REEL LIFE / FILM & VIDEO FILE : Director of Ty Cobb Movie to Step Up to the Plate : Ron Shelton will answer questions at Ojai Playhouse after the screening of his picture on life of one of baseball’s greatest but most hated players.

Ron Shelton, the writer, director and former minor league baseball player, will be on hand Sunday at the Ojai Playhouse to answer questions following the screening of “Cobb,” his 1994 movie about the man who holds dual honors as the first inductee into the baseball Hall of Fame and the probably the most hated figure in the history of the sport.

Ty Cobb was a bigot, a bully, a misogynist and, according to the movie, those weren’t even his worst traits. Even in an era when film biographies have become progressively negative toward their subjects, “Cobb” stands out. Critic Leonard Maltin said he couldn’t think of any other bio-pic that covers such a reprehensible character with no redeeming qualities.

The story details the months sportswriter Al Stump spent with Cobb as the furious old man tried to cope with his impending death and legacy 35 years after the prime of his career. Cobb wanted Stump to burnish his image, but Stump eventually wrote a book detailing what an S.O.B. Cobb was and why.

That book formed the basis of Shelton’s movie, but the director said he had more in mind than simply making a movie about an outrageous character.

Shelton told reporters that he wanted to use Cobb’s story to visit some timely topics, such as the media’s role in disclosing the private lives of public figures. It’s a theme that also pops up in Shelton’s 1989 picture “Blaze,” about Louisiana Gov. Earl Long and his relationship with stripper Blaze Starr. Shelton’s other credits include “Bull Durham” and “White Men Can’t Jump.”

“Cobb” asks some other pertinent questions about the nature of celebrity in America. When the public creates a role model of a man just because he’s a sports hero, shouldn’t people be prepared for disappointment if the athlete fails to be a paragon of all human virtues?

In the case of Tyrus Raymond Cobb, the answer is a resounding yes.

Lolita Davidovich, co-star in the movie, will be in Ojai with Shelton. The film starts at 4:30 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 646-8946.

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The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will have its popular “From Set to Screen” tour of the Paramount Movie Ranch on Saturday.

Guests will learn about the history of the ranch--a movie set since 1927--and how Hollywood’s version of the American West depicted there has affected popular culture.

Of course, it’s not just the American West that the Paramount Ranch represents. It was China for “Adventures of Marco Polo,” colonial Massachusetts for “Maid of Salem,” Missouri for “Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” Wales in “How Green Was My Valley” and France in “The Man From Wyoming.”

To look at Paramount films, you’d think chaparral was the most common vegetation on the planet.

The tour starts at 9:30 a.m. and takes place once a month. Call (818) 597-9192 for directions and further information.

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“The World of Art City,” a documentary on slides about Ventura’s funky cultural enclave on the banks of Ventura River, debuts May 13 in the Ventura City Council chambers.

Donna Granata uses six projectors to synchronize 500 slides with an original soundtrack. The project, three years in the making, was funded in part by Ventura’s Office of Cultural Affairs.