Eight Men Out
Encyclopedia
Eight Men Out is an American dramatic sports film, released in 1988
and based on Eliot Asinof
1963 book 8 Men Out. It was written and directed by John Sayles
.
The film is a dramatization of Major League Baseball
's Black Sox scandal
, in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox
conspired with gamblers to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series
. Much of the movie was filmed at the old Bush Stadium
in Indianapolis
, Indiana
.
are considered the greatest team in baseball and, in fact, one of the greatest ever assembled to that point. However, the team's owner, Charles Comiskey
, is a skinflint with little inclination to reward his players for a spectacular season.
When a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein
gets wind of the players' discontent, it offers a select group of Sox — including star pitcher Eddie Cicotte
— more money to play badly than they would have earned by winning the World Series
against the Cincinnati Reds
.
A number of players, like Chick Gandil
, Swede Risberg
, and Lefty Williams
, gladly go along with the scheme. The team's greatest star, Shoeless Joe Jackson
, is depicted as being not very bright and not entirely sure what is going on. Buck Weaver
, meanwhile, is included with the seven others but insists that he wants nothing to do with the fix.
When the best-of-nine series begins, Cicotte deliberately pitches poorly to lose the first game. Williams does likewise in Game 2, while Gandil and Hap Felsch make glaring mistakes on the field. Several of the players become upset, however, when the various gamblers involved fail to pay their promised money up front.
Chicago journalists Ring Lardner
and Hugh Fullerton
grow increasingly suspicious. Meanwhile, the team's manager, Kid Gleason
, continues to hear rumors of a fix, but he remains confident that his boys will come through in the end.
A third pitcher not in on the scam, Dickey Kerr, wins Game 3 for the Sox, making both gamblers and teammates uncomfortable. Other teammates such as Ray Schalk
continue to play hard, while Weaver and Jackson show no visible signs of taking a dive.
Cicotte, who won 29 games during the season, loses again in Game 4. With the championship now in jeopardy, Gleason intends to bench him from his next start, but Cicotte begs for another chance. The manager reluctantly agrees and is rewarded with a victory in Game 7. Unpaid by the gamblers, Williams also intends to do his best, but when his wife's life is threatened, he purposely pitches badly to lose the final game.
Cincinnati wins the World Series (5 games to 3) to the shock of Sox fans. Even worse, sportswriter Fullerton exposes the strong possibility that this series was not on the level. His findings cause Comiskey and the other owners to appoint a new commissioner of baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis
, and give him complete authority over the sport.
Eight players are indicted and brought to trial. Cicotte, Williams, and Jackson even sign confessions. But in court, while Weaver maintains his innocence, the confessions are mysteriously found to be stolen, and the popular Chicago players are found not guilty.
While they celebrate, however, Judge Landis bans all eight from professional baseball for life, citing their failure to reveal being approached by gambling interests in the first place.
Weaver is among those exiled from the game. The final scene shows him in the bleachers of a New Jersey minor league ballpark, watching the great Joe Jackson play under an assumed name.
third baseman Ron Santo
served as the personal coach for John Cusack
, who played Buck Weaver
. Santo taught Cusack the basic footwork and moves of the position. In addition, former Chicago White Sox outfielder Ken Berry
served as a baseball coach for the cast.
In preparing for the role of Shoeless Joe Jackson, D. B. Sweeney
, a former Tulane University
outfielder, spent a season training with the Class-A Kenosha Twins
of the Midwest League
. A natural right-handed hitter, Sweeney learned to bat left in the six months prior to filming.
This film contains one of the hardest plays for live-action baseball broadcasters to execute. Shoeless Joe Jackson
, played by Sweeney, drove a triple
into the right-field corner while the camera operator was able to keep the batter-runner and the ball in the camera frame for the duration of play. The camera was positioned on the third-base side of home plate.
