[.ca] The Bronx is Burning

John Turturro as Billy Martin is the one who is on fire in "The Bronx if Burning":
"The Bronx is Burning" is ESPN's mini-series about the 1977 New York Yankees, when owner George Steinbrenner (Oliver Platt), brought in Reggie Jackson (Daniel Sunjata) to play for manager Billy Martin (John Turturro). Martin wanted Bobby Grich to play shortstop, not to mention wanting to bat Chris Chambliss clean-up instead of Jackson. The headlines are talking about how many games the Yankees are behind the Orioles and/or Red Sox as the summer gets hotter, but most of the drama is off the field. Will George fire Billy? Will Billy bat Reggie cleanup? Will Reggie ever stop saying things to the press that tick off his teammates? The answer is that in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series versus the Los Angeles Dodgers, Reggie Jackson will hit three home runs, on three swings, off of three different pitchers. The point going into this mini-series is that we know how it ends, or, at least, that the Yankees win the World Series, because there is still the aftermath of the victory, with Martin still tormented by his demons and the bit before the final credits where we find out what happened to the main characters in this little drama. The title "The Bronx is Burning" comes from what Howard Cosell said during the ABC telecast of Game Two of the 1977 World Series, where a large fire was raging out of control near Yankee Stadium. Jonathan Mahler used Cosell's words as the title of his book, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City." There are points where the series wants to be about more than the Yankees, focusing on the New York Police Department's pursuit of the Son of Sam killer, the blackout that saw widespread looting in the city, and the financial problems that would see Ed Koch end up as mayor of the city. But time and time again we come back to Steinbrenner, Jackson, and Martin, and it is always Martin who stands out, thanks to John Turturro. Watching Turturro's performance as Martin I was reminded, of all things, of Robert Duvall's performance as Augustus McRae in "Lonesome Dove," because I knew I was once again watching a character actor at the top of his game. I know the Emmy nominations are a long way off, but Turturro has to be the one to beat for Best Actor in a Mini-Series. Platt's performance seems less and less like a caricature of Steinbrenner in each episode and Sunjata never seems to really nail Reggie, but Turturro is the one to watch. You can just see the tumblers of Billy Martin's mind turning every time you look at Turturro's eyes. I also thought highly of Joe Grifasi's performance as Yogi Berra, especially in his scenes with Turturro. Grifasi captures Berra as the calming influence on the Yankee's bench without ever resorting to his famous Yogiisms. I was skeptical of Christopher McDonald being cast as Joe DiMaggio, but was certainly impressed by the results. In the first half of the mini-series The Son of Sam and the race for mayor New York City are big concerns, but by the time David Berkowitz is caught everything other than baseball gets out of the way. I would have preferred to spend that time looking at more of the Yankees besides Jackson. I mean, come on, should we really have more of Fran Healy (Loren Dean) than Thurman Munson (Erik Jensen)? Only if the focus in on Reggie, because Healy was the only Yankee with whom Jackson was on speaking terms. Healy does have a big moment, when he counsels Reggie to take begin benched for Game 5 of ALCS, but Munson was the heart of the Yankees during that period and there should be more of him. I hate to think that Mickey Rivers (Leonard Robinson) always trying to hit his teammates up for money to cover gambling debts should be the most memorable thing we get out of "The Bronx ix Burning" after all the stuff about Reggie Jackson (or should I say, "Reg-gie" Jackson?) on a team that has "Catfish" Hunter (Jason Kosow)? I wonder if there were concerns with staying away from some of the other players because they went on to write books. You have Graig Nettles, who wrote "Balls," and Sparky Lyle's "The Bronx Zoo" (the latter is about the 1978 season, but it Lyle does touch on the previous year when he was the American League Cy Young Award winner). Granted, Reggie Jackson was the most colorful person on the team, but both Nettles (Alex Crammer) and Lyle were considerable characters in their own right and apparently nobody even plays Lyle in the series (they could glue on the mustache). In the end, I round up on "The Bronx ix Burning" not only because of Turturro's masterful performance, but also because of the extras ESPN provides. The "Backstory" provided at the end of each episode when it aired on ESPN as well as all the things to check out at the show's website (e.g., "Go Back to 1977"), embrace the fact that this is a dramatization of what happened, and they are only capturing part of the story. This 3-disc DVD also loads the bases when it comes to extras.