Fear Strikes Out

A remarkable portrait of a famous sports personality
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...

A Perfect Bookend to "Field of Dreams"
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...

Tense and dramatic from beginning to end
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...

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