Several people involved in this film would go on to be involved with Ken Burns
' 1994 film miniseries Baseball. Cusack, Lloyd, and Sweeney did several voice-overs, reading recorded reminiscences of various personalities connected with the game. Sayles and Terkel were interviewed on the subject of the 1919 World Series. Sayles also contributed to the section on Roberto Clemente
, and Terkel, a historian and a former labor leader, spoke about the movement toward labor freedom in baseball. Terkel also "reprised his role" by reading Hugh Fullerton's columns during the section on the Black Sox.
that he hired them not because they were rising stars, but because of their ball-playing talent.
Sweeney remarked on the chilly Indiana temperatures in an interview with Elle magazine. "It got down to 30, 40 degrees, but John [Sayles] would stand there in running shorts, tank tops, sneakers -- sometimes without socks -- and never look cold." The young actor said Sayles appeared to be focused on an "agenda, and that's all he cared about. Looking at him we thought, 'Well, if he's not cold, then we certainly shouldn't be.'"
Reports from the set location at Bush Stadium indicated that cast members were letting off steam between scenes. "Actors kidded around, rubbing dirt on each other", the Tribune reported. "... Actors trade jokes, smokes and candy" in the dugout. "'Some of them chewed tobacco at first, but,' noted Bill Irwin, 'Even the guys who were really into it started to chew apricots after a while.'" Sheen made his reasons for taking the role clear. "I'm not in this for cash or my career or my performance", Sheen told the Tribune. "I wanted to take part in this film because I love baseball."
The actors' baseball coach Berry told the paper that Sheen's baseball skills were exceptional. Berry said Sheen made a diving back-handed catch in the movie that rivaled the famous catch by Willie Mays
in the 1954 World Series
.
When cloud cover would suddenly change the light during the shooting of a particular baseball scene, Sayles showed "inspirational decisiveness", according to Elle, by changing the scripted game they would be shooting — switching from Game Two of the series to Game Four, for example. "The second assistant director knew nothing about baseball", Sayles told Elle, "and she had to keep track of who was on base. Suddenly we'd change from Game Two to Game Four, and she'd have to shuffle through her papers to learn who was on second, then track the right guys down all over the ballpark."
Right-handed Sweeney told Elle that producers considered using an old Hollywood trick to create the illusion that he was hitting lefty. "We could have done it from the right side, then run to third and switched the negative, like they did in The Pride of the Yankees
, but we didn't really have enough money for that", Sweeney said.
There was a visit to the set by the son of one of the movie's characters. Ring Lardner, Jr., Oscar-winning screenwriter of such films as Woman of the Year
and M*A*S*H, came to Bush Stadium to see what the buzz was all about. Lardner's article in American Film magazine reported that Sayles' script depicted much of the story accurately, based on what he knew from his father. But the audience, Lardner wrote, "won't have the satisfaction of knowing exactly why everything worked out the way it did."
Lardner also seemed to get a kick out of the production crew's daily headache of trying to make "a few hundred extras look like a World Series crowd of thousands."
Tactics to entice Indianapolis residents to come to the stadium to act as film extras were "a flop", Lardner wrote. "The producers offer free entertainment, Bingo with cash prizes, and as much of a stipend ($20 a day) as the budget permits..."
When the film was first released, the film industry staff at Variety
magazine wrote
Film critic Roger Ebert
was underwhelmed, writing,
Ebert's television colleague Gene Siskel
said "Eight Men Out is fascinating if you are a baseball nut ... the portrayal of the recruiting of the ball players and the tight fisted rule of Comisky is fascinating ... thumbs up."
Critic Janet Maslin
spoke well of the actors, writing,
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
reported that 86% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 36 reviews."
1988 in film
-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...
and based on Eliot Asinof
Eliot Asinof
Eliot Asinof was an American writer of fiction and nonfiction best known for his writing about baseball. His most famous book was Eight Men Out, a nonfiction reconstruction of the 1919 Black Sox scandal.-Biography:...
1963 book 8 Men Out. It was written and directed by John Sayles
John Sayles
John Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.-Early life:Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary , a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator. He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist"...
.
