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Here’s your link for the movie! It’s from a Strange Site, but most internet security experts consider it pretty safe (for streaming; I wouldn’t try downloading). It has no commercials, so no sync issues! Sync issues are a pain on Movie Nights! Start the show at 7:30!
You all know the plot, right? Jim Morris pitches in the minors for a few years (including the Beloit, WI, Brewers), but never makes the bigs. One day, over ten years later, he finds steroids that he can still throw pretty hard, and attempts
to reboot his MLB dreams. With Dennis Quaid, Rachel Griffiths, the great Brian Cox, and a bunch of Kids + Old Country Coots.
The script’s by Mike Rich, a native of Enterprise, OR, and yes I’ve been there. (Lovely, quite remote.) Rich also wrote Radio and Cars 3 and did some uncredited work on Miracle. The director’s one John Lee Hancock, who’s made a lot of “true story” movies.
Generally, when a Hollywood movie says “based on” or “inspired by” a true story, you can take that with a major grain of salt. In Hancock’s case, there’s the ones which are Mostly True (The Founder), Kinda True (The Blind Side, although the real person got zero money from the movie), Largely Bunk (The Alamo) and Not Even Close (Saving Mr. Banks). In the case of The Rookie, think we’re in mostly-true territory. Except, maybe, what the star looks like.
Here’s the real Jim Morris standing next to the real Dennis Quaid at a premiere showing:
Plus, Dennis Quaid was 48 when this came out, and Morris was 35 when he made his baseball comeback. But that’s not really a big deal. Almost all the stuff about the small town characters is made up (except the baseball team), also not really a big deal.
If you like, here’s a mlb.com article from 2023 on the movie-deal details (which is a major part of the movie biz, although the dullest/most depressing part, for me). I did like learning that the real Morris got paid quite nicely for the movie rights; this is good.
Here’s your link again for the movie! Click your clicks at 7:30!
Here’s the upcoming schedule:
February 13: Moneyball (2011)
Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane, and I’m sure Billy Beane wishes he looked like Brad Pitt. Philip Seymour Hoffman is great as always. The Twins beat the A’s! Free on Vimeo; Spanish subtitles you can’t turn off, but they won’t hurt you.
February 20: Back to the Future III (1990)
By request, and because I haven’t seen it since 1990 (when I enjoyed it a lot). Why haven’t I seen it since then? Well, there’s an embarrassing tale… Free on the Strange Site.
February 27: White Men Can’t Jump (1992)
Not baseball, but from Bull Durham writer/director Ron Shelton, and for no real reason I’ve never seen it. So why not watch it with TT friends? Free on the Strange Site.
March 6: The Stratton Story (1949)
James Stewart plays a pitcher who makes the majors, falls in love, then faces intense obstacles. Haven’t seen it, but it’s based on a true story, which in Hollywood means “100% accurate.” Free on the Strange Site.
That schedule isn’t set in stone; if anybody has something they’d like to watch/comment about with others, feel free to suggest it. I’m surprised that almost every Movie Night has gotten at least one person joining in, and I’ve appreciated it a ton.
I strongly feel like we should have the last one be 42, since the first one was The Jackie Robinson Story. I also wanna fit Stop Making Sense in somewhere, because I found a good free link and most of us are rock fans, too. Just to see if anybody else likes the songs.
So, let me know what you think about the upcoming schedule, if you wish! Hope some folks enjoy this one!
