Eight Men Out (20th Anniversary Edition)
by John Sayles
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Actor: Christopher Lloyd, Clifton James, John Cusack, John Mahoney, Michael LernerDirector: John Sayles
Brand: Sony
Writer: John Sayles
Producer: Barbara Boyle
Producer: Jerry Offsay
Producer: Midge Sanford
Producer: Peggy Rajski
Producer: Sarah Pillsbury
Writer: Eliot Asinof
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); French (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 119 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-03-18
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of Eight Men Out (20th Anniversary Edition)
DVD Review: ONE STRIKE AND YOU'RE OUT!!
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the story of the 1919 Chicago White Sox scandal in which 8 of the players were bribed to 'throw' the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, in which they were heavily favored. The Series had changed to best of 9 games that year so the star pitcher who won 29 games would get at least three starts. Without his participation in the scandal, they would have been unbeatable. He became 'in' when Sox owner Charlie Comiskey refused to pay him his bonus for winning 30 games because he 'only' won 29. Comiskey had ordered him benched toward the end of the season for two weeks, missing five starts, to prevent him from reaching 30 wins and earning the bonus. This was but one example of Comiskey 'cheating' his players out of money they had earned. At that time, the owner was king. There were no unions and not even a commissioner for the players to appeal to. This is a fascinating story about a major black spot on Major League Baseball and subject to much discussion as to whether all the players implicated really did intentionally play below their ability. Roger Ebert's lower rating is primarily due to his feeling you had to have too much knowledge of the scandal and the individual players before watching the movie because the individual players and other characters were not identified clearly and distinctly early on in the film. His criticism does have some merit but certainly not enough to avoid this very interesting incident in Major League Baseball and one of the few full-fledged scandals in profession sports, although steroid use may end up being right up there. The costumes and settings are well done and give you a real feel for the period. Another interesting sidelight is the players' relationship to the community. They were a real part of the community, even walking back and forth from home to the stadium for games and, of course, travel by train provided for a much different environment between players and the sportswriters who traveled along. Enjoy!!
Description of Eight Men Out (20th Anniversary Edition)
John Cusack (Con Air) and Charlie Sheen (Major League) lead a "superb ensemble of actors" (Newsweek) delivering "striking performances" (The New York Times) in this "mesmerizing story" (Los Angeles Times) about the infamous 1919 Chicago White Sox scandal, certainly one of the saddest chapters in the annals of professional sports. Buck Weaver (Cusack) and Hap Felsch (Sheen) are young idealistic players with the Chicago White Sox, a pennant-winning team owned by Charles Comiskey Â? a penny-pinching, hands-on manager who underpays his players and treats them with disdain. And when gamblers and hustlers discover that Comiskey's demoralized players are ripe for a money-making scheme, one by one the team members agree to throw the World Series. But when the White Sox are defeated, a couple of sports writers smell a fix and a national scandal explodes, ripping the cover off America's favorite pastime.Eliot Asinof's detailed book Eight Men Out illustrates how the system of American sports collapsed in 1919, the year the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series. Filmmaker John Sayles worked on his script years before the 1988 film (or before he had the rights to make the film) as a labor of love. Sayles's adaptation proves one can make a historically accurate film in the day and age of artistic license. And what a story. Although many know about the "Black Sox," made famous--again--in the 1989 hit film Field of Dreams, the details of the saga are far less known. The center of Dreams, Shoeless Joe Jackson (portrayed correctly by D.B. Sweeney as illiterate and left-handed in Eight), is not the core of this film; it's ace pitcher Eddie Cicotte (Sayles favorite David Strathairn), who took the money, and third baseman Buck Weaver (John Cusack), who did not. The film fits nicely into Sayles's (Lone Star) strong suit: the ensemble drama. We are introduced to bickering owners, famous crooks, high-minded judges, lowlife gangsters, investigative reporters (played by Studs Terkel and Sayles himself), and, most of all, players who are at the breaking point when it comes to low salaries and degrading rewards. While some may feel the film is not as visceral as it should be, there is a great amount of verisimilitude when watching finely tuned athletes telling their bodies to play poorly--heartbreak on the nation's diamond. Beautifully detailed (like Sayles's previous labor-drama, Matewan), Eight Men Out gives us powerful lessons in which everyone lost: players, gamblers, and especially the fans who love the game. --Doug Thomas
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