Best baseball movie of all time

[D-Train35]

What do you think the greatest baseball movie of all time is? Personally, I like "The Sandlot". Some other good ones are: "The Rookie", "Eight Men Out", and "Major League".

[Archie Bunker]

i would have to go with 61.

[scootermojo]

eight men out

of all of the baseball movies (especially in the past 20 years) it is the most dramatic and rather accurate, historically speaking.

major league

the funniest baseball movie by far. the sequels suck, though.

61*

great movie. billy crystal really outdid himself on this one. barry pepper and thomas jane had me convinced they were roger marris and mickey mantle.

field of dreams. not bad.

bull durham. overated but still a very good movie.

the rookie. good mostly because it's a true story.

bang the drum

nobody ever seems to remember this one. it may not be the best but with robert deniro in it, it has some credibility. very sad, though, which may make it better.

the natural

i loved this when i was a kid but when i watch it now it seem rather lame. still like it because i'm lame.

never watched the sandlot. everybody says it's good.

worst baseball movie: the fan

[nomarwho]

The Sandlot is great brings back alot of childhood memories. The mean, but not so mean as it turns out old guy, the big scary dog....and the kid that wasn't good enough to play but we always needed him for rightfield so he got to play anyway great stuff. All very fond memories but The Sandlot is 2 or 3 on the list behind Eight Men Out and Field of Dreams (I love the idea). 61 was good as well so was Bull Durham (women get wooly). They're all great movies though tough choice really.

[D-Train35]

What was the point of Field of Dreams? I saw it many times but it really doesn't have a point. The guy builds a field. Dead players come. He goes to a couple cities. He comes back. I think it was a horrible movie.

As for the Sandlot, this was a great movie. This movie is what all baseball movies should be about. Baseball. Too many other baseball movies hardly even have baseball in them. It is a great movie.

[Captain Cold Nose]

What was the point of Field of Dreams? I saw it many times but it really doesn't have a point. The guy builds a field. Dead players come. He goes to a couple cities. He comes back. I think it was a horrible movie.
.

You really would have hated the book, then. The guy has a perfect relationship with his wife and his perfect daughter. But he sense something is missing in J.D. Salinger's (yes, the reclusive author of Catcher in the Rye) life, and goes to help him, and he also needs to reconcile Joe Jackson with his missed out opportunities. Basically, it's W.P. Kinsella's dream world.


The reason people like the movie so much is because it deals with the mythical and mystical powers of baseball. It holds the sport as sacred, which is something the fans of most other sports don't do, in the U.S., at least. It is about Baseball as America and a way of life. Which is how so many baseball fans feel.

[leecemark]

---I wouldn't go so far as to say "Field of Dreams" was a horrible movie, but I'd say it was the least of Costner's baseball films. "Bull Durham" amd the underrated "For the Love of the Game" were both better.
---"Major League" was hilarious, but as previously mentioned, the sequels were awfull.
---"Bang the Drum Slowly" was pretty good, but really feels like it was made on the cheap. Was it made for TV? The book was much better. If you haven't read Mark Harris "The Southpaw" series, of which Bang the Drum was a part, I highly recommend it.
--"Eight Men Out" is probably the best baseball drama ever. John Cusack as Buck Weaver is great.
--"The Sandlot" is also very good. Really captures what the game meant to me as a kid. Lots of laughs too.

---If I have to pick one, I'll go with "Bull Durham".

[tearforamariner]

Two Words: Mr. Baseball.

This movie is as much about baseball as it is an anthropological study of the Japanese Baseball culture.

[The Real McCoy]

I'm on record for "Eight Men Out" which was John Sayles' adaptation of a great book by Eliot Asinof.

The cast was excellent, even Charlie Sheen, who I've never been a big fan of, acquitted himself well. David Stratharin (Eddie Cicotte) and D B Sweeney (Joe Jackson) were outstanding.

The final scene ("Nah, all those guys are dead") is, in my opinion, the best baseball scene ever filmed.....Joe Jackson, playing in a New Jersey semi-pro game, running out a triple exactly the way he did in "the bigs".

[hanshintigers]

Mr. Baseball is an interesting choice...they really pulled actual stories and anecdotes from Whiting's books into the narrative...but I'd have to say that Bull Durham and the Natural are the best.

