The Hill Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

The Hill Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 17, 2024

The Bible and baseball collide in The Hill, a film from director Jeff Celentano and writer Angelo Pizzo, the latter best known for penning Rudy. The film explores the true story of Rickey Hill, a crippled boy who nevertheless dreams of playing professional baseball, and his father, a Texas preacher who desires for his son to follow in the ways of God, and not the desires of man. It's a father and son story at its heart, a story of overcoming odds, reconciliation, and faith. Far from the best of its kind but every bit as much heartfelt as any other, The Hill delivers a satisfying watch that will appeal to baseball and faith film fans alike.

Young Rickey Hill (Jesse Berry) knows his Bible. And he should. He’s he son of a small town country preacher, James Hill (Dennis Quaid). But his passion is for baseball. And it should. He can hit a rock with a stick farther than any boy should be able to. He’s called a “prodigy” with a bat in his hand. But his father shoots down the dream, especially considering that Rickey is partially crippled, battling a spine disease and walking with braces on his legs. Plus, pastor says, baseball is idol worship, and it’s not the Lord’s work. One Sunday morning, James calls out a couple of members of the church for smoking and chewing tobacco in the sanctuary during service. That leads to his dismissal as pastor, despite that he does the work for less than slave wages, barely able to keep food on the table for his family.

On their way out of town, the car runs out of gas and a tire blows. They are finally rescued by a wealthy woman whose family knows of a church looking for a pastor. It’s run down, and so is the parsonage, but it’s a church and a home. One day, playing ball with some locals, Rickey breaks one of his leg braces and discovers he can walk just fine without them. Yet James still refuses to allow him to play baseball, even when the school's coach, himself a former pastor, tells James that the boy’s gift is from God. Finally, however, Rickey breaks through his father’s closed door by promising to glorify God in baseball, not just play it.

Years later, Rickey (Colin Ford) is a power hitting center fielder on his high school team. But the tension with his father remains. James is still preaching, and he has never seen Rickey play. But despite setbacks at home and in his body, he continues to pursue his dream, no matter what it takes. Can he overcome continued resistance from his father and overcome resistance from his body to prove his worth as a ballplayer and as a man?

The Hill is not a "baseball movie," at least not explicitly. Overtly, perhaps that monicker would work, but like so many of the best sports films it's a film about relationships. Here, it's the relationship between father and son, both well intentioned, but both stubbornly set in their ways. James cannot bear to see his son give himself to something so worldly. Rickey believes that he can glorify God through baseball, by honing the gifts he's been given. The film sees the two constantly at odds over the years, beginning with Rickey's youth and continuing on to a critical game in his teenage years. The real heart of the story is found in whether there can ever be reconciliation, never mind simply understanding. Rickey does not rebel against his faith. He embraces it, but he wishes to demonstrate that in a way that his more hardline father cannot accept or even understand. The real question is whether that will change.

The film benefits from a host of excellent performances. Quaid is super as the staunch man of God who has surrendered his life -- even down to his children's welfare -- for the work of the gospel. He plays the part sternly but with an underlying love, and as the drama unfolds and the character develops, Quaid's ability to ride with the character through the various emotional upheavals is very good. While Colin Ford is excellent as the teenage Rickey, the real star is Jesse Berry who plays a young Rickey and sets the tone and pace of the film for much of its runtime, establishing personality traits and the relationship with his father that Ford only really needs to carry, not make.

The Hill Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Universal releases The Hill to Blu-ray with a generally strong transfer. The image is not a standout in any way, but the base digital content translates well to the 1080p format, offering good foundational detail and color output. Clarity and intricate definition are nothing to really write home about, but viewers will find serviceable definition to faces, clothes, ball fields, and the well-worn elements inside the various churches and homes where the Hill family worships and lives. None of it is really all that tactile or finds much real depth, but the image definitely gets the basics down. Clarity is definitely good enough to spot the digital backgrounds used to fill in the space at the baseball stadium in the film's final minutes. Color output is fine. the movie is not brilliant or vivid by any stretch of the imagination, but colors are stable and bold enough, again considering clothes or baseball field colors. Black levels are adequate, ditto whites, and ditto skin tones. There is a little noise here and there but nothing egregious. Banding and macroblocking are kept to a minimum.

The Hill Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The included DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack offers little of real sonic interest. The track is front-heavy and straightforward with only a few baseball elements really folding into the back channels, especially at the "big game" at the end of the movie. There is some quality reverb around the church during a few of the scenes with sermons. Otherwise, this one is very front-heavy and ordinary, though clarity does hold throughout. Music is mostly front-heavy with good side stretch and pleasing definition. There's only adequate, and never ample, weight to music and various other elements. The film is dialogue heavy and the spoken word is always well prioritized, centered, and perfectly intelligible.

The Hill Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of The Hill contains one extra. Chasing a Dream: Behind the Scenes of 'The Hill' (1080p, 12:05) explores budget, story, characters, cast, the film's authenticity and simplicity, shooting locales, the shooting schedule, and more, including a brief interview with the real Rickey Hill. No DVD copy of the film is included, but Universal has bundled in a digital copy code. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

The Hill Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Hill is a fine film about family and relationships with spirituality and baseball serving as the paralleling backdrops for the two main characters. Defined by solid performances and a touching finale -- not to mention its true-life elements -- it's a winner of a film for faith and baseball fans alike. Universal's Blu-ray is limited to a single extra, but the video and audio presentations are solid. Recommended.