Death of a salesman

Rating: 6/10 (8 April 2008)

Gil Renard's passion for baseball consumes him. In fact, the sport he loves seems to get the best of him. His own marriage has failed dismally; he is involved in an acrimonious divorce and his son seems to have taken to the new man in his mother's life. Gil, who is a sporting knives salesman, has problems with his clients to the point that his boss has no other alternative than to get rid of him.
What is Gil supposed to do? When his idol, Bobby Rayburn is hired for the San Francisco Giants, as an outfielder, Gil feels his team will have a chance for the pennant. His obsession will get the best of him. He even tries to influence another player into switching uniform numbers with his new idol. When all that fails, Gil decides to take a different path and ends up stalking Rayburn with terrible consequences.
"The Fan", directed by Tony Scott starts on an upbeat note. The film based on a Peter Abrahams book we didn't read, with a screenplay by Phoef Sutton, plays well until it has Gil Renard going nuts when his whole world crumbles.
Robert Deniro, under Mr. Scott's direction, does what he can to the script that has him playing the deranged Gil in ways that doesn't help the film. It's fun to watch Mr. Deniro impersonating Gil Renard, whose passion for the American pastime ruins his life. We get a hint of how he got involved in the sport at the end of the movie. Wesley Snipes makes one of the best appearances of his career. In minor roles we see a wasted Ellen Barkin, Benicio del Toro and John Leguizamo, among others.
This is a film for Mr. Deniro's fans.