The Best Baseball Movies of All-Time
ESPN.com's Rob Neyer provides his list of the top baseball movies, stemming from this list:
1. Bull Durham
2. Eight Men Out
3. The Bad News Bears
4. Fever Pitch
5. The Natural
6. The Sandlot
7. 61*
8. Pride of the Yankees
9. A League of Their Own
10. Babe Ruth
I have not seen 4, 7, 8, or 10, so cannot comment on those. I will merely say that putting Bull Durham No. 1 is "the dumbest, most outrageous thing in the history of [sports movie lists], and ... I will not argue about this." Neyer criticizes Field of Dreams for making Shoeless Joe Jackson into a right-handed hitter, but ignores that Bull Durham features a star pitching prospect who throws like a girl. Bull Durham is not a baseball movie. It's a chick flick that thinks it's a comedy. And a bad one at that.
I have only seen two baseball movies worth seeing again: 1. The Natural (the book is terrible); and 2. Eight Men Out (the book is even better).
- cubsnet's blog
- Login or register to post comments
baseball movies
I finally saw Bull Durham for the first time a couple years ago, and while I didn't have the negative reaction that you've expressed for it on occasion, I found myself wondering what the big deal was supposed to be. I don't feel the need to watch it again.
Felt the same way about The Natural, which I first saw even more recently. I didn't really buy Redford in the role, to be honest, and I thought the filmmaking was poor at times (especially early in the film). I don't really need to see that one again, either.
I'll admit to being a huge fan of Field of Dreams, though. Haven't seen Eight Men Out.
RE: The Natural
I grew up watching The Natural way too many times and for a long time, never really knew Robert Redford in any role other than Roy Hobbs.
Redford
That makes sense about Redford. I probably could say something similar about Dabney Coleman's work in Cloak & Dagger.
Major League
Did everyone forget about Major League? Thats definitly #1. Fever Pitch is good. SO is 61. What about The Jackie Robinson Story? The Scout? The Rookie? Rookie of the Year?
What about them good ones.
RE: Major League
Major League hasn't aged well, it seems to me. Rookie of the Year is really terrible, and at times makes a mockery of baseball without being funny. But The Rookie is very good.