The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson (1990)
Director:
Larry Peerce
Writers:
L. Travis Clark (story), Steve Duncan (story)
Stars:
Andre Braugher, Daniel Stern, Ruby Dee
Made for the TNT cable network, The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson concentrates on the wartime service of major league baseball's first black player. Robinson (Andre Braugher), a star athlete at UCLA, is drafted during World War II. He hopes that his academic record will assure him entry into Officers Candidate School, but the racism inherent in the military at the time puts several roadblocks in his way. After finally making OCS, Robinson's belief in himself is strengthened tenfold--to the point that he refuses to bow to the "Jim Crow" laws regarding the seating arrangements on an Army bus, and is subsequently threatened with a court martial. Stan Shaw costars as boxing great Joe Louis, likewise a victim of prejudice during the war years (the script intimates that Louis was more willing to roll with the punches than Robinson). Ruby Dee, who played the ballplayer's wife in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story, is here seen as Robinson's mother. The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson premiered on October 15, 1990.