Seriously Joe! What the hell?!?
Back in the 1919 World Series of baseball, 8 players from the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the series away, due to them being offered a butt-load of money. Did it really happen? Is it all true?
It’s a small synopsis, I know. Heck, it may even be one of my smallest ever. But that’s kind of the point: It’s so known and explanatory that I don’t really need to go on. All you need to know is that the 1919 World Series will live in infamy, and here’s why:
I’m not going to lie, but I am not the biggest baseball fan in the world. Do I like the sport? Yes. Do I enjoy watching a game from time-to-time? Most definitely! Who doesn’t? So yeah, of course I know the story behind the whole “Black Sox Scandal” – who was apart of it, what went down and what the outcome eventually was.
And to be honest, I didn’t really need to see it done all over again.
For somebody who comes from a long-line of making indie flicks in his spare-time, I have to give writer/director John Sayles for doing a nice job with a bigger-budget than he’s used to working with, and still not seeming like he goes overboard at all. Usually when little-known directors break out and get a big, paying gig, they get a bit carried away with what they want to do or say with their next feature. However, I don’t think Sayles does that at all.
Instead, where most of his money seems to go is right towards creating of the early 20th Century, where baseball, Apple Pie and swindlers was everywhere to be found. It couldn’t have been that hard considering all he had to do was get a bunch of retro-looking uniforms, find an old-stadium, and get some older-looking stuff to throw in there, but regardless, he does a nice job and proves that bigger, does mean better. That is, in most cases anyway.
Even when it comes to writing this flick, Sayles never really seems to lose himself and sticks true to what the dude’s made a career out of: Fine attention to enough of his ensemble. There’s a lot of talk surrounding this whole conspiracy these guys have caused and it adds another depth of drama that’s almost unexpected considering we know all of the details as to what does and what doesn’t happen. Every character has a bit of witty dialogue/banter with another character and it feels real, especially when you get two teammates talking to each other and having it almost feel as if you are watching two teammates talk it all out about the game and what they’re going to do next time and make it all better. For baseball lovers, this film would probably the ultimate pleasure, but for me, I could at least appreciate what Sayles was doing and how he just kept it simple and sweet, focusing on these guys the most.
Where I think Sayles runs into a problem with is that his story goes a bit too all-over-the-place at times and never really sets its sights on one character. Maybe he can’t be blamed for that problem, considering this is a whole baseball team we’re talking about here, but there could have been a bit more development on all of them, rather than focusing on just two or three, and getting rid of the rest only to have them show-up in the last five minutes as if they were there the whole time. The characters they do give us to sympathize with, have our sympathy, but not much else. They never really seem to have much of a conflict despite being involved with one of the biggest scandals baseball has ever had to deal with. Should have definitely came off a bit more tense and upsetting if you ask me.
The other problem I think Sayles runs into with this flick is the fact that in reality, we all know this story. People who don’t love baseball, barely even watch it, and couldn’t give two hoots about it all know the story of what went down during the 1919 World Series. That’s why it comes as no surprise to anyone when certain characters in the film are all upset by how they’re losing on-purpose. It’s a bit hard to watch some of these guys put themselves through so much to lose a game, but after awhile, it just becomes repetitive and feels like Sayles doesn’t have much hope for his own material, so he just relied on the typical baseball scenes to cool everybody off and keep them distracted. It kept me distracted for a short amount of time, that was, until I realized that there was no real core to the story’s heart.
It was just one big and simple conspiracy theory that we all knew about beforehand and didn’t find a new life in shaking things up this time around.
Where the film really succeeds, is in it’s ensemble cast that all do their best with what they’re given. Out of all of the characters, John Cusack comes off as the most-developed and sympathetic player as Buck Weaver, the one teammate who never took money from anyone and still got the blame thrown on him. His character is probably the easiest to get behind and it’s one of the first instances where we actually got to see Cusack flesh-out of his high school, dream-boy phase and actually man-up for once. He’s good with that here and comes off as the best character. The other character I was interested in a lot too, was David Strathairn as pitcher Eddie Cicotte, one of the most complex characters of the bunch. The reason why Cicotte is interesting to watch is because his character really isn’t a bad dude that just wants to be an asshole cause he loves to (unlike some of the other people on his team), but instead, is left with a problem where he knows he may never, ever get another shot at playing big-time baseball again and tries whatever he can to keep it going on and on, until he just can’t play anymore. It’s nice to see that in a character here, and Strathairn was definitely the perfect choice for the role.
There are others in this cast that do great jobs with their roles, but the one I was mostly disappointed in was D.B. Sweeney as “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. Instead of giving Jackson his own movie, or even a big part in this one, he’s sort of reduced to the unsung hero that just sort of sits in the background role that we have seen so many times before in sports movies, and almost never works except if you want the crowd to cheer. What bummed me out about this was how it seemed like Jackson was the most interesting and complex out of the whole team and was never really given that chance to shine and show his side of the story. Granted, the guy was a bit of a dummy, but a dummy that we could have still, somehow, fallen-behind and cheered-on as his world started to close in around him.
Hey, at least the game of baseball has found new ways to make controversy for itself, right?
Consensus: If you’ve seen one sports movie, hell, let alone, a baseball movie, then you’ve seen Eight Men Out without really knowing it. Although Sayles’ writing and casting-decisions does find a way to separate itself from the rest of the bunch.
6.5 / 10 = Rental!!
Dan the Man's Movie Reviews 
Although I watch baseball every day in season – it took me a long while to see this one. Not because of any ‘film issues’, but rather because it was about baseball’s darkest moments.
Sports and baseball may not be everyone’s cup of tea. These days many resent the huge salaries paid to the players which lead to high ticket prices.But for many, sports are an outlet – even a fantasy world = a place to escape to in order to be someplace else for a few hours.
I liked the way you took Sayles to task for narrowing his focus on two or three players, and yes, Strathairn was an inspired choice as Eddie Cicotte – who earned just $6,000 for his labor as a pitcher in 1919.
Overall – I enjoyed the film as it showed me much more than I knew beforehand about the names mentioned in the scandal which until this film – were just names on a printed page for me.
Good review Dan.
“It kept me distracted for a short amount of time, that was, until I realized that there was no real core to the story’s heart.”
This quote surprised me, especially given what you say about Cusack being sympathetic. I think there’s so much heart in this movie, from the anger of a star pitcher getting swindled to the heartbreak from Buck Weaver losing the thing he loves the most.
I’m also not sure that it’s such a well-known story. People know the term Black Sox, but do they really know much about the story? This is my favorite baseball movie, so I don’t see it as being much like any other baseball movie. I am a big Sayles fan, so I’m sure it plays a role.
Regardless, I’m glad that you checked it out!
I rate it a bit higher than you, dan. I didn’t know the full story of the 1919 World Series before watching this a few years back. In fact, the only references I knew to it were in ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Field of Dreams’. If I knew anything about corruption in baseball, it came from watching ‘The Natural’. And then I finally saw Sayles’ film. For me, it is almost perfect (cast, production, script). I still have no idea how “accurate” the film is as I have never read the history of the real scandal. I am not a sports fan, but I am a fan of sports films, and I rate ‘Eight Men Out’ as one of the best dramas of the 80s.
Great review, Dan. I quite agree. Jackson could have used more focus and the story never catches fire, so to speak.