The original *Angels in the Outfield*, with Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh, is not a children's movie. It deals with the problems of middle-aged men facing physical decline and isolation, and deals with those topics well. In a sense, it is like a more serious version of Bernie Mack's also very good *Mr. 3000*.
This movie is clearly directed at young children/boys, but that makes it rather disturbing.
To begin with, the child who sees the angels is a young boy, not a young girl as in the 1951 original. Indeed, there are no women of any age in this movie with any interest in or knowledge of baseball. The middle-aged woman who runs the temporary foster home doesn't want a ticket to a baseball game; she has no interest in it. In the original, however, the mother superior of the orphanage where the little girl lives is also a baseball expert, to the point that she amazes the Pirates' manager (Douglas). So, while the newer movie is more open racially - there are black and latino characters - it's definitely regressive in terms of its presentation of women. The one woman we see is always busy sewing or doing other 19th century women's tasks.
The apparent racial inclusiveness is also largely superficial. The latino players make fun of one of their group who is dumber than a doornail. It is the white boy, rather than the latino or the black one, who gets to see the angels. Etc. Glover's manager, though well acted, never reflects on the issues that will be posed by his adoption of the white boy, not just racial but because he is a single man. In the original, his equivalent, Douglas, is very concerned about such issues.
Then there is the issue of performance-enhancing drugs. Early on Glover's manager says that Danza's character messed up his career by taking too many drugs. Later we learn that, when they were both playing for Cincinnati, Glover's character had encouraged Danza's to take them. Still later we learn that Danza's character is going to die a young death because of chemical abuse. But he is not the only one. There are a few scenes in the Angels' locker room where the players are shirtless. I'm sure they were there in part to please the mothers in the audience. But those muscular physiques are way past what normal, in shape athletic men look like. They too, the movie seems to suggest, are on steroids.
Yes, the move clearly warns against their use with Danza's character's early death. But is that really an appropriate subject for a movie aimed at pre-teen boys?
The movie is also about the failure of early middle-aged men. Glover has failed to turn the Angels around. We learn from the *nice* announcer that the nasty announcer had failed as a manager as well. The white boy's father has failed as a father bigtime and abandons his son to the state. Danza's character has failed his teammates. The list goes on. What is this movie telling young boys?
And then there are the angels. In the original, no one but the little girl, who sees them, and the manager, who speaks with one of them, believes in them. Not even the mother superior wants to believe in them. But in this movie, by the end, thousands of people believe in them. I guess that's good if you're a fundamentalist, but what does it tell little boys about how to overcome their problems in life? In the original, the aging pitcher triumphs over fatigue and physical pain to pitch one last game for himself and his team, even though there are no angels helping him. He learns to believe in the ability of men to triumph over their weaknesses and bad breaks. The white boy learns something very different in the remake.
I could go on - I have with friends - but you get the idea. Yes, there are certainly some funny moments in the picture. But if you watch it with your young sons, ask them afterward what they got out of it. You might be surprised.
This movie is clearly directed at young children/boys, but that makes it rather disturbing.
To begin with, the child who sees the angels is a young boy, not a young girl as in the 1951 original. Indeed, there are no women of any age in this movie with any interest in or knowledge of baseball. The middle-aged woman who runs the temporary foster home doesn't want a ticket to a baseball game; she has no interest in it. In the original, however, the mother superior of the orphanage where the little girl lives is also a baseball expert, to the point that she amazes the Pirates' manager (Douglas). So, while the newer movie is more open racially - there are black and latino characters - it's definitely regressive in terms of its presentation of women. The one woman we see is always busy sewing or doing other 19th century women's tasks.
The apparent racial inclusiveness is also largely superficial. The latino players make fun of one of their group who is dumber than a doornail. It is the white boy, rather than the latino or the black one, who gets to see the angels. Etc. Glover's manager, though well acted, never reflects on the issues that will be posed by his adoption of the white boy, not just racial but because he is a single man. In the original, his equivalent, Douglas, is very concerned about such issues.
Then there is the issue of performance-enhancing drugs. Early on Glover's manager says that Danza's character messed up his career by taking too many drugs. Later we learn that, when they were both playing for Cincinnati, Glover's character had encouraged Danza's to take them. Still later we learn that Danza's character is going to die a young death because of chemical abuse. But he is not the only one. There are a few scenes in the Angels' locker room where the players are shirtless. I'm sure they were there in part to please the mothers in the audience. But those muscular physiques are way past what normal, in shape athletic men look like. They too, the movie seems to suggest, are on steroids.
Yes, the move clearly warns against their use with Danza's character's early death. But is that really an appropriate subject for a movie aimed at pre-teen boys?
The movie is also about the failure of early middle-aged men. Glover has failed to turn the Angels around. We learn from the *nice* announcer that the nasty announcer had failed as a manager as well. The white boy's father has failed as a father bigtime and abandons his son to the state. Danza's character has failed his teammates. The list goes on. What is this movie telling young boys?
And then there are the angels. In the original, no one but the little girl, who sees them, and the manager, who speaks with one of them, believes in them. Not even the mother superior wants to believe in them. But in this movie, by the end, thousands of people believe in them. I guess that's good if you're a fundamentalist, but what does it tell little boys about how to overcome their problems in life? In the original, the aging pitcher triumphs over fatigue and physical pain to pitch one last game for himself and his team, even though there are no angels helping him. He learns to believe in the ability of men to triumph over their weaknesses and bad breaks. The white boy learns something very different in the remake.
I could go on - I have with friends - but you get the idea. Yes, there are certainly some funny moments in the picture. But if you watch it with your young sons, ask them afterward what they got out of it. You might be surprised.