Product Details

• Actors: Darren Zack; Lila Leiter; Tony Hunhoff; Shane Hunuhunu; Jeremy Spear (II); Ken Billingley
• Directors: Juliet Weber; Jeremy Spear
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Studio: New Video Group
• DVD Release Date: June 26, 2001
• Run Time: 86 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005J75U
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #99,701 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Documentary > Series & Studios > Docurama > Sports

• For more information about "Fastpitch" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Not for baseball fans only, Jeremy Spear's heartwarming documentary will be a hit for anyone who yearns to pursue his own field of dreams. Spear, a New York artist and former college ballplayer, always dreamed of being a professional baseball player. At the age of 35, he began to crave "the thrill of competition." He gave up gallery openings for Opening Day as a shortstop for the New Jersey Gators, a "fastpitch" softball team. If you are not familiar with fastpitch, that is the point of this valentine to a sport "on the verge of extinction." Fastpitch once ruled the neighborhood diamonds of small-town America. But as one seasoned spectator notes, "The game is going downhill." Teams are disappearing "one by one, town by town." Fastpitch, Spear observes, "has a purity hard to find in sports today." But that purity is perhaps being threatened by one Peter J. Forcelli Jr., a junk-mail maven and owner of the Tampa Bay Smokers. While the average team operates on a budget of $30,000, Forcelli lavished $500,000 on his team. But the heart of the game beats on in people like Nick McCurry, who manages Ashland Abbott Labs (the Midwest team Spears eventually joins) and such local heroes as Maori slugger Shane Hunuhunu (whose girlfriend is forced to tack a note on his door warning adoring neighborhood girls to "back off") and Native American pitcher Darren Zack. Fastpitch does something wonderful. It makes you want to rush out to a park to watch a game. Or better yet, play in one. --Donald Liebenson

Product Description

DVD Features Region 1 Keep Case Full Frame 1.33 Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 English Additional Release Material Trailers 1. Docurama Previews Interactive Features Interactive Menus Scene Access Text/ Photo Galleries Text 1. THE ORIGINS OF FASTPITCH SOFTBALL

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and profound, June 29, 2001

By	Jonathan Spear (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Fastpitch [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I agree with the excerpted review comments from the New York Times, "Intelligent, insightful, touching," which are printed on the cover of the VHS box.

Filmmaker Jeremy Spear respects the viewer enough to include many complexities of his subject matter. For example, the gross and tacky elements in the character of Peter Porcelli, the financier of the sport's highest paid team, are obvious. Yet beyond Porcelli's inflated self opinion, Spear also shows that the man has admirable qualities: that he cares for his family, yearns for camaraderie with his players, and is devoted to revitalizing and promoting the game. Several other characters also are shown to be multifaceted, which is refreshing to see.

Beyond the subject matter of sport, some interesting themes surface in the film, such as changing demographics within the United States. The economic decline of Midwestern farming communities mirrors the decline in popularity of the game in places such as Ashland, Ohio, from where much of the documentary footage is taken. As legendary Eddie Feigner recalls, just one generation ago, every small town in the US had a fastpitch softball team. Now, most Americans have never even seen a game of men's amateur fastpitch. This fact can be linked to the general decline of local community, as American people grow up watching professional baseball on national television, rather than experiencing a comparable game live in the fields of their own hometowns. Also, the sudden emergence of the Smokers (a team assembled and financed by a junk mail tycoon from the city of Tampa Bay) is no surprise, for American life has become increasingly dominated by corporate businesses.

Most of the heartwarming aspects of this film originate from the ways in which people from disparate backgrounds can play with and compete against each other, with understanding and respect. Through the vehicle of fastpitch softball, characters from different nations and ethnicities come together. Such universally human themes in this movie make it worthwhile, even to viewers who have little interest in sports.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a really cool movie!, January 6, 2003

By	Brian Billstein (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews

I truly liked the story told by the filmmaker.

Unlike a lot of sappy Hollywood sports movies or network TV programs, this movie goes into the depth of real human characters, who must face both victory and defeat, integrity and compromise.

The sport itself is quite interesting, and I would not have known about it except for this film.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great slice of life, August 19, 2006

By	Cary J. Zeitlin (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Jeremy Spear's journey into the world of fastpitch softball at the relatively old age of 35 would probably have been interesting enough on its own, but in documenting his first season, he also gives us a great deal more. The movie paints a compassionate portrait of small-town life in the U.S., and Jeremy's travels lead him to cross paths with teams comprised of New Zealanders, Native Americans, Canadians, and a somewhat obnoxious (but not all bad) junk-mail king from Tampa Bay. He also discovers his own familial connection to the Midwest.

Everyone in the film shares a passion for the impressively difficult game of fast-pitch softball - and if you've ever wondered, it really is harder to hit in this game than in baseball. Fastpitch by all accounts is a dying sport. The film captures Jeremy's 1996 season, and one is left wondering what's happened since. Nonetheless, it's a wonderful, warm film that everyone will enjoy, whether or not they're a sports fan.