The film is a dramatization of Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
's Black Sox scandal
Black Sox Scandal
The Black Sox Scandal took place around and during the play of the American baseball 1919 World Series. Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for life from baseball for intentionally losing games, which allowed the Cincinnati Reds to win the World Series...
, in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox
1919 Chicago White Sox season
The Chicago White Sox season was their 19th season in the American League. They won 88 games to advance to the World Series but lost to the Cincinnati Reds. More significantly, some of the players were found to have taken money from gamblers in return for throwing the series...
conspired with gamblers to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series
1919 World Series
The 1919 World Series matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. Although most World Series have been of the best-of-seven format, the 1919 World Series was a best-of-nine series...
. Much of the movie was filmed at the old Bush Stadium
Bush Stadium
Owen J. "Donie" Bush Stadium is the name of a stadium formerly used by minor league baseball team Indianapolis Indians in Indianapolis, Indiana. Its street address is 1501 West 16th Street...
in Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
.
Plot
The 1919 Chicago White Sox1919 Chicago White Sox season
The Chicago White Sox season was their 19th season in the American League. They won 88 games to advance to the World Series but lost to the Cincinnati Reds. More significantly, some of the players were found to have taken money from gamblers in return for throwing the series...
are considered the greatest team in baseball and, in fact, one of the greatest ever assembled to that point. However, the team's owner, Charles Comiskey
Charles Comiskey
Charles Albert "The Old Roman" Comiskey was a Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. He was a key person in the formation of the American League and later owned the Chicago White Sox...
, is a skinflint with little inclination to reward his players for a spectacular season.
When a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein
Arnold Rothstein
Arnold Rothstein , nicknamed "The Brain", was a New York businessman and gambler who became a famous kingpin of the Jewish mafia. Rothstein was also widely reputed to have been behind baseball's Black Sox Scandal, in which the 1919 World Series was fixed...
gets wind of the players' discontent, it offers a select group of Sox — including star pitcher Eddie Cicotte
Eddie Cicotte
Edward Victor Cicotte , nicknamed "Knuckles", was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball best known for his time with the Chicago White Sox...
— more money to play badly than they would have earned by winning the World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
against the Cincinnati Reds
1919 Cincinnati Reds season
The Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The Reds won the National League pennant, then went on to win the 1919 World Series...
.
A number of players, like Chick Gandil
Chick Gandil
Charles Arnold "Chick" Gandil was a professional baseball player. He played for the Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox of the American League. He is best known as the ringleader of the players involved in the 1919 Black Sox scandal...
, Swede Risberg
Swede Risberg
Charles August "Swede" Risberg was an Major League Baseball shortstop. He played for the Chicago White Sox from 1917 to 1920. He is best known for his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.-Background:...
, and Lefty Williams
Lefty Williams
Claude Preston "Lefty" Williams was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball. He is probably best known for his involvement in the 1919 World Series fix, known as the Black Sox scandal.-Career:...
, gladly go along with the scheme. The team's greatest star, Shoeless Joe Jackson
Shoeless Joe Jackson
Joseph Jefferson Jackson , nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American baseball player who played Major League Baseball in the early part of the 20th century...
, is depicted as being not very bright and not entirely sure what is going on. Buck Weaver
Buck Weaver
George Daniel "Buck" Weaver was an American shortstop and third baseman in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Chicago White Sox...
, meanwhile, is included with the seven others but insists that he wants nothing to do with the fix.
When the best-of-nine series begins, Cicotte deliberately pitches poorly to lose the first game. Williams does likewise in Game 2, while Gandil and Hap Felsch make glaring mistakes on the field. Several of the players become upset, however, when the various gamblers involved fail to pay their promised money up front.
