1989 sports comedy film by David S. Ward
| Major League |
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Theatrical release poster |
| Directed by | David S. Ward |
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| Written by | David S. Ward |
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| Produced by | Chris Chesser
Irby Smith |
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| Starring | |
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| Cinematography | Reynaldo Villalobos |
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| Edited by | Dennis M. Hill |
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| Music by | James Newton Howard |
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Production
companies | |
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| Distributed by | |
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Release date |
- April 7, 1989 (1989-04-07)
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Running time | 106 minutes[1] |
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| Country | United States |
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| Language | English |
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| Budget | $11 million |
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| Box office | $75 million[2] |
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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, Rene Russo, Margaret Whitton, Dennis Haysbert, and Corbin Bernsen.
Made for $11 million, Major League grossed $75 million worldwide. Major League deals with the exploits of a fictionalized version of the Cleveland Indians baseball team. It is the first installment in the Major League film series and spawned two sequels (Major League II and Major League: Back to the Minors), neither of which replicated the success of the original film.
Plot
Former Las Vegas showgirl Rachel Phelps inherits the Cleveland Indians baseball team from her deceased husband. Phelps hates Cleveland and wants to relocate the team to Miami. The Indians' contract with Cleveland contains an escape clause stipulating that the team may relocate only if attendance for an entire season is below 800,000. That means they likely have to finish dead last to reduce fan interest and relocate to Miami. Determined to put together the worst team in the major leagues, Phelps hires Lou Brown, the manager for the Toledo Mud Hens, to manage the team and promotes former manager Charlie Donovan to general manager.
During spring training in Tucson, Arizona, the team's shortcomings become evident. The team's only star, third baseman Roger Dorn, is an egotistical prima donna whose contract is nearly up; he cares more about retiring uninjured than winning. Aging ace Eddie Harris has to rely on illegally doctoring the baseball due to his weakening arm. Pedro Cerrano, a voodoo-practicing Cuban import with significant slugging power, cannot hit curve balls and clashes with the devoutly Christian Harris. Veteran catcher Jake Taylor, a former Indians star who spent the last few years playing in the Mexican League after his knees gave out, has lost so much strength on his throws that he can barely reach second base.
The two players who draw the most attention are brash young outfielder Willie Mays Hayes, who showed up at spring training without an invitation, and pitcher Rick Vaughn, a convicted felon released from a California prison after serving time for stealing a car. Hayes claims he can "run like Hayes" and "hit like Mays". He proves to be the fastest player on the team and adept at base-stealing, but his first trip to the batting cage makes it clear he can only hit pop-ups. Vaughn has a fastball in the mid 90s, but has no control over it, which earns him the nickname "Wild Thing".
The team predictably starts the season on a losing streak. Lou then discovers Vaughn's control issues stem from an uncorrected visual impairment. After being fitted with glasses, Vaughn's performance improves with additional coaching and assistance from Taylor. Lou trains Hayes to hit ground balls by penalizing him with push-ups whenever he hits the ball in the air, and employs a similar strategy to punish Dorn if he fails to make an effort when fielding. Cerrano develops into a formidable home-run threat, though he remains unable to hit curve balls. With the players' growing production, the team begins to win. Meanwhile, Taylor tries to reunite with his ex-girlfriend Lynn despite her being engaged to another man.
Phelps, angered by the team's improvement, tries to demoralize them by removing team amenities. She replaces their chartered team jet, first with a rickety Douglas DC-3 and then an old bus. She refuses to fix their workout equipment and has the hot water to the locker room turned off, claiming that the low gate receipts require her to cut expenses. Despite her efforts the team continues winning and draws closer to possible contention for the division championship.
Eventually, Charlie decides to reveal Phelps's plan to Lou, who then calls a team meeting. He explains the situation, adding that all of the players on the current roster would be released or sent back to the minors at the end of the season. With nothing to lose, Taylor stands up and says, "I guess there's only one thing left to do -- win the whole ... thing." If they win the division, Phelps can't move the team or get rid of them.
As the victories begin to pile up, Cleveland takes notice and fans start filling the stands. The team succeeds in tying with the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East division, leading to a one-game playoff to determine the division championship. Lou decides to start Harris in place of Vaughn due to Harris's greater experience pitching to the Yankees.
The playoff game in Cleveland is scoreless until the top of the seventh when the Yankees take a 2–0 lead, but in the bottom of the seventh, Cerrano finally connects on a curve ball and hits a two-run homer to tie the game. The ninth inning begins with a weary Harris loading the bases after recording two outs. With the Yankees’ best hitter, Clu Haywood, up next, Lou brings in Vaughn. Despite being unable to get Haywood out in previous games, Vaughn strikes him out on three pitches.
