Cobb is a 1994 biopic starring Tommy Lee Jones as the famed baseball player Ty Cobb. It was written and directed by Ron Shelton and was based on a book by Al Stump. The original music score was composed by Elliot Goldenthal.
Sportswriter Al Stump (Robert Wuhl) is hired in 1959 as ghostwriter of an authorized autobiography of the great Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb, one of the best baseball players of all time. Now 72 and in failing health, Cobb (Tommy Lee Jones) wants an official biography to "set the record straight" before he dies.
Cobb wants a sanitized hagiography which will present him virtually without flaws. Such books were common in earlier decades and the public images of many players (such as Babe Ruth, whom Cobb strongly resented, but respected as a player), had been shaped by such coverage.
Stump arrives at Cobb's Lake Tahoe estate to write the official life story of the first baseball player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He finds a continually-drunken, misanthropic, bitter racist who abuses his biographer as well as everyone else he comes in contact with. Although Cobb's home is luxurious, it is without heat, power and running water due to long-running violent disputes between Cobb and utility companies. Cobb also rapidly runs through domestic workers, hiring and firing them in quick succession.
Plot
Al Stump is a famous sports-writer chosen by Ty Cobb to co-write his official, authorized 'autobiography' before his death. Cobb, widely feared and despised, feels misunderstood and wants to set the record straight about 'the greatest ball-player ever,' in his words. However, when Stump spends time with Cobb, interviewing him and beginning to write, he realizes that the general public opinion is largely correct. In Stump's presence, Cobb is angry, violent, racist, misogynistic, and incorrigibly abusive to everyone around him. Torn between printing the truth by plumbing the depths of Cobb's dark soul and grim childhood, and succumbing to Cobb's pressure for a whitewash of his character and a simple baseball tale of his greatness, Stump writes two different books. One book is for Cobb, the other for the public.
Keywords: baseball, baseball-movie, baseball-player, based-on-article, breasts, detroit-tigers, female-frontal-nudity, female-nudity, ghost-writer, male-full-frontal-nudity
Everyone hated this baseball legend. And he loved it.
Louis Prima: With all the great players playing ball right now, how well do you think you would do against today's pitchers?::Ty Cobb: Well, I figure against today's pitchers I'd only probably hit about .290::Louis Prima: .290? Well that's amazing, because you batted over .400 a... a whole bunch of times. Now tell us all, we'd all like to know, why do you think you'd only hit .290?::Ty Cobb: Well, I'm 72 fucking years old you ignorant son of a bitch.
Ramona: Greatness is overrated.
Ramona: Who are you again?::Ty Cobb: I am the Georgia Peach. I have 4,191 base hits in 11,429 at bats, 920 stolen bases, 2,244 runs scored, and 93 batting records; and I want you to take off every stitch of your clothes.::Ramona: I don't think so. [Cobb points a gun to her head] That don't scare me, 'cause if you shoot me, I'll be dead. And you're not gonna screw a dead lady!::Ty Cobb: [cocks gun] I might like it.
[Cobb narrates a lengthy lambasting of Babe Ruth into a tape recorder]::Al Stump: Come on, Ty, aren't you going to give Ruth credit for anything?::Ty Cobb: (pauses) He could run okay for a fat man.
[to the umpire]::Ty Cobb: How do you do, Cyclops?::Umpire: Shut up, Cobb.::Ty Cobb: You're missing an excellent ballgame.
[to a teammate who just struck out]::Ty Cobb: Who signed you?::Teammate: Go to hell, Cobb.::Ty Cobb: Who did that?
[to Stumpy, about Cobb, as Willie leaves for town]::Willie: And you sir, you should leave this disgusting, wretched, sorry son of a motherfucker - immediately. Good evening.
Ty Cobb: [to Stump] The desire for glory is not a sin.
Ty Cobb: Baseball is a red blooded sport for red blooded men. It's no pink tea, and molly-coddles had better stay out... It's a struggle for supremacy, a survival of the fittest.
Ty Cobb: I had to fight all my life to survive. They were all against me, but I beat the bastards and left them in the ditch.
(Cobb)
I feel heartbeat
You feel heartbeat
Keeping time
Oh, yeah
I feel your heart beat
And it's true to this heart of mine
Oh, yes it is
With your big eyes
You say more than a thousand words
Oh, yes you do
With your sweet kiss
You thrill me with a holy kind of bliss
So closer (closer)
Closer (closer)
Closer (closer)
Closer to this heart of mine
Oh, yeah
Hear that heartbeat
(Hear that heartbeat)
Hear my heart beat
(We hear your heart beat)
I hear your heart beat
(We hear your heart beat)
Hear two hearts beat
Hear two hearts beat
Hear two hearts beat
Baby, yeah, yeah, yeah, alright
Ooh, I feel heartbeat
You feel heartbeat
Hear my heart beat
Hear my heart beat
Ha Ha heart beat
Ha Ha heart beat
Mmm Mmm Mmm heart beat
Bmm Bmm Bmm heart beat
Hear my heart beat
Hear my heart beat
Hear my heart beat
Hear my heart beat
Baby, yeah, yeah, yeah, alright
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Ooh, I hear music
You feel heartbeat
Keeping time
Oh, yeah
I feel your heart beat
(Cobb)
I feel heartbeat
You feel heartbeat
Keeping time
Oh, yeah
I feel your heart beat
And it's true to this heart of mine
Oh, yes it is
With your big eyes
You say more than a thousand words
Oh, yes you do
With your sweet kiss
You thrill me with a holy kind of bliss
So closer (closer)
Closer (closer)
Closer (closer)
Closer to this heart of mine
Oh, yeah
Hear that heartbeat
(Hear that heartbeat)
Hear my heart beat
(We hear your heart beat)
I hear your heart beat
(We hear your heart beat)
Hear two hearts beat
Hear two hearts beat
Hear two hearts beat
Baby, yeah, yeah, yeah, alright
Ooh, I feel heartbeat
You feel heartbeat
Hear my heart beat
Hear my heart beat
Ha Ha heart beat
Ha Ha heart beat
Mmm Mmm Mmm heart beat
Bmm Bmm Bmm heart beat
Hear my heart beat
Hear my heart beat
Hear my heart beat
Hear my heart beat
Baby, yeah, yeah, yeah, alright
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Ooh, I hear music
You feel heartbeat
Keeping time
Oh, yeah
I feel your heart beat