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HOT off the Press: This Month:
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by Fine Diner
5.) For an excellent perspective on baseball
history one should see Eight Men Out
(1988) about the Black Sox scandal of 1919. For those
unfamiliar with the story, a handful of Chicago White Sox
players were approached by gambling interests before the
World Series that year in order to convince them to throw
the game. While some took the money and indeed threw the
series, others took the money and then changed their
mind. And a couple, like third baseman Buck Weaver,
refused the money but became complicit in the fix by not
reporting it. The team was actually ripe for the fix,
since their owner was known to be a skinflint, and a lot
of the players on the team struggled to make ends meet
with their pay. Turning in |
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excellent performances were Jon Cusack as
Weaver and Dave Straithairn as pitcher Ed Cicotte.
Especially strong were scenes central to the plot when
players like Weaver and Cicotte weighed right and wrong
and disagreed on their feelings, and after the conspiracy
was uncovered and went to trial. The movie also treats
well the story of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, the
most widely remembered player from the scandal since at
that time he, like the lesser known Cicotte, was a Hall
of Fame shoo-in at the time they were banned after the
1920 season. Until his dying day, Jackson admitted taking
the money but denied ever throwing the series. History
bears him out - along with teammates saying he played
like his usual self, Jackson led the team in batting and
never made an error during the series. Where the movie
struggles is trying to say too much in too little time -
too many characters parade in and out to where the
movie's focus is lost. Also, while it tries to stick to
the story accurately, baseball purists might notice at
one point where the left-handed batting Hall-of-Famer
Eddie Collins gets up to the plate right-handed.
directions of a mysterious voice -
constantly telling him to construct a ball field in the
middle of his cornfield. Eventually the voice instructs
him to go on other excursions, one of which brings him to
Fenway Park in Boston, and along the way he meets two
others the voice commands him to find. While Kinsella was
never a good ball player and admitted to not being
thrilled with playing catch with his dad when younger,
there is one theme central to the other characters who
arrive in the field of dreams - they always dreamed of
finding success in the major leagues. The story is
convoluted at times, however, leaning too much on
sentimentality in some areas. But it is well-acted - No
fewer than three award-winning actors carry the story in
Burt Lancaster, Costner, and James Earl Jones. Ray Liotta
does well as "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.
action, but
handles well Piersall's nervous breakdown during his
rookie season and key points of his relationship with his
father (played by Karl Malden), trying to live his life
through his tormented son. Unfortunately the film did not
span the time of Piersall's most famous play - running
the bases backwards after hitting a home run. Especially
strong was Perkins' portrayal of Piersall, perhaps
leading to his casting by Alfred Hitchcock two years
later as the tortured Norman Bates in the 1960 horror
classic "Psycho." A potent scene occurred just
before the breakdown, when Piersall started climbing the
backstop netting and kept prodding his father to finally
say that he did well.
plays the team's
ace pitcher, Henry Wiggin. When Pearson tries out during
spring training, Wiggin becomes his roommate and
eventually his best friend. Wiggin also becomes Pearson's
shield and protagonist as well, since the catcher is a
little slow-witted and sometimes unable to fend for
himself in certain situations. The plot revolves around
Wiggin discovering through the team physician that
Pearson is terminally ill with Hodgkin's' disease, and
working to assure that De Niro will not be let go by the
team while trying to deal with his own inner turmoil
about the impending loss. Wiggin goes as far as to try to
force the club to include Pearson in a package deal with
his contract, wanting him to achieve his dream before he
is too sick to play anymore. There are a few humorous
moments, mainly delivered by De Niro. The movie is
basically the baseball answer to "Brian's
Song", the story of the dying Brian Piccolo and
Chicago Bears great Gale Sayers.
homemade bat he calls
"Wonderboy," another is the unraveling of the
mystery of who this rookie, well into his 30s, is and
where he has been. There is a lot more riding on the game
than his own personal life, and like Cooper's Cain, Hobbs
returns to sacrifice himself for a greater cause. There
are a number of things that makes this movie great, and
in this opinion, the best of the genre. First is an
outstanding cast, with no overplayed part. Especially
strong is Robert Redford as the modest Hobbs, as well as
Wilford Brimley as the manager Hobbs gets to know and
respect like a father, and Robert Duvall as the
sportswriter trying to uncover the mysterious Hobbs'
secret. Also outstanding is the cinematography, the best
of any team sports movie I have ever seen. The landscapes
and baseball scenes are breathtaking, but also the usage
of light, such as the sun silhouetting Hobbs' form when
he strikes out the Babe Ruth-like Whammer on a bet. Of
interesting note is the fact that Redford did all his own
hitting and throwing.