Eight Men Out (1988)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

John Sayles

Writers (WGA):

Eliot Asinof (book)
John Sayles (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 September 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Sport

Tagline:

1919. The year America saw major league baseball played a whole new way...underhanded.

Plot:

A dramatization of the Black Sox scandal when the underpaid Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to deliberately lose the 1919 World Series.

Plot Keywords:

World Series | Chicago White Sox | Scandal | Gambler | Baseball

Cast

John Cusack	...	George 'Buck' Weaver
Clifton James	...	Charles 'Commie' Comiskey
Michael Lerner	...	Arnold Rothstein
Christopher Lloyd	...	'Sleepy' Bill Burns
John Mahoney	...	William 'Kid' Gleason
Charlie Sheen	...	Oscar 'Hap' Felsch
David Strathairn	...	Eddie Cicotte
D.B. Sweeney	...	Joseph 'Shoeless Joe' Jackson
Michael Rooker	...	Arnold 'Chick' Gandil
Don Harvey	...	Charles 'Swede' Risberg
James Read	...	Claude 'Lefty' Williams
Perry Lang	...	Fred McMullin
Gordon Clapp	...	Ray Schalk
Jace Alexander	...	Dickie Kerr
Bill Irwin	...	Eddie Collins

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:L | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Singapore:PG | Finland:S | USA:PG | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Bush Stadium - 1501 W. 16th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Company:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The ballpark used to make the film, Bush Stadium in Indianapolis, was converted to a dirt race track and is now known as the 16th Street Speedway.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Eddie Collins, who was a left handed batter, bats right handed in the movie.

Quotes:

[Shoeless Joe Jackson is talking to his bat]
Shoeless Joe: Big whop now. Big whop, Betsy; you tell me when.
Freddie: Does it ever answer you, Joe?
Lefty Williams: Probably sleeps with it, too.
Lefty Williams: Lay off, you guys.
Hap Felsch: You crackers stick together, huh?
Swede Risberg: Ask it for a triple, Joe. You hear me?
Freddie: 60 years since the Civil War, Lefty. Ease up.
Hap Felsch: Besides, you guys lost. It was in all the papers.
Freddie: That wouldn't help Jackson none.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Jay Leno Show: (#1.35)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

After You've Gone

One of the most under-apreciated films of the last 25 years

This is probably the best film to be completely ignored by every major award in film in the last 25 years. For all that its about baseball players, it is NOT a baseball movie. The Black Sox scandal and its effect on baseball transcended baseball. The ensemble cast does a marvelous job, particularly Straithairn and Sweeney, who plays "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, one of the more tragic figures of the whole mess. In spite of taking money to throw the Series, Jackson went out and batted .375 for the Series. The Chicago payers in on the payoff (and one poor soul who didn't go along, but was approached) were banned from baseball for life. No less an authority than Ted Williams believes Jackson should be in the Hall of Fame. But I digress. The film goes into the motivations of the players, who were playing for a pittance and had no say over where they played. Thus they were perfect targets for the fix in the first place. Excellent and gripping film about human reactions to stress and temptation. Most recommended.