Eight Men Out Review
John_Sayles once again does wonders with a large cast and a modest budget, convincingly re-creating 1919 Chicago and smartly offering a historical movie occupied by flesh-and-blood humans rather than historical icons. Matewan, his previous film, also told a story of labor woes, but the lines of sympathy in that film were clearer: the strikers were being abused, the strikebreakers were being used, and the mine owners were doing all the using and abusing. In Eight Men Out, White_Sox owner Charlie Comiskey has little regard for his players' well-being, but their response (or the response of a selected number) to throw in with gamblers for the sake of a better payday, doesn't exactly place them in the labor hall of fame. On the other hand, Sayles paints these workers as more needy than greedy; pitcher Eddie Cicotte and infielder Buck Weaver, in particular, come off as anguished co-conspirators thanks to superb performances by David_Strathairn and John_Cusack. Eight Men Out doesn't offer the feel-good experience of Field of Dreams (though they do share one character, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson) or Bull_Durham, but its honesty and faithfulness to the complexities of history ultimately make it a more valuable player in the history of sports films. Tom Wiener, Rovi
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