All Movie Guide - Tom Wiener more than one character exclaimed. But Buck Weaver and the great Shoeless Joe Jackson turn back at the last minute and try to play their best. Favorite Baseball Movie or Mini-Series Biopic? Eight Men Out quotes: the most famous and inspiring quotes from Eight Men Out. Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle race to break Babe Ruth's single-season home run record. The great Chicago White Sox team of 1919 is the saddest team to ever win a pennant. View production, box office, & company info. Eight Men Out is a 1988 American sports drama film based on Eliot Asinof's 1963 book Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series. Based on the Eliot Asinof novel, the movie is, by and large, historically accurate. 46 of 47 people found this review helpful. Two years later, the truth breaks out and the Sox are sued on multiple counts. An investigation begins into the possible fixing of the Series. Buck Weaver, meanwhile, insists that he is a winner and wants nothing to do with the fix. Eight Men Out. James Read is excellent as henpecked southern pitcher Claude `Lefty' Williams, probably the second most respected player on the team. The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series. With the championship now in jeopardy, the Sox manage to win Game 6 in extra innings. Details. This FAQ is empty. Several of the players become upset, however, when the various gamblers involved fail to pay their promised money up front. The manager reluctantly agrees and is given an easy Game 7 win. Strathairn plays the intelligent, stressed character under the gun as well as any actor of his generation.The rest of the cast is fine, too, with despicable Chick Gandil (Michael Rooker) and Swede Risberg (Don Harvey) playing the odds and pressuring teammates to go along. "Eight Men Out" is a period piece about the infamous fixing of the 1919 World Series by eight Chicago White Sox players, who did it with varying degrees of enthusiasm and reluctance, in cooperation with big-time gamblers who had approached them. Eight Men Out. The story's delightfully colorful villains are played by Christopher Lloyd and Richard Edson (as the halfway-comic duo who make the first assault on the players), Michael Mantell as the chief gangster's extremely undependable right-hand man, and Kevin Tighe as the Bostonian smoothie who coolly declares: "You know what you feed a dray horse in the morning if you want a day's work out of him? Rating: User rating, 5 out of 5 stars with 11 reviews. Just enough so he knows he's hungry." Eight Men Out [Blu-ray] [1988] SKU: 29701285. The new owner of the Cleveland Indians puts together a purposely horrible team so they'll lose and she can move the team. They are found innocent by the jury but baseball commissioner Landis has other plans. "[11] Ebert's colleague Gene Siskel, on the other hand, said, "Eight Men Out is fascinating if you are a baseball nut ... the portrayal of the recruiting of the ball players and the tight fisted rule of Comiskey is fascinating ... thumbs up."[12]. The best movie quotes, movie lines and film phrases by Movie Quotes .com "[6], Right-handed Sweeney told Elle that producers considered using an old Hollywood trick to create the illusion that he was hitting lefty. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. The Sox actually almost come back from a 3-1 deficit. Eight Men Out tells the true story of the infamous 'Black Sox' scandal of 1919, in which the White Sox players deliberately lost the World Series. Eliot Asinof's book Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series is the best-known description of the scandal. Sweeney) and Manager Kid Gleason (John Mahoney) are victims. I first saw it the year after visiting Old Comiskey Park (the year before it was torn down) and felt right at home on the movie set even the turnstiles looked authentic.In closing, I can't honestly say that someone with NO knowledge or interest in baseball would flip over this film. 2:18 Eight Men Out. Eliot Asinof - Eight Men Out with the 11th Air Force. Shoeless Joe Jackson, an illiterate and the team's hitting star is also invited, but is depicted as not bright nor entirely sure of what is going on. Add to Cart Buy Now Add to Wishlist. [5], Sweeney remarked on the chilly Indiana temperatures in an interview with Elle. The site's critical consensus reads, "Perhaps less than absorbing for non-baseball fans, but nevertheless underpinned by strong performances from the cast and John Sayles' solid direction."[9]. "We could have done it from the right side, then run to third and switched the negative, like they did in The Pride of the Yankees, but we didn't really have enough money for that", Sweeney said. "It got down to 30, 40 degrees, but John [Sayles] would stand there in running shorts, tank tops, sneakers—sometimes without socks—and never look cold." Chicago journalists Ring Lardner and Hugh Fullerton grow increasingly suspicious, while Gleason continues to hear rumors of a fix, but he remains confident that his boys will come through in the end. Eight Men Out is a 1988 film about the Black Sox scandal when the underpaid Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to deliberately lose the 1919 World Series . Eight Men Out doesn't offer the feel-good experience of Field of Dreams (though they do share one character, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson) or Bull Durham, but its honesty and faithfulness to the complexities of history ultimately make it a more valuable player in the history of sports films. The political dimension of the Chicago Black Sox scandal took a decided shift to the left in the hands of filmmaker John Sayles. He is then relieved by Gleason, though the Sox lose the first game, 9–1. This movie is … Cicotte then pitches poorly and gives up 5 runs in four innings—four of them in the 4th, highlighted by a triple from Reds pitcher Walter "Dutch" Ruether. There’s a curse on it. Upgrade to remove ads. [citation needed] Brendan Boyd's novel Blue Ruin: A Novel of the 1919 World Series offers a first-person narrative of the event from the perspective of Sport Sullivan, a … Mr. Asinof has published short stories, articles, and has written numerous television and radio scripts. Was this review helpful to you? "Eight Men Out" is a period piece about the infamous fixing of the 1919 World Series by eight Chicago White Sox players, who did it with varying degrees of enthusiasm and reluctance, in cooperation with big-time gamblers who had approached them. "I'm not in this for cash or my career or my performance", Sheen said. Like the aforementioned films, it is a movie about people who happen to PLAY baseball. "[4], During the late summer and early fall of 1987, news media in Indianapolis reported sightings of the film's actors, including Sheen and Cusack. Release Date: 11/24/2015. Looking at him we thought, 'Well, if he's not cold, then we certainly shouldn't be. 