Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — Actors say it all the time — “It’s more fun to play the bad guy. Good guys are boring.” Well, that’s kind of how it felt watching “Yankees-Dodgers: An Uncivil War,” the new documentary that debuted on ESPN on Tuesday night and is now streaming on its platforms. This was a movie mostly about the bad guys: the dysfunctional New York Yankees. At best, the Dodgers were just a foil in this melodrama.
That’s not to say this new film directed by veteran filmmaker Fritz Weaver isn’t worth watching. If you like a good baseball documentary, this one had plenty of meat on the bone. Good interviews with Reggie Jackson, Graig Nettles, Ron Guidry, and Willie Randolph of the Yanks, Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, and Steve Yeager of the Dodgers. And there was a lot of good archival footage and lots of juicy behind the scenes drama in the 1977-78 seasons in which the Dodgers played the Yanks (and lost) in two back-to-back World Series.
The film does a good job of setting the historical context for the series, with its urban decay in New York and its “Me Decade” indulgences of LA in the 1970s. It would be hard to find two more different places or two more different teams.
But if you’re looking for an even-handed look at the two teams, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. When you have three larger-than-life personalities like Reggie Jackson, Billy Martin, and George Steinbrenner, it’s tough to compete with just Tommy Lasorda and Steve Garvey.
There are some nuggets about the Dodgers. Before watching the film, I wasn’t aware of the tension between Garvey and some of his Dodger teammates, most particularly Don Sutton. And, since both World Series only went six games, there was a certain lack of on-field drama (except perhaps Jackson’s big three-homer game in 1977). But I think the movie did a good job of showing that the Dodgers, while not a bunch of choir boys, couldn’t hold a candle to the insanity that was going on in the Bronx at the time.
The movie ends with Reggie reflecting on his famous quote, that once after being suspended, he thought about “the magnitude of me.”
Reggie will always be Reggie. And a locker room scuffle between Steve Garvey and Don Sutton over a quote in a magazine interview will never quite measure up.
DODGERSBEAT RATING: ★★★ (out of five)
“Yankees-Dodgers: An Uncivil War” is now playing on ESPN and streaming on ESPN+ (Subscription Required).
