Eight Men Out (1988)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

John Sayles

Writers (WGA):

Eliot Asinof (book)
John Sayles (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 September 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Sport

Tagline:

1919. The year America saw major league baseball played a whole new way...underhanded.

Plot:

A dramatization of the Black Sox scandal when the underpaid Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to deliberately lose the 1919 World Series.

Plot Keywords:

World Series | Chicago White Sox | Scandal | Gambler | Baseball

Cast

John Cusack	...	George 'Buck' Weaver
Clifton James	...	Charles 'Commie' Comiskey
Michael Lerner	...	Arnold Rothstein
Christopher Lloyd	...	'Sleepy' Bill Burns
John Mahoney	...	William 'Kid' Gleason
Charlie Sheen	...	Oscar 'Hap' Felsch
David Strathairn	...	Eddie Cicotte
D.B. Sweeney	...	Joseph 'Shoeless Joe' Jackson
Michael Rooker	...	Arnold 'Chick' Gandil
Don Harvey	...	Charles 'Swede' Risberg
James Read	...	Claude 'Lefty' Williams
Perry Lang	...	Fred McMullin
Gordon Clapp	...	Ray Schalk
Jace Alexander	...	Dickie Kerr
Bill Irwin	...	Eddie Collins

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:L | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Singapore:PG | Finland:S | USA:PG | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Bush Stadium - 1501 W. 16th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Company:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

In several scenes, White Sox players are seen tossing their mitts on to the field as they head towards the dugout. This was an actual practice by major league players to share equipment. The home team players would often leave the mitts on the field for the opposition to wear during the upcoming inning. The tradition slowly died off during the 1920s.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Set in 1919, the players are seen with their forefinger sticking out of their gloves, a practice that wasn't implemented until the 1950s.

Quotes:

[Dickie Kerr is warming up before Game 3]
Kid Gleason: How's that arm holdin' up, Dickie?
Dickie Kerr: My arm's fine. It's my knees that're bothering me.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Married with Children: The Unnatural (#5.4)" (1990)

Soundtrack:

After You've Gone

Interesting Film for all Baseball Fans

Eight Men Out provides a "Reader's Digest" version of the complicated events surrounding the 1919 World Series.

If you forgive the fact the film has to simplify certain aspects of the conspiracy in order to make the film easier to digest, then you will find that Eight Men Out is a worthy film and in the category of "baseball movies" it's one of the best.

There are anachronisms in the film here and there, the worst of which is Buck Weaver's question asking which of the lawyers was the "Babe Ruth" of law. Sure Babe Ruth was coming into his own by 1920, but most ballplayers in that era would not have place Ruth in the class of Cobb, Tris Speaker or Walter Johnson. For baseball fans, this line in particular really comes off as shallow, especially since the rest of the film really tries to capture the "dead-ball" era. For the most part though, this film feels and sounds a lot like America right after World War I ends, a fascinating time and place.

Studs Terkel steals the show in my estimation. His character in the film is not far from whom he is in real life and his authenticity is undeniable. John Sayles is a little stiff by comparison and his singing in the railway car (which according to legend did actually happen), is rather difficult to bear. None the less, his direction makes up for his foibles as an actor.

Straitharn is another gem in this movie, and once again this actor seems to get right to the soul of the characters he is given to play. Eddie Cicotte's dilemmas are written all over Straitharn's face in every scene, he's also given some of the best dialog in the film. Cusack plays his part well, despite the fact that many of his scenes are reduced to clichés. Cusack's best moments are when he is frustrated about his inclusion in the conspiracy trial, despite the fact he gave his all to try and win the series. His outbursts in the courtroom seem perfect, as if drawn from the trial transcripts themselves.

Joe Jackson is given unfair treatment. If "Field of Dreams" mythologizes Jackson to point of hyperbole, "Eight Men Out" plays up his illiteracy with too much of a heavy hand. Joe Jackson wasn't stupid, indeed if you read his last major interview before he died, he speaks about the "Black Sox" with great alacrity and clarity. He was not as ignorant as this film would have you believe. One day someone will produce a film about Joe Jackson, that will portray him accurately, but Eight Men Out is not that film.

Although their roles are very minor, Kid Gleason and Ray Schalk are really well played and written. These two went through a very difficult time during the series, and this is well demonstrated. One minor beef is that Nemo Leibold, Shano Collins and other players outside of the conspiracy are never touched upon at all. This is understandable to a degree given the relatively short length of the film, despite the complexity of the subject matter.

The baseball scenes themselves are well done. The bats, balls, gloves and uniforms look like the equipment of that era and the ballparks are successful mock ups for the most part. There are even a couple of nifty athletic displays in the outfield that must have taken several takes to pull off.

Overall, this is my second favorite baseball movie, next to "Bull Durham". Its a little light on some of the details of the conspiracy, but it makes up for it in other areas. It has some great music, some great sets, some solid acting and overall seems genuine and fair to all the major players in the conspiracy.

Eight Men Out isn't perfect, but it isn't as flawed as Roger Ebert would have you believe. If you a fan of baseball in fact, I'd say its mandatory viewing.