Subby
03-05-2008, 02:05 PM
From his Insider blog..
(http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3277959&searchName=Neyer_Rob&campaign=rsssrch&source=neyer_rob)All-time best baseball movies
posted: Wednesday, March 5, 2008 | Feedback (http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/mailbagESPN?event_id=16001) | Print Entry (http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=3277959&type=blogEntry)
Someone named Marcus offers his Top Ten Baseball Movies of All Time! (http://weblogs.cltv.com/entertainment/tv/metromix/2008/03/marcuss_top_ten_baseball_movies_of_all_time.html)
1. Field of Dreams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_Dreams)
2. Bull Durham (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Durham)
3. Major League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_%28film%29)
4. The Natural (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_%28film%29)
5. A League of Their Own (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_League_of_Their_Own)
6. Pride of the Yankees (http://www.reelclassics.com/Movies/Yankees/yankees.htm)
7. The Sandlot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandlot)
8. 61* (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0250934/)
9. Little Big League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Big_League)
10. The Bad News Bears (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bad_News_Bears)
That's his list, but I recommend RTFA if only for the trivia and video clips. A few comments of my own:
• As usual, I must begin my discussion with an admission: I still haven't seen Major League. Not from beginning to end, though I think I've probably seen almost every minute here and there. I have a hard time believing it's really the third-best baseball movie, though it certainly belongs on the list somewhere if only because it's become a part of the culture.
• Same goes for A League of Their Own, which is not a particularly good movie -- the script suffers from the banal sentimentality that characterizes the worst of screenwriters Lowell Ganz (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0304665/)'s and Babaloo Mandel (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0541632/)'s work -- but will forever survive because of one memorable line (http://www.nocryinginbaseball.com/movies/wavs/locry.wav) in one great scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWoD2sQ9LiU).
• Speaking of sentimentality, that's what sinks Field of Dreams for me, and while that movie's memorable line (http://www.nocryinginbaseball.com/movies/wavs/voice.wav) also means immortality, I find so much of the film unwatchable that I haven't watched it straight through since the first time.
• In Field of Dreams, Ray Liotta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Liotta), playing Shoeless Joe Jackson, bats righty and throws lefty, which is strange considering that Jackson batted lefty and threw righty. One could almost forgive this indiscretion if there was some offsetting resemblance between the two, but of course Jackson was a sharecropper's son from South Carolina and Liotta's an Italian from Newark. If you want to see Shoeless Joe on celluloid, John Sayles' Eight Men Out (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Men_Out) is the "correct" choice and I'm not sure how that one misses Marcus' list.
• I saw The Bad News Bears at the theater in 1976, when I was 10. I didn't see it again until this winter, and I was shocked. I suppose it wasn't made for nothing, because Walter Matthau was a big star in those days and presumably commanded a big salary. But it looks like it was shot on a shoestring budget in about two weeks, and there are some absolutely brutal characters and scenes.
And here's the best part: the Bears do not win the big game at the end. Yes, the movie now looks, as do most products of the 1970s, oddly dated. But after watching it again I'm convinced it goes in the top five all-time. Anyway, here's my list (yes, I run through this exercise every year or two, and please don't expect great consistency):
1. Bull Durham
2. Eight Men Out
3. The Bad News Bears
4. Fever Pitch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fever_Pitch_%282005_film%29)
5. The Natural
6. The Sandlot
7. 61*
8. Pride of the Yankees
9. A League of Their Own
10. Babe Ruth (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101388/)
Really, I've got a top three and the next five are tied for a distant fourth. I haven't included documentaries. But if I did, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (http://www.hankgreenbergfilm.org/) would figure prominently, as would HBO's first two iterations of When It Was a Game (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/movies/moviem09.shtml) and that network's documentary about the Brooklyn Dodgers (http://www.hbo.com/events/brooklyndodgers/) (and by the way, we're still waiting for the first great documentary about the Negro Leagues). I'm sure we'll have plenty to discuss below the fold, as I could write entire essays about every one of these movies ...