Chicago journalists Ring Lardner
Ring Lardner
Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.-Personal life:...
and Hugh Fullerton
Hugh Fullerton
thumb|Hugh Fullerton III was an influential American sportswriter of the first half of the 20th century. He was one of the founders of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He is best remembered for his role in uncovering the 1919 "Black Sox" Scandal...
grow increasingly suspicious. Meanwhile, the team's manager, Kid Gleason
Kid Gleason
William J. "Kid" Gleason was an American professional athlete and Major League Baseball player and manager. Gleason is best known as the manager of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, the team made infamous by the Black Sox scandal, in which Gleason's players conspired to intentionally lose the World...
, continues to hear rumors of a fix, but he remains confident that his boys will come through in the end.
A third pitcher not in on the scam, Dickey Kerr, wins Game 3 for the Sox, making both gamblers and teammates uncomfortable. Other teammates such as Ray Schalk
Ray Schalk
Raymond William Schalk was a professional baseball player, coach, manager and scout. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox for the majority of his career. Known for his fine handling of pitchers and outstanding defensive ability, Schalk was considered the...
continue to play hard, while Weaver and Jackson show no visible signs of taking a dive.
Cicotte, who won 29 games during the season, loses again in Game 4. With the championship now in jeopardy, Gleason intends to bench him from his next start, but Cicotte begs for another chance. The manager reluctantly agrees and is rewarded with a victory in Game 7. Unpaid by the gamblers, Williams also intends to do his best, but when his wife's life is threatened, he purposely pitches badly to lose the final game.
Cincinnati wins the World Series (5 games to 3) to the shock of Sox fans. Even worse, sportswriter Fullerton exposes the strong possibility that this series was not on the level. His findings cause Comiskey and the other owners to appoint a new commissioner of baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death...
, and give him complete authority over the sport.
Eight players are indicted and brought to trial. Cicotte, Williams, and Jackson even sign confessions. But in court, while Weaver maintains his innocence, the confessions are mysteriously found to be stolen, and the popular Chicago players are found not guilty.
While they celebrate, however, Judge Landis bans all eight from professional baseball for life, citing their failure to reveal being approached by gambling interests in the first place.
Weaver is among those exiled from the game. The final scene shows him in the bleachers of a New Jersey minor league ballpark, watching the great Joe Jackson play under an assumed name.
Cast
- Jace AlexanderJace AlexanderJace Alexander is an American television director and former actor.-Biography:Alexander was born Jason Alexander in New York City, the only son of actress Jane Alexander and her first husband Robert, founder and former director of The Living Stage...
as Dickey Kerr - John AndersonJohn Anderson (actor)-Biography:Born in Clayton, John Anderson grew up in Quincy and Adams County, Illinois.Prior to a prolific acting career, Anderson served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II where he met artist Orazio Fumagalli who became one of his best lifelong friends.He was known for several...
as Kenesaw Mountain LandisKenesaw Mountain LandisKenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death... - Gordon ClappGordon ClappGordon Clapp is an American actor, best known for portraying the role of Det. Greg Medavoy for all 12 seasons on the television series NYPD Blue, winning an Emmy Award in 1998.-Early and personal life:...
as Ray SchalkRay SchalkRaymond William Schalk was a professional baseball player, coach, manager and scout. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox for the majority of his career. Known for his fine handling of pitchers and outstanding defensive ability, Schalk was considered the... - John CusackJohn CusackJohn Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...
as Buck WeaverBuck WeaverGeorge Daniel "Buck" Weaver was an American shortstop and third baseman in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Chicago White Sox... - Richard EdsonRichard EdsonRichard Edson is an American actor and musician.-Biography:Edson was born in New Rochelle, New York. He has one brother, Steven, who resides in the Boston area, and two sisters: Andrea, who resides in Newton, Massachusetts and Jennifer, who resides in New York City. His father Arnold was one of...
as Billy MahargBilly MahargWilliam Joseph Maharg, also known as William Joseph Graham has three distinct historical connections with Major League Baseball -- first, as a replacement player in the 1912 Detroit Tigers' players strike, second, for a one-game stint with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1916, and third, for his role... - Don HarveyDon Patrick HarveyDonald Patrick Harvey II is an American actor and voice actor, known as Don Harvey.He was born and raised in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, the sixth of eight children. He started acting in high school. He did several shows before graduating and moving on to the University of Michigan where he studied...
