debut, ”Mr. Saturday Night”) and prehistoric talk show host Joe Franklin (whom he spoofed in ”SNL” sketches), he’s always seemed a throwback to an earlier era, and that nostalgic penchant suits this material well. As a stand-up, Crystal understands the Bronx Bombers’ on the road bonding, and he brings a baseball fanatic’s attention to detail — from re-creating Maris’ batting stance to using Yankees PA announcer Bob Sheppard as narrator.

The deep bench of supporting players includes the director’s daughter Jennifer Crystal Foley (”Once and Again”), as Maris’ wife, Pat. A seemingly nepotistic choice, Foley delivers a lovely performance (it doesn’t hurt that Dad shoots her adoringly). ”Breakfast Club”ber Anthony Michael Hall convincingly embodies pitcher Whitey Ford, who helps clean up Mantle’s drunken messes, and ”Animal House” alum Bruce McGill is a pillar of dignity as Yankee manager Ralph Houk. Among the evocative cameos are Michael Nouri (as a clubhouse haunting Joe DiMaggio), Christopher McDonald (as play by play man Mel Allen), and Joe Grifasi (as his pasta obsessed side kick, Phil Rizzuto).

Like any home run hitter, ”61*” occasionally whiffs. Framing the story with scenes of Maris’ wife and kids watching Mark McGwire break his record in 1998 feels awkward, as does having Yogi Berra (Paul Borghese) spout one of his most famous ”Yogi-isms” (”Ninety percent of the game is half mental”) during a batting practice sequence. And while Crystal mostly keeps his maudlin tendencies in check, he overuses the slo-mo footage and Marc Shaiman’s mawkish score when Maris finally smashes his 61st dinger. Still, it’s hard not to get choked up at the sight. By that point, Crystal and his movie have earned their sentimental pinstripes.

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By Blake French

Facts and Figures

Year : 2001

Run time : 129 mins

In Theaters : Saturday 28th April 2001

Production compaines : 61* Productions Inc.

Contactmusic.com : 4 / 5

Rotten Tomatoes : 80% Fresh: 12 Rotten: 3

IMDB : 7.9 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director : Billy Crystal

Producer : Robert F. Colesberry

Screenwriter : Hank Steinberg

Starring : Barry Pepper as Roger Maris, Thomas Jane as Mickey Mantle, Anthony Michael Hall as Whitey Ford, Richard Masur as Milt Kahn, Bruce McGill as Ralph Houk, Chris Bauer as Bob Cerv, Jennifer Crystal Foley as Pat Maris ('61), Christopher McDonald as Mel Allen

Also starring : Berry Pepper , Seymour Cassel , Bob Gunston , Donald Moffat , Hank Steinberg

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"Highway 61" opens up north in the Canadian hamlet of Pickerel Falls, where an earnest young man named Pokey Jones operates a barber shop and hangs out with his buddies. One day he discovers a frozen body in a bathtub out in the shop's backyard. He hauls the stiff into the shop and attempts to blow-dry him back to life, but nothing doing. Not long after, a girl named Jackie Bangs wanders into town and claims the dead body as her brother.

We have reason to believe Jackie has never seen the body before. She's a roadie with a rock band, has stolen some drugs, and needs the corpse because it offers an ideal way to smuggle the drugs into the United States. She meets Pokey, who as discoverer of the body has made the front page of the local paper, and talks him into driving her and her "brother" to New Orleans.

That's the setup for "Highway 61," a good-natured, oddball road comedy that travels from Ontario to Louisiana while hardly encountering anybody along the way who is not a prime candidate for one of those tabloid TV shows. Pokey, played by Don McKellar , is a likable small-town guy who dreams of making it into showbiz as a trumpet player. And Jackie ( Valerie Buhagiar ) is a survivor looking for the angles.

What sets the movie apart from other road movies is the presence of another character, Mr. Skin (Earl Pastko). Mr. Skin is, in fact, Satan; he amuses himself and feeds his cynicism by seeing how cheaply he can buy human souls. Some souls change hands for as little as a bottle of whiskey. He takes Polaroids of his conquests and shuffles through them like a deck of cards on which he can perform unspeakable tricks.

Most of the people Pokey and Jackie encounter along the way look like models for carnival sideshows. Among them is a father (Peter Breck) who runs a traveling troupe consisting of his three daughters, who talk in unison and dance in a disturbingly mechanical style like wind-up Barbie dolls. There are also incurious service station owners who are not any more intrigued than absolutely necessary by the way Pokey has to keep borrowing ice to put in the coffin that's strapped to the top of his car.

One of the problems with a movie like this is that it has to end, which means the Satan business has to be resolved one way or another, when in fact the movie would be most comfortable just staying on the road indefinitely.

" Angel Heart ," another devil movie that hit the road for New Orleans, had a neat twist at the end.But "Highway 61" does not take Satan quite seriously enough, I think, to give him his due. Instead, the movie ends sort of whimsically, as it began.

