A funny, gentle and honestly sentimental movie that is easily one of the best of the year in any category, and very possibly the best movie about sport ever made in this country.
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
That the males play baseball and that sport is their work is what makes this the ultimate baseball movie; never before has a movie considered the game from the inside out.
The baseball version of Brian’s Song has reduced more than a few tough guys to tears.
75
Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
A genuinely compelling film about athletics—and there haven't been many—based on a story by Mark Harris and directed by John Hancock. The material is trite, but Hancock's slow-motion treatment of the experience of athletic performance is adroit and graceful.
If director John Hancock's work is sometimes atmospherically colorless, he pulls scenes together that seem to be going nowhere and acquits himself most notably with the performers.
70
Time Out
Time Out
Though the baseball scenes themselves are secondary and none too convincing, De Niro nails the sentimental tearjerker stuff.
The film isn’t quiet a classic (though it is one of the better baseball movies to this day), but it’s notable as the first major indicator that De Niro was going to be a force to be reckoned with.
40
The New YorkerPauline Kael
The New YorkerPauline Kael
This baseball weeper was very clumsily directed by John Hancock; everything stops dead for the dialogue scenes.