Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, and Corbin Bernsen in ‘Major League’

“There’s a red moon rising…On the Cuyahoga River…Rolling into Cleveland to the lake.” Ostensibly, that introduction with the movie Major League (1989) introduced a city and a nation thirty years ago this week to the notion, with the hypothetical start of a new baseball season, to the notion that Cleveland and the Indians were lovable losers worthy of hope, success, and a rebound to be immortalized with humor against some heavy odds.

(Margaret Whitton, left, and Charles Cyphers in Major League).

Opening Major League was the love song, Burn On, to Cleveland, Ohio. Performed by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Randy Newman, the song establishes a feeling of place and desperation matched soon after by the litany of despair that was the town’s baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. A lengthy run without a world championship is spelled out, followed by a long run of consecutive losing seasons with a dwindling fan base. We then meet team owner Rachel Phelps (played by Margaret Whitton), who is intent on running the team into the ground so the team can move to Miami. General Manager Charlie Donovan (played by Charles Cyphers). is drafted to help the effort.

(James Gammon as manager Lou Brown, formerly of the Toledo Mud Hens, in Major League).

We get to meet the ragtag band of misfits with manager Lou Brown, as played by James Gammon, at their spring training facility in Tucson, Arizona. We meet washed up catcher Jake Taylor (played by Tom Berenger), convicted car thief and pitcher Ricky Vaughn (played by Charlie Sheen), and overpaid and poor performing third baseman Roger Dorn (played by Corbin Bernsen).

(Corbin Bernsen, left, Charlie Sheen, center, and Tom Berenger in Major League).

A large portion of the movie’s storytelling around the clubhouse, interpersonal conflicts and all, revolved around these players three players in moving from a ragtag bunch of misfits that later defy the intentions of the team owner to make a run at a division title. Jake follows-up with Lynn Wells (played by Renee Russo) while Ricky needs to grow up while getting needled by Roger. Hijinks ensue.

(Renee Russo as librarian Lynn Wells, love interest to Jake Taylor, in Major League).

Cuban refugee Pedro Cerrano, as played by Dennis Heysbert, has the distinct personality of a Cuban refugee and Voodoo practitioner seeking help hitting curveballs from a made-up idol named Jobu. Long before becoming President Palmer in the television series 24 (2001-2010) or a spokesman for an insurance company, Haysbert at Cerrano played a power hitter that offered comic relief of his own accord as well as through his relationship with pitcher Eddie Harris.

(Dennis Haysbert as power hitting Pedro Cerrano, voodoo practitioner and Cuban refugee, in Major League).

Eddie Harris was a curmudgeonly older pitcher played by Chelcie Ross. Besides taking a pro-Christianity bent against the improperly portrayed voodoo of Cerrano, the bag of ice offered in the image of Harris below immediately follows an offering of rum and cigars Cerrano made to Jobu to help Cerrano hit better. Harris is clubbed in the head with a bat, ostensibly in retribution for swiping the rum. Much fun is had with regards to Harris cheating as a means of continuing his career.

(Chelcie Ross as veteran junk ball pitcher Eddie Harris in Major League).

Wesley Snipes plays the character Willie Mays Hayes, a rookie that essentially walked onto the team without an invitation to Spring Training. Willie offers a high spirited and enthusiastic personality that is endearing to those who want him to succeed, as in fans of the Indians‘ team he was portraying in Major League. Hayes runs afoul of manager Lou Brown and the team early in the movie, opponents in spring training, and later becomes a player of much appreciation of fans within the movie.

(Wesley Snipes as base stealing rookie Willie Mays Hayes in Major League).

The arc of the 1989 season portrayed in the movie is best described for the “fans” through the feelings and experiences of radio announcer Harry Doyle. Bob Uecker plays Doyle, and gives voice to the struggle of the slow starting season, the struggles of Ricky Vaughn in becoming “Wild Thing” for the fans, and then the ascending ballclub that was up and coming to a chance for the playoffs. The corner on that larger narrative comes as the team has a chance to play themselves into the playoffs against the Yankees when Vaughn comes into to a version of The Troggs song Wild Thing as used in the movie.

(Bob Uecker as radio commentator Harry Doyle in Major League).

Major League is an irreverent yet fun look into the workings of a baseball clubhouse circa 1989. The team chosen for that story was the Cleveland Indians, with a bit of love offered to the fans of the team and the city, Cleveland, that had and has long suffered for the want of a successful baseball club. The movie gets 3.75-stars from me on a scale of one-to-five stars. In the words of the Randy Newman song that started the movie, “Burn on, big river, burn on.”

Matt – Saturday, March 30, 2019

Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones and ‘The Fugitive’

Are you looking for a well told, action filled, star studded movie to watch this weekend? I suggest seeking The Fugitive (1993), a movie that tells the story of Dr. Richard Kimble, a man unjustly accused of murdering his wife. Kimble escapes prison in accidental circumstances, after which he sets out to find the real killer while being the target of a nationwide manhunt led by a seasoned U.S. Marshal.

(Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive).

Harrison Ford stars as Dr. Richard Kimble, the namesake of the movie who starts the movie being unjustly convicted of murdering his wife. Helen Kimble is played by Sela Ward, who we meet after her death in the form of memories offered to the audience through the memory of her husband. The larger story of the hunt for tracking Dr. Kimble starts after a prisoner transport fails miserably thanks to efforts of other inmates to initiate an escape.

(Harrison Ford, left, and Sela Ward in The Fugitive).

Tommy Lee Jones plays Samuel Gerard, a seasoned United States Marshall tasked with the effort to bring Richard Kimble to justice following Kimble’s escape. Jones won an Academy Award for his portrayal, which served a strong role and counterpoint within the search and larger narrative that were strong within this film.

(Joe Pantoliano, left,  Tommy Lee Jones, center, and Daniel Roebuck in The Fugitive).

Two deputy United States Marshalls on the task force aiming to catch Richard Kimble were Cosmo Renfro, as played by Joe Pantoliano, and Robert Biggs, as played by Daniel Roebuck. Through multiple near captures over the course of the film, what the story underpinning The Fugitive gives us is the thrill of the hunt combined with the drama and mystery of Dr. Richard Kimble’s efforts to offer the proof that will grant him his exoneration.

(Tommy Lee Jones, left, and Julianne Moore in The Fugitive).

Julianne Moore as Dr. Anne Eastman figures into part of the effort aimed at almost capturing Dr. Richard Kimble. Kimble finds his way into a hospital with false credentials as a janitor, wherein he commences a search for information that can offer proof around who might have had motive and opportunity to profit from silencing Kimble. During these efforts, Kimble intercedes on the behalf of a patient under the care of Eastman at a hospital.

(Andreas Katsulas as Fredrick Sykes in The Fugitive).

The initial investigation that Dr. Kimble uncovers as part of his attempted exoneration is the identity of the one-armed man that he, Kimble, has argued is responsible for the death of Helen Kimble. Making this identification leads Richard Kimble to a further drug trial that leads to his friend, schoolmate, and colleague Dr. Charles Nichols. Jeroen Krabbé portrayed Dr. Nichols.

(Jeroen Krabbé as Dr. Charles Nichols in The Fugitive).

Suspense and intrigue are full blown, well-orchestrated qualities of The Fugitive. Writing credits for the movie went to Jeb Stuart, David Twohy, and Roy Huggins. The execution of this chase thriller movie is among the best created, in my humble opinion. It is for this reason that I offer the The Fugitive 4.0-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars.

Matt – Saturday, March 02, 2019