Major League (film)

Major League

Directed by David S. Ward
Produced by Chris Chesser
Irby Smith
Written by David S. Ward
Starring
Music by James Newton Howard
Cinematography Reynaldo Villalobos
Edited by Dennis M. Hill
Production
company
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates
  • April 7, 1989 (1989-04-07)
Running time
 106 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $11 million
Box office $49.8 million

Major League is a 1989 American sports comedy film produced by Chris Chesser and Irby Smith, written and directed by David S. Ward, that stars Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, James Gammon, Bob Uecker, and Corbin Bernsen. Made for $11 million, Major League grossed nearly $50 million in domestic release.[2] Major League deals with the exploits of a fictionalized version of the Cleveland Indians baseball team and spawned two sequels (Major League II and Back to the Minors), neither of which replicated the success of the original film.

Plot

Former Las Vegas showgirl Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton) has inherited the Cleveland Indians baseball team from her deceased husband. Phelps has received a lucrative deal to move the team to Miami, and she aims to trigger the escape clause in the team's contract with Cleveland if season attendance falls below minimum levels. To do this, she replaces their existing players with aging veterans and inexperienced rookies, hoping a bad team will cause attendance to decline. Phelps hires Lou Brown, a former coach from the Toledo Mud Hens to manage the team.

During spring training in Tucson, Brown and veteran catcher and ex-womanizer Jake Taylor discover the new team has a number of interpersonal issues as well as their own struggles with the game, such as the prima donna nature of Roger Dorn, the only player on a long-term contract with the Indians, and the weak arm of veteran pitcher Eddie Harris who is forced to doctor his pitches to stay competitive. The new players besides Jake Taylor who has bad knee problems and was an all-star in Boston, who ended up in the Mexican League, Prima Donna and wealthy Roger Dorn has big plans when he retires so he doesn't get involve in the game a lot, Pedro Cerrano voodoo king and Power Hitter from Cuba has trouble hitting the curve ball, aging pitcher Eddie Harris, Rick "the Wild Thing" Vaughn is an ex-car thief and ex-con who played for the California Penal League and Willie Mays Hayes who wasn't invited to Spring Training but got himself in since Lou sees his running power and has trouble not hitting fly balls. The team starts the season on a losing streak. Their pitcher, Ricky Vaughn, has an incredible fastball but with little control, leading him to be called "Wild Thing"; however, by chance, Brown discovers Vaughn has eyesight problems, and when they fit him with glasses, his pitching drastically improves, helping the Indians to a series of wins. The team rallies, bringing the Indians higher in the division standings. Phelps tries to demoralize the team by taking away their luxuries such as a private jet, but the team still holds strong, and appears to have a shot at winning the division. Meanwhile, Taylor finds that his ex-girlfriend Lynn is living in Cleveland, and tries to get her to come back to him even after learning she has become engaged to a new beau.

When Phelps' original plan falls through, she decides that she will purposely void the contract, despite the financial penalty, and will move the team to Miami regardless. Get rid of the loser players and Brown, once they reach dead last and get real players. Donovan relays this to Brown, who informs the team that no matter how well they do, they will be fired after the season. So, they decide to win the whole thing and win the Division and reach the American League Championship so Phelps can't move the team or throw them out. The team succeeds in tying the division with the New York Yankees, leading to a one-game playoff to determine the title. In the playoff in Cleveland, the Yankees take an early lead but Pedro Cerrano is able to overcome his inability to hit a curveball, hitting out a home run to tie the game. In the top of the 9th, with the bases loaded, Vaughn manages to strike out the Yankees best hitter, sending the Indians up to bat.

With the game tied and the Indians with two outs, the speedy Willie Mays Hayes manages a single to get on base, and then steals second. Taylor steps up, and after signalling to Brown, calls his shot to center field. With the Yankees prepared for the long play, Taylor instead bunts, allowing Hayes to make it to home safely and win the game. As the team celebrates, Taylor sees Lynn in the stands, no longer wearing her engagement ring. The two rush to hug each other as the city celebrates the victory.

Alternate ending

The theatrical release's ending includes Rachel Phelps, apparently unable to move the team because of increased attendance, angry and disappointed about the team's success. An alternate ending on the "Wild Thing Edition" DVD shows a very different characterization of Phelps.[3] Lou tenders his resignation and tells Phelps that he can't in good conscience work for her after she sought to sabotage the team for her own personal gain. Phelps then tells him that, in fact, she loves the Indians and never intended to move them. However, when she inherited the club from her late husband, it was on the brink of bankruptcy. Unable to afford top flight players, she decided to take a chance on unproven players from the lower leagues, whom she personally scouted, and talented older players who were generally considered washed up. She tells Lou that she likewise felt that he was the right manager to bring the ragtag group together.

