Penny Marshall was a pioneer in the world of direction and was a great influence on filmmakers and film watchers that love her films. Marshall was an actress on Happy Days as Laverne in guest appearances and then in the very successful spinoff show Laverne and Shirley. She moved on to direction with some help from her older brother Gerry Marshall. She directed mostly dramatic comedies that usually were heartfelt near the end of the story. A few of her best-known films were based on historical events with emotionally charged outcomes and an exploration of the multitudes of the American Dream.
A League Of Their Own (1992)
A League Of Their Own is a melodramatic film based on the real-life short-lived baseball league of the 1930s when most of the male baseball players were drafted to fight in World War Two and the baseball league headquarters thought that the women should play baseball for the customer-based to retain interest. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League only lasted eleven seasons. It featured the real players who were still alive at the time of filming. But the story is based on the fictional accounts of the Rockford Peaches’ early days in the league.
Screenshot of A League Of Their Own (1992). Dottie and Kit are arguing on the mound with Coach Jimmy Dugan.
Renaissance Man (1994)
An unemployed advertising executive gets a temp job teaching at an army recruitment centre to teach recruits English literature as a part of the soldiers-in-training program. He only has six weeks to teach his class English literature to pass an assessment exam to graduate as a full cadet. The film is not based on a true event in any way. Furthermore, it’s mostly remembered as a mashup of Dead Poets Society and Private Benjamin melodrama. I would recommend watching this movie at least once because it is funny, cheesy and goes very ’90s melodramatic with the story twists of the characters.
The Awakening (1990)
This is a true story of a man coming to life after spending the majority of his life in a catatonic state as one of the victims of the 1920s encephalitis lethargica epidemic (“sleeping sickness epidemic.”) The neurological disease attacks the brain leaving some victims in statue-like conditions, speechless and motionless. The treatment to the disease was the new drug L-DOPA which woke them from the catatonic state. The film is based on the 1973 book Awakenings by Oliver Sacks. This film takes viewers through emotional rollercoasters because it’s so heartbreaking. The acting in the film is superb.
Screenshot from The Awakening (1990). Leonard is thanking the hospital staff.
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
Riding in Cars with Boys is inspired by a memoir by Beverly Donofrio about she managed to outcome being a teenage mother to an emotionally abusive marriage to Masters’s degree in literature. It’s inspired by the book because some details differ from the book. It is still an emotional drama that has many sad tear-jerker scenes. It’s a film that has great acting not cluttered by pop music or camera effects.
Under The Moonlight 
Penny Marshall was a pioneer in the world of direction and was a great influence on filmmakers and film watchers that love her films. Marshall was an actress on Happy Days as Laverne in guest appearances and then in the very successful spinoff show Laverne and Shirley. She moved on to direction with some help from her older brother Gerry Marshall. She directed mostly dramatic comedies that usually were heartfelt near the end of the story. A few of her best-known films were based on historical events with emotionally charged outcomes and an exploration of the multitudes of the American Dream.
A League Of Their Own (1992)
A League Of Their Own is a melodramatic film based on the real-life short-lived baseball league of the 1930s when most of the male baseball players were drafted to fight in World War Two and the baseball league headquarters thought that the women should play baseball for the customer-based to retain interest. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League only lasted eleven seasons. It featured the real players who were still alive at the time of filming. But the story is based on the fictional accounts of the Rockford Peaches’ early days in the league.
Renaissance Man (1994)
An unemployed advertising executive gets a temp job teaching at an army recruitment centre to teach recruits English literature as a part of the soldiers-in-training program. He only has six weeks to teach his class English literature to pass an assessment exam to graduate as a full cadet. The film is not based on a true event in any way. Furthermore, it’s mostly remembered as a mashup of Dead Poets Society and Private Benjamin melodrama. I would recommend watching this movie at least once because it is funny, cheesy and goes very ’90s melodramatic with the story twists of the characters.
The Awakening (1990)
This is a true story of a man coming to life after spending the majority of his life in a catatonic state as one of the victims of the 1920s encephalitis lethargica epidemic (“sleeping sickness epidemic.”) The neurological disease attacks the brain leaving some victims in statue-like conditions, speechless and motionless. The treatment to the disease was the new drug L-DOPA which woke them from the catatonic state. The film is based on the 1973 book Awakenings by Oliver Sacks. This film takes viewers through emotional rollercoasters because it’s so heartbreaking. The acting in the film is superb.
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
Riding in Cars with Boys is inspired by a memoir by Beverly Donofrio about she managed to outcome being a teenage mother to an emotionally abusive marriage to Masters’s degree in literature. It’s inspired by the book because some details differ from the book. It is still an emotional drama that has many sad tear-jerker scenes. It’s a film that has great acting not cluttered by pop music or camera effects.
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