Buck Weaver and Hap Felsch are young idealistic players on the Chicago White Sox, a pennant-winning team owned by Charles Comiskey - a penny-pinching, hands-on manager who underpays his players and treats them with disdain. And when gamblers and hustlers discover that Comiskey's demoralized players are ripe for a money-making scheme, one by one the team members agree to throw the World Series. But when the White Sox are defeated, a couple of sports writers smell a fix and a national scandal explodes, ripping the cover off America's favorite pastime.
John Cusack
Buck Weaver
Clifton James
Charles Comiskey
Michael Lerner
Arnold Rothstein
Christopher Lloyd
Bill Burns
John Mahoney
Kid Gleason
Charlie Sheen
Hap Felsch
David Strathairn
Eddie Cicotte
D.B. Sweeney
'Shoeless' Joe Jackson
Don Harvey
Swede Risberg
Michael Rooker
Chick Gandil
Perry Lang
Fred McMullin
James Read
Lefty Williams
Jace Alexander
Dickie Kerr
Gordon Clapp
Ray Schalk
Richard Edson
Billy Maharg
Bill Irwin
Eddie Collins
Michael Mantell
Abe Attell
Kevin Tighe
Sport Sullivan
Studs Terkel
Hugh Fullerton
John Anderson
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
James Desmond
Smitty
John Sayles
Ring Lardner
Eliot Asinof
Heydler
Clyde Bassett
Ban Johnson
John D. Craig
Rothstein's Lawyer
Michael Laskin
Austrian
Randle Mell
Ahern
Robert Motz
D.A.
Bill Raymond
Ben Short
Barbara Garrick
Helen Weaver
Wendy Makkena
Kate Jackson
Maggie Renzi
Rose Cicotte
Nancy Travis
Lyra Williams
Brad Garrett
Peewee
Tay Strathairn
Bucky
Jesse Vincent
Scooter
Jack George
Fan
Tom Surber
Fan
Tom Ledcke
Fan
David Carpenter
Fan
Bert Hatch
Fan
Jerry Brent
Writer
Bruce Schumacher
Writer
Robert E. Walsh
Writer
Matthew Harrington
Writer
Richard Lynch
Writer
Gary Williams
Writer
Michael L. Harris
Writer
Ken Berry
Heckler
David Rice
Enemy Fan
Tom Marshall
Browns Umpire
Jack Merrill
Grabiner
Josh Thompson
Winslow
Leigh 'Little Queenie' Harris
Singer
Julie Whitney
Woman in Bar
Dana Roi
Woman in Bar
Philip Murphy
Jimmy
Stephen Mendillo
Monk
J. Dennis Newman
Reds Player
Charles Siebert
Reds Catcher
Jim Martindale
Cincinnati Umpire
Bill Jennings
Chicago Umpire
David Hinman
Announcer
Danton Stone
Hired Killer
Patrick Grant
Irish Tenor
Tim Laughter
Betting Man
Brad Armacost
Attendant
Jim Stark
Reporter
Brad Griffith
Reporter
Steve Salge
Reporter
Dick Cusack
Judge Friend
Eaton Randles
Clerk
Max Chiddester
Nash
Rich Komenich
Jury Foreman
Patrick Brown
New Jersey Fan
John Griesemer
New Jersey Fan
Charles Yankoglu
New Jersey Fan
Michael B. Preston
New Jersey Fan
Director, Writer
John Sayles
Novel
Eliot Asinof
January 14, 2023
10
Out the door, I don't think they treated Buck Weaver fairly in this...not that they made him into a villain like a lot of biopics do, but more that it didn't seem to be the story that I grew up with, being raised in the area where this was legend. Weaver wasn't really as innocent or as guilty as they made him out to be, he was more the catalyst than anything else.
That being said, it's still a movie about a legend. My dad told me the story, my grandfather told me the story, it was party of my childhood and we Cubs fans. So, walking into this, when I was 8, I already new how it was going to end, all the names involved...
...and reviewing it at almost 40, it hasn't changed at all, it's still the legend Chicago baseball fans grew up with, projected on the big screen, to sit back and take in as if you were watching the cautionary tail yourself.
And the thing is, it holds up to it. It holds up to the story of Shoeless Joe that inspired but the book (named after him) and the movie that would become Field of Dreams. It lives up to the stories that Grandpa and Dad told me from different points of view about where the guilt rested. It lives up to the stories of the darkest times during the greatest era in baseball history.
I'm writing this in 2018, the movie is set almost exactly a century ago and people are still telling stories of Joe Jackson, Ty Cobb (unfortunately slurring his name still), Babe Ruth, Buck Weaver, Honus Wagner,Cy Young, Lou Gehrig, and so many others. They became legends that Nolan Ryan could only dream of...and it was because the era was so important in the history of our national past time.
And Eight Men Out stands up to that legend and that mythological era where the gods played baseball.
It's really a must watch for any fan of the sport, and a must watch for any fan of movies in general simply because it lives up to all of that.
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$6,100,000.00
Revenue:
$5,700,000.00