Customer Reviews

Fear Strikes Out

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you're looking for a baseball film solely dedicated to the playing of the sport by the central figure of this film, pass it up. But if you are looking for an intimate, psychologically complex portrait of a famous sports personality as a human being and not a mythic figure, you happened upon the right film. The film is not about how Piersall's talent for baseball was discovered or how his technique broke ground in the field, but rather it is a universal exposition of the steps through which a father's desire for his son to succeed where he failed turn into a desire to live vicariously through the child's glory and the damaging emotional repercussions that it has on the child, as well as the steps back to a normal life. Anthony Perkins turns in what is truly a brilliant performance. The pain he registers has rarely if ever been equalled by another actor alive or dead, and he is almost unbearably poignant in every scene without ever pandering to cheap bathos or melodramatic fits of tears. The pain we see is genuine and haunting, something that radiates from his eyes and his voice and his presence, not from "technique". His expressive face conveys the anguish of a deeply tortured psyche, vacillating from the shy charm he exudes in courting Norma Moore, to the eruption of his lifelong pain heaped upon him by his tyrannical father when he tearfully tells him of how his efforts to help him only hurt him, and to the moments when he cracks up, when either splitting the wood of a door in anger with his fists, or swinging a bat violently after hitting a homerun asking "Was I good enough?". It is one of the greatest performances ever recorded on film, from an actor renowned only for his role in a certain Hitchcock film I'm sure you are all familiar with. Karl Malden transcends the potentially one-dimensionality of his role as the tyrannical father, making it clear that Father Piersall did what he did not only out of a hope that he could achieve the glory he never got in baseball through his son, but that he did it out of love as much as anything else. The rest of the cast is quite fine as well. The details of a delicate psyche under stress is of the utmost importance in this film, as opposed to the details of how Piersall became a great ball player, and that is why it so remarkable. You shouldn't miss this

For every person who has a warm fuzzy memory of playing catch with Dad, there is the ying-yang expereince of those abused by fathers living vicariously through their sons' little league experiences. Such is the essence of "Fear Strikes Out".
I first saw this movie on late night TV about 20 years ago. It scared the bejeezus out of me. Carl Malden gave a truly frightening performance. However, he was matched scene-for-scene by Anthony Perkins. I remember one early scene in the movie where young Jimmy Piersall is playing catch, rather poorly, with his father. Carl starts yelling. I was getting a pain in the pit of my stomach. Young Jimmy goes behind a shed, I think, to fish out the passed ball he just missed. Tony Perkins stops, his face contorted in angst. This scene stayed with me much like the Flying Monkees in the "Wizard of Oz" or the head-turning scene in "The Exorcist".

Every little league dad should be forced to this film at the start of every season!

Perkins plays young Pearsall with just the right vulnerability, and Malden does a breathtaking turn as his driven Dad. An over-looked classic from young Mulligan, who'd go on to direct "To Kill A Mockingbird" five years later.

Both Perkins and Malden turn in possibly the greatest performances of their illustrious careers in this story of the gifted but troubled center fielder. Perkins is truly brilliant in the role, and its hard to imagine anyone at this point who could have done a better job in the role. Maldon is relentless as the overbearing sports dad, who does love his son and wants him to do well, but whose love is truly a two-edged sword. The rest of the cast is excellent as well, the movie has a fine script, and the film is taughtly directed by Robert Mulligan. One minor quip I did have was that the wife's part, played capably by Norma Moore, could have been bigger. Coincidently, I attended the Norma Moore private school my last two years in high school. :-)

Overall, it's a fine movie about a great baseball player's descent into mental illness and his struggle to return to normalcy, but be aware that it does take some artistic license with the facts. In the film, Piersall's disorder is portrayed as an "anxiety disorder characterized by obsession and occasional auditory hallucinations," (from the Wikipedia article on Piersall), rather than bipolar disorder, which was how it was actually diagnosed. These inaccuracies eventually led Piersall to disown the film. Also, the movie makes no mention of the fact that Piersall's mother was diagnosed with mental illness.

