Cheap Eight Men Out (DVD) (John Cusack) (John Sayles) Price

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Customer Reviews of Eight Men Out

Here's what I loved about the film. The portrayal of Charlie Comisky, the White Sox owner is outstanding. I found myself quickly siding with the players from the outset and bristling at his obviously unethical and cheap approach. The time period depicted has a great "feel" to it. The baseball scenes are excellent and have a realistic feel as well. John Cusak and DB Sweeney are excellent as Buck Weaver and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.

The portrayal of the newly appointed commisioner Kennisaw Mountain Landis is also excellent. After watching this film you will better understand the current situation with Pete Rose, and where his expulsion from baseball originates. If you are at all a baseball fan you will enjoy the film.

My only criticism is that too much film time is spent of the gangsters and the announcers. That was a little tedious, and limited the further character development of the players, the depiction of the game, the owners, and the era.

I recommend this film though easily to any baseball fan.

A Must For Baseball Fans
In 1919, the Chicago White Sox faced the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. It was supposed to be an easy victory for the White Sox. After all, they had the best team in the league by far that year. What happened in the end has shocked the baseball world ever since. The White Sox threw the world series and let the Reds win. This movie does a wonderful job of telling the story of the White Sox aka "Black Sox" during that fateful year. John Cusack, D.B. Sweeney, and David Strathairn are the stars of the film, playing Buck Weaver, Joe Jackson, and Eddie Cicotte. Charlie Comiskey's infamous penny pinching is shown in the film as Cicotte was due a bonus in his contract for winning 30 games. He ended up winning 29 despite being injured for a time, but Comiskey still didn't give Cicotte his bonus. This had a major influence on Cicotte deciding to help throw the series. Sweeney does an excellent job as Jackson, the sharp hitting illiterate outfielder. He didn't take the bribe and had an excellent series, hitting well over .300. The game scenes are excellent, and the behind the scenes action with the announcers and crooks is well-done as well. In the end, each player was acquitted by a court of law for any wrong-doing, but Commissioner Kenisaw Mountain Landis, regardless of the jury's verdict, still banned the 8 Sox players from ever playing baseball again. The movie ends with Buck Weaver (Cusack) watching an old but still great Jackson (Sweeney) playing in a semi-pro game somewhere in the South. Baseball fans will surely love this excellent movie. I also recommend "61" by Billy Crystal.

Sayles' masterpiece
It's difficult not to get your personal feelings called into play when watching an obviously slanted film like EIGHT MEN OUT. John Sayles, like Oliver Stone, is an obvious agit-prop master for the left or at least for labor in its battle against owners. But so are several others movie-makers. However, those others do not get the responses that Sayles has evoked because they don't have half the talent that Sayles possesses. There is no fence-sitting when watching his films, and that's because his visions and messages are clear, uncompromising and passionate. EIGHT MEN OUT is one of his highest achievements in those regards.

In his analysis of the rigging of the World Series of 1919, Sayles targets White Sox owner Comiskey as the true villain. And I believe this is accurate, if not justifiable, at the very least. The Black Sox scandal, as it came to be known, was undoubtedly the lowest point in baseball history, but it could have been avoided. Had Comiskey treated his players as they merited, it is doubtful any of it would have come about. This is not to say that these athletes were angelic: Sayles goes to great lengths to show that several of them would be easily corruptible, such as Chick Gandil (played by the underrated Michael Rooker). Other players seem to want to do the right thing, but are pushed too far by Comiskey--specifically, Eddie Cicotte, as portrayed by Sayles' favorite, David Strathairn. The enigmatic Shoeless Joe Jackson (subtly played by D.B. Sweeney) is just plain too dumb to understand the implications of his involvement. As others have noted, Jackson wound up the series' batting leader.

The real moral compass of EIGHT MEN OUT is Buck Weaver, played by John Cusack in what may have been the performance of his career. Sayles' Weaver is portrayed as the victim of the ultimate betrayal for not participating in the scheme. His teammates don't back him up. The courts do not defend him. The press lumps him together with the guilty. His only crime was not being a snitch. And for that, Weaver has basically been relegated to baseball history's limbo, in spite of an above-par career. Sayles does an admirable job in evoking a justified sympathy for Buck Weaver, and Cusack captures it beautifully.

EIGHT MEN OUT is not a mere baseball movie. Like much of Sayles' work, it's a film about greed, and the desire of American owners to extract as much from labor as possible, without giving anything in return.

P.S. -- Sayles does a great job of portraying writer Ring Lardner. I just wish he didn't sing!