Eight Men Out (1988)

A dramatization of the Black Sox scandal when the underpaid Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to deliberately lose the 1919 World Series.

Director:

John Sayles

Writers:

Eliot Asinof (book), John Sayles (screenplay)

Stars:

John Cusack, Clifton James, Jace Alexander

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jace Alexander	...	Dickie Kerr
John Cusack	...	Buck Weaver
Gordon Clapp	...	Ray Schalk
Don Harvey	...	Swede Risberg
Bill Irwin	...	Eddie Collins
Perry Lang	...	Fred McMullin
John Mahoney	...	Kid Gleason
James Read	...	Lefty Williams
Michael Rooker	...	Chick Gandil
Charlie Sheen	...	Hap Felsch
David Strathairn	...	Eddie Cicotte
D.B. Sweeney	...	'Shoeless' Joe Jackson
James Desmond	...	Smitty (as Jim Desmond)
John Sayles	...	Ring Lardner
Studs Terkel	...	Hugh Fullerton

Storyline

The great Chicago White Sox team of 1919 is the saddest team to ever win a pennant. The team is bitter at their penny pincher owner, Charles Comiskey, and at their own teammates. Gamblers take advantage of this opportunity to offer some players money to throw the series. (Most of the players didn't get as much as promised.) But Buck Weaver and the great Shoeless Joe Jackson turn back at the last minute and try to play their best. The Sox actually almost come back from a 3-1 deficit. Two years later, the truth breaks out and the Sox are sued on multiple counts. They are found innocent by the jury but baseball commissioner Landis has other plans. The eight players are suspended for life, and Buck Weaver, for the rest of his life, tries to clear his name.

---

Plot Keywords:

baseball | baseball movie | chicago illinois | match fixing | baseball team | 

---

Taglines:

The Scandal That Rocked A Nation

---

Genres:

Drama | History | Sport

---

Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie was made long before CGI could make realistic backgrounds so Bush Stadium in Indianapolis stood in for both Comiskey Park and Crosley Field. Set designers changed the decoration to give the appearance of two different stadiums. Bush stadium was also not built until 1931 and didn't really look much like either Comiskey Park or Crosley field. Nevertheless the design of the field was universally praised by baseball historians who felt they did an excellent job of creating the proper atmosphere for the era.

---

Goofs

Cincinnati is the first team shown batting in Game 1, even though they are the home team. In the previous scene, when Rothstein first arrives to listen to the play-by-play, the announcer reads off the results of Chicago's turn at bat in the top of the first inning.

---

Quotes

[Weaver is getting ready for court]
Buck Weaver: How do I look?
Helen Weaver: You look just fine.
Buck Weaver: I look like a future jailbird.

---

Crazy Credits

During the opening credits of the movie, they are done against a blue cloudy sky up, then to the right and down to the bottom. Despite the ensemble cast, the most well-known leading and character actors at the time were credited first in alphabetical order, then lesser known actors that had roles that were just as large or larger were credited in pairs of two. Example: John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd, and Charlie Sheen were credited first, due to their successes with The Sure Thing, Back to the Future, and Platoon, respectively, but in pairs, Michael Rooker, Kevin Tighe, and Richard Edson also had pivotal roles, but were lesser known. Charlie Sheen was already well-established, but had no more than a few minutes of screen time the entire movie, Christopher Lloyd and Richard Edson were always together playing gamblers, but Lloyd was a much more well-known actor and credited first.

---

Alternate Versions

Five seconds were cut from the British theatrical release in order to obtain a "PG" rating by removing a use of strong language. The film was later released uncut on video and the rating was upgraded to "15", which was subsequently downgraded to "12" for the DVD.

---

Connections

Featured in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.11 (2011)

---

Soundtracks

I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles
Written by Jaan Kenbrovin (as Jann Kenbrovin) and John W. Kellette (as John William Kellette)
Published by Warner Bros. Music, a division of Warner Bros. Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

User Reviews

When the world was corrupt.

I especially enjoyed Studs Terkel and John Sayles as the two sportswriters, Fullerton and Lardner. They're very droll. They act as a kind of Greek chorus, making cynical wisecracks, keeping the audience clued in on what's supposed to be going on. As the White Sox play out yet another crooked game, Sayles said to Terkel, "Nothing but fast balls." "Nice, sloow ones," adds Terkel. It gets better. Terkel writes a column for the Chicago paper accusing gamblers of corrupting the game of baseball and Sayles is reading it aloud. "Writers are tainting the game," or something, says Sayles. "Keep reading," says Terkel. "The game would be better off without the long-nosed, thick-lipped Eastern element preying on our boys in the field." Terkels smiles around his cigar and says, "Makes you proud to be a sportswriter, doesn't it?"

The rest of the movie is pretty good too, although I sometimes get the characters and their motives a little mixed up. The baseball scenes are very well done. I say this, being no big fan of the sport myself. Charlie Sheen (a true aficionado) looks like he's heaving a heavy bat as he clunks out a hit, not a rubber prop. I admired too the way the series games swung back and forth as the players on the take tried to figure out if they were playing for the money or for themselves. It's tough to throw a game because part of one's self always wants to do what one does best -- in this case, play baseball well. The German ethologists call it "Funktionslust." In the end, despite some indecision, they do however lose.

The movie isn't kind to the gamblers or to the owners. Comisky was incredibly cheap and greedy. The script gives this as one of the reasons why the players agreed to throw the game. As Strathairn says when someone offers him a part payment, "I don't care about the money." He's throwing the games to foul up Comisky who has just denied him a promised bonus because Strathairn, playing the pitcher Cicotte, has only played 29 games instead of the 30 they'd agreed upon. Comisky has made him sit on the bench for the last few games so he wouldn't cross the bonus threshold. (Question: Given that Comisky cheated Cicotte of the contracted bonus, was Cicotte morally justified in throwing the games?)

The movie isn't nice to the gamblers either. Not only don't they pay off but they treat the players with contempt. Arnold Rothstein ("A.R.") treats EVERYBODY rudely. He never says hello when he enters a room, never says good-bye when leaving, and never smiles.

I kind of liked this. Sayles may not be a master but his films are always highly individualized. I cannot visualize him directing "Die Hard With A Sardonic Grin."

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 June 1989 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Eight Men Out

Filming Locations:

Bush Stadium - 1501 W. 16th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,129,491, 5 September 1988

Gross USA:

$5,680,515

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,680,515

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1