| abstract | - It was directed by Penny Marshall and released on July 1, 1992 by Columbia Pictures.
- A League of Their Own is a 1992 American comedy-drama film that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Directed by Penny Marshall, the film stars Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Tom Hanks, Madonna, and Rosie O'Donnell. The screenplay was written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel from a story by Kim Wilson and Kelly Candaele. In 2012, A League of Their Own was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
- A League of Their Own is a 1992 film about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, formed in response to the lack of men available to play Major League Baseball during World War II. A line from the film, "There's no crying in baseball!" was rated 54th on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest film quotes of all time. In 2012, it was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
- A League of Their Own is a 2003 TV movie that was originally released as two episodes. It is part of the 2000 Static Shock TV series.
- Betty is on the bus, speaking on her cell phone to Henry, who is on another bus. She is insisting that the two of them arrange their schedules so that they do not run into one another. They swap schedules, and agree that “maybe the whole avoidance thing will work after all”. They then realise that they were on the same bus when they run into each other. At home, Ignacio is making breakfast. Hilda says she cannot stay, she has to go to the cemetery to do scratch-off lottery tickets with Santos. Justin says he is going to be with his friends, but when Ignacio asks, “the drama club?” Justin says the Drama Club is lame. Justin then presents something for Hilda to sign, which she does without question. After he leaves, Ignacio asks Hilda what it was, she didn’t know. As Justin walks out of the house, his friends (including “the girlfriend”) are there and tells him his mother just gave him an excuse note to miss the field trip tomorrow, so they decide to take Hilda’s car. The girl is impressed. At work, Betty tells Daniel that Bradford wants to have dinner with Wilhelmina, Alexis, and him. They then walk into a staff meeting and Henry is there to discuss the "advertising" situation. Betty is trying to get everyone to swap chairs so she doesn’t have to sit next to Henry, but is not successful in that effort. Wilhelmina tells the group that 52% of their advertisers have pulled out. Henry says MODE will be out of business in 90 days. Over in Long Island, Claire is drinking as she tells Yoga that she doesn’t want to go overseas and that she’ll turn herself in. Christina is doing “measurements” on a hunky underwear model, while discussing the Henry situation with Betty. She convinces Betty to try online dating. Christina is going to put Betty’s profile on bachelocity.com. Betty says, “I’m not that desperate,” but when she hears Henry’s voice saying, “You’re a little desperate…,” Betty looks up, and Henry’s head is on the model’s body. She looks again, and it’s the model again. Betty fills out her profile while Christina attempts to take her picture. Her photos keep turning out bad. Amanda barges in, gives her advice on how to look better, including getting rid of the glasses. She returns a shoe box to Christina, which has a sandwich in it. Amanda had hoped that Christina wouldn’t notice, so she leaves to get the shoes. As Christina takes Betty’s picture again, Betty is so pleased with the sandwich. At this time, Christina takes her picture, and it turns out great. Wilhelmina tells Marc that her plan to ruin the company is going well, and tells him he can supervise the Valentino shoot. Marc wonders if that is part of her plan to ruin MODE, but he goes anyway, where he walks onto the shoot and meets photograher Cliff St. Paul, who is kind of portly and a slog, mistaking him for a model. Marc then shows his modeling prowess by slapping his own butt too hard, making Cliff giggle. The REAL model, who is not the brightest bulb, put the underwear on backwards. Marc then goes to “help” him. The photo shoot was based on Rear Window, which Marc had never seen, nor had he seen Psycho, which Cliff invited him to come over and see, after getting drinks. Amanda barges in and tells Marc that Betty is internet dating, and that they must go “Mock” but Marc says it will have