Eight Men Out (1988)

The topic was quite interesting, especially to Chicagoans, namely the 1919 Black Sox scandal when it was discovered by suspicious reporters that several of the White Sox players were deliberately playing badly during several crucial games which would have brought the Sox into the World Series championship, and its aftermath.So where did this movie fail? Basically, it tried to cover too much with too many characters-the players, the managers, the reporters, the fans, anyone connected, so that the film lost focus. Nobody is developed, and it takes a scorecard to figure out who is who and what is going on. We don't learn exactly what went on or why. Comiskey is depicted as a skinflint who had little regard for his team, but I read elsewhere that he wasn't as bad as the movie depicted. Shoeless Joe Jackson was depicted as clueless, and while he was illiterate (still not that rare in that era), that didn't make him incapable of knowing what was going on. Also, what motivated the corrupt baseball players other than greed? They weren't working for starvation wages.The movie neither works as drama or as a depiction of history.

I can't agree with folks on this site who see this as an "underrated" movie or the "best baseball movie." I finally watched it recently; I've read the book three times or more. The movie falls flat as far as capturing the drama and pathos of these players and their story, with a couple of exceptions (the final scene with Buck Weaver watching Joe Jackson playing semi-pro ball in 1925 likely never happened, but it is a nice epilogue).Asinof's book, on which the film is based, is a masterpiece because it captures the complexity of this story and helps us really know the players and other principal characters. There are some historical criticisms of the book, especially the way it treats Jackson, but it is a fascinating read. Much of that fascination and artistry is lost in the translation to film. There's just not enough drama here--the performances are wooden, for the most part (with Cusack's Weaver an exception, perhaps). The film was not really worth my time. As for great baseball movies, Bull Durham, The Natural, Field of Dreams, and Bang the Drum Slowly are all MUCH better.Read Asinof's book--it's much better than this turkey.

John Sayles is just an unbelievable director. Every film brings something new to the table and Eight Men Out, is of course, no different. This is a solid film about the famous White Sox Scandal during the 1919 World Series. The acting is excellent and everywhere you look you will be sure to notice some famous actor whether it is Charlie Sheen, David Straithairn, Christopher Lloyd, John Mahoney, Michael Lerner and the especially great John Cusack (plus the many others I did not mention). But aside from the great casting, this film ventures much further past the point if the series was just a fix or not. We see the internal struggles of all the players, their intentions, their goals, their desires, and what each one wishes to pursue and how they go about it. The best example is David Straithairn (playing one of his most memorable roles, among many) when he says, "We were crooked, crooked players" as tears come to his eyes. And you can see that he was put between a rock and a hard place. He accepted the fix because he wasn't being paid enough, and the boss didn't provide any raises. So how else is he suppose to raise his rather young family? And then there is the great John Cusack playing Bucky Weaver. He plays because he loves the game and money isn't so much a greater desire in his life. He is the "All-American Baseball Player" all the kids in Chicago look up to. When the scandal comes around he wants nothing to do with it and instead just play to win. All other things aside, the most amazing part about Eight Men Out is the fact that it is an intense character study yet each character gets the same amount of screen time. So it is impossible for me to go over all the characters in a simple review. All-in-all, John Sayles' has proved his writing and directing capabilities, although being very subtle about it, he is one of the best in the business. Those of you who haven't ventured into his work must. He is simply one of the greatest directors and one of the most masterful writers. A solid 10/10

My perspective on Eight Men Out is different than most...I was an extra, recognizably (if you knew me) visible in at least two scenes. In fact, so close in focus was I that the assistant director eventually told me that they couldn't use me any more, because I had been "seen", meaning, I guess, that people would notice me in several different scenes. Not only did I learn about the baseball history depicted, but I learned about movie making, too. I worked at several of the Indianapolis shooting locations, including the Scottish Rite Cathedral, and what was then "Victory Field", the home of the Triple A Indianapolis Indianapolis Indians. It was trippy filming there, as I had been there for many games over the years as an Indians fan. For some of the shots, they couldn't get enough extras to show up to make the crowd, so they had to put cardboard cut-outs (called "standees" now?) in the stadium seats. The first day I showed up, I met the extras casting director, Avy Kaufman...she said, "I like your face", and sent me to wardrobe to get my period suit, shoes and hat---I was in! Thus began what would be a string of very long---but rewarding---days, for the grand sum of $20 per day, cash, paid out of a box in the semi-darkened parking lot. One day we did a double shift---16 hours---and got paid $40. We were fed in the same room, but not at the same table, as the actors. It was really neat being just a few feet away from these actors, some of whom I had seen in sitcoms and movies...Mahoney from Cheers, Lloyd from Back to the Future, Anderson from, among others, a Twilight Zone episode, and, of course, Studa Turkel and John Sayles. And note one other young actor in the cast: Charlie Sheen---should have gotten his autograph while I had the chance! The man who played the jury foreman, Rich Komenich had, years before, dressed up in a costume for a popular areas pizza franchise, and I had partied with him thanks to a woman I date. I remember the frequent chemical odor from the "smoke" or "fog" machine,since they fogged most of the indoor shots, apparently to cover up certain set details. Then there were the crude antique flash units we "reporters" had to hold up when when they shot the press conference held by Clifton James' character, Commiskey, the laborious to lace up period shoes that were closer to boots,the molded plastic ice cubes in the cocktail glasses we used in Michael Lerner's Rothstein scene, and the infrequent mouthing of nonsense lines to fake conversation of the background extras. If I had been a smoker, I would have been standing right next to Lerner in that scene, but I couldn't fake proficiency at a habit I didn't have. Perhaps what was more surrealistic than anything else was the contrast between how some of the extras looked in their period costumes, and how they looked in their street clothes before or after we changed...everything from gym shorts and t-shirts to overalls. I got such a big kick out of watching myself when this movie premiered the next year...realizing my screen "performance" will outlive me. A great movie and a great experience....