Eight Men Out | 
| Actors: Jace Alexander, Gordon Clapp, John Cusack, James Desmond, Richard Edson
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $1.20
You Save: $13.78 (92%)
New (42) Used (52) Collectible (1) from $1.20
Rating:  61 reviews
Sales Rank: 22085
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 120 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
MPN: TM2534
ISBN: 0792849477
UPC: 002761686097
EAN: 9780792849476
ASIN: B000059TFM
Theatrical Release Date: September 2, 1988
Release Date: May 8, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The great Chicago White Sox team of 1919 is the saddest team to ever win a pennant. The team is bitter at their penny pincher owner, Charles Comiskey, and at their own teammates. Gamblers take advantage of this opportunity to offer some players $ to throw the series (Most of the players didn't get as much as promised.) But Buck Weaver and the great Shoeless Joe Jackson turn back at the last minute to try and play their best. The Sox actually almost come back from a 3-1 deficit. 2 years later, the truth breaks out and the Sox are sued on multiple accounts. They are found innocent by the jury but baseball commissioner Landis has other plans. The eight players are suspended for life, and Buck Weaver, for the rest of his life, tries to clear his name.
Amazon.com
Eliot Asinof's detailed book Eight Men Out illustrates how the system of American sports collapsed in 1919, the year the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series. Filmmaker John Sayles worked on his script years before the 1988 film (or before he had the rights to make the film) as a labor of love. Sayles's adaptation proves one can make a historically accurate film in the day and age of artistic license. And what a story. Although many know about the "Black Sox," made famous--again--in the 1989 hit film Field of Dreams, the details of the saga are far less known. The center of Dreams, Shoeless Joe Jackson (portrayed correctly by D.B. Sweeney as illiterate and left-handed in Eight), is not the core of this film; it's ace pitcher Eddie Cicotte (Sayles favorite David Strathairn), who took the money, and third baseman Buck Weaver (John Cusack), who did not. The film fits nicely into Sayles's (Lone Star) strong suit: the ensemble drama. We are introduced to bickering owners, famous crooks, high-minded judges, lowlife gangsters, investigative reporters (played by Studs Terkel and Sayles himself), and, most of all, players who are at the breaking point when it comes to low salaries and degrading rewards. While some may feel the film is not as visceral as it should be, there is a great amount of verisimilitude when watching finely tuned athletes telling their bodies to play poorly--heartbreak on the nation's diamond. Beautifully detailed (like Sayles's previous labor-drama, Matewan), Eight Men Out gives us powerful lessons in which everyone lost: players, gamblers, and especially the fans who love the game. --Doug Thomas
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| Customer Reviews: Read 56 more reviews...
 8 Men Out is one of the best sports movie of all time and a 5 star DVD May 27, 2009
alex fryling (erie pa)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
There are a lot of great sports movies and I know I might receive some backlash for this but I look at eight men out as the greatest sports movie of all time in my opinion. This is from my point of view because I can relate to the movie more from the gambling aspect. I first really like this movie because it is based on a true story and the one of the biggest sports scandals in history. There is a lot of drama in eight men out and it goes to show you if others are not looking out for you don't mind not looking out for them and stabbing them in the back. That's exactly what the white socks did and cost there team and owner the World Series. Even when the socks tried to get out of the bet they were too far in with the bookies and they already made a commitment and if they turned back now people would be killed. 8 Men Out is filled with up and down moments that will keep you on the edge of your seat. If you pick up this DVD you will not be disappointed.
 One of the best baseball movies of all time February 11, 2009
J. Vaughn (Tennessee USA)
This is one of the best baseball movies of all time.It tells the story of the one of the worst periods of baseball history,up until the present day of "performance enhancing drugs" scandals of today
A Good Baseball Film, But Not Everything Accurate February 9, 2009
Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
This was a well-done account of the famous 1919 Black Sox scandal in Major League baseball many years ago. The movie features an excellent cast and does a nice job of re-creating the era. The music of period is effectively used here, too, as are the interior and exterior of the ballpark.
The most memorable players seemed to be pitcher Eddie Cicotte (David Strathairn) and infielder Buck Weaver (John Cusack). Cicotte, being the ace pitcher on the staff, was the key player involved in fixing the 1919 World Series and Weaver stood out because he was made to look as a totally-innocent player who got unfairly blackballed from pro baseball. At least this is according to John Sayles, who directed the film.
Sayles also shows "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, the most famous player of that scandal, to be just a naive, kind of dumb guy who didn't know what was going on. (However, history records Jackson making an unusual number of throwing errors in the field, which makes him definitely suspect.)
Sayles correctly goes out of his way to make Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey as a notorious tightwad who invited this sort of thing (players taking bribes) by grossly underpaying his players.
Don't take this story as "gospel." Read books about it, for better accuracy.
Black Eye in Baseball November 23, 2008
Michael Patrick Boyd (Waukesha, WI)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Eight Men Out tells the story about one of baseball's darkest days; the 1919 World Series scandal. Eight baseball players from the White Sox team decide to throw the World Series due to the own of the team poor treatment to the players. Though one of them, Buck Weaver, defends his innocents. The movie seems to be true to fact, but it suggests it all took place in the same year. The players were not banned from baseball til the end of the 1920. If nothing else, like the period clothing back then.
If You Are A Baseball Or Movie Fan September 12, 2008
Tim Kelly (Stockton CA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
It is hard to believe that this movie is 20 years old already, it seems like yesterday that it was released, and this disc does it justice.
If you are a baseball fan of any level you probably know of the infamous Black Sox Scandel and the "fix" of the World Series, which rocked the baseball world much like the steroid issue today.
In Eight Men Out, the scandel is chronicled in a first class movie. The acting is superb throughout and the events surrounding the "fix" are well done. When the scandel is placed in the context of how baseball was during those times - players were far from having any power with respect to the owners - the nuances of how and why people reacted the way they did becomes more telling. Not as a justification for their actions, but more for how it could happen.
Even if you are not a baseball fan, this movie stands on its own and the collector's edition is one worth having.
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