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Baseball films: Unheralded and undeserved
Final scene of the cartoon “Duck Rabbit Duck.” A confused Elmer Fudd talks in despair to a game warden, who is, of course, really Bugs Bunny in disguise.
Elmer Fudd: Oh, Mister Game Warden, I hope you can help me. I’ve been told I can shoot wabbits and goats and pigeons and mongooses and dirty skunks and ducks. Could you tell me what season it weally is?
Bugs: Why certainly, ma boy. It’s baseball season.
Elmer: (Disoriented laugh, spots around head).
Bugs: Here, boy, here boy, go get it, go get it!
(Tosses baseball, which Elmer Fudd shoots repeatedly in the distance.)
Yes, folks, it’s baseball season again, and blogs and magazines everywhere will be publishing their lists of the great/not-so-great baseball movies today - so I’d like to throw a change-up.
The same movies seem to pop up in these lists all the time, so I want to spotlight one that doesn’t get much attention, and another that does.
For Love of the Game didn’t get much attention at the box office when it came out in 1999, and it’s certainly no Pride of the Yankees, Field of Dreams or even A League of Their Own. I’d even stop short of calling it a great movie as a whole. But what the film does do, better than any baseball movie I’ve ever seen, is create a sense of what it is like to play a baseball game. Watching the baseball-movie-ubiquitous Kevin Costner, pitch his way through a game put me out on the diamond in a way no other baseball movie has.
One that gets too much attention is The Natural. When I compiled a list of the best baseball movies several years ago (at the time For Love of the Game came out, as it happens) I left The Natural off the list, and I got called on it. But I stand by omission. The Natural has some great scenes (the home run into the lights being one of them, thanks to Caleb Deschanel’s gorgeous photography and Randy Newman’s sweeping music), but as a whole it falls way short because Redford is just too good to be true, and the movie is overstuffed. I agree with Roger Ebert, who wrote that “At about the 130-minute mark, I got the idea that God’s only begotten son was playing right field for the New York team.”
How about you? Do you like any baseball movies no one else seems to? Or dislike any that people praise to the skies?
Permalink | Comments (11) | Categories: Lists
Comments
By MisterG
April 6, 2007 1:27 PM | Link to this
“61*” is an excellent film, perhaps one of Crystal’s shining moments. His love of baseball in general and the Yankees in particular is unmistakeable, while Pepper and Jane turn in superb characterizations of Maris and Mantle. “For Love of the Game” is also very good, with Costner in excellent form in a genre he is obviously well-suited for. I also recommend the book, Eric, which will paint an even better picture for you. I also like “The Babe” with John Goodman.By SRCputt
April 4, 2007 4:12 PM | Link to this
Bud, maybe you liked 61* because a lot of it was shot in old Tiger Stadium. And I’m with Eric on The Sandlot. For a family film on baseball, I’d much rather watch a kid manage the Twins in Little Big League.By Sir Critic
April 4, 2007 12:33 PM | Link to this
Bud, you pain me - “Pride of the Yankees” is my favorite baseball film. Sure, it’s corny, but that’s part of its charm. Gary Cooper is great all the way through (not just during the farewell scene), and I regret that you seem immune to the charms of Teresa Wright. But I can give as good as I get: Except for the scene on the tilt-a-whirl, I hated “The Sandlot.” It was loud, obvious AND dull.By Bud Norton
April 3, 2007 1:38 PM | Link to this
“Eight Men Out” is my favorite due to its authenticity. Does “The Sandlot” count? My kids and I love that one. I also liked Billy Crystal’s “61*” despite being a Yankee-hating Tigers fan, so there must be some good in it. It was critically praised when released, but as a TV movie it gets overlooked. “Angels in the Outfield” (the original version from the 50s) is surprisingly good and even touching. Dislikes? “The Pride of the Yankees.” Except for the last scenes (and Babe Ruth’s performance as himself) it is corny and dull.By Scott Elliott
April 3, 2007 11:13 AM | Link to this
Bull Durham is not overrated. The baseball scenes and the ballpark culture details are incredible, Meat. The meeting on the mound, what a batter is thinking at the plate, trash talk, chatter, etc. Anyone who’s ever played baseball can vouch for the authenticity. The ending is my only beef. it’s a bit sappy. Before that, the spring-training-tryout love triangle premise is pretty funny.By SRCputt
April 3, 2007 10:10 AM | Link to this
HBO made a great baseball movie in the mid-80s called “Long Gone” set in the early 60s South starring William H Peterson as the player manager who gets romanticly tangled up with a beauty queen played by Virginia Madsen. It has all of the feel of baseball completely missing in The Natural.By Joseph R
April 3, 2007 3:25 AM | Link to this
Here’s one you don’t hear very often but it’s one I’ve always loved. It’s the 1949 fantasy film titled It Happens Every Springs and stars Ray Milland of all people as a pitcher who discovers a substance that resists wood. It hardly ever gets mentioned but it’s a lot of fun.By derwood
April 2, 2007 9:35 PM | Link to this
The Natural is a good one. I enjoyed Major League, but the sequels were completely uncalled for.By Kim S.
April 2, 2007 5:00 PM | Link to this
Overrated: “Bull Durham”. It may still be interesting to hear the “kisses” line from Costner, the rest of the film seems dated. Underrated: “Eight Men Out”. Solid cast and something that isn’t one of those “feel good” movies. Unnecessary: “Major League 2”. Talk about something that never should have been made!By Sir Critic
April 2, 2007 2:48 PM | Link to this
Excellent picks, Scott. One thing that’s become funny/scary about The Naked Gun now is the opening scenes of OJ prowling around the docks - in a stocking cap, no less. On the DVD commentary, one of the directors cracks, “Now, is this actual footage of OJ, or is this the movie?”By Scott Elliott
April 2, 2007 1:42 PM | Link to this
Other great baseball movies that deserve mention: 1. A League of their Own. I have three daughters, so I have a soft spot for the girls’ baseball theme. Cheesy in spots but overall a fun movies with a few great scenes and Tom Hanks pulls off the Rogers Hornsby “comically mean old drunk ex-ballplayer” nicely. 2. Naked Gun. “Must … Kill … the Queen” Reggie Jackson and OJ before he went to the Dark Side. If you like slapstick humor (and you know you do) you can’t beat it. 3. Bad News Bears. Funny and real in a demented way. Sprinkle in some 70s nostalgia. I love how it mocks adults who take Little League too seriously. Some truly hilarious baseball scenes. And the best non-happy ending of all time.