to wait, he is going to ask out the underwear guy, instead of Cliff. Around the same time at home, Ignacio comes back to the house, and three old ladies are there: Hilda’s new friends from the cemetery. They are making a quilt from their dead husband’s shirts, as well as separating pills and ironing money. While they are talking about things they want to write angry letters about, Justin sneaks in and takes Hilda’s car keys. Ignacio finally tells Hilda that she has to stop hanging out with the old ladies, but she explains that the women know what she’s going through. Ignacio says he does, too, but life has to go on. Wilhelmina makes crazy suggestions to save money now that the magazine is losing money. She suggests printing on rice paper and using soy ink. She also suggests giving out free detergent samples. Hours later Alexis walks up to Daniel and shows him how the soy ink will not work - she gets it all over her Dolce top. She insists they ask their father for money, so they decide that she is the best one to do this, since she was the “golden boy”. Kenny comes to get Daniel’s signature, and talks to Betty. Betty gives Kenny her time card, because she doesn’t want to go to the accounting department. He speaks a bunch of gibberish. Betty tells him, “Kenny, you’re from Greenwich. Stop frontin’ ” He replies, “South side, yo!” He tells Christina (about Betty), “Tell your girl to throw my man a Betty Biscuit!”. Back at her desk, Betty’s gotten 15 replies to her dating profile, all but one were jokes form Amanda, but one guy asks her out bowling. She replies, accidentally, “Yes, I love blowing”. Daniel then shows Betty a prototype of the “new” MODE, but she tells him it’s not very good and says that he should keep MODE the way it is, and ask his father for money but Daniel doesn’t want to do this. He notices Betty is wearing her lucky sweater, and Betty replies by telling him about her bowling date. Back on Long Island, Claire is going through her friend’s mail, and sees an invitation to Bradford’s wedding. Later, she is gone, and Yoga notices one of the display guns is missing from the rack, leading Yoga to suspect that she is going to shoot Wilhelmina at the Meade Mansion. As Henry is working, Kenny comes in and gossips, telling him about Betty’s internet date, which is taking place at the bowling alley. Betty is checking her teeth in a bowling trophy when her dates walks up. He is obviously disappointed in her looks, but still polite. She is blathering on nervously, while he is trying to “hurry up” the date. As she gets a call, he excuses himself and goes to the bathroom. Christina is on the phone, but she has to leave to get a new message on the dating website. It turns out to be Christina's husband, who has found her. In the meantime, Betty is drying her underarms on the bowling hand dryers. When the date sees this, he decides to leave without telling Betty. As he’s leaving, Henry, who had been crouching down, watching everything. Betty turns to see Henry there, he pretends to have been there for League night. Henry lies about why the guy left (his bird got the bird flu). Henry wants to bowl in the next lane, but then the alley announcing “couples bowl”. Everyone starts making out. Betty says, “Bowling sucks”, and they leave. Marc tells Amanda he’s got a date with the underwear model but Amanda doesn’t believe him. Cliff walks in, and asks Marc if he wants to go to the Village after the movie. Marc tells him he can’t go, he asked out Gus the model. Cliff is disappointed, but Marc doesn’t get that Cliff thought they were going on a date. Then, he suddenly understands, but as Marc tries to apologize, Cliff at first blows it off, then tells Marc how upset he is that he didn’t think they had a “date” because of the way he looked. He says, “I thought there was more to you…” Later that evening, Marc is in Cliff’s apartment, where they start seeing a movie. Marc asks, “What if I get scared?” Cliff tells him he’ll be there to hold his hand, which he does. Alexis and Daniel come over for dinner with Bradford and Wilhelmina. As Alexis starts to have flashbacks, she start telling Bradford about the lost advertisers, but Daniel interrupts her and tells him, only to have Bradford start yelling at Daniel. At this time, Alexis finally remembers everything, including when her father disowned her. She confesses to Daniel that she had tried to kill her father. Daniel