Popular reviews

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  Review by Brennan ★★★★★ 1

  Just a fantastic baseball movie about what should have been one of the funnest seasons for 2 teammates ever! Mantle, played fantastically by Thomas Jane, is obviously an all time great player in the sport who was a career long yankee so it makes perfect sense he’d be the favorite. Good lord the hate that Maris, also played fantastically by Barry Pepper, had to endure from his own fans and writers was insane! Goes to show, and the movie touches on this well, what an impact Babe Ruth still had on the game of baseball nearly 30 years after he had stopped playing!

  I’ve always loved this movie. I love the history it tells! I love the beautiful score that…

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  Review by Ryan Bingham ★★★★

  For an HBO film, this film is great. It would have been nice to see some bigger names here, but that shouldn't take away from the product that was produced. The screenwriting is great, truly showing what Maris went through emotionally. They do a good job of showing the craziness of people. Whether they are fans, owners, media, or teammates. The creation of the old Yankee Stadium looks fantastic, especially for 2001. 61* is a very well done film with an surprisingly emotional story.

  As far as I am concerned, he still holds the record. Everyone ahead of him used steroids, something this film doesn't touch on.

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  Review by gaby ★★★★★

  “ maybe some records aren’t to be broken”

  I am myself a cubs fan so don’t have any connection to the yankees but watching this film about two players who were playing at such high levels was great. 

  The film follows Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in their chase to beat Babe Ruth’s home run record and shows how the city and the fans grew to love one of the players and not the other. 

  Roger Maris was shown as the quieter and “never smiled” where Mickey Mantle was a highly popular player who was the fans favourite to win this race. 

  Definitely highly recommended this whether or not you love baseball as it just so well done!

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  Review by James White ★★★½ 1

  Only Yankees fans could boo and send death threats to their own player when he's succeeding

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  Review by Barry Daulton ★★★★

  A movie that is just as much about how players have to deal with the media as it is about the legendary HR chase of 1961. Pepper and Jane really seem to capture Maris and Mantle perfectly. The special effects are still decent if not dated a bit, but were great for the time. At the time framing it with McGwire's breaking his record was neat, but doesn't age well after Bonds broke that and the PEDs of baseball have tarnished those records. 61 is still the record to me.

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  Review by Pete Talbot ★★★½

  It's funny how HBO was able to make some decent baseball movies 15+ years ago at the height of post-strike baseball. Unfortunately, the nostalgia for McGuire and Sosa's runs have worn off very quickly as McGuire missed out on his chance at the Hall of Fame and Sosa looks like he won't come close at all. In a funny way, the asterisk of Maris's 61 homers has denoted it as the home run number to beat as Stanton came close with 59 this year. This movie has great action on the field and I really enjoy the use of rear projection to convey the game play action.

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  Review by Charles Radbourn ★ 4

  A two hour pornhub clip for every boomer who wants to remember the Old Days. Watch the sniper from Saving Private Ryan joylessly smack dingers while a genuinely fun Tom Jane looks on, all the while pretending not to watch Billy Crystal masturbate to nostalgia in the corner. For some reason Mark McGwire is featured.

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  Review by Citizen Kris ★★★★½

  It's only appropriate that on the eve of baseball's Opening Day, I view my favorite baseball movie.

  61* is ultimately a straight-to-HBO movie, but it's so much better than that. The baseball savant in me absolutely adores the attention to detail given here. That's a credit to director Billy Crystal, who is likely the most knowledgeable celebrity Yankees fan there is.

  I'm a firm believer that out of all the baseball movies I've seen, this has the best game action and I'm very particular about that.

  This also has a stellar ensemble cast. My favorite performance was from Bruce McGill who played Yankees manager Ralph Houk and had "baseball manager" down to a T.

  92%
  Movie Collection

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  Review by Cameron ★★★★ 2

  What is it about baseball movies that always makes me cry? (And, yes, I include Major League: Back to the Minors)

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  Review by Yarjka ★★★

  “Why can’t you just admit you want it too?”

  Billy Crystal is just one year older than my dad, who was 12 at the time Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle battled it out for the single-season home run record. It was clearly a monumental moment in the life of a teenage boy. I got to hear a lot about it when Mark McGwire broke the record in 1998 (I was 15). One thing that stood out to me was what was brought up in this film: that Maris is not an important enough player to have this record. Downplaying it for that reason, adding asterisks to it in order to hold onto an older, more traditional record held by a…

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  Review by C.A. DeStefanis ★★★★ 3

  While the Mark McGwire bookends have aged poorly and a lot of the digital effects look pretty spotty on a HD television this is still a fantastic little baseball flick directed by none other than Billy Crystal. The story of the 1961 home run race between New York Yankees Micky Mantle and Roger Maris as they try to surpass the seemingly insurmountable mark set by Babe Ruth and the obstacles that litter their paths. This is a no-frills, workman like retelling of the actual events. Nothing fancy at all. What does set it apart are the performances. Much like the actual Yankees of yore the supporting cast is a murderer's row of talent and familiar faces who all do excellent…

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  Review by piper ★★★½ 2

  average yankee fans
  casting was fantastic until joe dimaggio showed up