Synopsis
Buck Weaver and Hap Felsch are young idealistic players on the Chicago White Sox, a pennant-winning team owned by Charles Comiskey - a penny-pinching, hands-on manager who underpays his players and treats them with disdain. And when gamblers and hustlers discover that Comiskey's demoralized players are ripe for a money-making scheme, one by one the team members agree to throw the World Series. But when the White Sox are defeated, a couple of sports writers smell a fix and a national scandal explodes, ripping the cover off America's favorite pastime.
Votre Filmothèque
Cast
- John CusackBuck Weaver
- Clifton JamesCharles Comiskey
- Michael LernerArnold Rothstein
- Christopher LloydBill Burns
- John MahoneyKid Gleason
- Charlie SheenHap Felsch
- David StrathairnEddie Cicotte
- D.B. Sweeney'Shoeless' Joe Jackson
- Don HarveySwede Risberg
- Michael RookerChick Gandil
Recommandations
- 100
The New York Times
For Mr. Sayles, whose idealism has never been more affecting or apparent than it is in this story of boyish enthusiasm gone bad in an all too grown-up world, Eight Men Out represents a home run. - 90
Los Angeles Times
As he spins his mesmerizing story of the fixing of the 1919 World Series, John Sayles moves to a new level of dexterity as a writer-director. - 80
Empire
For anyone who appreciates artistic integrity and is interested in genuinely independent films, the prolific and highly personal work of John Sayles is essential viewing. - 80
The A.V. Club
Detailed and memorable, with attention given to the many personalities and agendas involved, but while it finds sympathy for the men who feel pushed to cheat for money, it offers just as much sympathy for the fans who love the sport, and can’t figure out why their beloved players would betray them. - 80
Variety
Perhaps the saddest chapter in the annals of professional American sports is recounted in absorbing fashion in Eight Men Out. - 80
Film Threat
The film is sympathetic to the underpaid players, but doesn’t shirk away from their crime. Cusack is particularly good as the player whose faith in his friends and baseball was destroyed while his life was torn asunder by circumstance. - 70
Time Out London
Given the inevitably knotty plotting, the message is oddly unrevealing, although the film features more than enough intelligently, wittily scripted moments to remain a fascinating insight into a crucial episode in the souring of that old American Dream. - 60
TV Guide Magazine
Writer-director Sayles has fashioned a convincing account of the scandal, underlaid with an unconventional (by Hollywood standards) workers-vs.-owners critique.
