Fear Strikes Out
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Movie Reviews of Fear Strikes Out
Movie Review: Demons on the Diamond
Summary: 4 Stars
This is not supposed to happen in professional sports, with our heroes who wear the uniforms of our home team....right?
Director Robert Mulligan tackles what remains a delicate issue, mental illness - bipolar disorder - of an athlete, in this 1957 release based on the nervous breakdown of Boston Red Sox player Jimmy Piersall and his struggle to get back to the major leagues while confronting his personal demons.
Anthony Perkins portrays Piersall and Karl Malden turns in an outstanding performance as his father (John Piersall), who is driven to get his son into the majors and has such tunnel-vision that he does not see the price being paid through his demanding ways.
Though Jimmy Piersall reportedly was highly critical of the movie, Perkins does an excellent job in delving into the serious issues of the star power at a young age - Piersall signed a pro contract at the age of 18 and saw action with the Red Sox two years later - the stigma of mental illness in pro sports and the ramifications of a dysfunctional family when a child is driven to succeed for all the wrong reasons.
The batter's box in life can be daunting, especially when every pitch seems to be coming wild, high and tight. To hit the demons out of that ballpark makes this movie - that happens to have a baseball motif - even more special.
Movie Review: A Perfect Bookend to "Field of Dreams"
Summary: 4 Stars
For every person who has a warm fuzzy memory of playing catch with Dad, there is the ying-yang expereince of those abused by fathers living vicariously through their sons' little league experiences. Such is the essence of "Fear Strikes Out".I first saw this movie on late night TV about 20 years ago. It scared the bejeezus out of me. Carl Malden gave a truly frightening performance. However, he was matched scene-for-scene by Anthony Perkins. I remember one early scene in the movie where young Jimmy Piersall is playing catch, rather poorly, with his father. Carl starts yelling. I was getting a pain in the pit of my stomach. Young Jimmy goes behind a shed, I think, to fish out the passed ball he just missed. Tony Perkins stops, his face contorted in angst. This scene stayed with me much like the Flying Monkees in the "Wizard of Oz" or the head-turning scene in "The Exorcist".
Every little league dad should be forced to this film at the start of every season!
Movie Review: compelling film about a baseball star and his domineering father
Summary: 4 Stars
i found this inspired by true events movie based on the life of Jimmy
Piersall,baseball player for the Boston Red Sox to be quite
compelling.it charts his life(briefly)as a boy with a love for baseball
and dreams of making the big leagues.he plays the game from high school
league up,all the while being criticized by his Father for not being
good enough and having it drilled into his head that nothing he does is
good enough.even making the big leagues doesn't solves his problems.
Anthony Perkins plays young Jimmy Piersall as an adult and Karl Malden
plays his father.Perkins puts in a terrific performance.for me,Fear
Strikes Out is a 4/5
Movie Review: fear strikes out
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw this on tv when I was a boy. It gave me a better understanding of where I was headed as a player.Movie Review: Pretty good movie about baseball, and then some.
Summary: 3 Stars
Karl Malden and Anthony Perkins make a good pair for the father and son Piersall in this movie. Malden had a slew of movies like this where he played a heavy, in this flick the domineering dad that sends Perkins over the edge. And to say Perkins isn't Gary Cooper or Piersall not Gehrig. Well, duh! Not the point of this movie to make a warm loving character study as that of Gehrig in "Pride of the Yankees." And in that effort this movie is totally successful. Not all baseball stories end in warm touching moments, or the game winning walk-off home run that sends the fans a frenzy. Malden is excellent as Piersall's dad. And Perkins plays an edgy Piersall that can only garner the empathy of the viewing audience. I pesonally asked Jimmy Piersall if ths movie was an accurate depiction of how things actually occurred. He responded by saying that everything except for the scene where he climbed the backstop- the scene where he went over the edge and on his way to treatment- was pretty much on the money. And he said so with the humility that only Jimmy Piersall could respond with. He also chuckled when i asked if there was a deleted scene where Malden stopped him on his way out the door and said, "Jimmy. Here's your glove. Don't leave home without it." All that aside, this is a good movie, albeit an uncomfortable one to watch.