The Fan (1996)

I don't agree at all with the person who said 'Films like "The Fan" come a dime a dozen.' This movies storyline is like no other that I know of. Great camera shots, catchy dialogue and well placed music make the movie all the more interesting the whole way. Robert DeNiro delivers superbly in his role as an extremely obsessive baseball fan, and as all DeNiro fans love and know that in many of his movies he delivers great lines with his powerful facial expressions that makes you intense with anticipation. And in this movie you get great up close shots of Robert DeNiro as he says his lines unlike most of his other films. Supporting actors such as John Leguiziamo and Benicio Del Toro deliver very well each in his own unique roles. This movie was really good in every single way I can think of, very well put together. Wesley Snipes does great in a different role as a father and baseball star, other than him usually being the butt kicking hero of the movie. Overall if you enjoy any Robert DeNiro movie this is a must.

Fmovies: ***SPOILERS*** Robert De Niro is at his deranged and psychotic best as the crazed baseball fanatic or fan for short Gil Renard a man completely whacked out of his skull. It's Gil who takes matters into his own hands when his hero the just traded to the San Francisco Giants, from the Atlanta Braves, Bobby Rayburn, Wesley Snipes, gets the short end of the stick by the teams management. That's by Bobby not being able to retain his number #11 on his Giants jersey that he feels made him a,.314 lifetime hitter, his supernatural powers in both hitting and catching a baseball.

Gil has his own problems at work and at home with his job as a sport supply executive specializing in hunting knives on the line and his old lady Ellen, Patti D'Arbanville, about to get complete custody of their seven year old son Richie,Andrew J. Ferchlad. But it's baseball,not job or family, that's Gil's true love. And it's in Bobby Rayburn that Gil a former little league baseball pitcher lives out his fantasy life as a major league baseball player. That's in Gil doing in Juan Primo, Beniclo De Toro, with a hunting knife in a hotel bath-house to get Bobby's number #11 back on his Giants jersey. Bobby the 40 million dollar man, that's what the Giants higher ups were paying him, who was in a king size slump all season now, with Primo gone and his famed #11 back, started hitting up to expectations.

It's later on when Gil just happened to be around to save Bobby's eight year old son Sean, Brandon Hammond, from almost drowning in the Pacific Ocean that his high opinions about Bobby drastically changed. Invited into Bobby's beach house for a bottle of beer and a game of pool, which is the least he could do for him, Gil is disgusted in Bobby's opinion about the game of baseball! Which Bobby treats as a game and way to make big bucks, 40 million of them, not the religion that Gil feel that it is! With everything that he did to get Bobby back in the grove in both hitting and fielding, by murdering his top rival on the team Juan Primo, Gil feels that he's not being given him the credit by Bobby, who has no idea what Gil did for him, that he so rightfully deserves. And with that and outraged and dejected Gil plans to make Bobby's life both personal and professional into a living hell on earth!

***SPOILERS*** The movie "The Fan" is really a one man show with Robert De Niro at center stage doing his thing, being off the wall crazy, that he and only he can do best. Not only is De Niro or Gil Renard completely out of his mind but also omnipresent, like some kind of Deity, in seeming to be everywhere and everyplace at the same time. Gil's craziness goes so far as kidnapping Bobby's son Sean and even going farther in murdering his little league hero, his battery mate, Coop, Charles Hallahan, when he himself realized just how crazy Gil his one time best friend really was.

The ending of the movie was a bit too much to take with Gil going all out to get Bobby to publicly acknowledge what he did for him in front of a sold out crowd at Candlestick Park and on top of all that hit a home run for him! If not Bobby's son Sean would become history. The film fell apart with Candlestick Park being hit by hurricane force winds with a tropical downpour added in yet the game that should have been called because of rain is still allowed to go on. Only to have Gil make his grand appearance, you'll never guess as who, out of nowhere and mess up Bobby's home run that he hit f

A flawed movie, but worth seeing for De Niro's performance as Gil Renard, an increasingly crazed fan/stalker. Also, yet again, baseball shows itself as the sport most able to provide striking visual metaphors for the ups and downs of life (though, as a Brit, I've noted some of the specific criticisms aimed at the baseball sequences in this movie by IMDb commenters from the US).

Where the movie, via the genius of De Niro, certainly succeeds is in convincingly demonstrating how easily and quickly obsessive devotion can turn to obsessive hatred, when the object of that devotion fails to meet the assumptions of the extreme fan. Certainly, there's some of Max Cady, the Cape Fear psychotic, in his portrayal; but there's also a lot of Rupert Pupkin, the confused kidnapper and would-be comic from King of Comedy - both films, of course, directed by Martin Scorsese.

Where the film fails is in being too repetitive and, consequently, a bit too long; one or two of the scenes where Gil is trying to sell his knives are superfluous; and, when Gil is at the game with his son, why does the camera have to keep cutting to the woman in the crowd - once or twice would have been sufficient. Several of the scenes also seem derivative, especially those involving Dan Butler, as Garitty the sales manager, which echo Glengarry Glen Ross. A major unconvincing aspect is that surely a $40m signing, like Bobby Raybourn (Wesley Snipes), would be surrounded by a lot more razzmatazz than simply one not-too-effective agent (John Leguizamo).

But, on the whole, one to rent or watch on TV (as I've just done) if nothing more compelling is available.

The Fan fmovies. Gil Renard (Robert De Niro) is a failing knife salesman, a SF Giants fanatic, a divorced father of a boy, and a very angry guy. Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes) is a new sign to the ball club, and the hope for savior. Both men's lives go downhill.

Director Tony Scott has made a movie filled with flash and sizzle. It doesn't accentuate as much as distract. When there is a master thespian like Robert De Niro, all the extra fireworks just take the focus away from the real show. And Wesley Snipes isn't likable enough. A less stereotypical selfish black athlete may help. His scenes with his agent Manny (John Leguizamo) are annoying and tiresome. This could have been a creepy character study like the iconic 'Taxi Driver'. But it never allows De Niro any peace and quiet to do his work properly.

The film centres around Gil (De Niro), an obsessive baseball fan who puts his beloved New York Giants and particularly their new star player Bobby Rayburn (Snipes) above everything else in life. When Rayburn's below par performances have fans and pundits calling for him to be dropped however in favour of rival Juan Primo (Benicio Del Toro) , his number one fan is determined to do whatever it takes to get him back on top....

De Niro shows just why he is one of the best actors around (despite his latest chequebook acting efforts) with this performance as the single minded, baseball obsessive Gill. The character is just as memorable as the menacing Max Cady in Cape Fear and its says something for De Niro who can go from playing psychotic scumbags to green comatose patient (Awakenings) with ease. Snipes puts in a solid performance as the luckless Baseball player with the burden of a huge transfer fee and season of glory resting on his shoulders along with Benicio del Toro as his cocky rival hitter but this is De Niro's film and he does the bad-guy-you-side-with down to a tee! Rent it out now!!!

While I agree with some of the previous comments about the lack of attention to detail and the confusing cinematography, I really did enjoy this movie. The story itself is not particularly original and the ending is weak -- but I thought the build-up of Gil's (De Niro) character to be quite effective. Although Gil was what one would typically label a loser, I couldn't help but feel for the guy. Many movies about psychos/stalkers fail to give you any insight into why he's doing all these bad things -- all you know is that he's not a nice guy. This movie did a great job of portraying how Gil's volatile personality, his obsession with the baseball and with Bobby (Snipes) in particular, and his loss of everything else that mattered to him, ultimately led him to do what he did.