July 17 - Cobb

Today’s movie is a biographical drama with a scene that happens on July 17.  I hope you will watch this film tonight and enjoy it.

COBB                             

       

A voiceover tells about Cobb and his career, giving info about his aggressive play and records. Sportswriter Al Stump is approached by Cobb to write his biography. In spite of signs involving guns and cars that Cobb is crazy, he takes the job.  On a trip through a blizzard to Reno, Cobb tells Stump that his father was murdered. Cobb plays an aggressive style of baseball that included sharpening his spikes, insulting the opposing team and betting on himself. Cobb tells Stump that his mother killed his father. Stump finds out Cobb has final editorial approval of the book. Stump is disgusted with Cobb’s crudity, racism and self-aggrandizement.  Stump writes two versions of the book. One is Cobb’s paean to himself, while the other tells the real story. They leave Reno and head to a testimonial dinner at the Baseball Hall of Fame. When this is over they head towards Cobb’s birthplace in Georgia. They visit the Cobb family mausoleum. Cobb tells Stump that his mother’s lover killed his father. Stump gets served with divorce papers. Cobb finds the second version of the book. He is so upset he starts to kill a passed out Stump, switches to wanting to kill himself and then starts to spit up blood.  Cobb checks himself into the hospital. Cobb tells Stump to do what he wants with the book.  Cobb dies on July 17, 1961 [1:59:54 to 2:00:16] and is buried in the family mausoleum.

Baseball: An Illustrated History by Geoffrey C. Ward (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1994) at page 370 and the film at 1:59:56-57 give his death date

Producer - David V. Lester and Arnon Milchan

Director - Ron Shelton

Screenplay -   Ron Shelton

Runtime – 2 hours 8 minutes

Released - December 2, 1994

Starring –

Tommy Lee Jones as Ty Cobb

Robert Wuhl as Al Stump

Lolita Davidovich as Ramona

Lou_Myers  as Willie

William Utay as Jameson

J. Kenneth Campbell as William Herschel Cobb

Rhoda Griffis as Amanda Chitwood Cobb

Roger Clemens as Opposing pitcher

Stephen Mendillo as Mickey Cochrane

Tommy Bush as Rogers Hornsby

Stacy Keach, Sr. as Jimmie Foxx

Crash Davis as Sam Crawford

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.