Buck on movie sports coaches

[Just Regular]

http://www.esquire.com/sports/interviews/a39756/buck-showalter-thinks-moneyball-blows/

He gave Esquire an interview for their movie coach playoffs.

[Palmoripken]

I liked Moneyball but it really I think oversimplified the reality of those early 2000's A's. I love The Sandlot and Field of Dreams. The Major League series is fun especially fun Bob Uecker as Harry Doyle.

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[scOtt]

I liked Bull Durham. The coach throwing bats "Lolligaggers!" is unrealistic. Tipping pitches to hitters to train the pitcher. The whole Annie thing. All Hollywood. But a ML team keeping an old minor leaguer to talk some sense into a hot young prospect, then dumping him after the prospect is called up, THAT is realistic.

[Frobby]

I feel the same way about lawyer movies that Buck feels about baseball movies. The genre just can't capture the everyday grind of the job -- it would be too long and boring. So you make a comic book version and put it on the screen.

In terms of movie baseball managers, give me Wilford Brimley in The Natural. Not that he's particularly realistic, I just like the character.

[NCRaven]

Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) in Bad News Bears. Now that was real!!

[spiritof66]

I've never been able to understand why anyone who has seen Bang the Drum Slowly doesn't think that's the best baseball movie ever made. I would be interested in Buck's take on Vincent Gardenia's portrayal of Mammoths manager Dutch Schnell in that film.

[Frobby]

I've never been able to understand why anyone who has seen Bang the Drum Slowly doesn't think that's the best baseball movie ever made. I would be interested in Buck's take on Vincent Gardenia's portrayal of Mammoths manager Dutch Schnell in that film.

I don't think it did very well at the box office, and it is rarely on TV. I've never seen it, which is indicative, since naturally I will see almost any movie about baseball. I can't remember the last time I was flipping through the TV listings and saw that was going to be on.

[Number5]

[video=youtube;cx2Sps9aMcY]

[Slappy]

Moneyball was complete fiction. Everybody knows looking back what a bad thing Moneyball was. It didn't work. That's why they changed everything. The way they depicted it was all Hollywood.

What do you think Buck means here? The movie didn't work or the strategy?

[SteveO]

I was like 20 when Field Of Dreams came out and for some reason, that movie just captured something special about the relationship between baseball and not only the average individual, but the nation as well.

I thought Sugar was an excellent film also.

[Tony-OH]

Jimmy Dugan played by Tom Hanks in "A League of their own" is my favorite manager portrayal. i love his transformation in the movie and of course Hanks was perfect for the role.

[spiritof66]

I don't think it did very well at the box office, and it is rarely on TV. I've never seen it, which is indicative, since naturally I will see almost any movie about baseball. I can't remember the last time I was flipping through the TV listings and saw that was going to be on.

Bang the Drum Slowly really is a very good movie. It just feels more like baseball (this is '50s/early '60s baseball) than any other movie I've seen. Roger Ebert agrees: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bang-the-drum-slowly-1973 (Spoiler alert: Ebert describes most of the plot.) I know some non-baseball fans think it's a little too slow.

The movie's very funny, but the ending will lead you to think about your own life in ways that won't include laughing.

Bang the Drum Slowly is adapted from an even better novella (by Mark Harris). But if you're thinking about reading the book, first read The Southpaw, a longer and earlier Harris book in which many of the characters are introduced.

[OFFNY]

o

Eight Men Out was my favorite movie ever, and easily one of the most underrated sports movies ever (in my rat's ass of an opinion.)

It could have been even better than it was, but John Sayles was working with such a limited budget that he was not permitted to let it go one second beyond 2 hours (including the opening and closing credits), so he had to cut a few corners in regard to explaining all of the aspects of the entire story.

[CP0861]

Let's not forget ole Lou Brown.

And I completely agree with Buck about Redford in The Natural....he did look like a decent ballplayer and that does make a difference.

And I also agree about For the Love of the Game. I thought that movie was underrated.....but Costner got into a funk with too many 3 hour movies, but I'm one of the few that actually liked them I guess. Wyatt Earp > Tombstone.

[Tony-OH]

Let's not forget ole Lou Brown.

And I completely agree with Buck about Redford in The Natural....he did look like a decent ballplayer and that does make a difference.

And I also agree about For the Love of the Game. I thought that movie was underrated.....but Costner got into a funk with too many 3 hour movies, but I'm one of the few that actually liked them I guess. Wyatt Earp > Tombstone.

Without getting off subject and with all due respect, did you really just say Wyatt Earp was better than Tombstone? Not even in the same ball park in my opinion. Tombstone is one of my top 5 movies of all time and still one of those movies when it comes on and you catch it half way through, you know you are going to finish watching it!

As for a "Love of the Game", I liked it as well. Costner always looks like a ball player and although ti was slow at times, the baseball scenes were some of the best depicted on film in my opinion.