Finding Buck McHenry (2000) (TV)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Charles Burnett

Writers (WGA):

Alfred Slote (novel)
Alfred Slote (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

16 April 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family | Sport

Plot:

When an 11 year old boy (Michael Schiffman) gets cut from his Little League baseball team, he sets out to form his own team...

Plot Keywords:

Baseball | Children | Kids And Family | Based On Novel

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Ossie Davis	...	Buck McHenry
Ruby Dee	...	Mrs. Henry
Ernie Banks	...	Ollie Johnson
Michael Schiffman	...	Jason Ross
Duane McLaughlin	...	Aaron Henry
Megan Bowes	...	Kim Axelrod
Kevin Jubinville	...	Chuck Axelrod
Michael Rhoades	...	Jim Davis
Karl Pruner	...	Mr. Ross
Catherine Blythe	...	Mrs. Ross
Don Dickinson	...	Coack Barker
Marcello Meleca	...	Tug
James Millington	...	Brad (as Jim Millington)
Anthony Antonacci	...	Joey Kovich
J.J. Gallo	...	Carl Diaz

Runtime:

USA:94 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Afternoon Special

`Finding Buck McHenry' is a strange film. It has all of the trappings of a low-budget ABC `Afternoon Special.' Its performances are wildly uneven. Ossie Davis gives a memorable performance as Mac Henry, the school custodian whom young Jason Ross (played by Michael Schiffman) is convinced is the fictional former Negro League baseball legend Buck McHenry. But Schiffman and the most of the rest of the cast give poor performances. Ruby Dee, Davis' real life wife, plays his movie mate, and has little to do. All of this is a bit surprising since Charles Burnett, who helmed the critically acclaimed `To Sleep with Anger," directed the film

But the movie does an excellent job of conveying the racism faced by the Negro League players, and doesn't reveal until the end whether Henry is McHenry.

Three problems with the plot: McHenry supposedly had three great seasons in the Negro League before disappearing after a brush with the law, and yet was named to its hall of fame. Hall of famers in almost any sport must have a much longer track record than that. Secondly, if Henry is McHenry, he supposedly had been in hiding for 50 years after his brush with the law, even though the movie acknowledges that his `crime' would have long ago been forgotten. Finally, the film wants us to believe that a baseball fanatic like Jason would never have heard of the Negro League, which I find unlikely.