Talent for the Game

Talent for the Game
DVD cover
Directed by	Robert M. Young
Produced by	Martin Elfand
Written by	David Himmelstein Thomas Michael Donnelly Larry Ferguson
Starring	Edward James Olmos Lorraine Bracco
Music by	David Newman
Cinematography	Curtis Clark
Edited by	Arthur Coburn
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	April 26, 1991
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$336,396[1]

Talent for the Game is a 1991 film about a baseball scout, directed by Robert M. Young. It starred Edward James Olmos and Lorraine Bracco, in her first film after Goodfellas, with Terry Kinney, Jamey Sheridan, and Jeff Corbett as co-stars.

Scenes were filmed on the Palouse in the small town of Genesee, Idaho,^[2][3][4][5] between Lewiston and Moscow, and nearby Garfield, Washington.

After a disappointing debut in a limited number of theaters in Florida,^[5] it went quickly to video.

Plot summary

Virgil Sweet (Olmos) is a veteran baseball scout for the California Angels. He is in danger of losing his life's work because the Angels' new owner, Gil Lawrence (Kinney), is unhappy with the farm system and threatening to eliminate the team's scouts.

Virgil hasn't discovered a great young prospect for quite a while. One day, when the car that he and girlfriend Bobbie (Bracco), who also is employed by the team, are driving breaks down on a rural road, Virgil happens upon a country boy named Sammy Bodeen (Corbett) who has a pitching arm worthy of the major leagues.

Greeted back in Anaheim with considerable skepticism, Virgil arranges a tryout for Sammy. The boy is wild at first and Virgil's great find appears to be a big joke. Once he calms down, however, Sammy proves to have everything it takes to make it big.

Team management, desperate for a new star, immediately begins to overplay the arrival of Sammy with wildly overblown hype. A public-relations blitz promotes the boy as baseball's next great star, even though he has yet to throw a pitch in a big-league game. By the time Sammy takes the mound for his first Angels game, expectations are so high that he cannot possibly live up to them.

He is roughed up by opponents in the first inning, humiliating the owner and making fans furious. But, gradually, with a surprise assist from Virgil on the field, Sammy settles down and begins to look like a star in the making.

Cast

Edward James Olmos as Virgil Sweet Lorraine Bracco as Bobbie John E. Coleman as Angels Coach Jeff Corbett as Sammy Bodeen Jamey Sheridan as Tim Weaver Terry Kinney as Gil Lawrence Thomas Ryan as Paul Felton Perry as Fred Tom Bower as Rev. Bodeen

Janet Carroll as Rachel Bodeen Daniel A. Haro as Burns Murphy Sua as Dick Bortner David Riley as Toby Curry James Keane as Ray Coffey Zachary I. Young as Rudy Coffey Dennis Boutsikaris as Greg Rossi Leslie Bevis as Marla John Yajko as Riggs[6]

References

1. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=talentforthegame.htm
2. Harriman, Peter (July 18, 1990). "Our own 'Field of Dreams'". Idahonian. Moscow. p. A1.
3. Harriman, Peter (August 9, 1990). "Talent for 'Americana'". Idahonian. Moscow. p. 1A.
4. "Cameras will draw a crowd". Spokane Chronicle. Associated Press. July 30, 1990. p. A2.
5. "Palouse baseball movie strikes out in Florida". Idahonian. Moscow. Associated Press. May 25, 1991. p. A1.
6. Johnson, Carla K. (August 26, 1990). "Man's looks bring him fame". Spokesman-Review. p. B2.

External links

• Talent for the Game at the Internet Movie Database