Eight Men Out

On Tuesday night I went to Eight Men Out, a movie they were screening at the Orem Public Library. I wasn't too sure that I was going to like it, because as much as I wish I were a sports fan and less mushy-minded, I'm really more a mystery, historical romance, comedy movie type of girl, and I knew that Eight Men Out was a baseball movie. In fact, I sort of have a hard time watching baseball unless I know someone that is playing because it seems like there are only a few minutes of action and then a lot of waiting. I guess I haven't really been exposed to watching sports much. The best game of baseball I've ever seen took place in South Carolina when I was watching my cousins husband and his military team play. They were super speedy and half of the balls they hit were home runs. So, the nice thing about watching a sport in a movie is that they don't have any of the waiting time and only show the highlights of the supposed game.

Eight Men Out is about the 1919 White Sox scandal. When I read that on the sign I figured it had to be about some team throwing a game for money and I was right. The movie starts with a game scene. The White Sox team are out playing in the hot sun, while their manager is inside with a bunch of newspaper men. There is a great contrast between the condition of the players and their master. He has all of this food and fine wine and is dressed impeccably. He is also plump from the great spoils he has obviously obtained as manager. The men however are in their dusty uniforms, sweating and on the thin side. It is obvious they love the game though. After the game they had be.en promised a bonus and instead they got flat champagne. During the game a few men in the stands kept commenting on who they thought they could get to work for them to throw the world series. The White Sox were considered unbeatable so a lot of people would be betting on them to win. If the people who paid the White Sox to lose bet against them, they could make a pretty penny. The players were pretty put out with their manager and they weren't being paid enough, so it was easy for the gamblers to draw a few of them into the plan. The gamblers also included some even larger gambler fish so that they would have the funds to bet and pay some of the players who wanted their cut at the start. It was really sad, because it was obvious that some of players didn't want to join, but they felt that there was no other option. One of the players, Buck Weaver, refused to be a part of the operation when he was approached. At the games he did his best, but both of the main pitchers had joined in so he was pretty much fighting a losing battle. A couple of newspaper men noticed the first game of the World Series that something fishy was going on, and they decided that they would each write down any plays they felt there was something wrong with and the player who had messed and compare their lists at the end. They came up with about six players they felt were purposely trying to throw the game. It was pretty much depressing to watch as the team struggled within themselves to try and win but kept losing even though the people around them said they were the best club they had ever seen. The best part of the whole movie was when the pitcher who wasn't in on the racket, Joe Jackson, pitched the third game. He struck out quite a few players and even some of the players who were trying to lose got behind him. I think it had a lot to do with their trainer who knew that something was going on and tried to talk to the team. It was basically the team's shining moment. After a few games they purposely lost, they realized that they weren't going to get paid, because the people who were handling the money kept putting any money they won back into the gambling circuit. Most of the players decided against continuing and one of the pitchers who had agreed to the scam just quit and actually did his part. This made the gambling people rather unhappy as they lost quite a bit of money and they sent someone to threaten the next pitcher's wife. He, of course, capitulated and the team lost their fifth game which knocked them out of the tournament. At this point the newspaper men delivered their evidence to the officials. Eight men were picked out as suspicious, but two of them actually had nothing to do with the scam. Their names were Buck Weaver and Joe Jackson. Joe really had had no knowledge and Buck knew but wasn't a part. He didn't turn his teammates in because he thought they would decide to be honest on their own. As the baseball player's trial was going on, the gamblers happily left the country on the proceeds. I have to admit that pretty much ticked me off. So did the fact that the players who spearheaded the crime were so stinking smug. I wanted to punch each of them in the nose. Unexpectedly, the court ruled not guilty, but that wasn't the end. A special commissioner the manager of the team had hired said that any member of a club who took a bribe to throw a game or knew of his teammates taking one would never play in the major leagues again. At the end of the movie it shows a minor league game. A few people in the stands wonder who the man is that is trouncing their team. One of them says it's Joe Jackson. The others don't believe him, but he insists it is and says that he was one of the players who threw the World Series. Buck Weaver happens to be sitting next to the group and denies that it is Joe saying he was one of the greatest players of all time. It's pretty much terrible that the only thing people remember about the fantastic group is that they threw the World Series.

I thought that it was actually a really good show, even if it was somewhat depressing. The actors did a good job and there were a few pretty big names. It was especially impressive to see how well Hollywood did at making them believably good baseball players. There was a bit too much swearing for my taste, but I guess it wouldn't be believable baseball history if there wasn't some swearing. Of course, while it did show that the players each had a humongous wad of tobacco in their mouths none of them that I could see had rotten teeth and that isn't very realistic. I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed it even if some parts made me mad enough to spit.

The atmosphere of the Orem Library was really great. I'm pretty comfortable with going there, because I go pretty much every week to rent some of their old movies for a dollar. I wasn't expecting the theatre to be so small and their to be so few people, but that was also nice in a way. I hope I wasn't a detriment to the six other people's experience because I kept coughing, but I guess I won't worry too much because a few of the smaller kids there kept getting up and running down the aisles and on the stage when they got restless. It was great. I had a really good view of the screen and I could hear pretty well. I'm actually interested in attending some more of these screening things because I love older movies and free is quite the best price I know of.