Ninety years after Hank Greenberg took his Yom Kippur stand, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg remains a must-watch documentary for baseball fans.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 20, 2024

Former Detroiter Kempner infuses her portrait of Hank Greenberg with such a joie de vivre that it's a delight for the already converted and nonsports fans alike.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 7, 2014

It's an adroit manipulation of interviews and stock footage, mostly along the lines of establishing not so much what Hammerin' Hank did for himself, but what he meant to American Jews.

| May 7, 2014

Kempner demonstrates how the star's success and dignified bearing inspired a generation of Jews to fight through the ethnic barriers in all fields.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 7, 2014

Writer-director Aviva Kempner crafted this love letter to Greenberg by imaginatively weaving interviews with great footage from newsreels and feature films.

| May 7, 2014

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is precisely what a documentary ought to be: engaging and revelatory, turning forgotten footnotes and discarded minutiae into the stuff of riveting drama and poignant laughs.

| May 7, 2014

A moving tribute to an overlooked American icon who invariably exhibited an admirable combination of integrity, humility and loyalty.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 20, 2013

Aviva Kempner hits a grand slam in her thrilling documentary about baseball, about a great baseball player, about Jews in America and about the country itself in the 1930s and 1940s.

| Mar 20, 2013

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is a gem of a baseball documentary because it illuminates what the Hall of Famer's splendid career meant away from the ballpark.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 19, 2013

Aviva Kempner's warm and intelligent mash note to a man who clearly deserved it.

| Mar 19, 2013

Greenberg led by quiet example -- and left an indelible mark on thousands of young lives, not to mention a plaque in baseball's Hall of Fame.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 19, 2013

Aviva Kempner's documentary The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg does what a historical documentary should do. It tells an inspiring story while bringing the past to life and illuminating issues that persist today.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 19, 2013

Aviva Kempner's documentary celebration of the Detroit Tigers first baseman defines one of those instances-- rarer than sportswriters admit -- in which a champion athlete becomes a genuine, all-around hero.

Full Review | Mar 19, 2013

Hank Greenberg is an unabashed paean and just a joy to watch. It should be required viewing for all modern athletes who disregard their role-model status.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 28, 2011

A warmly human look at the career of major-league baseball's most famous Jewish star.

| Mar 21, 2011

Kempner's lighthearted yet not apolitical collage conveys how Greenberg's success as an athlete in the 30s and 40s contradicted an ethnic stereotype.

| Mar 16, 2011

This gem will lift the spirits of baseball fans.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 28, 2010

As good-natured and inspirational as its subject.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2009

Emphasizes the positive moments in his career, and the film is loose-limbed and ingratiating"much like Greenberg himself, who appears in interviews throughout his career.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 7, 2008

A fine, straightforward tribute to a sports giant who faced blatant prejudice and paved away for the likes Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron and other minorities...

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 3, 2008