Good Baseball; Bad Movie

Rating: Null/10 (6 May 2000)

The baseball sequences are as good as any I have seen in a movie, but the rest is as bad as any movie I have seen. Unfortunatley the baseball part is not enough to make this a movie which could be recommended. I have read the book and thought it too was a good book though not great which concentrated on the character of Billy Chapel as a baseball player and as an individual. The relationship with his girl friend was not as elaborate or complicated as that shown in the movie, but did depict him as someone who was dedicated to his baseball career, and though a decent human being did not really need anything or anyone else. I saw this movie on DVD and the best part was the extras added about how the movie was made and the short film about Babe Ruth. It did not seem to have any connection with the movie, but to a dedicated old time baseball fan was quite interesting. What surprised me most was the fact that Costner did all of the pitching himself and in this manner aquitted himself as a good baseball actor though his acting in the other love sequences was not as convincing.