ThiefHott Too much of everything

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

grantss The story of the infamous 1919 World Series scandal in which the Chicago White Sox deliberately lost the series after taking bribes. Superb sports drama, and one of the best sports movies ever made. Shows well how the events unfolded, what lead to the throwing of the World Series and the sad aftermath. Well told by director John Sayles - a highly engaging drama that never gets bogged down. Its focus may well be on baseball but its really a character-based drama.Solid performances all round.

Predrag This was a great movie. The story of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal as portrayed by John Sayles was truthful to the real events of that World Series. The cast gave such wonderful performances as players and owners that you can understand how this could happen. You feel bad for the players. When asked about their bonus and they only are given the champagne, you see the hurt in their faces, and it is painful to see. John Cusack and D.B. Sweeney were great as Buck Weaver and Joe Jackson. Their performances showed a great love for the game. The film also contains scenes showing how different groups of the conspiring gamblers were double-crossing one another as well as the players they were conspiring with. An interesting side element of which I had been previously unaware. The cast is absolutely top-drawer, including Charlie Sheen, D.B. Sweeney (both of whom were already good high school and college baseball players, respectively, in real life), John Cusack, Michael Lerner, David Strathairn, Christopher Lloyd, Clifton James, Michael Rooker, John Mahoney, Studs Terkel, and several other fine actors.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.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

Sam smith (sam_smithreview) If you forgive the fact the film has to simplify certain aspects of the conspiracy in order to make the film easier to digest, then you will find that Eight Men Out is a worthy film and in the category of "baseball movies" it's one of the better ones out there.There are anachronisms in the film here and there, the worst of which is Buck Weaver's question asking which of the lawyers was the "Babe Ruth" of law. Sure Babe Ruth was coming into his own by 1920, but most ballplayers in that era would not have place Ruth in the class of Cobb, Tris Speaker or Walter Johnson. For baseball fans, this line in particular really comes off as shallow, especially since the rest of the film really tries to capture the "dead-ball" era. For the most part though, this film feels and sounds a lot like America right after World War I ends, a fascinating time and place.Studs Terkel steals the show in my estimation. His character in the film is not far from whom he is in real life and his authenticity is undeniable. John Sayles is a little stiff by comparison and his singing in the railway car (which according to legend did actually happen), is rather difficult to bear. None the less, his direction makes up for his foibles as an actor.Straitharn is another gem in this movie, and once again this actor seems to get right to the soul of the characters he is given to play. Eddie Cicotte's dilemmas are written all over Straitharn's face in every scene, he's also given some of the best dialog in the film. Cusack plays his part well, despite the fact that many of his scenes are reduced to clichés. Cusack's best moments are when he is frustrated about his inclusion in the conspiracy trial, despite the fact he gave his all to try and win the series. His outbursts in the courtroom seem perfect, as if drawn from the trial transcripts themselves.Joe Jackson is given unfair treatment. If "Field of Dreams" mythologizes Jackson to point of hyperbole, "Eight Men Out" plays up his illiteracy with too much of a heavy hand. Joe Jackson wasn't stupid, indeed if you read his last major interview before he died, he speaks about the "Black Sox" with great alacrity and clarity. He was not as ignorant as this film would have you believe. One day someone will produce a film about Joe Jackson, that will portray him accurately, but Eight Men Out is not that film.Although their roles are very minor, Kid Gleason and Ray Schalk are really well played and written. These two went through a very difficult time during the series, and this is well demonstrated. One minor beef is that Nemo Leibold, Shano Collins and other players outside of the conspiracy are never touched upon at all. This is understandable to a degree given the relatively short length of the film, despite the complexity of the subject matter.The baseball scenes themselves are well done. The bats, balls, gloves and uniforms look like the equipment of that era and the ballparks are successful mock ups for the most part. There are even a couple of nifty athletic displays in the outfield that must have taken several takes to pull off.Eight Men Out isn't perfect, but it isn't as flawed as Roger Ebert would have you believe. If you a fan of baseball in fact, I'd say its mandatory viewing.

disdressed12 i thought this account of the 1919 scandal in which eight players on the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the World Series that year to be quite entertaining.not only was it well acted,but the baseball scenes were authentic as well.it's nice to know the filmmakers cared enough to hire actors who could also play baseball well.i really felt sympathy for the players,and loathed the owner of the Sox,who was nothing but a cheap skate who cared nothing for his players and cheated them out of as much money as he could.if that actually was the reality of it back in the day, i wouldn't have blamed them for throwing the series.for me,Eight Men out is an 8/10