Major League (1989)

I enjoyed this dated story about a losing Cleveland Indians team getting their s##t together. Jack had countless times said incredulously, "You haven't seen Major League?!" and, a month ago, we were in a hotel one afternoon (before an Indians baseball game, as it happens), I needed to rest my injured knee, and so we streamed it on Netflix. I have no idea how many times Jack, a lifelong Indians fan, has seen this but he happily watched it again.

Star Charlie Sheen had had success before this one with Platoon (1986), Wall Street (1987), and Eight Men Out (1988), then later worked with his brother Emilio Estevez on Men at Work (1990). He followed those with two Hot Shots! farce movies (1991, 1993) and a sequel to this in 1994, before his addiction sent him off the rails. Better known now for that addiction and some instances of domestic abuse than for 178 episodes of Two and a Half Men, he did a good job 27 years ago in Major League, playing a "wild thing," quite tame by today's standards. The movie also stars Tom Berenger (some of my faves are Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), The Big Chill (1983), Platoon which earned him an Oscar nomination, Shattered (1991), Sliver (1993), and Training Day (2001)), Corbin Bernson (pretty sure I saw all of his 171 episodes of L.A. Law and 120 of Psych, he was also in Shattered with Berenger, and I also liked Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), to name four of his 211 credits), Wesley Snipes (covered in Chi-Raq), Rene Russo (last blogged in Nightcrawler), and Dennis Haysbert (most recently in Men, Women & Children), all so young and cute! Which brings to mind my friend Jill's saying, "No matter how bad you think your picture is now, you'll look at it in ten years and say, 'Damn, I looked good!'"

Director/writer Davis S. Ward won an Oscar for writing The Sting (1973) and was nominated for co-writing Sleepless in Seattle (1993). He directed and adapted the screenplay for Cannery Row (1983) and co-wrote The Milagro Beanfield War (1988). He's an Indians fan himself and said at the time he thought making this movie was the only way he would see the Indians win anything.

James Newton Howard (last scored Concussion) provides the soundtrack (here's one) along with a list of songs. Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences give it a solid B at 82 and 84%. If you're missing this, you can watch it anytime you want.