Cobb (1994)
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67% of critics liked it
(42 reviews) -
56% of users liked it
(5,933 ratings)
What does a biographer do when the truth about his subject is far less pleasant than the legend? That is the moral dilemma at the heart of Cobb, which explores the lives of both baseball's premier hitter, Ty Cobb (Tommy Lee Jones), and the sportswriter assigned to set his story down, Al Stump… More What does a biographer do when the truth about his subject is far less pleasant than the legend? That is the moral dilemma at the heart of Cobb, which explores the lives of both baseball's premier hitter, Ty Cobb (Tommy Lee Jones), and the sportswriter assigned to set his story down, Al Stump (Robert Wuhl). Stump arrives at the Tahoe home of the dying Cobb to write the official life story of the first man inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame. He finds a drunken, misanthropic, bitter racist who abuses his biographer as well as everyone else. Stump must either candycoat his subject's life or present an accurate picture of a disgusting man who happened to become an American sports hero. The movie's biting focus on Cobb, ferociously performed by Jones, is not matched by its weaker representation of Stump, an imbalance which ultimately weakens the film's overall effect. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Directed By
- Ron Shelton
- Written By
- Ron Shelton
- Genres
- Drama
- In Theaters
- Dec 2, 1994 Wide
- Studio
- Warner Home Video
Critic Reviews
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Michael Sragow, New Yorker
Cobb cuts right through the winner-take-all ethos of American athletics. It's a raw, inspired, audaciously funny, and unexpectedly moving collaboration between the writer-director Ron Shelton and Tommy Lee Jones.
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Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel
Ty Cobb is such a towering figure in this motion picture that it's easy to overlook Al Stump -- and Robert Wuhl's feisty, witty performance in the thankless role.
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Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
[Jones] lets it all loose here. It's the performance of a lifetime: full of menace and venom, eloquence and fire, rot and pathos, crackling rawness and realism.
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Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
The result, whether Cobb is wailing about greatness or ruminating about the dark circumstances around his father's death, is a performance too operatic and out of control.
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Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine
This is a messy movie, sometimes repetitive, sometimes too compressed and allusive. But that's like saying Ty Cobb was not a very good sport -- irrelevant in comparison to the horrific fascination of his story.
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Cast
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Tommy Lee Jones
as Ty Cobb
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Robert Wuhl
as Al Stump
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Lolita Davidovich
as Ramona
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Lou Myers
as Willie
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Stephen Mendillo
as Mickey Cochrane
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William Utay
as Jameson
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J. Kenneth Campbell
as Prof. Cobb
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Rhoda Griffis
as Ty's Mother
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Allan Malamud
as Mud
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Ned Bellamy
as Ray
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Jimmy Buffett
as The armless guy
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Scott Burkholder
as Jimmy
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Bill Caplan
as Bill
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Eloy Casados
as Louis Prima
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Michael Chieffo
as Young Doctor
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Reid Cruickshanks
as Pie Traynor
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Ernie Harwell
as Hall of Fame MC
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Dana Hill
as Wife at Motel
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Don Hood
as Older Doctor
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Jeanne McCarthy
as Nurse
- Reynaldo Rey
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Clive Rosengren
as Hall of Fame Director
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Bradley Whitford
as Process Server
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George P. Wilbur
as Casino Security Man
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Bill Wittman
as Newsreel Narrator
- Grace Zabriskie
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Artie Butler
as Harrah's Bartender
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George Rafferty
as Teammate
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Michael H. Moss
as Lover
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Fred Lewis
as Philly Fan
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Steven Brown
as Husband at Motel
