Assorted Ravings of the Slightly-Weird

For Love of the Game

There's one movie that never fails to move me. Every single time I watch it, I tear up. And no, it's not "Titanic" or anything like that.

It's "For Love of the Game".

"For Love of the Game" is a baseball movie that's one part action, one part love story and one part cheesy. The story centres around an aging pitcher, Billy Chapel, who's taking the mound for the last game of a regular season. It's been a long and losing season for his team and they face the Yankees at home who need to win to get to the playoffs. The morning of the game, Billy learns that his team has been sold and he will most likely get traded at the end of the season, while his on-off long-distance girlfriend (she lives in NY, he plays for Detroit) tells him that she's moving to London that very day. So in the span of a day, Billy has to decide between retiring or being traded to another team while dealing with the news that the woman he may very well love is leaving.

Over a series of flashbacks interspersed with the baseball game that's taking place, we get to learn of Billy and Jane (that's her name) and their 5-year long on-off romance and of Billy's various experiences over his 19-year baseball career. At the same time, Billy's pitching well enough that he's taken a no-hitter into the 8th inning before he realises that he's on the cusp of pitching a perfect game. For the non baseball fans, a perfect game is when a pitcher doesn't allow any opposing player on base at all, which means 27 straight outs without a hit or a walk. It's one of the rarest accomplishments in baseball.

I'm not going to spoil the story but suffice it to say that it's a Hollywood movie after all. Heh. What I love about the movie is that it works both as a baseball movie and as a love story. On the baseball front, you see his team rooting for him, playing their guts out for him as his arm tires towards the end of the game. You see his ex-teammates giving him looks of respect. You see the sweat and the agony on Billy's face as he pitches the game of his life. (And Kevin Costner, who plays Billy, threw every single pitch and did all the baseball stunts in the movie.) On the love story front, some of the things that happen to the two of them mirror real life almost perfectly.

Sure, the movie's cheesy in some bits. Like when Billy calls his ex-teammate a worthy opponent. Or when he says "Clear the mechanism" everytime he starts an inning to block out the noise of the crowd. Or the lines from jeering Yankee fans that are so corny ("You couldn't pitch a tent!") but so real. And especially this line from the baseball commentator, where he says "On this night the cathedral that is Yankee Stadium belongs to a Chapel." But they're cheesy in a good way.

And the scenes and lines that get me every single time?

When Mickey Hart, Billy's teammate, snatches a home run away from the opposing team. Made all the more poignant by the flashback that shows Billy giving Mickey some old school advice after Mickey has a ball bounce on his head for a home run.

When Gus, Billy's catcher, tells him "Right now we don't stink. We're the best team in baseball because of you."

When an injured Billy yells at Jane and says "Haven't you ever loved something that much?" and the look on her face says it all.

When Billy writes on a baseball "Tell them I'm through. For love of the game." and hands it to the trainer.

When Wheeler, the owner, sits alone in his box watching his most famous player try to pitch a perfect game.

And most of all, when after the game Billy sits alone in his massive suite and just sobs.

It is SO GOOD! Everyone should run out and rent the movie. And buy me the DVD version. Heh :)

Posted by scrabbyfoo at January 23, 2008 03:10 PM