Cobb (1994)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Tommy Lee Jones's searing performance helps to elevate Cobb above your typical sports biopic; he's so effective, in fact, that some may find the film unpleasant.
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Cast
as Ty Cobb
as Al Stump
as Ramona
as Willie
as Mickey Cochrane
as Jameson
as Prof. Cobb
as Ty's Mother
as Mud
as Ray
as Jimmy
as Bill
as Young Ty
as 1st Sportswriter
as 2nd Sportswriter
as Sportsman's Lounge Bartender
as Baptist Minister
as Train Engineer
as Gambler
as Wife at Motel
as 2nd Gambler
as Opposing Pitcher
as Teammate
as 2nd Teammate
as Umpire
as Opposing Catcher
as Philly Fan
as 2nd Philly Fan
as Last Chance Hotel Clerk
as Harrah's Club Manager
as Louis Prima
as Keely Smith
as Harrah's Bartender
as Croupier
as Casino Security Man
as Husband at Motel
as Wife at Motel
as Texas Motel Manager
as Texas Motel Security Guard
as Hall of Fame Announcer
as Hall of Fame Emcee
as Pie Traynor
as Paul Waner
as Lloyd Waner
as Jimmie Fox
as Hall of Fame Director
as Sam Crawford
as Rogers Hornsby
as Cobb's Wife
as Heckler
as The Lover
as Cobb's Daughter
as Process Server
as 1st Nurse
as 2nd Nurse
as Hospital Receptionist
as Young Doctor
as Older Doctor
as Sportsman's Lounge Waitress
as Newsreel Narrator
as Charlie Chaplin
as Handicapper
as Mud
as Willie
Critic Reviews for Cobb
All Critics (47) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (30) | Rotten (17)
Most biopics mistakenly try to take us from cradle to grave and end up skimming the surface. The wisdom of Cobb is that writer-director Ron Shelton knows that the close study of a single day can decode a human life.
Unfortunately, the movie just makes Stump look like a self-important jerk, possibly a bigger jerk than Cobb, and Wuhl's affable, weightless performance doesn't help.
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.
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.
[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.
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.
Audience Reviews for Cobb
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.
Super Reviewer
Okay, so yes I know it doesn't have that many baseball scenes in it and it only details the last days of his life, but Tommy Lee Jone's performance is so great, that I'm surprised he didn't get oscar or golden globe nominations. If you understand who Ty Cobb was, his personality, or the way he acted won't like this film. I you want to know more about Cobb and the way he was than see this film. Also it includes great performances by other actors as old baseball players like Mickey Cochrane, Sam Crawford, and Jimmie Foxx. Robert Wuhl's performance as Al Stump was also great. The baseball scenes that are featured are all great.
Super Reviewer
Haven't seen it in a while, but I remember being quite taken with it.
Super Reviewer
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