as Swede RisbergSwede RisbergCharles August "Swede" Risberg was an Major League Baseball shortstop. He played for the Chicago White Sox from 1917 to 1920. He is best known for his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.-Background:... - Bill IrwinBill IrwinWilliam Mills "Bill" Irwin is an American actor and clown noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. He is known for his vaudeville-style stage acts, but has made a number of appearances on film and television and won a Tony Award for a dramatic role on...
as Eddie CollinsEddie CollinsEdward Trowbridge Collins, Sr. , nicknamed "Cocky", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman, manager and executive... - Clifton JamesClifton JamesGeorge Clifton James is an American actor. He is probably best known for his role as the bumbling Sheriff J.W. Pepper alongside Roger Moore in the James Bond films Live and Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun and his role alongside Sean Connery in The Untouchables .-Personal life:James was...
as Charles ComiskeyCharles ComiskeyCharles Albert "The Old Roman" Comiskey was a Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. He was a key person in the formation of the American League and later owned the Chicago White Sox... - Perry LangPerry LangPerry Lang is an American director, writer and actor.He has directed episodes of television series such as Arli$$, ER, Millennium, Dawson's Creek, NYPD Blue, Nash Bridges, Fantasy Island, Weeds, Gilmore Girls, Army Wives, The Twilight Zone, Alias, Las Vegas, Jack & Bobby and...
as Fred McMullinFred McMullinFrederick Drury McMullin was an American Major League Baseball third baseman. He is best known for his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.-Career:... - Michael LernerMichael Lerner (actor)-Life and career:Lerner was born in Brooklyn, New York of Romanian Jewish descent, the son of Blanche and George Lerner, who was a fisherman and antiques dealer. He was raised in Bensonhurst and Red Hook. His brother, Ken Lerner, is also an actor...
as Arnold RothsteinArnold RothsteinArnold Rothstein , nicknamed "The Brain", was a New York businessman and gambler who became a famous kingpin of the Jewish mafia. Rothstein was also widely reputed to have been behind baseball's Black Sox Scandal, in which the 1919 World Series was fixed... - Christopher LloydChristopher LloydChristopher Allen Lloyd is an American actor. He is best known for playing Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, and Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He played Reverend Jim Ignatowski in the television series Taxi and more...
as Bill Burns - John MahoneyJohn MahoneyJohn Mahoney is a British born American actor, known for playing Martin "Marty" Crane, the retired police officer, father of Kelsey Grammer's Dr...
as Kid GleasonKid GleasonWilliam J. "Kid" Gleason was an American professional athlete and Major League Baseball player and manager. Gleason is best known as the manager of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, the team made infamous by the Black Sox scandal, in which Gleason's players conspired to intentionally lose the World... - Michael MantellMichael MantellMichael Mantell is an American actor. He has had many small parts in American movies and television shows, including Eight Men Out , Bart Got a Room, Ocean's Thirteen, Thank You for Smoking, Angel, How I Met Your Mother, Love and Marriage, and The West Wing...
as Abe AttellAbe AttellAbraham Washington "Abe" Attell , known in the boxing world as Abe "The Little Hebrew" Attell, was a boxer who became known for his record-setting six-year reign as World Featherweight Champion...
- James ReadJames ReadJames Christopher Read is an American actor, best known for his role of George Hazard in the North and South television miniseries.-Early life:...
as Lefty WilliamsLefty WilliamsClaude Preston "Lefty" Williams was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball. He is probably best known for his involvement in the 1919 World Series fix, known as the Black Sox scandal.-Career:... - Michael RookerMichael RookerMichael Rooker is an American actor.-Early life:Rooker, who has eight brothers and sisters, was born in Jasper, Alabama and studied at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, where he moved with his mother and siblings at the age of thirteen, after his parents divorced.-Movie career:He made his...