In the bottom of the inning, Hayes singles with one out and the Yankees bring out "The Duke", their headhunting closer. Taylor then steps up, and Hayes steals second. After getting a pitch thrown at his head for taunting Duke by pointing towards the outfield, clearly making a reference to Babe Ruth's famous called shot, Taylor signals to the dugout and Lou relays the signal to the third-base coach. After Taylor taunts Duke again, Hayes takes off for third and Taylor unexpectedly bunts. Despite his bad knees, Taylor beats the throw to first base as Hayes, who never stopped running, rounds third and slides under the throw from first to score and win the game.
Phelps is stunned speechless at the team's triumph. As fans rush the field, Taylor spots Lynn in the stands, no longer wearing her engagement ring. The two run to embrace each other as the team and their fans celebrate the victory.
Alternate ending
The theatrical release includes added scenes of Rachel Phelps showing dismay with the team's success. An alternate scene included on the "Wild Thing Edition" DVD shows a very different characterization of Phelps. Lou Brown confronts Phelps over her plan to sabotage the team and announces his resignation. Phelps then reveals the threatened move to Miami was merely a ruse to motivate the team, as the Indians were on the verge of bankruptcy when she inherited them and she could not afford to hire star players or maintain standard amenities. She also tells Lou that she felt he was the right manager to bring the ragtag group together. Lou does not resign, but Phelps reasserts her authority by saying that if he shares any part of their conversation with anyone, she will fire him.[3]
The film's producers said that while the twist ending worked as a resolution of the plot, they scrapped it because test audiences preferred the Phelps character as a villain.[3]
Production
Development
The film's opening montage is a series of somber blue-collar images of the Cleveland landscape synchronized to the score of Randy Newman's "Burn On", an ode to the infamous day in Cleveland when the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River caught fire.
Much of the film's spring training scenes were shot at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, Arizona, which was the spring training home for the Cleveland Indians from 1947 to 1992. The production used members of the University of Arizona Wildcats baseball team as extras.[4]
Despite being set in Cleveland, the film was principally shot in Milwaukee because it was cheaper and the producers were unable to work around the schedules of the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Browns. Milwaukee County Stadium, then the home of the Brewers (and three Green Bay Packers games per season), doubles as Cleveland Stadium for the film, although several exterior shots of Cleveland Stadium were used, including some aerial shots taken during an Indians game. In fact, the sign for the television station atop the scoreboard is for WTMJ-TV, the NBC affiliate for Milwaukee. One of the ending scenes of the movie is in West Milwaukee's legendary restaurant, 4th Base which showcases their unique horseshoe bar that is shown in the celebration scenes. Another restaurant scene, at the then Gritz's Pzazz on Milwaukee's north side, is no longer open for business. County Stadium has since been demolished: the former playing field is now a Little League baseball field known as Helfaer Field, while the rest of the former site is now a parking lot for the Brewers' current home, American Family Field.[5]
Casting
The film was notable for featuring several actors who would go on to stardom: Snipes and Russo were relative unknowns before the movie was released, while Haysbert remained best known as Pedro Cerrano until he portrayed U.S. President David Palmer on the television series 24 and the spokesperson for Allstate Insurance. The longshoreman who is occasionally seen commenting and is shown in the final celebration inside a bar is Neil Flynn, who later achieved fame playing the Janitor in Scrubs and then the father Mike in The Middle. This is Flynn's first credited movie role.
The film also featured former Major League players, including 1982 American League Cy Young Award winner Pete Vuckovich as Yankees first baseman Clu Haywood, former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Willie Mueller as the Yankees pitcher Duke Simpson, known as "The Duke", and former Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Steve Yeager as third-base coach Duke Temple. Former catcher and longtime Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker played the Indians' broadcaster Harry Doyle. The names of several crewmembers were also used for peripheral players.