A little trivia note, he became a professional baseball player at only age 18 with the Red Sox, after having been an outstanding high school basketball player. In a career marked by bizarre behavior and various antics, he celebrated his 100th career home run by running the bases running backwards, as promised (although in the right order). He had a career batting average of .272, led the American League in doubles with 40 in 1956, was elected to the American League Hall of Fame in both 1954 and 1956, and earned Golden Glove awards in 1958 and 1961.

Interestingly, Piersall and Perkins, who last names both begin with P, share their first and middle names, since Piersall's middle name is Anthony. Finally, in his autobiography, Piersall once said, "Probably the best thing that ever happened to me was going nuts. Whoever heard of Jimmy Piersall, until that happened?"

Karl Malden and Anthony Perkins make a good pair for the father and son Piersall in this movie. Malden had a slew of movies like this where he played a heavy, in this flick the domineering dad that sends Perkins over the edge. And to say Perkins isn't Gary Cooper or Piersall not Gehrig. Well, duh! Not the point of this movie to make a warm loving character study as that of Gehrig in "Pride of the Yankees." And in that effort this movie is totally successful. Not all baseball stories end in warm touching moments, or the game winning walk-off home run that sends the fans a frenzy. Malden is excellent as Piersall's dad. And Perkins plays an edgy Piersall that can only garner the empathy of the viewing audience. I pesonally asked Jimmy Piersall if ths movie was an accurate depiction of how things actually occurred. He responded by saying that everything except for the scene where he climbed the backstop- the scene where he went over the edge and on his way to treatment- was pretty much on the money. And he said so with the humility that only Jimmy Piersall could respond with. He also chuckled when i asked if there was a deleted scene where Malden stopped him on his way out the door and said, "Jimmy. Here's your glove. Don't leave home without it." All that aside, this is a good movie, albeit an uncomfortable one to watch.

"Fear Strikes Out" is a 1957 autobiographical account of the life of Jimmy Piersall, a MLB player. Piersall played for the Boston Red Sox from 1950 to 1958 and then for a variety of teams until his final contract with the California Angels from 1963 to 1967. Along the way he hit more than 100 home runs, batted nearly 300, and had nearly 600 RBIs. He made the All Stars twice (1954, 1956) and won a Golden Glove twice (1958, 1961). Because he came up at the same time that TV started, Piersall got lots of media coverage as one of the most "colorful" MLB players.

The film is based on Piersall's 1955 book and the 1955 TV show starring Tab Hunter as Piersall. Hunter wanted to do the film role, but Perkins got it, which didn't do much for the affair which they were having.

The film came out at a time when Piersall was at the height of his baseball career, but the height of his antics was still in the future. Shortly after the film came out, Piersall was traded to the Cleveland Indians, where he continued to act out.

Anthony Perkins is excellent as Piersall. Perkins is best remembered for his role as Norman Bates in "Psycho" (1960). He was nominated for an Oscar for "Friendly Persuasion" (1957) and won Best Actor at Cannes for "Goodbye Again" (1961), but personally I think "Fear Strikes Out" is his best performance. There are times in the film when Perkins adopts the mannerisms and speech patterns of Karl Malden (demonstrating how Piersall has incorporated his father's values and behavior) so well you think you're watching Malden. It's really a tour d'force for Perkins.

In fact, if you look closely, you'll see that Perkins doesn't exactly throw like a MLB player. That's because Perkins was left handed. To play right-handed Jimmy Piersall, Perkins learned how to throw and bat right-handed. He does it so well, most people never noticed.

It's interesting to note that in this film Perkins plays someone under the domination of his father, while in "Psycho" he is dominated by his mother. Perkins' own father had died when he was a child, and in real life he had developed an unnatural relationship with his mother that eventually drove him to seek psychiatric help about the time this film appeared.

