For Love of the Game

"For Love of the Game" is not Bull Durham (still the best baseball movie of all time), but it's close. This is thanks to Kevin Costner's ability to live the role he plays in his "baseball days" (and the fact that he doesn't have to do his own stunts from the mound or behind the plate in either movie). The story is straightforward: It's the season's end, and also nearing the end of the career of the protagonist, a pitcher who has been "one of the best" but is now on is last legs in the majors. Loyal to his team (and teammates, as his relationship with his catcher shows). He's one of the "boys of summer". He's equally not the kind of guy you'd want to be dating your daughter. But inserting the "girls" (the wives and girlfriends section is one of the neatest little bits of the movie) makes the movie complete, because it's so schmaltzy but gives the movie a chance to move away from the action on the field to the action in "TVland" where so much of baseball is consumed in the real world today. And our hero is pitching for Detroit against the Yankees. As usual (back then), the Tigers are out of the running for the "post season" but still fierce and snarling against the Yankees as only a Midwesterner can appreciate. And only someone with a rich appreciation of the days back to when Frank Lary and Jim Bunning would dominate the Yankees could fully get this part. The Tigers may not have won many pennants back then, but... From that set up on, the story gets a lot right, bad knees and all. Costner and those he works with know the importance of the relationship between the pitcher and "his" catcher as well as anyone who loves "the national pass time." And the movie also gets as well as any the fierce rivalry between a pro on the mound and the pro in the batter's box. Anyone who has taught Little League and high school players to "pitch inside" knows about this. And about "That's why it's called hard ball!" And so, as the game progresses, the audience, both in the movie and watching here at home, realizes that our protagonist has the chance to pitch the PERFECT GAME. Out by out and inning by inning, the tension builds as only the tension can build during a no-hitter or perfect game, one of the great moments in any sport at any time in history. Of course, because of the insertion of the romantic piece, the end of the game is not completely the end of the movie. But for those of us sentimental about baseball -- and about good baseball movies -- even this works. (For me, better than the panties scene in Bull Durham, actually). Major League players may be men "playing a boy's game," but they are also men -- and not cartoon characters as some baseball movies may make them out to be. So... I'll be watching this movie now and then with my young sons, who are now playing Little League, just as I watched one White Sox perfect game myself and discussed it with my elder son (not an adult, but who had the "love of the game" through high school with a city champion team in Chicago)... And another perfect game that proved to Chicago that the "Perfect Game" also has to be appreciated in context. But that's another story for two movies that haven't yet been made.

This is a wonderful and greatly under-appreciated movie. Perhaps this is because they cut out the crucial scene when his long-time girl friend confronts him with the fact that he has been so safely ensconced in Baseball due to his own great talents that he has never been willing to take the "Risks of a personal Relationship". This scene should have never been deleted from the movie as it explains his internal psychodynamics so clearly. However, this scene may have been cut out precisely because it gets to the heart of the matter. People genereally wish to really know what truly motivates the "Hero" in these movies, and not be left in the dark. Kevin Costner has always been a wonderful athlete and was doing his own pitching in the movie. His baseballs were going 85 miles per hour rather than the 95-110 miles per hour of a professional pitcher but they were curve-balls fastballs and sliders that were right over home plate. His athleticism can be seen in "Dances With Wolves" when, in a very memorable scene he rides his horse Cisco with his arms outstretched laterally past a line of Confederate soldiers "Shooting at him" (Not really, after all these are the movies). He also does his own batting and catching in the baseball catching in "Field Of Dreams" and his own golfing in several over movies. Mr. Costner's great athleticism ans well as as his wonderful acting and the superb performances of the supporting cast in "For Love Of The Game" make it a solidly "Five Star Movie".

Very good movie. Motavational and inspirational.

I am not a baseball fan. I however loved this movie! It is much more than a film about a baseball player. It is a story of romance and the team that supports him is amazing.

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Kevin Costner is just soooo easy on the eyes. When he stars in a baseball movie, well, those are my two favorite things! This film is about how it seems that, frequently, the way to stratospheric greatness in a career means sacrificing everything and everyone else around you. The Tigers' aging pitcher Billy Chapel is doing that, and it frustrates the woman who loves him. There are some cheezy parts in the middle of the film that I think are a result of tight editing more than anything, and Kelly Preston's character Jane is frankly annoying in several scenes: she talks WAY too much. For his part, Billy continually fails to commit to the relationship, which is exhausting and disorienting for Jane. But if you think of the whole movie as from Billy Chapel's perspective, it hits better. His on-field AND off-field life has to be lived in The Zone for him to succeed, and everything else is chatter. The best part of this movie is the self-talk Billy does on the mound, which is what actual pitchers do, and the joyous scenes of baseball games in progress. The fans, the announcers, the Tigers' coaching staff and the Yankees' players all come together in Billy's final game to make a Hallmark Channel ending.

Ok, I will admit up front that I love baseball and that I am very much a fan of Kevin Costner. Having said that, there have been some really good sports movies and many will say this is not one of them but I will politely and firmly disagree. When you come to the end of a career which I did a few years ago after 40 years being fairly good at what I did for a living, those last years bring on a lot of soul searching. For me, as he worked through his life as he worked through the innings of the game, it was very nearly a perfect thing of beauty to see. I love the pace of baseball, the numbers, the rivalries that go back many decades and the elegance of a game that is both simple and very complex at the same time; just like life. He ended his career on a perfect note but even better he finally got it as his team helped him to finish what he could not do alone; he needed them and in the process he figured out what else he needed to really live his life. It does not matter how many times I watch this movie as it always gets to me and likely always will; perhaps I am just an old romantic at heart but I really don't care as I feel better after watching this movie and I like that fact. I know this is not much of a technical review but then again I am not a theater or movie critic. I am simply someone who loves baseball and who likes movies that make me feel better. If you are even roughly the same then there is a fair chance you will enjoy this movie.

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I am a big fan of Kevin Costner’s movies and this is one of my favourites. He is very convincing as a once champion baseball pitcher coming to the end of his career and thinking about what lies ahead for him without the game he loves. I also very much liked the movie soundtrack.

Toller Film über Baseball

JE NE CONNAISSAIS RIEN AU BASSBALL ET J AI REGARDE AVEC BEAUCOUP D ATTENTION ET PLAISIR CE FILM ET KEVIN COSTNER EST PARFAIT COMME TOUJOURS