What's good about it are the performances by McKellar and Buhagiar, who look surprisingly like real people and not like movie actors, and a rock sound track by Nash the Slash, a group (or person) previously unknown to me, that's fun to listen to. McKellar also wrote the movie, and puts in a lot of quiet little conversational twists, small whimsical observations and wistful asides, that are as insubstantial as the wind, but leave a nice lingering tone.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Highway 61 (1992)

Rated R For Language and A Scene Of Sensuality

102 minutes

Valerie Buhagiar as Jackie Bangs

Don McKellar as Pokey Jones

Directed by

Bruce McDonald
Don McKellar

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Kinorium 6.4 100+
IMDb 7.7 17 651
Critics 86% 28

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Critique: 10

Mr. Jane, as Mantle, nails both the player’s movie-star charisma and his painful, self-destructive streak.

Featured here are Barry Pepper as Maris and Thomas Jane as Mantle, actors as persuasive on the field as off.

Barry Pepper is an amazing Maris look-alike, Thomas Jane manages to suggest the damage Mantle did to himself, and Richard Masur plays the sort of s...

Maybe you had to have been there to really appreciate 61*. On the other hand, 61* might just make you feel as if you were.

The filmmakers depict the teammates' relationship with a gratifying complexity – they’re both competitive and protective of each ot...

The beauty of 61, the Billy Crystal film for HBO, is that it early on makes a few dangerous missteps and corrects them quickly, all the while...

What begins as a lively, vibrant evocation of one of baseball’s greatest seasons ends as a frustratingly conventional tale of sport...

While the script has its fair share of treacly moments intended to manipulate viewers into caring deeply for this duo, Billy Crystal’s dream...

This film is about more than a broken record. It’s about a broken heart. Watch it, and yours may break, too.

The triumph here is one of tone and texture, where the baseball and the emotions are almost always depicted just right.

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61* streaming: where to watch online?

Currently you are able to watch "61*" streaming on Hulu, Max, Max Amazon Channel. It is also possible to buy "61*" on Apple TV, Vudu, Microsoft Store, Amazon Video as download or rent it on Microsoft Store, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu online.

Where does 61* rank today? The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

Streaming charts last updated: 9:10:48 AM, 05/16/2024

61* is 7812 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 3920 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than The Black Water Vampire but less popular than Crow Valley.

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Streaming Charts The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

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One was the Yankees' best loved player, the other was their most valuable. In the summer of 1961, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle took on Babe Ruth's record, the 1927 single-season 60 home run slam. It would be a summer that no one who knows baseball would forget. In 1961, Mickey Mantle is a Yankee favorite. The smiling sun god of the season, a hit with fans and sports writers alike and natural heir to his predecessors Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, and Bebe Ruth. Also at bat is a yound midwesterner, Roger Maris. A hard-hitting right fielder, Maris is Mantle's opposite in almost every way. Quiet and soft-spoken, he doesn't add up to everything a sports legend should be, and finds himself losing the support of the fans when he refuses to try. As the summer of 1961 unfolds, both Maris and Mantle find themselves approaching Babe Ruth's benchmark of 60 home runs. Facing mounting pressure from the media and the stands, they both know there's only room for one winner. The people make their choice known. But the people's favorite isn't the favorite to win.

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

61 in 1961. One of the greatest, most iconic records in sports history, held by a man who wasn't a legend like his peers. There was Babe Ruth with his original 60, Joe DiMaggio with his 56 game hit streak, and Lou Gehrig with 2,130 games consecutively played. All Yankees, all players bigger than the game, who embodied the sport, captured the hearts of their city and the baseball world. Roger Maris, in the eyes of the world, did not deserve to stand alongside said men, let alone usurp one. The Cooperstown Hall of Fame still doesn't have a plaque for Maris, though his teammate, the untouchable Mickey Mantle, earned his on the first ballot in 1974, as did teammate Whitey Ford.

Maris fell over 200 votes short, earning less than a quarter of the writers' support. To this day, his bat, the one that hit the first ever 61st home run has a home among the baseball immortal, and despite what the late 90s and early 00s brought, his record remains in the heart of baseball purists.

Made a few years after the big home run chase of 1998 that captured the attention of the entire world, before Barry Bonds would break that record himself, Billy Crystal, a man who would go on to play a game for the Bronx Bombers in spring training years later, captured the feel of the team, the sport, and the nation, in one of the most pivotal years in baseball history with the HBO film '61*.' As Yankees fans root for their hero, the oft-injured, hard living Mantle (Thomas Jane), a man who symbolized the storied franchise's pride, there was another outfielder on the team who stood alongside him in the spotlight, the reigning AL MVP, Maris (Barry Pepper). As the two sluggers put up home run after home run, the media creates a backlash, trying to pit player against player, dividing audiences on who to root for, and eventually, who to root against. Over the course of the first 162 game season in history, the pressures of chasing the Bambino weigh on both men.

