Fear Strikes Out (1957)

True story of the life of Jimmy Piersall, who battled mental illness to achieve stardom in major league baseball.

Director:

Robert Mulligan

Writers:

Ted Berkman (screenplay), Raphael Blau (screenplay),

Stars:

Anthony Perkins, Karl Malden, Norma Moore

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Anthony Perkins	...	Jim Piersall
Karl Malden	...	John Piersall
Norma Moore	...	Mary Piersall
Adam Williams	...	Doctor Brown
Perry Wilson	...	Mrs. John Piersall
Peter J. Votrian	...	Jim Piersall as a Boy

Storyline

Jim Piersall is groomed by his loving but hard-driving father (living vicariously through his son) to play major league baseball. His desire to succeed to please his father leads to mental illness and a nervous breakdown. Can he overcome those difficulties and return to the major leagues?

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Plot Keywords:

baseball | mental illness | louisville kentucky | doctor | high school | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Sport

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 August 1957 (Australia)

Also Known As:

The Jim Piersall Story

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was a remake of a TV production broadcast live on Aug. 15, 1955 starring Tab Hunter: Climax!: Fear Strikes Out.

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Goofs

The home uniforms on all Red Sox players had two rows of piping down the front, proper for its time, except Piersall's which had no piping, a uniform not worn until much later.

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Connections

Remake of Climax!: Fear Strikes Out (1955)

User Reviews

Good movie, but...

Jimmy Piersall (Anthony Perkins) was a major league baseball player, an exceptional outfielder and a lousy hitter. He had an overbearing perfectionist for a father (Karl Malden), was socially awkward, suffered from severe bipolar disorder and paranoid delusions, and fought with his teammates. That is pretty much where the similarities between "Fear Strikes Out" and reality end.

The story takes place in the early 1950s. Little was known about mental illness, and there were few if any psychiatric medications. There wasn't much beyond talk therapy and electro-convulsive therapy (then known as electro-shock treatment). Unfortunately, Jim responded to neither. He spent most of his rookie year in a psych hospital.

In one chilling (although probably invented) scene, psychiatrist Dr. Brown asks if he wants to watch a ball game. Jim doesn't respond, so the doctor flips on a game. A hitter doesn't extend a double into a triple, a play which Jim comments that his father would never approved of. As the conversation moves from baseball to Jim's father, Jim realizes "If it wasn't for my father, I wouldn't be where I am today!"

The film ended in typical Hollywood fashion, with Piersall returning to the team in 1953. I thought the roll of his wife Mary, played ably by Norma Moore, was badly underwritten. There was no mention of the fact that his mother also suffered from mental illness.

As a study of mental illness and its effects on a man, his family, his co-workers, and his career, "Fear Strikes Out" is a very good movie. Trouble is that it is so loaded with historical inaccuracies, mistakes, and "dramatic license" that the person upon whose experiences the story is based distanced himself from the movie.