I would have rated the movie a lot higher if it had been labeled 'fiction', but as a biopic it's absolute garbage. I would love to see a serious movie on the 'real' Ty Cobb.

I first saw this movie some 20 years ago and thought what most people probably thought, that Cobb was an amazing ballplayer, and a half-crazy racist. Yet I recently read George Leershen's book 'Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty' and my opinion has definitely been swayed. Mr. Leershen researched Cobb like no other and discovered that much of the things said and written about him (most notably by Al Stump's and his book that the film was based on) were untrue or wildly exaggerated. Cobb never killed a man, he wasn't a racist (in fact his Father, Grandfather AND Great Grandfather were abolitionists if nothing else), he never sharpened his spikes, and never went out of his way to use them on somebody, unless they were in his path to the base. Even that famous picture of him flying airborne into what looks like the crotch of the catcher, was really him knocking the ball out of his glove, which he did, confirmed by the catcher himself. Al Stump was a notorious liar and fabricator who's 'Tale' of Ty Cobb didn't nearly add up to all of Leershen research or even Cobb's Grandson's first hand knowledge of Ty's place in Tahoe, both know more of truth than what Stump was willing to write about, for the sake of telling the story he wanted for the sole interests of making money, which is why he waited until AFTER Cobb died to release it. Now all that being said, was Cobb an Angel? Absolutely not, but let's look at the facts of what we know for sure. Cobb was relentlessly Hazed by other players before and after his Mother killed his Father mere weeks before his professional debut at 18 years old. And most baseball players back then were poorly educated, alcoholic thugs. Take a look at some of those early Detroit Tiger team photos that Cobb played on, never before does 'A picture speak a thousand words' or hold more truth than some of the faces and personalities you'll see he came up playing with. Cobb himself was educated and liked to read, yet he also loved the game of baseball and overcame a lot to prove what he could do and that he 'belonged', always playing as if his life depended on it. Many players in turn became jealous of his abilities and 'wild-child' ways on the base paths, which only added to his legend of how he was able to do what he did.Did Cobb have a couple of altercations with people of color? Yes, but make no mistake he had WAY more altercations with whites. Cobb didn't hate black people, I don't even think Cobb hated anybody, but if you got in his way or went up against him, he would have something to prove, black, white or even a handicapped guy in the stands in a wheel chair missing a few fingers. Apparently that heckler in question was pretty famous for it, and had been laying into Cobb whenever he came into town for a while until finally Cobb snapped and went up into the stands to shut him up once and for all. Does anybody know what the guy said to Cobb? Not sure, but you could easily imagine a couple of sore spots in Cobb's life that would potentially set him off. If you add what Cobb endured and had to overcome from others and it explains his behavior a little better. It by no means gives him a free pass, but it put things in a different context.People love to knock other people, and in case you didn't notice, this goes on today more than ever, in newspapers and social media etc. Ty Cobb was in a league of his own and people either loved or hated him for it. Al Stump took some random stories handed down through the years, twisted them into what he wanted while adding some of his own BS and turned it into a book he thought would sell.. And then they made a movie from THAT book?! Cobb could be a lot of unpleasant things at times, but he too was once an innocent baby who eventually got molded into the man who became one of the greatest to ever play baseball, but at a price. Without the hazing or his Father's untimely death, who knows if those demons would have pushed him to that same greatness? Let alone becoming the ornery, temperamental man he was? A Terrible Beauty Indeed.

Ty Cobb is in the top five of the greatest players in Baseball history. In fact, he was the first man elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but there has never been a film about his life. While Cobb was a great baseball player and one the toughest men to ever live, he was also an outspoken racist, who was quick to fight anyone, including his wife and kids. In 1960, a dying Cobb contacted sportswriter, Al Stump to ask him to tell his story. That is what I thought this critically acclaimed film would be, but it wasn't. While the title is Cobb, the film is really about Al Stump and what it was like to spend time with the great Ty Cobb, after he'd completely lost his faculties. While it wasn't the film I'd hoped it would be, Tommy Lee Jones gave the performance of a lifetime. What can you say about Jones that hasn't already been said? He is the best actor in Hollywood and can play absolutely anyone. Jones was very convincing, showing Cobb as a deeply troubled man who covered his shame with outrageous behavior. In recent years, since the passing of Al Stump, many people who knew Cobb have come out saying the book and film were overly exaggerated, but even so, the facts about Cobb are well documented. Cobb is not the film most people expected it to be and it ranks among the biggest flops in box office history. The story however is one you haven't heard before and is performed admirably by an all-star cast. This is not your typical baseball movie, but rather a moving look at a man who was destine to either be a legend or an inmate.

Ty Cobb is, by far, the most interesting and belligerently insane athlete to ever live. His baseball career was unparalleled in absurd statistics, brilliant strategy, and pure unadulterated violence. Every game he played in was a spectacle in human ability and cruelty. So of course, the film about him deals with none of that, instead focusing on the writing of his biography by author Al Stump. Now this isn't such a horrible idea in theory, as Cobb himself slid even further into paranoid dementia as years progressed and the stories of his crazed outbursts even as a senior are shocking even by today's desensitized standards. But instead of focusing on these events, which I figure were simply too interesting, the film is a pseudo fictionalized road film with a clichéd plot that will cause any knowledgeable Cobb fan to cry vinegar tears. Tommy Lee Jones does quite well as a crotchety Cobb, but somehow manages to overplay his cartoon supervillainy. Most stories about Cobb are barely believable, but to make him even crazier seems both impossible and unnecessary. Robert Wuhl, portraying the writer Al Stump, is a dark vortex of non-talent. He sucks the life out of every scene, trying to make this film his own Nagasaki. There is a reason we never see him as a leading man anymore (Arli$$ does not count. It's barely a show). Even the played out, inevitable "role reversal" of Cobb and Stump by the end is made even worse by his pure inability to utter lines that don't sound akin to a bottom shelf book on tape narration voice. For all the awful writing and bland film-making on display, there is one sequence which stands out as so far superior to the rest of this failure that accepting it's from the same film is near impossible. A hyper stylized flashback sequence displaying Cobb's overpowering psychology and brutal athleticism while actually playing the game of baseball is pure brilliance. The camera moves in bizarre fashion and the whole event seems like a dream due to the unique playing style of the monster Cobb. Every slide, hit, and tackle are rendered even more forceful due to enhanced sound, and Tommy Lee Jones OWNS the intensity of the master player. It makes the viewer drool over the possibilities of a true biopic of Cobb in his prime with the same actor. It's worth watching the film for this incredible few minutes alone, just to see what could have been. I may be slightly unfair to this film due to my own knowledge of Ty Cobb and wanting it to be something it isn't, but to make such boring, neutered movie about this maniac is nonsensical. I'm glad Ron Shelton's career has slid ever since.