User reviews

I am not exactly the sort of guy to watch a documentary from ESPN. I am not a sports fan any more--and a bit of it relates to the subject of this film. The notion of scapegoating folks for losses in the World Series has always baffled me. While I noticed that the film only focused on recent scapegoats, I was very interested in seeing how the film dealt with Bill Buckner and Steve Bartman--two guys who took a lot of heat from unreasonable fans who got angrier at these guys than the average American felt towards Hitler during WWII!! Talk about needing to get a little perspective!

As far as the film goes, it's about as good as any you can find on the topic. And, once again, it makes you feel terrible for these guys. In the case of Buckner, a couple bad games seemed to have undone an excellent major league career. And with Bartman, it was amazing how folks literally talked of killing a guy just because he reached out to grab a foul ball! Well worth seeing--and hopefully films like this will get folks to stop and think a bit.

The oft-delayed "lost chapter" of ESPN's 30 for 30 series, this strives to be more than just a routine examination of the infamous Steve Bartman incident that may (or may not) have cost the Chicago Cubs a shot at the 2003 World Series. With the famously publicity-shy Bartman refusing to take part, the film instead leans on interviews with several of the fans to rub elbows with him that fateful evening and insightful confessionals from the announce crew that called the game, a good portion of the Cubs' starting lineup, the local news team that outed Bartman's identity to the public and several of the security guards that escorted him to safety as the situation escalated. Director Alex Gibney deserves credit for not only painting a broad, fair portrait of a chaotic, emotionally charged situation, but for rightly comparing it to other instances of misplaced blame and shameless scapegoating in pro sports and asking the difficult question of what exactly spins a knee-jerk reaction into a bonafide vendetta. Though the scrutiny of the Bartman play itself is a bit too intense at times, resulting in a run-time that's about 30 minutes too long, it accomplishes much more than a simple reenactment and should leave any serious sports fan wondering how many times they've reacted with the same brainless mob mentality over the years. Smart, challenging and honest; it's what any good documentary should strive to be.

I was pretty familiar with both of these stories, but this two-hour special was still very good and a real eye-opener in parts, particularly on Steve Bartman.

Basically, it's a story of injustice. It's about two men, one a ballplayer in Boston and another, a fan in Chicago, and how one incident unjustly ruined their lives. The ballplayer is Bill Buckner, who let a ground ball go through his legs which contributed - not cost - to his team losing the 1986 World Series to the New York Mets. Most people have seen lots of footage of the amazing comeback of the Mets in that series and know how the media (mainly) made Buckner the scapegoat.

The bulk of this ESPN story, however, deals with Bartman, the unlucky fan who did what everyone else does at a game: reached with outstretched arms for a foul ball. In a nutshell, the Cubs - whose fans were desperate for the team's first championship since 1908 - lost the game and went on to miss the World Series. They blamed it on this fan because the Cubs left fielder, Moises Alou, made a big stink about it on the field and it would have given the Cubs two outs in the eighth inning while they were holding a 3-0 lead. If they won, they would have advanced to the world series. The opponents, the Florida Marlins, went on to score eight runs in the inning, won the next game, as they won the World Series. Who did the Cubs fans blame? The shortstop who booted an easy double-play ball in the inning? The pitchers who gave up all the runs? Nooooo. They blamed Bartman, a nerdy-looking young man who just there rooting for his beloved Cubs like everyone else.

The shocking part of the story is the behind-the-scenes footage at the game, the stuff you didn't see in this 2003 playoff game. The abuse this young guy took was unbelievable. You have to see it and hear it to believe it. It's shocking and it's disgraceful. It's a wonder he made it out alive from Wrigley Field and still lives - although in a pretty secret world - in the Chicago area.

This is one of those stories that a review here doesn't do the story justice. You have to sit and watch "Catching Hell" to get the full impact. It left me speechless.

Director Alex Gibney is a Boston Red Sox fan and recounts Bill Buckner in 1986. He sees similarity to scapegoating Steve Bartman. The Cubs are supposedly cursed since the Billy Goat in 1945. They haven't won the World Series since 1908 or been in one since 1945. It's October 14, 2003 Wrigley Field in Chicago. In the 8th inning of Game 6 of the NLCS, the Cubs are ahead 3–0 and up 3 games to 2. With 1 out, Steve Bartman reaches out for a foul ball deflecting it from outfielder Moisés Alou. It is a compelling sports story and a legendary scapegoat. It is crowd psychology and human nature. It's got great behind-the-scenes footage dissecting the incident from every angle. The main missing ingredient is Bartman himself. It is perfectly understandable but that would have make it the definitive word.

