Major League (1989)

"Major League" is nothing original... it borrows heavily from the "Bad News Bears" school of screen writing. What holds the movie together is the easy charm and camaraderie of the cast, which features some tried and true character actors: Bob Uecker, basically playing himself; Margaret Whitfield, playing her patented "bitch" role, and James Gammon, playing the wise old coot who has seen it all. Rounding out the cast are Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Corbin Bernsen and Rene Russo, who at the time was new to features. The plot is as follows: The owner of the Cleveland Indians marries a Vegas showgirl and dies on his honeymoon, leaving her the team. Cleveland (which the song being played over the main titles laughingly refers to as "city of light, city of magic"- perhaps they are referring to when the Cuyahuga River caught on fire?) doesn't agree with her, so she wants to exploit a loophole in her contract with the city which stipulates if attendance falls below a certain level, she can take the franchise out of Cleveland. So she goes out and gets herself the sorriest looking group of ballplayers you've ever seen... A Cuban defector (because his religion is voodoo) who can only hit fastballs (Dennis Haysbert), the worlds laziest third baseman (Think Bernsen as a clean shaven Wade Boggs), a catcher with shot-out knees (Berenger channeling Johnny Bench or Cartlton Fisk), a near-sighted pitcher who throws 100 MPH at everything but the plate (Sheen), and the lead-off hitter who thinks he is Rickey Henderson (Wesley Snipes). The movie has a lot of laughs and it's a fun way to waste 90 minutes. Directed by David S. Ward of "The Sting" fame. Interestingly enough, this movie did give the nickname "Wild Thing" to one-time Philadelphia pitcher Mitch whatshisname who threw a bad pitch to Joe Carter in the 9th inning to lose the '93 World Series to Toronto.

Fmovies: Let me preface this by saying I can't stand baseball; I find it to be one of the most boring sports out there. With that said, I love this film. It has a great "underdog" story, some genuine comedy, great characters, and heart. It's a minor film, but it's thoroughly entertaining. If more films could just be entertaining, I might go to the theater more often.

The heart of this film is the characters. We have the broken down veterans, the rookies, the love interest, the wise old coach, and the villain. These are rather cliched characters, but they are written and performed so well, you don't notice. Much of the humor arises out of character moments, which keeps it from becoming tired or dated.

Tom Berenger and Charlie Sheen were hot, coming off of the success of Platoon. Corbin Bernsen was enjoying fame on LA Law. Rene Russo and Wesley Snipes were relative unknowns who got a chance to shine. And then there's Bob Uecker! Uecker is the glue that brings everything together and he gets the best lines in the movie.

You can't go wrong with a film like this. Everything works well and a good time is had by all. Too bad the sequels forgot what made this a success.

It came out when I was 9 and, honestly, all 9 year old boys love baseball movies. It's a law that transcends race, religion, and country of origin. Even in backwards countries like France, when they value soccer as a national popular sport, the 9 year old boys still love baseball movies. Even if they don't play it.

Anyway, this was a love story to the Cleveland Indians. It stinks of it. You know, you just know that someone wrote the movie, directed it, whatever, just so that they could sit back and watch the Indians win.

It's like baseball fan fiction, only unlike normal fan fiction, it's a pleasure to watch because baseball fan fiction is about the team winning and not about a Mary Sue taking all the glory.

And then, to cover up the fact that it's baseball fan fiction, they made it into a comedy as if to tell the audience not to worry, they aren't going to take it seriously anyway.

And I get where they are coming from, I had the exact same fantasies about the Cubs, most of my life, at least until I went to Europe and saw a soccer riot and got worried about what would happen if they did actually win... but it went off without a hitch didn't it? And now, honestly, it doesn't feel right.

A part of me, the masochist in me, would almost rather have a movie like this made about my team, instead of seeing the real thing.

Anyways, what it is, is baseball fan fiction, and base ball fan fiction is a lot better than most other things. Baseball period is a lot better than most other things.

Its almost like a romantic comedy in a very weird way. So sit back, grab a beer, and enjoy. It's like watching a funny version of the real thing.

Major League fmovies. I don't care what anyone says this is by far the best baseball movie ever made. Bull Durham was a bit too much of a chick flick to be a real baseball fans movie of choice.

Major League isn't a movie that's going to solve world peace or anything but if you want a light hearted, entertaining film that is hysterically funny then you need to see this.

Charlie Sheen being a former high school pitcher who was able to get 85 mph on his fastball, which isn't as fast as characters 100 mph. But close enough to with the way they film it to make it look believable as being a real flame thrower. If they had someone who didn't have a background in baseball they would've probably had to use a stunt double for his pitching scenes, which would've sucked.

I grew up in Strongsville Ohio and suffered through many bad Indians teams in the 70's and 80's. At the beginning of the movie it was great seeing the pan view of downtown Cleveland. Oh yes, the movie.......THE INDIANS WIN IT! sums it up perfectly. A million thanks to Tom Berenger, Wesley Snipes, Charlie Sheen and the rest of a great cast for making such a funny and heart-warming movie. Thanks to you too, Euk, for giving that line its heart! Give Cleveland a decent sports franchise and they will come for miles to support them. Sold a few home games out at the Jake as you will recall..........a few tough times have hit the Tribe lately but they're coming back....With Mike Hargrove back that's a step in the right direction. Definitely watch this movie if you want to relax in the comfort and safety of a hilarious and nostalgic movie. GO TRIBE!!!!

There have been some excellent baseball movies made from Field of Dreams to The Pride of the Yankees, but no movie based on the national pastime can ever claim to be as hysterically funny as Major League. Granted, the value of the original was hurt by the second and third attempts at re-creating the atmosphere. Those two films were an embarrassment to all involved.

Major League, however, personified the attitude of "Nothing to lose". Aside from the easily identified woes of the Cleveland franchise of the late-eighties, there were several actors in this film that had yet to hit big or had started to fall from grace. The incredibly strong language of the movie only made it seem that much more realistic.