A based-on-fact story of Jimmy Piersall, a major league player of the 1950s who suffered what looks like a major depression with some paranoid ideas. Not much could be done with major league mental illnesses at the time, before the French accidentally discovered anti-psychotic meds. The movie ends, as all such movies do whenever possible, on an up-beat note with Piersall (Tony Perkins) returning to the Red Sox after defeating his demons.
I have no idea how closely the movie sticks to the real facts of Piersall's life, but it certainly hews close to the formula line. Basically, everything is blamed on Piersall's father (Karl Malden), who pushed the kid too hard, brutally sometimes, to excel. Nothing would do but that Piersall not only play for the Sox but that he play the OUTFIELD. Shortstop wasn't good enough. Poor kid. While still in the minors, in Scranton, he brags to his pop that he's the third highest hitter in the league. Malden smiles and says, "Well, that's not first." Think about that, next time your kid comes home with a B plus on his report card. You want to drive him nuts? I don't doubt that Piersall's father was pushy about his son's training and career. For all we know there may be as many sports fathers as there are stage mothers. But it seems a bit unfair to make him the sole heavy. It's not easy to drive someone crazy, not as easy as it seems in the movies anyway. It helps a lot, especially with major affective disorders, if you bring something genetic to the party, as numerous studies have shown. Not that genetics explains everything, because one identical twin may "get it" while the other doesn't.
Anyway, the movie isn't very satisfying, as a movie. The director, Robert Mulligan, has done better work elsewhere. And Tony Perkins gives a by-the-numbers performance as a madman, with his facial muscles trembling and his eyes bulging. How primitive can you get? He was a much better (if entirely different) kind of psychotic in "Psycho." An improved script might have helped him. Malden is okay as the well-meaning but destructive father whom Perkins finally tells off at the cathartic climax. Perkins' wife's role is underwritten and doesn't contribute much as Malden's potential rival.
It would have been nice too if we'd seen a little more about baseball, the sport and the career ladder, and less of the formulaic material on having a breakdown. At least your performance on the baseball diamond is something you can do something about. In the grip of mental illness like Piersall's, you're practically helpless, and that's not too dramatic.
I have no idea how closely the movie sticks to the real facts of Piersall's life, but it certainly hews close to the formula line. Basically, everything is blamed on Piersall's father (Karl Malden), who pushed the kid too hard, brutally sometimes, to excel. Nothing would do but that Piersall not only play for the Sox but that he play the OUTFIELD. Shortstop wasn't good enough. Poor kid. While still in the minors, in Scranton, he brags to his pop that he's the third highest hitter in the league. Malden smiles and says, "Well, that's not first." Think about that, next time your kid comes home with a B plus on his report card. You want to drive him nuts? I don't doubt that Piersall's father was pushy about his son's training and career. For all we know there may be as many sports fathers as there are stage mothers. But it seems a bit unfair to make him the sole heavy. It's not easy to drive someone crazy, not as easy as it seems in the movies anyway. It helps a lot, especially with major affective disorders, if you bring something genetic to the party, as numerous studies have shown. Not that genetics explains everything, because one identical twin may "get it" while the other doesn't.
Anyway, the movie isn't very satisfying, as a movie. The director, Robert Mulligan, has done better work elsewhere. And Tony Perkins gives a by-the-numbers performance as a madman, with his facial muscles trembling and his eyes bulging. How primitive can you get? He was a much better (if entirely different) kind of psychotic in "Psycho." An improved script might have helped him. Malden is okay as the well-meaning but destructive father whom Perkins finally tells off at the cathartic climax. Perkins' wife's role is underwritten and doesn't contribute much as Malden's potential rival.
It would have been nice too if we'd seen a little more about baseball, the sport and the career ladder, and less of the formulaic material on having a breakdown. At least your performance on the baseball diamond is something you can do something about. In the grip of mental illness like Piersall's, you're practically helpless, and that's not too dramatic.