Eight Men Out (DVD)

The myth of the corrupt Chicago Black Sox was probably the first great sporting scandal of the 20th century ( although most of us on this side didn’t realise it till much, much later )

This is the tale of Chicago’s 1919 baseball scandal when the team ( including D B Sweeney, David Straithairn, Charlie Sheen and John Cusack ) secretly agreed to throw their games in exchange for cash bribes after being cheated out of the ...
...Stateside, where baseball is just about the national religion, this is tantamount to betraying the American Dream and thus worse than mass murder. Since most people outside of America don’t know the rules, history or even casually follow the game, this has the effect of turning it into a straightforward thriller. One of the most famous sayings will also go above the heads of most people “Say it aint so, Joe” asks a small boy of ... more

The myth of the corrupt Chicago Black Sox was probably the first great sporting scandal of the 20th century ( although most of us on this side didn’t realise it till much, much later )

This is the tale of Chicago’s 1919 baseball scandal when the team ( including D B Sweeney, David Straithairn, Charlie Sheen and John Cusack ) secretly agreed to throw their games in exchange for cash bribes after being cheated out of the bonuses due by the club owner.

Stateside, where baseball is just about the national religion, this is tantamount to betraying the American Dream and thus worse than mass murder. Since most people outside of America don’t know the rules, history or even casually follow the game, this has the effect of turning it into a straightforward thriller. One of the most famous sayings will also go above the heads of most people “Say it aint so, Joe” asks a small boy of Shoeless Joe Jackson when wanting to find out if his hero is still pure and untainted.

The show trial that follows shows the team what they really are, small pawns in the game of chess between the kings of club owners, the rooks of the press, the knights of the bookmakers et all.

Just on this level though, there isn’t really enough tension to sustain the movie over the running time for non baseball devotees. This is certainly a pity since they’d miss a well-crafted effort that studies the complicity and then the growing feeling of betrayal between various team members as the storm grows and friendships shatter. And lets face it, one of the few, very few good sports films.

Everything in this film, feels like right, from the smoky offices bars, dingy hotel rooms down to the small details of how the dressing room looks, the lobby of the hotels, the brown shaded lighting in many scenes and so on. The director – John Sayles – gets winning performances from his cast here that draw you past the sporting frills and to the more important questions— do we all have a cash price? And who the hell do you trust?
 

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