Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life

Among ballplayers, "Joltin' Joe" was a natural. With no formal training or coaching, DiMaggio amazed fans with his apparently effortless grace. Yet the cool reserve and powerful swing masked a painfully withdrawn perfectionist. Born to dirt poor immigrant parents, Joe always played for money, never for fun. By the age of 20, DiMaggio's skills earned him a ticket to the big time onto the roster of the powerhouse New York Yankees. This affectionate, honest documentary, part of the respected PBS The American Experience series, recalls baseball and celebrity as it was in the days before television, expansion teams, and artificial turf, a more innocent era. Through the summer of '4l, DiMaggio dazzled and diverted a war-worried America by tearing into a 56 game hitting streak, a feat unmatched to this day. Although he could smoke and go nightclub hopping and still outshine all other players the next day, other aspects of his personal life weren't so successful. The program examines DiMaggio's cheapness, grudges, and obsessive jealousy, which wrecked his marriage to Marilyn Monroe (who left him after he struck her during an argument). While the video does a fine job of showing the excitement on the field or recalling the days when New York was the newspaper and nightclub capitol of the world, personal insights are a bit harder to come by, and the program concludes that DiMaggio was basically a blank slate (with great baseball skills), upon which we projected our fantasies of a hero's life. Vintage clips and memories from players and buffs make this a standup triple for sports collections. Recommended. Aud: P. (S. Rees)