Review of Eight Men Out (1988) by Logan B — 14 May 2008

A historical film about the 1919 Black Sox scandal. What's good about this film is that the scenery and clothing makes you feel like 1919. It also kind of stays true to the historical events surrounding the Black Sox. What's not so great is that the story jumps all over the place. The only thing that's missing would be flashbacks and a Delorean. It tries to stay true to the scandal, however, if you know nothing about baseball and it's history you're kind of lost to figure out who's who and who does what. Certain people are alluded too but their actual place in history are never really mentioned out right. For example, Arnold Rothstein is just seen as a big bookie and has "collectors" to make sure people pay up. Historically, he's really a New York gangster.

The story shifts at times from just concentrating on the plot itself to going back and forth between Bucky (Cusack) and Shoeless Joe's (Sweeney) struggle with playing baseball and turning their backs on their teammates.

The main part of the movie seems to concentrate on Cusack's character and how he doesn't want any part of the scandal which just seems to fall short b/c it feels out of place with all the jumping around.

Overall, a decent historical sports movie, and according to Wikipedia it's not too far from the truth as most Hollywood movies are that are based on a true story.