as Chick GandilChick GandilCharles Arnold "Chick" Gandil was a professional baseball player. He played for the Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox of the American League. He is best known as the ringleader of the players involved in the 1919 Black Sox scandal... - John SaylesJohn SaylesJohn Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.-Early life:Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary , a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator. He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist"...
as Ring LardnerRing LardnerRinggold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.-Personal life:... - Charlie SheenCharlie SheenCarlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....
as Happy FelschHappy FelschOscar Emil "Happy" Felsch was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Chicago White Sox from 1915 to 1920. He is probably best known for his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.... - Danton StoneDanton StoneDanton Stone is an American veteran stage, film and television actor.-Stage plays:*Fifth of July *Angels Fall *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest...
as Hired Killer - David StrathairnDavid StrathairnDavid Russell Strathairn is an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for portraying journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck...
as Eddie CicotteEddie CicotteEdward Victor Cicotte , nicknamed "Knuckles", was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball best known for his time with the Chicago White Sox... - D. B. SweeneyD. B. SweeneyDaniel Bernard "D. B." Sweeney is an American actor.-Early life:Sweeney was born on Long Island, New York and raised in Shoreham by an educator father and a municipal government employee mother. He attended Shoreham-Wading River High School and both Tulane and New York University...
as Shoeless Joe JacksonShoeless Joe JacksonJoseph Jefferson Jackson , nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American baseball player who played Major League Baseball in the early part of the 20th century... - Studs TerkelStuds TerkelLouis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...
as Hugh FullertonHugh Fullertonthumb|Hugh Fullerton III was an influential American sportswriter of the first half of the 20th century. He was one of the founders of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He is best remembered for his role in uncovering the 1919 "Black Sox" Scandal... - Kevin TigheKevin TigheKevin Tighe is an American character actor primarily known for his roles on television. Tighe is best known for his role as Roy DeSoto, a senior paramedic, on the NBC series Emergency! . He and Randolph Mantooth, his partner in the series, have remained close friends...
as Sport Sullivan - Nancy TravisNancy TravisNancy Ann Travis is an American actress. She is known for her roles in films Three Men and a Baby and its sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady , Married to the Mob , Air America , Internal Affairs , So I Married an Axe Murderer , Greedy , and Fluke...
as Williams' Wife - Paul WaltersPaul WaltersPaul Walters was a BBC radio and TV producer, most noted for his work and appearances on Sir Terry Wogan's BBC Radio 2 breakfast show Wake Up to Wogan, where he was known to millions as "Dr Wally Poultry"...
as Roy Mitchell - James Desmond as Smitty
- Andy Dominianni as Scoreboard Kid
Background
Former Chicago CubsChicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
third baseman Ron Santo
Ron Santo
Ronald Edward Santo was an American professional baseball player and long-time radio sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball from 1960 to 1974, most notably as the third baseman for the Chicago Cubs. A nine-time All-Star, he was a powerful hitter who was also a good defensive...
served as the personal coach for John Cusack
John Cusack
John Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...
, who played Buck Weaver
Buck Weaver
George Daniel "Buck" Weaver was an American shortstop and third baseman in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Chicago White Sox...
. Santo taught Cusack the basic footwork and moves of the position. In addition, former Chicago White Sox outfielder Ken Berry
Ken Berry (baseball)
Allen Kent Berry is a former Major League Baseball center fielder. He was signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent before the 1961 season. He played for the White Sox from 1962 until he was traded in 1970 to the California Angels. He also played for the Milwaukee Brewers and...
served as a baseball coach for the cast.
In preparing for the role of Shoeless Joe Jackson, D. B. Sweeney
D. B. Sweeney
Daniel Bernard "D. B." Sweeney is an American actor.-Early life:Sweeney was born on Long Island, New York and raised in Shoreham by an educator father and a municipal government employee mother. He attended Shoreham-Wading River High School and both Tulane and New York University...
