Review of Eight Men Out (1988) by Mike C — 08 Aug 2013

Mediocre movie at best just because the baseball is so bad. But it does tell the story of a very important historical event in America's past time.

Cusack as a ball player!? Forget about it! I'm just not convinced. Charlie Sheen either. That is a major strike against the movie. Also a strike is the way the players act on the field. For one, it's just non-stop chatter. Maybe it was that way in 1919. I suspect it was not. It's definitely not that way today once you get past the first grade. But the bigger flaw is how the players let the viewer know they're about to make an intentional error. The writers need a former great in the press box to highlight potential fixed plays. But the viewer gets treated like a four-year-old. Watch this! the players say to one another with a glimpse and nod, etc. I doubt they ever did that and was there no check on the errors. Did they have to blow every play? Just kinda silly. Of course it wouldn't have gone down that way.

But the neat thing is the history. Did Shoeless Joe really take money? The league decided he did and he never played again. Same with Buck Weaver (Cusack). He had the series of his career, but he too was banned for betting on the games. The movie does not portray it that way at all and I only learned of Weaver's suspension when watching the Ken Burns documentary.

Anyway, now Field of Dreams makes a little more sense. But this is a pretty fluffy movie about a topic that's not very fluffy.