Rick’s Picks
By Rick Anderson
There are few things that arouse my passions more than classic movies and baseball. Therefore, it would be logical to assume that I prefer older films about the game.
Logical, perhaps, but false. Nearly every outstanding baseball film, in my book, has been made within the past 40 years.
One reason is that, until the 1980s, sports movies in general were considered box-office poison. To hedge their bets, many filmmakers tended to cast baseball films with stars such as Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Ray Milland and Anthony Perkins — actors who could lend weight to off-field scenes but were unconvincing on the diamond.
Perkins’ 1957 drama, “Fear Strikes Out,” arguably represented a turning point in this trend. The young actor’s performance as Jimmy Piersall, a real-life outfielder battling mental illness, reportedly inspired Alfred Hitchcock to cast him in “Psycho.” But Perkins’ obvious lack of baseball skills made it clear to future filmmakers that they needed more athletic leading men to lend credibility to the action scenes.
Say what you will about Kevin Costner’s acting talent, he’s believable as a ballplayer.
Before listing my top five films in this genre, a few words about some of the prominent baseball movies that failed to make the cut.
“The Pride of the Yankees” is worth seeing for Cooper’s powerful performance as New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig and a rare big-screen sighting of Babe Ruth, playing himself. There isn’t much baseball action in the movie, however, and it is one of the most historically inaccurate biopics ever made.
“The Natural” works as a fantasy, not as a sports movie. “Moneyball” was too condescending toward traditional baseball executives who have enjoyed more success building championship teams than Oakland general manager Billy Beane (played in the film by Brad Pitt).
And, no, I don’t consider “Field of Dreams” to be a baseball movie.
With the major league season threatened by the Covid-19 virus, fans can partly satisfy their baseball fix by renting or streaming these five films.
5. “42” (2013). A cinematic saga of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier was a longstanding dream for legendary writer-director Spike Lee, but he never made it due to financing difficulties and creative differences with one studio.
Lee undoubtedly would have made an angrier film than writer-director Brian Helgeland — which may or may not have been a good thing. In any event, Helgeland’s eventual product was perfectly respectable, with Chadwick Boseman very fine as Robinson and a seemingly miscast Harrison Ford (I envisioned Robert Duvall for the role) surprisingly effective as Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers executive who brought Robinson to the majors.
4. “Bull Durham” (1988). Most critics rank this rollicking comedy as No. 1 among baseball films. So would I if the second half of the movie had been as good as the first.
The opening hour is both funny and sexy, as writer-director Ron Shelton (a former minor league ballplayer) sandwiches a romantic triangle around a generally authentic depiction of the minor-league milieu. But Shelton seems to run out of creative ideas near the climax, which includes such fanciful plot elements as an erratic Class A pitcher skipping a couple of classifications and being called up to the majors.
For most viewers, the quality of the first hour is enough. Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, as the protagonists in the triangle, are all in top form. Sarandon, in particular, was robbed of an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a philosophical baseball groupie.
3. “The Rookie” (2002). Dennis Quad stars as Jim Morris, a Texas teacher and coach who makes an improbable return to the professional ranks as a pitcher while in his mid-30s.
Although this often-moving story reads like fiction, it’s almost entirely true. One exception is a memorable scene in which Morris tests the velocity of his fastball against a highway speed detector. That never happened.
Kudos belong to Quaid and writer-director John Lee Hancock. The former, primarily associated throughout his career with brash characters, masterfully conveys Morris’ self-doubts. The latter pulled off the seeming impossible by making a G-rated baseball movie.
2. “A League of Their Own” (1992). Penny Marshall directed this loving, very entertaining tribute to the World War II-era All-American Girls Professional Baseball League with a real flair for detail.
Co-stars Geena Davis and Tom Hanks, as the league’s star player and her boozy manager (a character based on Hall of Fame slugger Jimmie Foxx), are both first-rate.
Although the statewide ban on large public gatherings puts the date of the showing in doubt, this film is scheduled to return to the big screen this year at Hoquiam’s 7th Street Theatre. I’ll have more to write about it once that materializes.
1. “Eight Men Out” (1988). Writer-director John Sayles’ sobering take on the Black Sox scandal (eight members of the powerful Chicago White Sox sold out to gamblers to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series) predictably failed to hit a home run at the box office. But it found a niche among historical zealots like myself, who consider it one of the most accurate and richly detailed baseball films ever.
Closely following Eliot Asinof’s best-selling book, Sayles makes a persuasive case for his theme that the poorly educated players of the era were exploited by greedy owners and wily gamblers. In a large cast that includes Charlie Sheen and a serious Christopher Lloyd, acting honors are shared by John Cusack (as ultra-competitive third baseman Buck Weaver) and David Strathairn (as conscience-stricken pitching ace Eddie Cicotte).
Operating under a studio mandate to deliver a film spanning less than two hours (he made it by one minute), Sayles introduces dozens of characters in breakneck fashion. First-time viewers might be advised to replay the opening 20 minutes. Otherwise, it’s difficult to tell the players without a scorecard.
