Eight Men Out
In the golden days of baseball, where the heros became legends and young fans could actually afford to pay to attend the games, an incident that would scar baseball for life was committed in the World Series of 1919. Based on the Elliot Asinof's 1963 best-seller of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, is an attempt to tell the story of how the White Sox were hired by gamblers to throw World Series. Film maker John Sayles brings in a variety of well- known actors to play roles of players, gamblers, and everyone else that is involved in the scandal. However, the movie concentrates more on the events leading up to the scandal and the personalities of the characters, and overlooks minor, but ...
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one must, as a viewer, share in the experience of one of the characters" (pg.108). Since this story is about ballplayers who threw games and accepted bribes, this poses a difficult problem in asking the audience to share the feelings of the conspirators.
That is the problem throughout the movie that Sayles fails to resolve. Where do the audience's sympathies lie? It is hard to maintain sympathy for the players with the likes of Swede Risberg and Chic Gandil behind the fix. Players like Buck Weaver and "Shoeless Joe Jackson", who are portrayed as pawns in a game of chess, are overwhelmed by the gamblers and other players involved.
One could say that Sayles sees the team members as underpaid and unappreciated by team owner Charles Comiskey, and the results of the tension that existed between the players and the owner was the fixing of the 1919 Series. Sayles shows us the individual players going all out, running hard, dive for balls, stretching doubles into triples, and ...
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the game in route to a 9-1 loss (Baseball Encyclopedia pg. 311). Cicotte's performance in Game 1 was accompanied by Swede Risberg's error on a would- be double-play that eventually led to the Reds' 5 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Lefty Williams, another key figure (pitcher) in the fix, pitched Game 2 of the Series. Though he held Cincinnati to only 4 hits, he uncharacteristically walked six batters and struck out only one batter. His performance was bad enough for an eventual 4-2 loss. Catcher Ray Schalk, who was not part of the scandal, complains in the movie that Williams crossed up the signals deliberately in order to aid the hitters. Schalk physically attacks Williams ...
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"Eight Men Out." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 10 Mar. 2007. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Eight-Men-Out/61551>
"Eight Men Out." Essayworld.com. March 10, 2007. Accessed April 18, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Eight-Men-Out/61551.
"Eight Men Out." Essayworld.com. March 10, 2007. Accessed April 18, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Eight-Men-Out/61551.
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