alexanderdavies-99382 This film belongs to Tommy Lee Jones. His performance in the title role is one to remember and I'm slightly surprised he wasn't nominated for an oscar. He plays the person of Ty Cobb as being unpleasant, unpredictable, eccentric but also rather tragic. Robert Wuhl compliments him as the real life biographer, Al Stump. The setting is the early 1960s. Ty Cobb - in his 70s - agrees to be interviewed by sports writer and biographer Al Stump after the latter feels the baseball hero should be more of a household name. What follows has to be seen in order to be believed.... The acting from the leads is what maintains the film. The fact that "Cobb" is mainly a two hander, helps to keep the film as that of a drama and character study. There isn't that much of a big supporting cast. Everyone else is kept firmly in the background and it works. The writing is outstanding and both Cobb and Stump have been given plenty of depth. I was a bit disappointed when I discovered that there is hardly any baseball footage or that the film doesn't begin with Cobb's life story from the beginning. In my opinion, the film would have benefited greatly. The foul language goes rather too far on more than one occasion and soon becomes predictable. The screenplay isn't exactly depressing as such. On the contrary, there are amusing moments along the way. One example, is the scene where Stump is notified that his wife wants a divorce! Cobb has a good laugh at his expense because it reminds him of similar times. There is a particularly moving scene near the end. Cobb successfully tracks down the location of his estranged daughter and is hoping she will speak to him. Stump presents him with the news that this is not going to happen. There is no dialogue to be heard as Stump is informed by the woman in question of her decision regarding her father. The visual interaction between the two speaks volumes. Watching from his car, Cobb knows instinctively that it's not good news. "Cobb" was hardly given a theatrical release in 1994 and is pretty hard to obtain on DVD these days. The film proves that Tommy Lee Jones can easily qualify as a character actor and the above film proves that.

martinmcdonough A movie like this one just goes to show that if anyone involved in making this movie had bothered to do a shred of research into the life of Cobb, they would have quickly realized that Al Stump fabricated the vast majority of what has become the unfortunate long held beliefs about Cobb. It's too bad that no one looked any further than his book and just ran with it as Gospel. Al Stump has been largely discredited due to these fabrications, false statements, forgeries and sensationalizing events in Cobb's life to cast him in an unflattering light. This movie hones in on them and magnifies them. To start with the small stuff, Cobb was not, as commonly believed, a dirty player - and this is according to men he played against. He was tough, rough, and an agitator, but he never "sharpened his spikes" as legend (and the film) attest. Nor did he pistol-whip blacks for no reason. Nor was he a raging racist (he said that blacks should be allowed to play ball wholeheartedly). If you want to know the true Ty Cobb, the one that Al Stump threw into the dustbin in favor of his fabrication, read "A Terrible Beauty" by Charles Leerhsen. HE did some actual research. It's a shame that people as bright as Ron Shelton (director) and Ken Burns (Baseball mini-series) never took the time to investigate any of Stump's wild accusations.

utgard14 First things first, this movie is based off of a book written by Al Stump, who is played by Robert Wuhl in the film. Al Stump in recent years has proved to be a liar and a forger so sports historians are calling into question a great deal of his supposed insight into Ty Cobb. In other words, in all likelihood Mr. Stump exaggerated or outright made up most of his allegations against Cobb to sell books. That isn't to say Ty Cobb was a prince of a human being because there's enough contemporary evidence to show that he wasn't. But some of the most vile things that have been said about him can be traced to Stump's writing. So take the things this movie has to say with a huge grain of salt. Another black mark against the film is that it has very little actual baseball in it. This movie doesn't care about Cobb the baseball giant. It only cares about Cobb the asshole. To include one side of the man without the other is a pointless exercise in self-righteousness. Why is a biography of Ty Cobb even necessary without his baseball accomplishments? Because he was a racist and a bully? There are millions of those, past and present, who aren't getting movies made about them. It just defies reason. Cobb was one of the greatest (and dirtiest) baseball players ever. Going by this movie, however, you would think he was just some crotchety old man who shared wacky adventures with a sports reporter. Tommy Lee Jones was too old to play this role, as is especially evident in the flashbacks to when Cobb was younger. He plays Cobb as a silly cantankerous cartoon of a man. Every bit as over the top as his performance of Two Face in Batman Forever. Let that sink in for a minute. Robert Wuhl plays himself as he always does. The movie is entertaining in spots. The comedic parts work better than the dramatic. I can't really recommend it because the bad outweighs the good and, personally, knowing about Stump leaves a bad taste in my mouth over the whole thing.

Steve Pulaski Tommy Lee Jones may not look much like the infamous ballplayer Ty Cobb, but he sure does embody his spirit, hatred, and consistent belligerence wonderfully. To play a person of his magnitude certainly requires ambition and drive but also talent and diversity. Jones tackles the player with the hatred and evilness that many archived articles and reports have claimed he proudly wore with piercing accuracy.Today, in 2012, baseball players are often viewed as "heroes," "role models," and sometimes even people who provide us with more motivation and passion than those we know in real life. Players like Starlin Castro, Alfonso Soriano, and Jim Thome have etched themselves into the hearts of many. Cobb would've etched himself in the dark side of someone's heart. He was a racist, sexist, selfish, mean-spirited, cocky, gun-toting ignoramus who hated everyone except himself. He thought of himself as "the sport of baseball," completely shunning teamwork and thoroughly enjoyed being hated by literally everyone in the audience. He thought the fact that they showed up to the stadium to throw food and garbage on him was the highest compliment someone could pay.The film centers around not his baseball career, but how a famed sportswriter had the questionably fortunate opportunity to dig into Cobb as a real person in 1959. That man was Al Stump (Robert Wuhl), who was hired to act as a ghostwriter for Cobb's autobiography. Initially, Stump is incredibly honored and thrilled to be given such a job, being able to spend days and nights with "the best baseball player of all time." But when Stump arrives, he is immediately greeted with loud rants from a writer who walks on him and we eventually see Cobb, as he lies in bed, frail and uninspired, verbally assaulting the poor man as he tries to simply reason with him and remain civil.Cobb suggests that him and Stump drive down to Reno to have sex with random women - an act he hopes to accomplish before he dies. He insists on driving recklessly through a terrible blizzard and, as he slips and slides down the road, Cobb briefly illustrates his baseball history for Al.You'd believe the film was told entirely in flashback, but the flashback ceases only after a few minutes and we are back in the present with Al and Cobb, and that's where we remain for the remainder of the picture. It is widely known that Stump published a book shortly after spending days on end with Cobb, but that was the fabricated version he was conned into writing for the man, which the film heavily explores. Al secretly kept a real recollection of his treatment and relationship with the man, but resorted to scribbling notes on cocktail napkins, small pieces of paper, etc. He then released a book detailing the true accounts of the man years after his death - accounts that are depicted in this film.Ron Shelton's Cobb is far from a perfect biopic. It's a little choppy, somewhat dry in sequences, and may run twenty minutes too long, but the fact that it humanizes an unbelievably despicable character, is written with little tongue in cheek innuendos, and the fact that it showcases many honorable performances makes it one that proves its existence nicely.Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Wuhl, and Lolita Davidovich. Directed by: Ron Shelton.