Review of Eight Men Out (1988) by Adam W — 15 Apr 2008

I know nothing about Baseball, and so it is a mysterious game to me. But I have seen a few Baseball films, and it is ever present in American movies. Almost all depictions of Baseball I've come across (with the exception of the fantastic Mr Baseball) have been happy, sentimental, showing the nobility of the game. Eight Men Out strikes at this notion like an axe, in the way Sayles has a tendency to do with most things American. It is about sport as inherently part of wider politics, business and showbusiness, and shows that fairytale notions about the essential nobility of sport in the old days is false. The ball players are not all 'honest Joes' in the specious Hollywood tradition, but a mixed bag of sharks, loners, oddballs as well as true baseball lovers.

The only problem I have with the film is that it seems to suffer from Sayles' turgid late eighties style which was over-obsessed with the script and so neglected in direction. While Straitharn is characteristically well-used, and John Cusack is quite brilliant as the scapegoat, Charlie Sheen is completely wasted . Still, it is a fascinating film given all its faults, and Sayles himself as Ring Lardiner is typically weird and brilliant!