Phelps conceived the Miami scheme and adopted a catty, vindictive persona to unify and motivate the team. As the players believed that she wanted the Indians to fail, she was able to conceal that the team could not afford basic amenities such as chartered jet travel behind a veil of taking them away to spite the players.

Lou does not resign, but Phelps reasserts her authority by saying that if he shares any part of their conversation with anyone, she will fire him.

This alternate ending was actually the original ending and was filmed and shown to test screening audiences before the movie's release. The producers said that although the twist ending worked as a resolution to the plot, they scrapped it after preview audiences responded negatively, preferring the Phelps character as a villain.

Cast

Roster

Cleveland Indians (Major League)
Roster
Pitchers
  • 33 Matthew Bushnell
  • 10 Eddie Harris
  • 40 Jeremy Keltner
  • 26 Seth Lindberg
  • 44 Nathan Mosser
  • 28 Troy Pearson
  • 45 Chris Schindler
  • 37 Blake Stocker
  • 99 Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn
Catchers
  •  2 Mitchell Friedman
  •  7 Jake Taylor

Infielders

  • 12 Mario Crespi
  • 24 Roger Dorn
  • 23 Charles Graham
  • 48 Sammy Huffman
  • 21 Matt Kuntz
  • 20 Donnie Larson
  • 30 A.J. Metcalf
  • 15 Toby Reyna
Outfielders
  • 27 Brian Campi
  • 13 Pedro Cerrano
  • 14 Lee Van Dyke
  • 00 Willie Mays Hayes
  • 38 Dale Tomlinson
Manager
  • 34 Lou Brown

Coaches

  • 16 Pepper Leach
  •  8 Duke Temple

Production

Development

The film's opening montage is a series of somber blue-collar images of the Cleveland landscape synchronized to the score of Randy Newman's "Burn On": an ode to the infamous night in Cleveland when the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River caught fire.

Despite being set in Cleveland, the film was principally shot in Milwaukee because it was cheaper and the producers were unable to work around the schedules of the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Browns. Milwaukee County Stadium, then the home of the Brewers (and three Green Bay Packers games per season), doubles as Cleveland Stadium for the film, although several exterior shots of Cleveland Stadium were used, including some aerial shots taken during an Indians game. In fact, the sign for the TV station atop the scoreboard is for WTMJ, the NBC affiliate for Milwaukee. One of the ending scenes of the movie is in West Milwaukee's legendary restaurant, 4th Base which showcases their unique horseshoe bar that is shown in the celebration scenes. Another restaurant scene, at the then Gritz Pazazz on Milwaukee's north side, is no longer open for business. Both facilities have since been demolished: the playing field of County Stadium is now a Little League baseball field known as Helfaer Field, while the rest of the former site is now a parking lot for the Brewers' new home, Miller Park; the new Cleveland Browns Stadium, a football-only facility owned by the City of Cleveland and used by the Browns, sits on the site of its predecessor.[4]

Casting

The film was notable for featuring several actors who would go on to stardom: Snipes and Russo were relative unknowns before the movie was released, while Haysbert remained best known as Pedro Cerrano until he portrayed US President David Palmer on the television series 24.

The film also featured former Major League players, including 1982 American League Cy Young Award winner Pete Vuckovich as Yankees first baseman Clu Haywood, former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Willie Mueller as the Yankees pitcher Duke Simpson, known as "The Duke", and former Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Steve Yeager as third-base coach Duke Temple. Former catcher and longtime Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker played the Indians' broadcaster Harry Doyle. The names of several crewmembers were also used for peripheral players.

Sheen himself was a pitcher on his high school's baseball team. At the time of filming Major League, his own fastball topped out at 85 miles per hour. (In 2011, Sheen said that he had used steroids for nearly two months to improve his athletic abilities in the film.)[5]

Release

Box office

The film debuted at No. 1 at the box office.[6] The movie had a mostly positive reception.[7][8][9] It has an 82% "fresh" rating on review website Rotten Tomatoes based on 38 reviews, with trade magazine Variety calling it "sheer crowd pleasing fun".