'61*' isn't your traditional baseball story, where a team fights to win a championship. In one of the golden eras of the Yanks, the team was assumed to get back to the World Series. This film doesn't even show an inch of postseason play, instead focusing on the early season slumps and eventual media sensation that was the dueling teammates hitting dinger after dinger, against the ghost of the most legendary player in baseball history. We see the stress of the media and the fans, the unwinnable situations, and the eventual turning of the fans against the man who carried the team the season before, as they felt the wrong man would break the record. And it feels bloody authentic.

Few baseball films have ever captured the aura of an era quite like '61*.' With Tiger Stadium doubling for the historic house that Ruth built, we see the ugliness of it all, rather than some assumed glory, and it's somewhat painful to watch. You see a man tortured by those who should be cheering for him the loudest, as even his home runs draw boos, despite helping his team win. Better still, '61*' focuses on the relationship between Maris and Mantle, as the dueling titans are stuck with this supposed rivalry that never existed, fueled daily by media scrutiny, misquotes, and one of the most tragically under-appreciated in its time performances in any sport.

Simply put, baseball fans must own this film. It's one of the greatest flicks devoted to the national pastime. Pepper is absolutely amazing as Maris, while Jane is no slouch playing the ladies man pretty boy. The funny thing is, there are so many great performances by character actors in the supporting roles, the entire film has this strange familiarity to it, much like one would expect watching the most famous team in sports. The behind the scenes politics of the sport, concerning the record books, asterisks, even simple management, are fascinating to watch unfold, as the deck continues to stack against the Fargo born ballplayer.

With the film's endcaps focusing on the McGwire chase, where Maris's children were on hand to witness their father's name disappear from the charts, '61*' puts you in a whole different environment, unintentionally paralleling the asterisk idea of 1961 to the yearning for the asterisk today, as not a single player who has outslugged Maris has not been long suspected of steroid and other PED use. It's almost ironic. As the true record is tied at the opening, and broken in the closing, the sporting world was done a great disservice, with the purity of the game forever thrown away, and for a good two hours, we're reminded of a different era, a moment that should have been as magical and embraced for Maris as it would McGwire almost forty years later. It's hard to not yearn for the good old days, and lifelong Yankee fan Crystal brings the purity back to the game, if even for just a short moment.

The Disc: Vital Stats

HBO's '61*' comes to Blu-ray on a Region A marked BD50 disc, with no annoying pre-menu content. What makes this release special is the extremely low MSRP, a record mark for the studio, allowing retailers like Amazon to put this already forgotten baseball gem for sale for less than a ten dollar bill. Best of all, this is no "budget" release, as there is no skimped audio or video, and there's a healthy pile of supplements to boot. This is how catalog titles should be treated.

Video Review

HBO's 1080p AVC MPEG-4 encode (at 1.78:1) for '61*' is quite solid.

From appropriate black levels, to superb, sumptuous textures and startlingly good detail levels, this disc is a hit. The detail levels are so good you can see the difference in paper stock used to put a picture of the actors in the place of the original photo, and even mid-range shots show great clarity in facial features normally not found there. The uniforms, the jackets, there isn't a moment not worth falling in love with, as you can almost feel the fuzz. Hair is amazingly detailed and never an aliasing trap, while the picture never suffers for depth problems, save for some obvious green screen moments for home run shots. Edges are pure, while there isn't any crush or obvious DNR in sight, while whites remain pure and free from issue.

There are some bits of dirt, some light noise, and the random soft shot that remind us this isn't some expensive brand new film, but for an inexpensive catalog release that probably didn't have all that much of a budget, '61*' shines on Blu-ray.

Audio Review

The sole English option on this disc is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that is good, but not all that great. Inconsistent may be the word I'm looking for.

Dialogue has no problems, whatsoever, none with prioritization, clarity, dynamics, you name it. Bass levels are very light, but this film didn't have much sonic punch to it, anyways. Rears get good soundtrack and score bleed, and some random crowds that fill rooms, but that's the biggest problem on the release. Changed camera angles don't result in changed rear crowd ambience, so the same spectator sounds are heard from all angles, with no change in consistency, volume, pitch, nothing. Worse still, there are numerous moments where rear activity was to be expected, but none was to be found. It's hit or miss, sadly.

For what the film is, it sounds good, but it will never earn high marks in my book.

Special Features

Final thoughts.

'61*' isn't the best baseball film ever made. It's not 100 percent historically accurate, no matter how much work was put into it, but the sheer amount of love and dedication poured into the production shows, creating a fantastic, memorable little flick that seems to get forgotten far too often in the conversations about great sports films. HBO does a bang up job with this release that is sure to appease fans and even entice newcomers. It earns any easy recommendation from me, but heck, I'm biased. Relive the days before the 'roids, when controversy still existed, and separate records were made. Hint, hint, Major League Baseball...

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May 16, 2024 (United States)
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