The Story of a Scandal
Eight Men Out
Cast: John Cusack, David Straithairn, D.B. Sweeney, Charlie Sheen, John Mahoney, Christopher Lloyd, Michael Rooker, Don Harvey, James Read, Perry Lang
Director: John Sayles
Movie Help Web Popcorn Kernels: 
You need nine players to field a baseball team.
But eight is enough to throw a World Series — and in 1919, eight of them did.
Eight Men Out John Sayles' take on the "Black Sox" scandal, is not the best sports movie I've ever seen. As far as baseball films go, it's not as energetic or as entertaining as Bull Durham and A League of Their Own. But writer-director Sayles, with the help of John Cusack, David Strathairn, and the rest of his team, has put together a solid — if somewhat subdued — piece of work.
"Gamblers 8, Baseball 0." - Hugh Fullerton (Studs Terkel)
Here's a hypothetical question: say I'm a baseball player. My team has just won the American League pennant, which means I'm headed to the World Series. I'm in heaven, right?
Not if I play for the Chicago White Sox in 1919. For starters, I probably don't get along with half my teammates. I could deal with that if I was appreciated, but I'm seriously underpaid. Even if there was such a thing as free agency or million-dollar salaries, our cheapskate owner would never permit it. His idea of a playoff bonus is a bottle of champagne. Flat champagne.
This is the situation that kicks off Eight Men Out. The film's opening sequence places us — and two small-time gamblers — at the Chicago White Sox's last game of the AL series. As "Sleepy" Bill Burns ( Lloyd) and Billy Maharg (Richard Edson) study their scorecard, a series of quick cuts introduces the eight players who would be in on the Series fix:
First baseman Chick Gandil (Rooker)
Shortstop Swede Risberg (Harvey)
Third baseman Buck Weaver (Cusack)
Outfielders "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (Sweeney) and Hap Felsch (Sheen)
Righthanded pitcher Eddie Cicotte (Strathairn)
Southpaw Lefty Williams (Read)
And utility infielder Fred McMullin (Lang)
The 1988 film, adapted from the book by Eliot Asinof, takes a straightforward approach to its story:
First base: the hatching of the plot. It's Gandil who initiates things in a discussion with Boston gambler "Sport" Sullivan (Kevin Tighe); shortly thereafter, Burns and Maharg approach him as well.
Second base: the recruiting of participants. During this section, the movie switches back and forth from one part of the action (the players) to the others (the gamblers). We see how greed, dissatisfaction and peer pressure result in Gandil's teammates joining the scheme, while the prospect of big money attracts the likes of New York gambler Arnold Rothstein (Michael Lerner) and one of his go-betweens, Abe Attell (Michael Mantell).
Third base: the execution of the fix. This section contains my favorite part of the movie, the partial reenactment of the Series games. Unfortunately for the players (and, ultimately, for the narrative), the scheme is way too obvious for anyone to miss. Sportswriters Hugh Fullerton (Studs Terkel) and Ring Lardner (Sayles himself) are on to the Black Sox from the first pitch, and it doesn't take long for manager Kid Gleason (Mahoney), owner Charles Comiskey (Clifton James), or the fans to catch on.
Home plate: the fallout from the fix. An angry fan demands justice, sending the Black Sox to court on conspiracy charges; while they would escape conviction in that arena, they couldn't dodge permanent expulsion from new commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis (John Anderson).
Eight Men Out naturally invents dialogue and action, but stays mostly faithful to baseball chronology. This has its pluses (realism) and minuses (predictability).
Calling the balls...
As I was writing this review, I wondered, "Hey, could the Red Sox invite some of these guys to spring training next year?"
OK, so maybe the Eight Men Out team wouldn't do that well against the Yankees. (Darn!) But the actors, at least onscreen, look and play like legitimate major-leaguers. Strathairn, said Sayles in a Boston Globe interview, had actually developed a knuckleball and a curveball by the time shooting started, while Sweeney learned to hit left-handed for his role. And since the film features bits and pieces of several games, they have ample opportunity to display their skills.
A few get the chance to show off their acting chops as well. I have yet to see a bad performance by Cusack, who shines here as the ultra-competitive third baseman. Intensity and intelligence are his hallmarks, whether he's jawing with teammates on the diamond or confiding in kids off the field. Other standouts are Strathairn, as the aging veteran caught in a ethical dilemma, and Sweeney as the slugger who knows nothing but baseball.
Overall, Sayles has done a good job at capturing the look and feel of the period. I still get a smile when I think of the straw boaters that Cusack and some of his teammates sported off the field.
...and strikes
Eight Men Out gives its three big hitters — Cusack, Strathairn, and Sweeney — most of the emotional at-bats. That's good for them, but not so great for their fellow performers, who are mostly consigned to being good guys (the sportswriters) or bad guys (Comiskey, the other conspirators, the gamblers). Though the acting is still better than in most sports movies, it suffers in comparison to the ensemble work in Sayles' later films (like the amazing Lone Star).
In addition, while the film does a good job in portraying individual conflicts, the larger narrative produces little drama or suspense. I don't mean that Sayles should have resorted to MTV-style editing to speed up the pace — nothing could be further from the truth. But he could have used a different, more inventive route to get from first to home, instead of rounding the bases in the usual manner. Of course, he was limited by history and his source material, so perhaps he had no other option.
The final score: 3 1/2 stars
A little emotional oomph and creativity would have nudged Eight Men Out up to four stars. Instead, it falls in the territory between average and quite good, making it a solid double for Sayles and company.