is very upset about this, and leaves. Outside, Claire is aiming a gun into the window at Wilhelmina, who gets all the Meades together to take their holiday photo. As Yoga finally reached her to stop this, Claire decides not to shoot Wilhelmina and realizes that Wilhelmina has brought her family back together - everything’s OK now. She tells Yoga she wants to go to Italy now. Back at the Suarez house, Hilda is knitting while the cemetery girls are sleeping. As she’s checking one of them to see if she’s breathing, the police pull up. “Who died?” one of them asks. It turns out it’s a policewoman who knows Hilda, and she has brought Justin home. He had wrecked their car into a tree. Hilda finally snaps out of it and tells "the girls" they have to leave, then has a heart-to-heart with Justin. First, she lays down the law, then tells him it’s OK to grieve. He tells her he just wanted his dad to be proud of him. They embrace and cry. Betty and Henry go to a restaurant but it turns out to be a romantic one. A strolling violinist comes by, they try to tell him they are just friends. “He got another girl pregnant”, Betty says. A woman walks up with roses “for the pretty lady” - the violinist tells her “he got another girl pregnant”. As Betty starts to leave, Henry had dropped his fork, he was on his knees as he grabbed her hand and asked her to wait. The other patrons mistakenly thought this meant he was proposing. Betty says, “I can’t do this”, then walks away. As Betty is walking home, she gets a cell call from Henry, who's actually right behind her, prompting the two to argue. When Henry asks her if she wants him to leave MODE, Betty says yes, and he’ll give his notice on Monday. She goes inside, but comes back out and says, “There is another option”, then kisses him, as “As Time Goes By” plays in the background. She says she knows her heart will break, but maybe it’s worth it.
- A League of Their Own is a 1992 film which tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). It was adapted by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel from a story by Kim Wilson and Kelly Candaele, and was directed by Penny Marshall.
- Todd: Okay, this is gonna be an awkward fit for a Madonna film retrospective. Scenes from A League of Their Own play out Todd (VO): I have to cover it because it's the best Madonna film but, Madonna doesn't have a lot presence in it, and also, everyone's seen it. Everyone's seen it like multiple times, and loves it, and quotes from it and remembers all the scenes. You know, they're girls that play baseball and that, one girl slides in her skirt and tears up her leg, and, Jon Lovitz, and then [simultaneously with Jimmy] "There's no crying in baseball"... Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks):...no crying in baseball! There's no crying in baseball! Todd (VO): ...there's the other one who can hit, and then Tom Hanks takes a piss for two straight minutes. [Exact scene plays out] You know it. And if you don't... Jesus, did you not, did you not have TBS growing up? They used to play it, pretty much every day. Actually has this movie faded? I don't know, I'm getting old. Before your Legally Blonde or your Mean Girls, this was, like, the chick flick that everyone knew even if you weren't a chick. So, reviewing it is kind of like reviewing Star Wars, 'cause everyone's so familiar with it. Todd: But is it actually any good? The Rockford Peaches: [singing] We're the members of the All-American League We come from cities, near and far. We have Canadians, Irishmen and Swedes... Todd (VO): No black women though. Todd: That one's gonna have to wait a little bit. One step at a time. Todd (VO): So, A League of their Own is based on a real league that existed in the forties and fifties: the All-American Girls Professional League. You know the forties, that was a time when a lot of stuff about women's roles changed 'cause all our men were out killing Nazis in [brief clip of Saving Private Ryan] a different Tom Hanks movie. So back home, the women had to pick up the slack doing stuff that men usually did. In this case, that also included satisfying our need to watch grown adults play a silly meaningless game. Todd: Seriously, why do we watch sports? Jimmy: Baseball is what gets inside you; it's what lights you up. It's supposed to be hard. The hard, is what makes it great. Todd: I guess? I mean it's hard to memorize all 649 Pokemon, but