Eight Men Out

Summary

“Say it ain’t so, Joe. Say it ain’t so.”

A few years ago, Criterion Collection released John Sayles’ excellent historical drama Matewan. While I had thoroughly enjoyed some of his horror related efforts writing for Joe Dante such as Piranha or The Howling, nothing could have prepared me for the emotional gut punch of Matewan. The film completely blew me away, so I began seeking out more films from John Sayles on the Blu-ray format. Sadly, at that time, many of his best pictures had not yet received an HD upgrade. Recently, I have been in luck because there have been numerous solid upgrades for some of his films. City of Hope received a Blu-ray release a few weeks back and Alligator and Lone Star both recently received 4K UHD releases. I had been dismayed that John Sayles’s critically acclaimed 1988 sports drama Eight Men Out had only been released by the defunct Olive Films label and that 2015 Blu-ray was no longer in print. Luckily, MGM had the good sense to give Eight Men Out another chance to be purchased on Blu-ray which makes that prior release irrelevant.

The film centers on the Black Sox scandal when the Chicago White Sox accepted money to throw the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnatti Reds. Based on the book by Eliot Asinof, the film shows exactly how and why the White Sox players made decisions that would tarnish their legacies forever. The film begins by showing how club owner Charles Comiskey (Clifton James) was bullish on his team and believed them to be the best ball playing outfit ever assembled. Coached by Kid Gleason (John Mahoney,) the White Sox were big favorites to go all the way that year. Unfortunately, Comiskey had greedily underpaid his star players, including a refusal to pay a bonus to his star pitcher Eddie Cicotte (David Strathairn.) Chick Gandil (Michael Rooker) is approached at a bar by gamblers Sleepy Bill Burns (Christopher Lloyd) and Billy Maharg (Richard Edson) who want the team to take a dive. They are offering on behalf of crime boss Arnold Rothstein (without his knowledge up to that point) the players ten thousand dollars each to take a dive, but the fix only works if they can convince enough people to join up in the rigging of the series. Chick quickly convinces outfielder Hap Felsch (Charlie Sheen,) backup pitcher Lefty Williams (James Read,) Swede Risberg (Don Harvey,) and Eddie Collins (Bill Irwin,) but the plan really falls into place once Cicotte agrees to the plan. With Eddie Cicotte in the plan, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson (D.B. Sweeney) also agrees to throw the series. Shortstop Buck Weaver (John Cusack) refuses to go along with the plan. The film follows the action as Arnold Rothstein (Michael Lerner) bets on the Reds to win the series, as the teammates make several decisions during the series to throw the games, as the news outlets get hold of the story, and as the ensuing trial grips the nation and changes baseball forever.

Eight Men Out is a wonderful historical drama and an excellent sports film. It is obvious that John Sayles had an affinity for the project, and a true understanding of the material, because the most difficult sports sequences in the picture are all handled brilliantly. John Sayles’ writing talent is undeniable, and he brings to life the story of these incredibly gifted athletes who destroyed their names in pursuit of money they felt was rightfully owed to them. The dialogue is carefully crafted and fits the era well. Period details are well observed. John Sayles had worked on the project for ten years before it came to fruition, and the momentum of the picture comes from a well manicured script. The film covers a lot of information in a short amount of time. It is impressive that the film feels so effortless, given how much effort and research must have gone into it.

The film is very well acted. David Strathairn, who had already bowled me over in Matewan, is excellent as Eddie Cicotte. Strathairn is an amazing actor and this is another great performance by him. Michael Rooker is perfectly convincing as Chick Gandil. Christopher Lloyd and Richard Edson are well cast as the gamblers that want a safe bet. Kevin Tighe is great in his role. Michael Lerner is similarly well cast. John Cusack is very good in the film as the ballplayer with a moral compass Buck Weaver (although his bat swing looked pretty rough!) D.B. Sweeney is great as the illiterate Shoeless Joe. I also really enjoyed both John Mahoney and Gordon Clapp in the picture. There isn’t a bad performance in the film. 

Sayles enlisted iconic cinematographer Robert Richardson for the film. This was after he had worked on three pictures for Oliver Stone – Platoon, Wall Street, and Salvador – but before he became a household name. As one would expect, the cinematography is very good. The film has a slight brownish tint to help the viewer feel the age that works well. The period is brought to life with a vivid jazz soundtrack. The direction by Sayles is pitch perfect, and his acting in the film is also pretty enjoyable as a sports writer.

Overall – Eight Men Out hits the ball out of the park with great writing, performances, cinematography, and historical accuracy. It’s a great historical drama and a wonderful sports film. Check it out!

Video

MGM has presented Eight Men Out in 1080p using an MPEG-4 AVC encode in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The master used is not a new master and matches the master used to stream the film digitally. While the master is not new, I thought the picture looked pretty good overall. I can not perform a direct comparison to the out of print Olive Films disc because I do not own it, but it may be the same master as used on that release. Fine detail is pretty good and there are only occasional compression issues. The print has some blemishes, with the most obvious appearing in the title sequence, but it did not distract me. Working with cinematographer Robert Richardson, John Sayles cast the film in a slightly brown hue to help the picture bring back Chicago in the late 1910s. The look translates well to the Blu-ray format. Until some label gives this film a new master, I am pleased with how the film is presented here.

Audio

MGM’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 track presents the film well. I beleive that this may be an expanded stereo track because most of the activity lies in the front speakers, but the soundtrack and crowd noise in the baseball scenes has been given a nice boost. Fans of the film will have no reason to complain about the track. It sounds pretty good.

Supplements:

• There are no supplements.

Overall Scores:

Video – 4/5 

Audio – 4.25/5

Supplements – 0/5

Overall – 4.25/5

Eight Men Out is an excellent historical drama and a wonderful sports film. John Sayles is a gifted writer and director, and this passion project took him ten years to make. It shows. The film seems to effortlessly run through all of the facts behind how the White Sox threw the World Series and the trial that followed afterward, but cobbling together everything in the film would be no easy task. John Sayles and his talented team just made the task look easy. Working with cinematographer Robert Richardson, John Sayles brought to life Chicago and the 1919 World Series. The film has a lot of great performances, but David Strathairn really stood out to me as Eddie Cicotte. The ensemble cast is excellent. MGM has brought the film back to Blu-ray with a good looking older transfer. I thought it looked pretty good overall and I had no issues with the audio. The film has not been given any supplements. While it would have been great to see what a boutique label like Criterion could have done with this film, I am extremely pleased to have it in my collection. Recommended.

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.