A Knight in Shining Jersey

As Mother’s Day approaches, I was thinking about my own mother and the movie stars that she enjoyed watching. She didn’t go to the movies much, but she did know the stars and took interest in them.  One in particular – Robert Redford.  Can you blame her?

Once I reached adolescence, Mom took me to the movies now and again (blog January 19, 2012 “Sweet on You”).  The last movie I ever saw with my mom was The Natural (1984; from a novel by Bernard Malamud).  My husband and I took my parents to the Cinedome (blog January 14, 2012 “You Must Remember This”) to see “Roy Hobbs – the Best that Ever Was.” We had heard this picture with Redford was ‘pretty good,’ and we thought it would be fun to see it with them (my husband and I returned a month later to see it again).  Little did we know that Mom would never make it to the movies again – she was diagnosed with cancer and spent the next year fighting a battle she would eventually lose.

But, Mr. Redford made her smile.  And, well, the movie was great, too!  It is in my Top 50 films of All-Time, and with its well-cast actors, direction by Barry Levinson, beautiful cinematography by Caleb Deschanel (yes, Mary Jo’s husband, and Zooey & Emily’s dad), and an unforgettable musical score by Randy Newman, it is a must-watch again and again.

Why do I love this movie – it is full of hope.  Hope that we can each follow our dreams and do that one thing that we know we were meant to do.  Roy Hobbs wanted to be a baseball player; and although events get in his way, he returns to that one love of playing ball for the New York Knights.  I’m not a ‘super fan’ for America’s favorite pastime, (although I spent a lot of summer time at Angel Stadium as a kid), but regardless of the fact that baseball is the passion topic of this film, the theme is universal: go out there and do what you love.  It ignites me each time I see that baseball go out to eternity – what we do with our lives can go on past our finite selves.  And so it was with my mother – she wanted to be the best mother to my sister and me.  Her legacy lives on in us and despite the fact that we two girls raised 5 boys between us, we pass that on to our sons and their families.  Robert Redford’s portrayal of “Roy Hobbs” (‘every man’) is a character of values and persistence – and well, the smile is nice, too.

Happy Mother's Day -