SnoopyStyle
California Angels scout Virgil Sweet (Edward James Olmos) goes down a mine shaft to try out a pitcher. He travels all over looking for the next phenom. His girlfriend Bobbie (Lorraine Bracco) also works for the team. New owner Gil Lawrence is going to fire every scout in the field. While Virgil is on the road with Bobbie, his car breaks down and they encounter Sammy Bodeen pitching in a dusty town. Sammy's parents allow him to go with Virgil to L.A. His mother asks Virgil to look out for him. Sammy impresses with his 102 mph fastball and Lawrence rushes him to start for the promotional opportunity.Edward James Olmos has such a stand up persona that when he starts to lose his way, it's actually quite disconcerting. Of course, it's Olmos and he cannot be anything but a stand up guy. He and Bracco have a fun older chemistry. On the other hand, Jeff Corbett is not much of an actor or at least not in this movie. It's his theatrical debut. Maybe he was an athlete-turned-actor. The big baseball game is a bit hokey. The whole movie is a bit hokey but that is sometimes baseball.
Pepper Anne
the appeal of this movie, aside from the standard cliché of the underdog and the principled hero, may be in its star, edward james olmos who gives a fine performance as baseball talent scout, virgil sweet. facing the possible end to a career and last brush with professional baseball, fate leads him to discover a great pitcher, sammy bodeen (jeff corbett) who he takes from an idyllic idaho town to playing for the California angels. of course, as the cliché goes, all of the odds are against sweet and especially bodeen, who everyone adores as the new hope for a poorly performing team, but in the end whom everyone doubts really has the talent for the game.while a nicely acted little film held together by the strength of its star in particular, there is little substance to this movie for someone seeking a more action-packed baseball drama. the movie centers largely on sweet's dynamics and as such, takes a long time to generate something more than just sweet auditioning players on the one hand and contemplating the future of his career on the other. even the final stages of the film, in which the team's new owner threatens young bodeen's chances to really prove himself, hardly offer much of a real climax but instead feel like the point of a movie where you expected the events to occur as they did as though there were not any other real way to wrap up the movie.it is a nice little time waster especially for olmos fans, but the film doesn't offer much meat on the bone.
salorkent
I suppose I could be prejudiced in commenting on this movie, since I was a member of the cast ... however, my scene ended up on the cutting room floor (fairly typical) and since I was scared to death when I filmed it and was just shy of awful, I hope you'll cut me some slack! Edward James Olmos is good, Lorraine Bracco gave some zip to an otherwise marginal role. Using real-life location settings in my beautiful home state of Washington, as well as Cour D'Alene, Idaho, adds some spectacle and reality to what is, admittedly, a somewhat clichéd story. But then again, so is just about every other baseball movie I've seen, and yet I love 'em all. Perhaps the most cogent part of the story is the battle between corporate greed and the simple love of the sport, which Olmos portrays well. He is an excellent actor (and I'm happy he's found success with Battlestar Galactica.) This movie had a very limited theatrical release and was rushed to video shortly thereafter. If you really love baseball, and in particular if you dislike the way the sport (and many other sports, too) has been sullied by big bucks, I think you'll enjoy it. Oh, and Olmos was a real gentleman to the rest of the cast, something I'll always appreciate. You'll have to overlook plot devices (in that, it makes me think of "It Happens Every Spring") and you won't have the awe-making spectacle of "Field of Dreams." What you get is a mostly realistic depiction of the sport, and the hope that beats eternal that another "phenom" is about to make an appearance.
gaalpert
I read everyone's reviews and they were all pretty accurate. Each person will take something different from this movie. If you ever wanted to be a pro ball player you might relate more to Virgil's character and desires. Overall I gave it a strong numeric rating due to Olmos' unsung performance and Bracco's. Traditionally this is the basically a repeated story but the twist in this is the scout's desire to essentially play one time in the majors and feel the glow of the experience. That is a bit of a different perspective than what has been utilized in the past. The rest of the story and supporting cast are just that, supporting. But they do it well to make a rather enjoyable film. I would certainly put it in my top ten of baseball related movies with a strong human element intertwined throughout the storyline.Enjoy.
AD