i wouldn't, exactly call that great. Todd (VO): But anyway yeah, we wanna see some baseball if we gotta have ladies doing it instead of men, well, it'll have to do. So it's a baseball movie and it takes place in the forties so... Todd: ...naturally it's a little corny. Ernie Capadino (Jon Lovitz): [talking about Kit] I can't use her. Dottie (Geena Davis): She's great, why not? What's the problem? Ernie: You know General Omar Bradley? Dottie: Yeah? Ernie: Well there's too strong a resemblance. Todd (VO): It's actually kinda really corny in parts. Jimmy: May our feet be swift. May our bats be mighty. May our...balls be plentiful. Todd (VO): Like the mean, drunk, angry, sarcastic, edgy character is played by Tom Hanks. [Image of Tom Hank's front cover for Esquire] So yeah, I guess that's why I've always kinda held this movie a bit of a distance; it's always struck me as a little, obvious and easy. Announcer: ...careers and higher education are leading to the masculinization of women with enormously dangerous consequences, to the home, the children and our country. Young girls plucked from their families, are gathered at Harvey field to see which one of them can be the most masculine. Todd: Oh yeah? Well... Todd (VO): ...take this, outdated gender roles from fifty years ago! Heckler: Girls can't play ball! [Imitating the team] Look at me! I'm a ball player! [Ellen Sue (Freddie Simpson) throws the ball right at his head] Todd (VO): Yeah, showed you! Todd: And sexism was never a problem again. Todd (VO): Ah, that's not fair. If it was so obvious, they would've made that movie already and they hadn't. Nor have they really made one since. Nowadays our girl teams compete in [brief clip of Pitch Perfect] a capella competitions for some reason. And, even in 1992, I remember girls in sports still being, pretty controversial; there was all this uproar over Title IX, and it's not like women's pro leagues are thriving even now. Ira Lowenstein (David Strathairn): Harvey and the other owners think they've made a mistake. Uh, they're talking about closing you down. Todd (VO): Matter of fact, A League of Their Own is kinda structured weird for a sports movie because there's no real, bad guy or, rival team. There's no [clips of Cool Runnings...] evil East Germans or [...Karate Kid...] Cobra Kai or [...and Space Jam] giant cartoon aliens to beat or anything like that because... Todd: ...the bad guys that the girls are trying to win the big game against is... Todd (VO): ...[in a big booming voice] the crushing thumb of the patriarchy!, which is not something a well-placed sacrificed bunt is gonna do much about. So there's no real narrative drive to win the game because, basically they're winning every second that they still exist. Now I'm, a soccer guy personally, and, as an American soccer fan, yeah, I totally... Todd: ...get that mentality. [Clip of a MLS match between Houston and Orlando] Announcer: Mistep the game, Pedro Rivero. A chance. (Honestly, I'm not sure what the guy is saying here) Todd (VO): "It's okay we lost guys, cause everyone's a winner because we got to put on an entertaining show for all the fans." Todd: Now, I know this kind of mentality sounds lame. Todd (VO): So, because there's nothing really on the line, the movie's more like a bunch of short vignettes without a real plot to link them up. Jon Lovitz makes a big entrance and then leaves fifteen minutes into the movie. Ernie: Goodbye. Dottie: Wait, you're going? Todd: Oh and here's Rosie O'Donnell subplot: Helen (Anne Ramsay): Doris, is this your boyfriend? Now looks aren't the most important thing. Doris (Rosie O'Donnell): That's right the important thing is he's stupid, he's outta work and he treats be bad. Kit (Lori Petty): Then, why? Doris: Why? What do you think cause, y'know... none of the other boys ever uh... always made me feel like I was wrong, you know. I believed them too, but not anymore you know. I mean look here. There's a lot of us. Hey give me that. [Doris rips up the picture of her boyfriend and throws it out the bus window.] Todd (VO): And that's it! That's the entire arc. Todd: Subplot over. Todd (VO): Madonna doesn't even get a subplot, she's just there to say something scandalous every five scenes or so. [Scene of Mae leaving the confession booth, with the priest looking very hot and bothered] "Ha ha, she dirty-talked a priest!" I mean her scenes are funny... Mae: What if at