'Sports movies are never easy to do and making one that reaches beyond the bounds of sports fans is especially challenging. A fan who has an affair with one minor-league baseball player each season meets an up-and-coming pitcher and the experienced catcher assigned to him. Item Price $ 8.95. "Actors kidded around, rubbing dirt on each other", the Tribune reported. `Eddie's the key!' Other teammates such as catcher Ray Schalk continue to play hard, while Weaver and Jackson show no visible signs of taking a dive with Weaver continuing to deny participation in the fix. Frustrated, a number of Sox players agree to throw the World Series for $10,000 each. Eight Men Out has always been one of my favorite books and movies, so today I thought we would look at the historical accuracy of the book and movie. Sayles told the Chicago Tribune that he hired them not because they were rising stars, but because of their ball-playing talent. "Eight Men Out" is a period piece about the infamous fixing of the 1919 World Series by eight Chicago White Sox players, who did it with varying degrees of enthusiasm and reluctance, in cooperation with big-time gamblers who had approached them. It was written and directed by John Sayles. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. In an overall positive review, critic Janet Maslin spoke well of the actors, writing, Notable in the large and excellent cast of Eight Men Out are D. B. Sweeney, who gives Shoeless Joe Jackson the slow, voluptuous Southern naivete of the young Elvis; Michael Lerner, who plays the formidable gangster Arnold Rothstein with the quietest aplomb; Gordon Clapp as the team's firecracker of a catcher; John Mahoney as the worried manager who senses much more about his players' plans than he would like to, and Michael Rooker as the quintessential bad apple. This movie is … Yes, the players played for skinflint Charles `Old Roman' Comiskey, yes they were easy prey for the gambling element, yes they were lacking in education and common sense
yet they are not portrayed as innocent victims, either.I have been a huge David Strathairn fan ever since `Eight Men Out.' It also seems to be fairly even-handed in dishing out guilt. When asked point-blank if the player is indeed Jackson, Weaver denies it, protecting his former teammate. Disgruntled players for a professional baseball team agree to take cash from a gambler in exchange for throwing the 1919 World Series. As a result of the revelations, Cicotte, Williams, Gandil, Felsch, Risberg, McMullin, Jackson, and Weaver are tried. The great Chicago White Sox team of 1919 is the saddest team to ever win a pennant. The team is bitter at their penny pincher owner, Charles Comiskey, and at their own teammates. "[5], When cloud cover would suddenly change the light during the shooting of a particular baseball scene, Sayles showed "inspirational decisiveness", according to Elle, by changing the scripted game they would be shooting—switching from Game Two of the series to Game Four, for example. In conjunction with SABR’s Eight Myths Out project, here are specific examples of factual errors or misinformation that appear in Eight Men Out, both the 1963 best-selling book written by Eliot Asinof and the 1988 film directed by John Sayles. Title: Eliot Asinof has reconstructed the entire scene-by-scene story of the fantastic… Read more. This was certainly no easy choice for Cicotte, a man of some integrity and conscience, but a pitcher nearing the end of his salad days and a man bitter at his mistreatment by Comiskey. Cicotte was nearing the milestone when Comiskey ordered team manager Kid Gleason to bench him for 2 weeks (missing 5 starts) with the excuse that the 35-year-old veteran's arm needed a rest before the series. The movie isn't shy about its version of good guys & bad guys. Jack Elliot, once a great baseball player, is forced to play in Japan where his brash, egotistical ways cause friction with his new teammates and friends. [8], The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 86%, based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. [6], Ring Lardner, Jr., Oscar-winning screenwriter of such films as Woman of the Year and M*A*S*H, came to Bush Stadium to visit the set. "'Some of them chewed tobacco at first, but,' noted Bill Irwin, 'Even the guys who were really into it started to chew apricots after a while. Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.11. By: Eliot Asinof. Listings. Set in 1919, EIGHT MEN OUT follows the scandal surrounding the heavily-favored Chicago White Sox. The tone of Eight Men Out is reminiscent of the droll irony of John Huston's considerations of the vanity of human wishes and the corrupting power of money. '"[5] Sheen made his reasons for taking the role clear. Some New Jersey fans are arguing on whether a Hoboken outfielder is Joe Jackson (the outfielder is, in fact, Shoeless Joe), 12 best baseball movies ranked, including ‘Field of Dreams,’ ‘Moneyball,’ ‘Bull Durham’ [Photos]. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. Hall of Famer Eddie Collins (Bill Irwin) and no-nonsense catcher (and controversial Hall of Famer) Ray Schalk (Gordon Clapp) are frustrated on-lookers, while Dickie Kerr (Jace Alexander) is the wide-eyed & naïve rookie. The eight players are suspended for life, and Buck Weaver, for the rest of his life, tries to clear his name. The young actor said Sayles appeared to be focused on an "agenda, and that's all he cared about. People have been trying to make it for years.'" Bush Stadium - 1501 W. 16th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. Other players, approached with the idea of throwing the series, reacted with shock when finding out the highly-respected Cicotte was involved. Lardner stated, "The producers offer free entertainment, Bingo with cash prizes, and as much of a stipend ($20 a day) as the budget permits..."[7], Several people involved in the film would go on to work on Ken Burns' 1994 miniseries Baseball. Lardner's article in American Film reported that Sayles' script depicted much of the story accurately, based on what he knew from his father. 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