, a former Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
outfielder, spent a season training with the Class-A Kenosha Twins
Kenosha Twins
The Kenosha Twins began play in the Midwest League in 1984 when the club relocated from Wisconsin Rapids. In 1992, the team was sold, and the following year, they moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana where they became known as the Fort Wayne Wizards. They played their home games at Simmons Field, located...
of the Midwest League
Midwest League
The Midwest League is a Class-A minor league baseball league which operates in the Midwestern United States.-History:Six teams – the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Marion Indians, the Mattoon Indians or East Frankfort White Sox, the Mount Vernon Braves, and the West Frankfort...
. A natural right-handed hitter, Sweeney learned to bat left in the six months prior to filming.
This film contains one of the hardest plays for live-action baseball broadcasters to execute. Shoeless Joe Jackson
Shoeless Joe Jackson
Joseph Jefferson Jackson , nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American baseball player who played Major League Baseball in the early part of the 20th century...
, played by Sweeney, drove a triple
Triple (baseball)
In baseball, a triple is the act of a batter safely reaching third base after hitting the ball, with neither the benefit of a fielder's misplay nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
into the right-field corner while the camera operator was able to keep the batter-runner and the ball in the camera frame for the duration of play. The camera was positioned on the third-base side of home plate.
Several people involved in this film would go on to be involved with Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
' 1994 film miniseries Baseball. Cusack, Lloyd, and Sweeney did several voice-overs, reading recorded reminiscences of various personalities connected with the game. Sayles and Terkel were interviewed on the subject of the 1919 World Series. Sayles also contributed to the section on Roberto Clemente
Roberto Clemente
Roberto Clemente Walker was a Puerto Rican Major League Baseball right fielder. He was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, the youngest of seven children. Clemente played his entire 18-year baseball career with the Pittsburgh Pirates . He was awarded the National League's Most Valuable Player Award in...
, and Terkel, a historian and a former labor leader, spoke about the movement toward labor freedom in baseball. Terkel also "reprised his role" by reading Hugh Fullerton's columns during the section on the Black Sox.
Production
During the late summer and early fall of 1987, news media in Indianapolis were buzzing with sightings of the film's actors including Sheen and Cusack. Sayles told the Chicago TribuneChicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
that he hired them not because they were rising stars, but because of their ball-playing talent.
Sweeney remarked on the chilly Indiana temperatures in an interview with Elle magazine. "It got down to 30, 40 degrees, but John [Sayles] would stand there in running shorts, tank tops, sneakers -- sometimes without socks -- and never look cold." The young actor said Sayles appeared to be focused on an "agenda, and that's all he cared about. Looking at him we thought, 'Well, if he's not cold, then we certainly shouldn't be.'"
Reports from the set location at Bush Stadium indicated that cast members were letting off steam between scenes. "Actors kidded around, rubbing dirt on each other", the Tribune reported. "... Actors trade jokes, smokes and candy" in the dugout. "'Some of them chewed tobacco at first, but,' noted Bill Irwin, 'Even the guys who were really into it started to chew apricots after a while.'" Sheen made his reasons for taking the role clear. "I'm not in this for cash or my career or my performance", Sheen told the Tribune. "I wanted to take part in this film because I love baseball."
The actors' baseball coach Berry told the paper that Sheen's baseball skills were exceptional. Berry said Sheen made a diving back-handed catch in the movie that rivaled the famous catch by Willie Mays
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...
in the 1954 World Series
1954 World Series
The 1954 World Series matched the National League champion New York Giants against the American League champion Cleveland Indians. The Giants swept the Series in four games to win their first championship since , defeating the heavily favored Indians, who had won an AL-record 111 games in the...
.
When cloud cover would suddenly change the light during the shooting of a particular baseball scene, Sayles showed "inspirational decisiveness", according to Elle, by changing the scripted game they would be shooting — switching from Game Two of the series to Game Four, for example. "The second assistant director knew nothing about baseball", Sayles told Elle, "and she had to keep track of who was on base. Suddenly we'd change from Game Two to Game Four, and she'd have to shuffle through her papers to learn who was on second, then track the right guys down all over the ballpark."