October 14th, 2003 is a day many Cubs fans remember. Up 3-2 in the NL Championship series vs the Florida Marlins, they were primed to head to the World Series. With a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning and with one out, Luis Castillo hit a pop-up that was going foul. Moises Alou gave chase and the ball started to drift back towards fair territory. It never got fully to fair territory, and it never got into Alou's glove either. The ball was grabbed for and deflected by a fan sitting in aisle 4, row 8, seat 113. The Cubs would go on to give up eight runs that inning and lose the game, then they'd lose game seven.

Perhaps, now that they've won a World Series, it doesn't have quite the same significance or the same sting, but before 2016 that date was a source of angst. Even more than the date was the infamous fan who dared to try to catch a foul ball that was headed in his direction.

I'm not a Cubs fan, but I'm an avid sports fan, and that incident is singed into my brain. I wasn't even watching that series because my team, the A's, were already ousted by Boston, but after that game six between Chicago and Florida all I heard--all the way over here in California--was about that fan. Then, we learned his name: Steve Bartman, and we'd never forget it. Just like I didn't watch the Boston Redsox lose to the Mets in '86, as a sports fan I knew very well who Bill Buckner was. To think that a fan would become as infamous as a player for keeping his team World Series-less. And to think that a fan would be doxxed by a newspaper (The Chicago Sun Times) who are supposed to follow a code of ethics, is even stranger.

"Catching Hell" by ESPN Films is such an awesome documentary for me as a baseball fan. They analyze, scrutinize, and break down that play like I've never seen before. They provide so much context that you'll feel like a pitiable Chicago Cubs fan yourself. They also make a considerable effort to apologize and absolve Bartman from any wrongdoing. The documentary is directed by Alex Gibney, one of my favorite documentarians, and he does a spectacular job as always. I have to say, I never felt sorry for Steve Bartman until today. I, like thousands, no millions, of other fans felt he deserved all the animus he got. I hadn't thought about him or that play in a long time, but I almost feel like I owe him an apology as well.

$1.99 purchase on YouTube.

Every single "sports fan" taking part in this documentary was and is a dillusional idiot. So butthurt because a fan supposedly interfered with a ball when their team was up 3-0. Give me a break.

Catching Hell is probably my favorite Sports Doc of all time. Every October or so, I return to it as a reminder of the darker side of sports and to remember that there are more important things than sports. The Steve Bartman incident was a controversial play that occurred during a baseball playoff game between the Chicago Cubs and the Florida Marlins on October 14, 2003, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, during Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2003 postseason. Steve Bartman reached for the ball, but he deflected it, disrupting Alou's potential catch. If Alou had caught the ball, it would have been the second out in the inning, and the Cubs would have been just four outs away from winning their first National League pennant since 1945. As a result, the fans and the media turned on Bartman blaming him for the Cubs' loss. As a cubs fan, I even remember blaming him for many years. I love sports, but it is just so sad to see the abuse that Steve Bartman had to endure. No one should ever be treated like that. In 2016, the Cubs won the World Series, and now many of the fans have moved on from hating Bartman. But perhaps it is us, the fans who mocked, threatened, and even dehumanized Bartman, who should still be asking for his forgiveness. And I would hope that everyone would watch this film, so something like what happened to Steve Bartman never happens to anyone else ever again.

Alex Gibney composed a masterpiece here! This is how a documentary should be done. Just right amount of input from those who were directly involved in the situations, and it keeps it interesting throughout. From players to fans, to reporters, security guards, it covers it all in great fashion. It is my favorite sports documentary of all time! Sports is serious business, and one miscue can alter history, and lives! Enough said, watch it!

Catching Hell (2011)

**** (out of 4)

Terrific documentary from ESPN about Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman, the man who would walk into Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS hoping to see history with the Cubs reaching the World Series but instead became history after interfering with a foul ball, which many fans fill caused their beloved team to lose the game, the series and a chance at breaking the "curse" on their team. Director Alex Gibney spends the majority of the time going over the Bartman play but he also starts the film off by flashing back to 1986 when another cursed team, the Boston Red Sox, lost their game 6 game when Bill Buckner let a ball go between his legs. As with the Cubs in 2003, the Red Sox would lose that game six and then lose the next game to lose the series. The documentary does a very good job at connecting the two men but it also asks the question on why both men were as hated considering there were other people to blame during both games and not to mention that both teams had a game 7 that they could have won. The documentary features interviews with Bob Costas, Steve Lyons who was calling the game for Fox, a Fox producer, several security guards working at the game and we also get interviews with many of the people who were at the game. Some of those at the game include people sitting right around Bartman and one idiot who would go down and confront Bartman and throw beer on him. CATCHING HELL is a terrific little documentary because it's not just for baseball fans because its story is almost like a Shakespeare play or some sort of Greek tragedy. The human side of the story of a man making one mistake and becoming the most hated person is quite a tall order. There's some footage of Bartman being led out of the stadium where all sorts of things are thrown at him and even to this day he hasn't really came out of hiding. I think it should be noted that the documentary reveals that the man has been offered at least two-hundred thousand dollars to tell his story but he refused to make a profit off of it. I think he speaks a lot more highly than most people in this story. With that said, it should come as no shock that Bartman is not interviewed here and that there would have been the only thing that could have improved the film. The argument is also made that the story will never go away until the Cubs win the World Series but others seem to think that Bartman could take some heat off of himself simply by talking. CATCHING HELL is a perfect documentary that fans of the sport should love but I think just about anyone will be able to feel for the characters of this play.