The film is quite unusual for its time. Most films about mental illness were fictional and portrayed the condition as severe. Hitchcock's "Spellbound" (1945), Elizabeth Taylor/Montgomery Cliff's "Suddenly Last Summer" (1959), and "David and Lisa" (1962) were all set against the background of a mental hospital. "Leave Her to Heaven" (1945) portrayed mental illness as a psychotic and deadly phenomenon. Olivia de Havilland's "The Snake Pit" (1948) and "The Three Faces of Eve" (1957) were both based on real cases, and both involved placement in a mental hospital. "Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960) was also based on a real case, and again the theme of dangerousness is stressed.

Against these, "Fear Strikes Out" is a dramatic change of pace. The main character is both real and dangerous only to himself. The film suggests that Piersall's condition is a result of genetics (there are hints that his mother was institutionalized on multiple occasions) and environment (he has a pushy father, played exceedingly well by an intense Karl Malden), and that when faced with stress (fear of failure), he reverted to childlike antics or the bullying tactics of his father.

Karl Malden does his usual excellent job. He's probably best known as Lt. Mike Stone from TVs "The Streets of San Francisco" or as the guy from the American Express ads, but Malden's career was exceptional. He won an Oscar for "Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) and was nominated for his role as the priest in "On the Waterfront" (1954). He won one Emmy and had 4 nominations, as well as 3 Golden Glove nominations. He could play a villain - Sheriff Longworth in "One Eyed Jacks" (1961), Tom Fitch in "Nevada Smith" (1966) - as well as a hero - General Bradley in "Patton" (1970). As the bullying father he brings an intensity of the film that lets you understand how this pressures must have worked against Piersall.

Adam Williams plays the caring therapist. He is reminiscent of Dr. Kik from "The Snake Pit" (1948). Williams was a busy supporting actor, appearing in over 50 films, usually as a villain - a woman killer in "Without Warning" (1952), a car bomber in "The Big Heat" (1953), a thug who falls from Mount Rushmore in Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" (1959). In the 60s he made the transition to TV where he often played a cowboy.

Norma Moore plays the loving wife. This was her first credited film role, although she had been on TV and continued mostly as a TV actress. She does a great job in this film, and one can only wonder why she only did 8 more films.

The film is fast paced and entertaining. It was the first film for director Robert Mulligan, who went on to acclaim in later years with "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962) and "Summer of 42" (1971). Mulligan and Perkins had worked together before in a 1951 TV production of the Goodyear Television Playhouse.

It was also the first film for producer Alan J. Pakula who was more interested in the psychology behind the story than the sports theme (Pakula had considered becoming a psychoanalyst). Virtually every sports film prior to this (e.g., "The Pride of the Yankees" in 1942, "The Jackie Robinson Story" in 1950) and almost every one since, were focused on the sports theme, but Pakula took it in a different direction. Baseball is merely a backdrop to the father/son story. Pakula would go on to produce a half dozen films that Mulligan directed - "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962), "Love with the Proper Stranger" (1963), "Baby the Rain Must Fall" (1963), "Inside Daisy Clover" (1965) - before he turned to directing, where he did such memorable films as "The Sterile Cuckoo" (1969), "Klute" (1971), Sophie's Choice" (1982), "All the President's Men" (1976), and "The Pelican Brief" (1993).

Excellent movie for all parents with children playing
any sport to watch.

The true portrayal of Jim Piersall could not have been accomplished by anyone with a lesser talent that that of Anthony Perkins. His slow downward spiral into the depths of mental illness was a real work of art. Great flick.

i found this inspired by true events movie based on the life of Jimmy
Piersall,baseball player for the Boston Red Sox to be quite
compelling.it charts his life(briefly)as a boy with a love for baseball
and dreams of making the big leagues.he plays the game from high school
league up,all the while being criticized by his Father for not being
good enough and having it drilled into his head that nothing he does is
good enough.even making the big leagues doesn't solves his problems.
Anthony Perkins plays young Jimmy Piersall as an adult and Karl Malden
plays his father.Perkins puts in a terrific performance.for me,Fear
Strikes Out is a 4/5

I saw this on tv when I was a boy. It gave me a better understanding of where I was headed as a player.