a key moment in the game? My, my uniform bursts open and uh, oops: my bosoms come flying out? That, that, might, might draw a crowd, right? Doris: You think there are men in this country who ain't seen your bosoms? Todd (VO): I mean, they're not, four minutes of Tom Hanks peeing-funny but, you know, pretty funny. Granted being shockingly scandalous in an old-school forties kind of way is not exactly stretching for her. And it's funny to watch what kind of bullshit they had to put up with back then. First off, they have to wear those short skirts to show off their legs even though, those are ridiculous to play baseball in. Good thing female athletes don't have to put up with that anym... [an image of an newspaper article: "FIFA President suggests tighter shorts for women"] ...oh, yeah. Also, they have to go to charm school. Yeah that's some bullshit, I'm guessing no male baseball players ever had to do that. [Clip of a brawl at a baseball game] Which, honestly, maybe, that wouldn't be a terrible idea. Jimmy: Anyone ever tell you you look like a penis with a little hat on? Todd (VO): He does! He does look like a penis with a hat. Todd: I wonder what it was like to show up for the casting call: "guy who looks like penis with hat". Todd (VO): Now technically, this is a Geena Davis movie, and it's the rivalry between her character, Dottie, and her sister Kit that gives the movie any forward momentum. Kit is jealous of Dottie because Dottie is always so great; better than Kit. Kit: You ever hear how Dad introduces to people? This is our daughter Dottie. This is our other daughter, Dottie's sister. Todd: Thing is... Todd (VO): ...Dottie is better than Kit, in like every way because Kit's just not very good not only as a player but as a person. Kit: Finish it right here. Let's put this turkey out. Jimmy: What do you think? Dottie: She's done, she's throwing grapefruits at them. Later, in the change room... Kit: I know is you could've backed me up today! Instead of holding me back! Todd (VO): You were sucking! Do, do you not understand why relief... Todd: ...pitchers exist? What aren't you getting about this? Todd (VO): The movie would probably be better if Kit was likable in some way, but she's really not. She's a whiny brat, such a winy brat that she winds up traded to another team, the same one that Dottie's team plays in the finals. And right before that, Dottie also leaves the team because her man's home from the war, but she changed her mind and shows up for game 7 so, see it is still your normal sports movie Dottie: You look like shit. Do you ever shave? Jimmy: We're gonna win. WE'RE GONNA WIN! Todd: No you're going to lose. Todd (VO): Directly because you just subbed in a player with demonstrated commitment issues. Todd: Sorry to break it to ya. Todd (VO): Yeah, like all sports movies, it does come down to one play. And Dottie loses the game by literally dropping the ball and Kit wins. Dottie: Do what you gotta do. You just beat me, you wanted it more than me. Todd: Yeah no kidding. Todd (VO): I always thought Dottie dropped the ball on purpose but, um, rewatching... [Scene of the final playoff with Kit aggressively approaching Dottie. Cut to a clip from The Waterboy] Chris Fowler: There's a lot of, pain and shame in those eyes. Leo Corso: It's all over. Todd (VO) Yeah, I'm pretty sure Kit would've ripped the ball out of Dottie's fingers if she had to. Even though Kit's not a very likable character, she's a necessary one because she's the only one to throw cold water on the whole, "yay sisterhood" atmosphere in the movie. [Clips of Hope Solo] One of my favorite women's sport stories, is about how Hope Solo, the American soccer star, has changed our entire preconceptions about women's sports by being a stupid drunken idiot with a shitty attitude and all her teammates hate her, but you know what, she's the best so who gives a crap about being BFFs with her, let's just goddamn win. So Kit wins because she's the only one who really needs it and I guess she gets over her resentment because, yeah, a championship will definitely get you out of a more talented sibling's shadow. Ask Eli Manning. I'm not sure that's a satisfying ending cause what Kit needed to learn was how to be a better loser and less of a shitty teammate but, yeah, y'know, whatever. Ira: Well Walter what do you say? Walter Harvey (Garry Marshall): Alright Ira. We'll stick with them. Todd (VO): And