Right-handed Sweeney told Elle that producers considered using an old Hollywood trick to create the illusion that he was hitting lefty. "We could have done it from the right side, then run to third and switched the negative, like they did in The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees is a 1942 American film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. The film is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who died only one year before the film's release, at age 37, from amyotrophic lateral...
, but we didn't really have enough money for that", Sweeney said.
There was a visit to the set by the son of one of the movie's characters. Ring Lardner, Jr., Oscar-winning screenwriter of such films as Woman of the Year
Woman of the Year
Woman of the Year is a romantic comedy film. The movie is about an emancipated woman, chosen "Woman of the Year", and her colleague-turned-husband and their efforts to negotiate a path to marital bliss....
and M*A*S*H, came to Bush Stadium to see what the buzz was all about. Lardner's article in American Film magazine reported that Sayles' script depicted much of the story accurately, based on what he knew from his father. But the audience, Lardner wrote, "won't have the satisfaction of knowing exactly why everything worked out the way it did."
Lardner also seemed to get a kick out of the production crew's daily headache of trying to make "a few hundred extras look like a World Series crowd of thousands."
Tactics to entice Indianapolis residents to come to the stadium to act as film extras were "a flop", Lardner wrote. "The producers offer free entertainment, Bingo with cash prizes, and as much of a stipend ($20 a day) as the budget permits..."
Critical reception
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine wrote
"Perhaps the saddest chapter in the annals of professional American sports is recounted in absorbing fashion in Eight Men Out...The most compelling figures here are pitcher Eddie Cicotte (David Strathairn), a man nearing the end of his career who feels the twin needs to ensure a financial future for his family and take revenge on his boss, and Buck Weaver (John Cusack), an innocent enthusiast who took no cash for the fix but, like the others, was forever banned from baseball."
Film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
was underwhelmed, writing,
"Eight Men Out is an oddly unfocused movie made of earth tones, sidelong glances and el[l]iptic conversations. It tells the story of how the stars of the 1919 Chicago White Sox team took payoffs from gamblers to throw the World Series, but if you are not already familiar with that story you're unlikely to understand it after seeing this film."
Ebert's television colleague Gene Siskel
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal "Gene" Siskel was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted the popular review show Siskel & Ebert At the Movies from 1975 until his death....
said "Eight Men Out is fascinating if you are a baseball nut ... the portrayal of the recruiting of the ball players and the tight fisted rule of Comisky is fascinating ... thumbs up."
Critic Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
spoke well of the actors, writing,
"Notable in the large and excellent cast of Eight Men Out are D. B. Sweeney, who gives Shoeless Joe Jackson the slow, voluptuous Southern naivete of the young Elvis; Michael Lerner, who plays the formidable gangster Arnold Rothstein with the quietest aplomb; Gordon Clapp as the team's firecracker of a catcher; John Mahoney as the worried manager who senses much more about his players' plans than he would like to, and Michael Rooker as the quintessential bad apple. Charlie Sheen is also good as the team's most suggestible player, the good-natured fellow who isn't sure whether it's worse to be corrupt or be a fool. The story's delightfully colorful villains are played by Christopher Lloyd and Richard Edson (as the halfway-comic duo who make the first assault on the players), Michael MantellMichael MantellMichael Mantell is an American actor. He has had many small parts in American movies and television shows, including Eight Men Out , Bart Got a Room, Ocean's Thirteen, Thank You for Smoking, Angel, How I Met Your Mother, Love and Marriage, and The West Wing...
as the chief gangster's extremely undependable right-hand man, and Kevin Tighe as the Bostonian smoothie who coolly declares: 'You know what you feed a dray horse in the morning if you want a day's work out of him? Just enough so he knows he's hungry.' For Mr. Sayles, whose idealism has never been more affecting or apparent than it is in this story of boyish enthusiam gone bad in an all too grown-up world, Eight Men Out represents a home run."
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 86% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 36 reviews."
External links
- Eight Men Out original trailer at Dailymotion