Eight Men Out

Eight Men Out dramatizes the 1919 Black Sox scandal, in which members of the Chicago White Sox agreed to lose the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. The team's owner, Charles Comiskey, pays his players poorly and treats them with contempt, leaving them resentful and vulnerable when gamblers approach them with money to play below their ability. The scheme draws in figures such as the gambler Arnold Rothstein, and when the series is lost under suspicious circumstances, sportswriters begin asking questions and the fix becomes a national scandal.

John Sayles wrote and directed the film, his third feature after The Brother from Another Planet and Matewan and the third in the chronological list of the eight features he directed through 2011. The large credited cast of eighty-one includes John Cusack as Buck Weaver, Charlie Sheen as Hap Felsch, Clifton James as Comiskey, Michael Lerner as Rothstein, John Mahoney as manager Kid Gleason and Christopher Lloyd as Bill Burns.

Produced by Sarah Pillsbury and Midge Sanford for Orion Pictures, the film cost about 6 million dollars and took in roughly the same amount worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.2 out of 10 from around 24,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.8 from about 290 votes. A critics' rating of 7.6 from 54 reviews places it slightly above the audience scores.