Eight Men Out 1988

Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune: Eight Men Out never gathers much authority; the old themes have been hung on a rickety structure that constantly threatens to collapse. Read more

Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune: The ensemble performances are of such a uniformly high caliber that our interest in the story never wavers. Read more

Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times: It's a period re-created with a whoosh of energy and a redeeming vein of irony. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: In an ensemble movie like this one, an actor who grabs too much of the limelight can throw everything out of focus. The cast Sayles has assembled understands the value of teamwork. Read more

Desmond Ryan, Philadelphia Inquirer: The tone of Eight Men Out is reminiscent of the droll irony of John Huston's considerations of the vanity of human wishes and the corrupting power of money. Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: For Mr. Sayles, whose idealism has never been more affecting or apparent than it is in this story of boyish enthusiam gone bad in an all too grown-up world, Eight Men Out represents a home run. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Baseball fans might find this marginally absorbing; for anyone else it's as conscientious and stylistically pedestrian as Sayles's other films, and a mite overlong to boot. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It's an insider's movie, a baseball expert's film that is hard for the untutored to follow. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: Sayles often seems like a man who, trying to stretch a single, gets caught between bases and is desperately trying to evade the rundown. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Given the inevitably knotty plotting, the message is oddly unrevealing, although the film features more than enough intelligently, wittily scripted moments to remain a fascinating insight into a crucial episode in the souring of that old American Dream. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Perhaps the saddest chapter in the annals of professional American sports is recounted in absorbing fashion in Eight Men Out. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: If John Sayles were a ballplayer, they'd call him Lefty -- not for his pitching arm but for his politics. The devoutly liberal filmmaker's political point of view is certain. It's his dramatic focus that sometimes gets fuzzy. Read more