There are tons of baseball movies out there dating back
to the beginning of movies. There are classic black and whites, silent movies
and new ones in 3D. Some of the movies focus on the baseball game, some use
baseball as a side plot and others utilize the game as just background scenery.
Either way, the great American pastime has its fair share of Hollywood Fame.
Let’s start right out of the game with clearly hands-down
the uncontested best baseball scene in any movie. Yup, it’s “The Naked Gun:
From the Files of Police Squad!” It’s so good that the homage paid is the full
spelling of the actual title. It’s basically five plus minutes of just wall to
wall laughs. And not just funny stuff – it’s hilarious stuff written by comedy genius.
It’s the only “Baseball” movie where a second baseman gets eaten by a tiger and
an outfielder gets decapitated. And then there is the climactic scene where
Reggie Jackson tries to kill the Queen of England by order of Ricardo
Monalban.
The “Naked Gun” trilogy is based on the cult following
short-lived television show that was called “Police Squad!” The show and movie
starred a few of the same people with of course the driving force being the
late great Leslie Neilsen. The show only lasted six episodes, each better than
the previous. It was cutting edge frat humor that nobody else was doing at the
time. Society just couldn’t grasp the concept. The only real “Baseball” scene
is the television rendition was when Lt. Drebin threatens to arrest a potential
witness for illegally recording a live baseball game, which of course is a dig
at the ridiculous statement MLB makes all announcers make before the start of
each game. “Recording the game is illegal without the expressed written
consent, yada yada yada”.
The best complete baseball movie, from a comedic
perspective, is also an easy choice. “Major League” is far and away the
answer. The movie had a cast that all
killed it in different ways. The plot was inspirational, and the humor was spot
on. Mr. Clutch and a friend or two watched the movie several times on different
Saturdays at the Sunrise Multiplex. Since it wasn’t economically feasible to
keep paying “Just” to see the same movie, the gang used to sneak into a new
release each week after watching “Major League”.
The movie spawned a number of cult type things, many of
which are still kicking around today, almost 30 years later. For one, people
now use the “Just a bit outside” line all the time. It’s part of the modern
lexicon. Rick Vaughn, played by the immortal Charlie Sheen, is a character that
had taken on a life of its own. To this day if you visit any crowded MLB
ballpark on game day the odds are you will cross paths with each one fan
sporting a “99” Vaughn jersey. There are so many good scenes in this movie that
it’s hard to pick the best of the best. Unfortunately the legacy is somewhat
tarnished as the money hungry producers rolled out a sequel and sequel to the
sequel. Mr. Clutch has seen both of those movies a total of “0” times. Pretty
sure they were awful. Thankfully the original was so good that’s it’s easy to
forget about the part deux and three.
Next up is a baseball movie that most people probably
didn’t realize was based on a true story. It’s the star-studded fun docudrama
“A League of Their Own”. It featured a bunch of “Actors” such as Madonna, Rosie
O’Donnell and the great Laurie Petty. Also notable is that is starred Tom Hanks
in what was one of his first dramatic roles. It was directed by Laverne DeFazio
(Penny Marshall) who did a splendid job. One more (of many) notable casting
moves was giving a small role to Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggman (David Lander). The
Brooklyn native suffers from M.S. and more importantly is a giant baseball fan.
The picture gave viewers a great peek into a short but
important era of baseball during the war. Sprinkled into the baseball landscape
were important items like the scene where the war department typist hand
delivered the tragic note to the wife (player) of a dead soldier. It also
chronicled the life of the male player Jimmy Dugan who threw it all away to
booze and ended up getting clean and back on track. His transition from
beginning to end was amazing. The film
was also about sibling rivalry, competition and enemies bonding and building
relationships for the sake of the country. Mr. Clutch will come clean and state
that every time the movie is watched it’s common to well up in the final scene,
which takes place at the baseball hall of fame. It brings it all together and
really defines how small sections of your being can be special and award you
with lifelong memories. It’s pretty heavy for a generally funny movie – but
baseball can deliver on that.
Your favorite baseball movies, or scenes within a
non-baseball movie, might be totally different than the ones noted above. There
are certainly plenty of great choices out there. Let’s see, there is “Bull
Durham”, “Field of Dreams” and of course the “Bad News Bears” franchise which
would be in most folks list. “The Natural”, “The Sandlot” and the Seinfeld
episode featuring Keith Hernandez and the reenactment of the JFK assassination
absolutely receive Clutch honorable mention.
With that, they aren’t all great with a few busts that
were made along the way. “The Babe”, not to be confused with the award winning
pig movie of similar name (“Babe”) was one. That was the one of many Babe Ruth
bio pics that starred John Goodman. There
was also that strange drama “The Fan” starring Bobby De Niro as the killer and
Wesley Snipes as the player. The worst baseball movie Mr. Clutch has heard of,
but not seen, is “Ed”. There is slight remembrance of a commercial promoting
the vehicle in which a monkey plays third-base for a major league team. That’s
probably all you need to know.
Hopefully this ignites you to watch a baseball movie
today or tomorrow. Either blow the dust off your favorite DVD (or VHS depending
how far back you go) hit up NetFlix where simply searching for the term
“Baseball” will give you plenty of options. The challenge issued is to watch a
baseball themed movie that you have either never seen or even better never
heard of. There are plenty of those choices out there too. A 90 to 120 minute
investment might just put another favorite on your list and give you something
to discuss around the water-cooler on Monday.
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