Sheen himself was a pitcher on his high school's baseball team. At the time of filming Major League, his own fastball topped out at 85 miles per hour. In 2011, Sheen said that he had used steroids for nearly two months to improve his athletic abilities in the film.[6]
Reception
Box office
The film debuted at number 1 at the US box office[7] and received generally positive reviews.[8][9][10] It grossed almost $50 million in the United States and Canada and $25 million internationally for a worldwide total of $75 million.[11][2]
Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 83% based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Major League may be predictable and formulaic, but buoyed by the script's light, silly humor—not to mention the well-built sports action sequences and funny performances."[12] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[13] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[14]
Year-end lists
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
Other media
In popular culture
Rachel Phelps' character is loosely based on that of Georgia Frontiere, a past owner of the Los Angeles / St. Louis Rams, in the way she took over the franchise and how she was initially perceived. She took over ownership and control of the Rams upon the death of her husband in 1979, and eventually moved the team to her hometown of St. Louis, Missouri in 1995. The Rams (at the time owned by Stan Kroenke, who bought them from Frontiere's family after her own death) returned to Los Angeles in 2016.[citation needed]
When he joined the Cubs in 1989 (the same year the film was released), pitcher Mitch Williams' extravagant wind-up and release, and his frequent wild pitches, earned him the nickname "Wild Thing." As with Rick Vaughn's character, the Wrigley Field organist played "Wild Thing" as Williams came out of the bullpen; this was changed to the rock recording from the film after he was traded to the Phillies. A few years later, in 1993 with the Phillies, Williams started wearing the number 99 on his jersey, the same number that Vaughn wears in the film.[16]
In the years since its release Major League has become a beloved film of many professional baseball players and announcers, and is often referenced during game broadcasts. For example, in 2014, for the film's 25th anniversary, Major League catcher David Ross filmed a one-man tribute to the film, with Ross playing the part (among others) of Lou Brown, Pedro Cerrano, Willie Mays Hayes, Rick Vaughn, and Roger Dorn.[17] Additionally, as part of their 2014 "Archives" set, the trading card company Topps celebrated the film's 25th anniversary by creating baseball cards (using the same design as the company's 1989 base set) of Roger Dorn, Jake Taylor, Eddie Harris, Rachel Phelps, Rick Vaughn, and "Jobu."[18] Harry Doyle's call of a Rick Vaughn pitch that was "JUST a bit outside" is so well-known, film critic Richard Roeper wrote in 2019 that the line "has been invoked by every sportscaster in the last 30 years."[19] In 2011, Bleacher Report's Timothy Rapp named "JUST a bit outside" his fifth greatest sports-movie quote ever.[20]
In 2017, the University of Arizona men's baseball team created a parody of Major League, which was filmed at UA's current home field, Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, Arizona. Hi Corbett was the spring training home for the Cleveland Indians from 1947 to 1992. The star of the short film is outfielder Matt "Mays" Frazier, who played the role of Snipes' Willie Mays Hayes character from the original film. Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn and Roger Dorn are also parodied, and Arizona head coach Jay Johnson plays the role of Indians manager Lou Brown.[21]
Major League became an inspiration for the real Cleveland Indians and the city, given the previously long-standing Cleveland sports curse that had left Cleveland without any sporting championships in between 1964 (when the NFL's Cleveland Browns won the NFL Championship) and 2016 (when the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Finals and secured their first title in their 46-year history). The Indians reached the 2016 World Series, but lost to the similarly cursed Cubs. Between 1995 and 2016, the team went to the World Series three times, losing each time.[3]
In July 2021, the Indians announced that they would change their name to the Guardians for the 2022 season.[22] The opening scene of the film is an image of one of the Guardians of Traffic on the Hope Memorial Bridge.[23]
Video game
Major League was made into and released as a sports video game, developed by Lenar and published by Irem, exclusively for the Family Computer (NES) in Japan in 1989.[24]
Jobu
Soon after the film's 25th anniversary in 2015, a company called "The Jobu Lifestyle" began producing figurines of Jobu (Pedro Cerrano's voodoo figure). The packaging is a reference to Cerrano's locker that made up Jobu's shrine.[25][26]
In news coverage of the 2017 World Baseball Classic, Team Israel's outfielder Cody Decker made a comparison between Jobu and the team's mascot, "Mensch on a Bench", a five-foot-tall stuffed toy that looks a bit like a rabbi or Hasidic Jew: "He's a mascot, he's a friend, he's a teammate, he's a borderline deity to our team.... He brings a lot to the table.... Every team needs their Jobu. He was ours. He had his own locker, and we even gave him offerings: Manischewitz, gelt, and gefilte fish... He is everywhere and nowhere all at once. His actual location is irrelevant because he exists in higher metaphysical planes. But he's always near."[27][28][29][30]
Sequels
Due to the success of the film, two sequels have been produced, neither of which achieved the original's success. Major League II returned most of the original stars, with the notable exception of Wesley Snipes, and focused on the following season and the players' reaction to the previous season's success. Major League: Back to the Minors again starred Corbin Bernsen, but this time, as the owner of the Minnesota Twins, attempting to turn around the Twins' AAA team, the Buzz. A possible third sequel, Major League 3 (which was to ignore Back to the Minors), was reported in 2010 to be in development by original writer and producer David S. Ward. Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, and Snipes would return, with the plot revolving around Ricky Vaughn coming out of retirement to work with a young player.[31] In 2015, Morgan Creek Productions announced that the sequel was still in the works.[32]
Reboot
In 2017, Morgan Creek announced plans to reboot their classic films from the 1980s and 1990s as television series or movies following the success of The Exorcist television series. Several films in early stages of development include film series Young Guns, Major League, and Ace Ventura.[33]