(http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3277959&searchName=Neyer_Rob&campaign=rsssrch&source=neyer_rob)All-time best baseball movies
posted: Wednesday, March 5, 2008 | Feedback (http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/mailbagESPN?event_id=16001) | Print Entry (http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=3277959&type=blogEntry)
Someone named Marcus offers his Top Ten Baseball Movies of All Time! (http://weblogs.cltv.com/entertainment/tv/metromix/2008/03/marcuss_top_ten_baseball_movies_of_all_time.html)
1. Field of Dreams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_Dreams)
2. Bull Durham (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Durham)
3. Major League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_%28film%29)
4. The Natural (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_%28film%29)
5. A League of Their Own (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_League_of_Their_Own)
6. Pride of the Yankees (http://www.reelclassics.com/Movies/Yankees/yankees.htm)
7. The Sandlot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandlot)
8. 61* (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0250934/)
9. Little Big League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Big_League)
10. The Bad News Bears (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bad_News_Bears)
That's his list, but I recommend RTFA if only for the trivia and video clips. A few comments of my own:
• As usual, I must begin my discussion with an admission: I still haven't seen Major League. Not from beginning to end, though I think I've probably seen almost every minute here and there. I have a hard time believing it's really the third-best baseball movie, though it certainly belongs on the list somewhere if only because it's become a part of the culture.
• Same goes for A League of Their Own, which is not a particularly good movie -- the script suffers from the banal sentimentality that characterizes the worst of screenwriters Lowell Ganz (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0304665/)'s and Babaloo Mandel (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0541632/)'s work -- but will forever survive because of one memorable line (http://www.nocryinginbaseball.com/movies/wavs/locry.wav) in one great scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWoD2sQ9LiU).
• Speaking of sentimentality, that's what sinks Field of Dreams for me, and while that movie's memorable line (http://www.nocryinginbaseball.com/movies/wavs/voice.wav) also means immortality, I find so much of the film unwatchable that I haven't watched it straight through since the first time.
• In Field of Dreams, Ray Liotta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Liotta), playing Shoeless Joe Jackson, bats righty and throws lefty, which is strange considering that Jackson batted lefty and threw righty. One could almost forgive this indiscretion if there was some offsetting resemblance between the two, but of course Jackson was a sharecropper's son from South Carolina and Liotta's an Italian from Newark. If you want to see Shoeless Joe on celluloid, John Sayles' Eight Men Out (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Men_Out) is the "correct" choice and I'm not sure how that one misses Marcus' list.
• I saw The Bad News Bears at the theater in 1976, when I was 10. I didn't see it again until this winter, and I was shocked. I suppose it wasn't made for nothing, because Walter Matthau was a big star in those days and presumably commanded a big salary. But it looks like it was shot on a shoestring budget in about two weeks, and there are some absolutely brutal characters and scenes.
And here's the best part: the Bears do not win the big game at the end. Yes, the movie now looks, as do most products of the 1970s, oddly dated. But after watching it again I'm convinced it goes in the top five all-time. Anyway, here's my list (yes, I run through this exercise every year or two, and please don't expect great consistency):
1. Bull Durham
2. Eight Men Out
3. The Bad News Bears
4. Fever Pitch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fever_Pitch_%282005_film%29)
5. The Natural
6. The Sandlot
7. 61*
8. Pride of the Yankees
9. A League of Their Own
10. Babe Ruth (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101388/)
Really, I've got a top three and the next five are tied for a distant fourth. I haven't included documentaries. But if I did, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (http://www.hankgreenbergfilm.org/) would figure prominently, as would HBO's first two iterations of When It Was a Game (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/movies/moviem09.shtml) and that network's documentary about the Brooklyn Dodgers (http://www.hbo.com/events/brooklyndodgers/) (and by the way, we're still waiting for the first great documentary about the Negro Leagues). I'm sure we'll have plenty to discuss below the fold, as I could write entire essays about every one of these movies ...