Major League (film)
| Major League | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Directed by | David S. Ward |
| Produced by | Chris Chesser Irby Smith |
| Written by | David S. Ward |
| Starring | |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Cinematography | Reynaldo Villalobos |
| Edited by | Dennis M. Hill |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
106 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $11 million |
| Box office | $49.8 million |
Major League is a 1989 American sports comedy film produced by Chris Chesser and Irby Smith, written and directed by David S. Ward, that stars Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, James Gammon, Bob Uecker, and Corbin Bernsen. Made for $11 million, Major League grossed nearly $50 million in domestic release.Major League deals with the exploits of a fictionalized version of the Cleveland Indians baseball team and spawned two sequels (Major League II and Back to the Minors), neither of which replicated the success of the original film.
Former Las Vegas showgirl Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton) has inherited the Cleveland Indians baseball team from her deceased husband. Phelps has received a lucrative deal to move the team to Miami, and she aims to trigger the escape clause in the team's contract with Cleveland if season attendance falls below minimum levels. To do this, she replaces their existing players with aging veterans and inexperienced rookies, hoping a bad team will cause attendance to decline. Phelps hires Lou Brown, a former coach from the Toledo Mud Hens, to manage the team.
During spring training in Tucson, Brown and veteran catcher and ex-womanizer Jake Taylor discover the new team has a number of interpersonal issues as well as their own struggles with the game, such as the prima donna nature of Roger Dorn, the only player on a long-term contract with the Indians, and the weak arm of veteran pitcher Eddie Harris, who is forced to doctor his pitches to stay competitive. Besides Jake Taylor, who was an all-star in Boston but has bad knee problems and ended up in the Mexican League, the players include Roger Dorn, a prima-donna type who has big plans when he retires so he doesn't get involve in the game a lot; Pedro Cerrano voodoo king and power hitter from Cuba who has trouble hitting the curve ball; aging pitcher Eddie Harris; Rick "the Wild Thing" Vaughn, an ex-car thief and ex-con who played for the California Penal League; and Willie Mays Hayes, who wasn't invited to spring training but managed to make the squad on the basis of his speed on the basepaths, despite his inability to hit anything but ground balls. The team starts the season on a losing streak. Their putative ace pitcher, Ricky Vaughn, has an incredible fastball but little control, leading him to be called "Wild Thing"; however, by chance, Brown discovers Vaughn has eyesight problems, and when he is fitted with glasses, his pitching drastically improves, helping the Indians to a series of wins. The team rallies, bringing the Indians higher in the division standings. Phelps tries to demoralize the team by taking away their luxuries such as a private jet, but the team still holds strong, and appears to have a shot at winning the division. Meanwhile, Taylor finds that his ex-girlfriend Lynn is living in Cleveland, and tries to get her to come back to him even after learning she has become engaged to a new beau.
...
Wikipedia