[Kroxquo]

Here's a couple of forgotten oldies which haven't been mentioned:

Damn Yankees - (whatever Gwen Verdon wants, she gets . Ray Walston as the Devil is priceless)

Stratton Story - (Jimmy Stewart as tragic, but heroic Sox pitcher)

Pride of the Yankees - (Gary Cooper great as Lou Gehrig)

The Bingo Long Traveling All Stars and Motor Kings (Great look at the Negro Leagues)

and how could no one mention

The Bad News Bears (having both coached and umpired Little League, I can tell you that this film is not entertainmnet, it is a documentary)

[prof93]

61*
Eight Men Out
Mr. Baseball
Bull Durham
The Original Angels in the Outfield
Fear Strikes Out

[DoubleX]

Now I don't think this is the best baseball movie ever, but I think the movie Cobb is fairly good. Tommy Lee Jones is an entertaining and quirky Cobb and I really love the part when the casino nightclub singer brings an elderly Cobb up on stage and asks, "How well do you think you'd hit against today's players?" To which Cobb responds, "I figure against today's pitchers I'd only hit about .275." The singer then says, "That's amazing, considering your lifetime average is almost 100 points higher. Why do you think you'd only hit .275 against today's pitchers?" Then Cobb responds, "Because I'm 72 f***ing years old, that's why, God damnit!" - Classic

[Imapotato]

You really would have hated the book, then. The guy has a perfect relationship with his wife and his perfect daughter. But he sense something is missing in J.D. Salinger's (yes, the reclusive author of Catcher in the Rye) life, and goes to help him, and he also needs to reconcile Joe Jackson with his missed out opportunities. Basically, it's W.P. Kinsella's dream world.


The reason people like the movie so much is because it deals with the mythical and mystical powers of baseball. It holds the sport as sacred, which is something the fans of most other sports don't do, in the U.S., at least. It is about Baseball as America and a way of life. Which is how so many baseball fans feel.

I always thought it was much more simplistic...a torn relationship between father and son...and thats what gets most guys, because really, we all thought are Dads were uncool, rigid, militant, and BORING...then we become Dads ourselves and realize how much he meant to our way of life and its meaning.

and it was all told with no words except "Hey! Dad...you, wanna have a catch?"

Beautiful movie...but not really about Baseball

Pure baseball movie is 8 Men Out...John Cusack was excellent

[VTSoxFan]

You really would have hated the book, then. The guy has a perfect relationship with his wife and his perfect daughter. But he sense something is missing in J.D. Salinger's (yes, the reclusive author of Catcher in the Rye) life, and goes to help him, and he also needs to reconcile Joe Jackson with his missed out opportunities. Basically, it's W.P. Kinsella's dream world.

You forgot the part about the long-lost twin brother, and the part where Ray walked into a post in the Fenway concourse and got a scar on his noggin exactly like the scar his twin brother got in a fight with their father the night the brother ran away from home lo these many years ago... and how at the end the brother came back and they reconciled with each other and their father's memory, and teamed up to save the farm... good grief. Oh, and the old man who was a pitcher lo these many years ago and thought was pretty good, until he somehow metaphysically saw himself pitching on the Field, and ended up with an infinite ERA, and how it broke his heart. All of this is told with forced similies and gobs and gobs of purple prose. (And don't get me started on the part where Ray visits Vermont on his way to get Salinger. Gad!)

Honest to god, I don't know how I finished that book. The movie wrung out 99% of the drek and packaged what was left with soft light and soulful music. I like the movie -- I don't love it, but I enjoyed it. It's about the mystical way fans can connect with the Game, and how it binds generations together, but it is a little bit saccharine. I liked James Earl Jones as the reclusive author, who went along with Ray even though he thought he was a little bit off his rocker.

When I need a laugh, and want to see someone beat the Yanks (but when don't I want to see that? ), I watch "Major League." I love the bit where Taylor chases after his lady-love in the helmet-shaped bullpen car. How romantic! I saw "Major League 2" and thought it had its moments, too -- I like the Japanese center-fielder.

"Damn Yankees" is always a classic -- you gotta love Ray Walston, and the songs are great. Ya gotta have heart....