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The Scout (1994)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 8/25

Scout
8/25: Sometimes, a thespian tries everything to save the film but ends up being overwhelmed.

That's the case for Albert Brooks in The Scout. I can see his performance working well, yet Brendan Fraser drowns it by being too weird. Had the latter been less so, the movie might have succeeded.

While at that, the editing for the baseball scenes needs a lot of work. It's obvious that Brendan Fraser barely threw or hit anything because the middle had been cut out. So...his character pitches 81 straight strikes to retire 27 batters in a row? Yeah, right.

Is the film racist early on? Probably yeah given that a scout goes to Mexico and discovers a baseball phenom who happens to be white. It'll be better to cast somebody like Fernando Valenzuela. On the other hand, the therapy stuff is hardly delved into; in fact, I don't know why it matters since mental illness exists among current athletes, especially in the NFL. To avoid that issue, all they have to do is produce consistently.

Meanwhile, George Steinbrenner isn't bad. In fact, this is the only time he had a role this large in his entire life. Therefore, Seinfeld made the mistake by using a fake guy instead of him. Unfortunately, I'm forced to put up with Bob Costas' obnoxiousness. The stuff he said during Game One of the World Series had me wanting to press the mute button.

A couple of names are mentioned. The first is Jimmy Piersall. He played for the Red Sox among five teams and had a confirmed case of bipolar disorder. A movie was made based on him, and it's called Fear Strikes Out with Anthony Perkins. The second is Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He pitched a perfect game on May 26, 1959, against Milwaukee for twelve innings and then lost the game by the score of 1-0 with only one hit. Decades later, somebody from the Brewers admitted the team stole signals from Haddix's catcher and relayed the information to each hitter at bat with the exception of Hank Aaron.

All in all, The Scout is an okay baseball film.