A League of Their Own

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Courtesy of Carolina Theatre

A League of Their Own

Everyone—OK, almost everyone—is stoked on the U.S. Women’s soccer team’s World Cup win, but support for women’s sports wasn’t as pervasive in 1992, when A League of Their Own was released, much less in the mid-twentieth century, when the film is set. A highlight of the late Penny Marshall’s directorial career, the movie a critic nicknamed “Belle Durham” is the heavily fictionalized true story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which maintained Major League Baseball during World War II, when many male players and fans were off fighting. Although no one in the truly eclectic cast—Geena Davis, Rosie O’Donnell, Lori Petty, Madonna, Jon Lovitz, and a crabby Tom Hanks (“There’s no crying in baseball!”)—portray real members of the Rockford Peaches, many AAGPBL players praised the film’s accuracy, and it’s proven to be a major influence for athletes of all genders ever since. This screening is part of the MovieDiva series curated and hosted by Laura Boyes; it features special guest Elizabeth Weitzman, who’ll be signing copies of her book, Renegade Women in Film and TV, afterward. —Zack Smith