Im not sure how ESPN goes about choosing those who direct the documentaries in the 30 for 30 series, but they always seem to find the best.

The documentary is as much about Bartman as it is the overall reaction of long suffering Cubs fans. Add in the description of how the Cubs securities forces got Steve Bartman out of there alive, and you have a fast moving, very entertaining and informative docudrama.

And there is plenty of new light shed on the infamous incident. Testimonies from fans that sat near Bartman (many of whom sympathize with the hapless Cubs fan) and learning that Bartman was actually at the game with friends was interesting. However, this pails in comparison when there is focus on the little league team (whose sweater Bartman was wearing that night) that Bartman was coaching at the time, and those young ball players support of their coach.

If anyone comes out the villain, it's the arrogant Cubs fan who left his seats in the nose bleed section to yell at Bartman, a man who to this day admits that he'd do it again, and blames Bartman for the Cubs lose.

Moises Alou doesn't come off too good at all. Alou comes off arrogant, and dismissive of the suffering that Bartman went through. Even with Alou's thick accent, you can tell that he still deep down blames Steve Bartman for the Cubs never making it to the world series.

This film not only manages to shed tons of new details on the incident, but also manages to have the viewer walk away wanting to buy Steve Bartman a beer and pat him on the back, instead of crucifying him.

And maybe that's what the Cubs (and their fans) need to do. It's time for the Cubs to forgive Steve Bartman the way the Red Sox forgave Bill Buckner.

PS It was interesting to know that Buckner was wearing a Cubs batting glove on his hand when he missed the bunt from Mookie Wilson.

I have watched a few of the ESPN documentaries recently because a couple of good ones made me watch more and this one looked like it had potential. Sports is always filled with great stories and even though I am not a baseball fan I was aware of the two stories here. Funnily enough I was only aware of Buckner because of his recent role on Curb Your Enthusiasm, but I was aware of Steve Bartman by deed rather than name, since the one-line summary of what he did essentially went around the western world as one of those "and finally" stories they like to close the news out with before chuckling and saying good night. That the film was written and directed by Gibney just made me more keen to see it because he had done very good work with Smartest Guys in the Room and Taxi to the Dark Side, so he is a guy who can make documentaries.

Sadly Catching Hell is not as good a documentary as it should have been because of how it sets out its stall but really fails to achieve its goal. The actual telling of the two sporting moments is well done; even those very familiar with both will find the retelling interesting because it is well structured and interesting. The focus on the Buckner incident is a good starting point and sets the theme of the scapegoat well before we go into the Bartman incident. The casual viewer will find much of interest here and indeed my girlfriend started watching this at one point without any knowledge of it and was quite held by the telling. However, where the film is weak is because it doesn't do anything beyond this telling, even though it is structured to do so and constantly sets itself up to do so.

The film is set-up with Gibney asking questions about why we always seem to have these scapegoats and what causes one specific moment to be blamed more than any other – after all, none of the games we look at here (or the many others you'll think of) are lost in just that one moment, so why? He looks briefly at the history of superstition around each club and he then moves on to look at each incident in terms of how it was handled by the media, the other professionals and the fans. However in none of these do we seem to go beyond just looking and in that we never go beyond the surface really. The questions Gibney asked at the start as his frame seem to be mostly absent from the rest of the film and it is a lesser beast for it. The role of the media in overdoing the talking points would have been a focal point I'd like to have seen chased, since this is where both incidents appear to have gone from frustration into hatred and being a focus for anger. Sadly, although Gibney gets some comments out of those speaking for the media, he really doesn't push it.

In the end what we are left with is a film that captures the two incidents and makes for an interesting sports film in that regard but really doesn't stand out as a good documentary simply because it doesn't question and probe in the way I felt it should have done. It captures events really well but it just doesn't explore them in a way that would have made for a better film.