Due to the success of the film, two sequels have been produced - neither of which achieved the original's success. Major League II returned most of the original stars, with the notable exception of Wesley Snipes, and focused on the following season and the players' reaction to the previous season's success. This movie cost $25M and grossed $30.6M. Major League: Back to the Minors again starred Corbin Bernsen, but this time, as the owner of the Minnesota Twins, attempting to turn around the Twins' AAA team, the Buzz. This movie cost $46M and grossed only $3.6M. A possible third sequel, Major League 3, was reported in 2010 to be in development by original writer and producer David S. Ward. Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, and Snipes would return, with the plot revolving around Ricky Vaughn coming out of retirement to work with a young player.[10] In 2015, Morgan Creek Productions announced that the sequel was still in the works.[11]

Accolades

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

In popular culture

When he joined the Cubs in 1989 (the same year the film was released), pitcher Mitch Williams' extravagant wind-up and release, and his frequent wild pitches, earned him the nickname "Wild Thing." As with Rick Vaughn's character, the Wrigley Field organist played "Wild Thing" as Williams came out of the bullpen. A few years later, in 1993 with the Phillies, Williams started wearing the number 99 on his jersey, the same number that Vaughn wears in the film.[13]

In the years since its release Major League has become a beloved film of many professional baseball players and announcers, and is often referenced during game broadcasts. For example, in 2014, for the film's 25th anniversary, Major League catcher David Ross filmed a one-man tribute to the film, with Ross playing the part (among others) of Lou Brown, Pedro Cerrano, Willie Mays Hayes, Rick Vaughn, and Roger Dorn.[14] Additionally, as part of their 2014 "Archives" set, the trading card company Topps celebrated the film's 25th anniversary by creating baseball cards (using the same design as the company's 1989 base set) of Roger Dorn, Jake Taylor, Eddie Harris, Rachel Phelps, Rick Vaughn, and "Jobu."[15]

Soon after the films 25th anniversary in 2015, the character Jobu (Pedro Cerrano's voodoo figure) was immortalized and produced by a company called "The Jobu Lifestyle." The packaging is a reference to Cerrano's locker that made up Jobu's shrine.[16][17]

The film became an inspiration for the real Cleveland Indians and the city, given the previously long-standing Cleveland sports curse that had left Cleveland without any sporting championships in between 1964 and 2016 (when the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers won their first title in their 46-year history). Ironically, the Indians reached the 2016 World Series, but lost in heartbreaking fashion to Ross and the similarly cursed Cubs, surrendering a 3-1 lead in the series. Between 1995 and 2016, the team reached the playoff several times and went to the World Series thrice, though losing each time.[3]

Game adaptation

Major League was made into and released as a sports video game, developed by Lenar and published by Irem, exclusively for the NES in Japan in 1989.[18]

References

  1. ↑ "MAJOR LEAGUE (15)". British Board of Film Classification. July 6, 1989. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  2. ↑ "boxofficemojo.com". Box Office Mojo: Major League. Retrieved May 27, 2006.
  3. 1 2 Cronin, Brian (July 20, 2010). "The film Major League originally had a dramatic twist at the end involving the team's owner.". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Major League - Wild Thing Edition". DVD Talk. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
  5. ↑ Marianne Garvey (June 29, 2011). "Charlie Sheen used steroids during 'Major League'". msnbc.com. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
  6. ↑ Easton, Nina J. (April 11, 1989). "WEEKEND BOX OFFICE : 'Major League' Wins Season Opener". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 15, 2012.
  7. ↑ Thomas, Kevin (April 7, 1989). "Movie Reviews : 'Major League' in a League by Itself". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
  8. ↑ James, Caryn (April 7, 1989). "Reviews/Film; Idiocies and Idiosyncrasies Of Bungling Ballplayers". The New York Times. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
  9. ↑ Corliss, Richard (April 24, 1989). "Cinema: Don't Run: One Hit, One Error". Time. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
  10. ↑ "Sheen returning for third 'Major League'? - Movies News". Digital Spy. June 23, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
  11. ↑ Jagernauth, Kevin (September 24, 2015). "Remakes Of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Exorcist, and Major League In the Works". Indiewire. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  12. ↑ "AFI's 10 Top 10 Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-19.
  13. ↑ Although, according to an interview on the The Dan Patrick Show (October 22, 2008), Williams' number change had nothing to do with the Major League film. Williams said he had wanted the number 99 for years because of his admiration for the football player Mark Gastineau, who also wore number 99. Williams said that he did not change his number until 1993 because that was his first chance to do it.
  14. ↑ "Ross recreates 'Major League'," MLB.com (April 2, 2014).
  15. ↑ "Major League 25th Anniversary Wax Pack," Topps official website. Accessed February 18, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Arizona Childhood Friends Recreate Major League's Jobu," AZ Central. Accessed April 16, 2015.
  17. ↑ "There's a Company Exclusively Selling Licensed Jobu Figurines from Major League," Cleveland Scene. Accessed April 16, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Game profile page from Gamefaqs,"] Retrieved August 30, 2016.

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