for as cheesy as this movie can be full of cheap girl power moments, I like how it doesn't really have any real big victories. Obviously we know the league isn't gonna last, and the league's best player quits after one season to go support her husband and she doesn't even seem to really regret it that's just what women did back then. Yeah, in the end, they don't actually manage to turn the wheel of progress very far but they definitely did something in a pretty tough environment, so you know props to them. And like I said, not a lot of Madonna in this one. Her and Rosie O'Donnell are like the wise-cracking, fat-skinny duo, you know, like, the ones that pop up constantly in movies. And she gets one nice little monologue. Mae: What am I supposed to do huh? Go back to taxi dancin'? 10 cents so some slob can wipe his sweat and gin all over me?! Todd: And uh, that's about it. [End Credits play with "This Used to be my Playground".] Madonna: This used to be my playground. Todd (VO): Oh right, yeah! That! Um... Todd: ...even in, a well-written, eminently likable movie in which she gives a perfectly good performance, Madonna has to make sure that the film she's in sucks in at least one major way, and that is in her contribution to the soundtrack, "This Used to be my Playground", which stands a good chance at being the very worst song of her career. [Clip of "American Life" with Madonna rapping] Madonna: I'm drinking a soy latte I get a double shote It goes all through my body And you know I'm satisfied. Todd: Worse than that one. [Madonna on stage on The Blonde Ambition Tour, performing "Hanky Panky"] Madonna: Like hanky panky (hanky panky) Nothing like a good spanky (good spanky). Todd: Worse than that one also. [Cut back to "This Used to Be my Playground"] Madonna: I can see your face in our secret place... Todd (VO): Look, the early '90s was a lot less enjoyable than people like to remember. Easy listening still ruled the world, and Madonna was not immune to it. This song sucks. It's the, it's the only Madonna song I can imagine being sung by Phil Collins or Michael Bolton. [Cut back to end credits] It's like a DJ at the end of the night trying to clear out the dance floor. "Movie's over, go home." Todd: So yeah, that was A League of their Own. I'm, I'm glad I have that one out of the way it was a little intimidating. And I here some of you asking, "What's with all the positively lately? Aren't you gonna get to more bad movies?" Well, don't worry, after a few years of making movies that were not actually the worst thing in history, Madonna will be making a stunning return to form. Trailer for...: Rebecca Carlson: The women hate me, they think I'm a whore. Joanne Braslow: Men don't marry women like her. Rebecca: And the men see a cold heartless bitch they can pay back for every chick that's ever blown them off at a bar. (Title card for BODY OF EVIDENCE plays out)
- "A League of Their Own" is the sixth and seventh episodes of the third season of Static Shock. In this episode, the Justice League Watchtower is struck by a cosmic anomaly that drains most of its energy. With the out-of-orbit station threatening to crash into Earth, the Justice League turns to Static to recharge it. However, the plot thickens when Brainiac manages to escape confinement and take control of the Watchtower. And since the League is investigating a false distress signal, Static and Gear are the only ones there to stop him.
- As all the best baseball stars went off to fight the good war, something had to be done to get baseball stadiums busy. One man's solution: Create the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. This is their story. To be more concise, A League of Their Own is a 1992 film directed by Penny Marshall, starring her brother Garry, and featuring Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz. It is a fictionalized telling of the founding of the aforementioned baseball league and its struggles to stay relevant after the war ended. The main focus is the Rockford (Ill.) Peaches, headed by drunkard former baseball player Jimmy Dugan, and Kit and Dottie, two sisters who join the team. Spawned a television adaptation on CBS running for six episodes, airing at bizarrely-varying times (somewhere between May and August) throughout 1993. Not to be confused with the British sports panel show of the same name.
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