Long Gone

I saw this movie back when it originally came out on HBO. I Love it! It has it all as far as I am concerned. The actors did such a great job with their characters, Peterson as "Stud" and Madsen as "Dixie" are hilarious. If you can find this movie please check it out, it really is a gem.

Baseball fans can't help but enjoy this film. It's an old story, about a team of losers who make it into a pennant race, but unlike other variations on this theme, it's thoroughly believable. The team takes off when they acquire two new players - a youngster straight off the farm who's a terrific second baseman, and a gifted black catcher whose arrival stirs controversy in the Klan-influenced small town. There are the usual behind-the-scenes machinations one expects, but the film is great in presenting a lot of ballpark scenes, and the final game of the season is played with growing suspense and excitement. The actors are all great, especially Virginia Madsen as Dixie Lee, a woman who looks trashy but quickly shows she's got more guts and integrity than 50 "nice" girls put together. Another performance to note is that of Teller in an unusual speaking role as the sneaky Hale Buchman Jr.; he and Henry Gibson as his father do a great job as the proprietors of a seedy department store and owners of the local team - "sports moguls" as they see themselves. There is a lot to like in this little film.

This is my favorite movie of the 80's. My brother and I (die-hard baseball fans) used to watch this movie almost every day. It's probably one of the best accounts of minor league baseball played down in the south during the days of the Klan. If you can find this movie, I highly suggest you sit down and watch. You won't regret it.

The only other baseball movies that come close to Long Gone are The Natural and Field of Dreams. Long Gone has the massive benefit of good casting: i.e. William Peterson looks like and is an athlete, as well as THE MOST under-rated actor of his generation, right up there with Jeff Bridges and Mel Gibson. And it's funny, too.

The movie "Long Gone" starring William Petersen, Virginia Madsen, and Dermot Mulroney is easily the best baseball movie ever made.

It has the best combination of humor and fun and is much better than "Bull Durham" - the movie to which it is often compared. Whereas "Bull Durham" is pretty good for the first seven innings (the first 7/9ths of the movie) and has one great scene (the meeting on the mound), "Long Gone" is great throughout.

You pull for everyone in "Long Gone".

If there is any movie that deserves to be on DVD, it's "Long Gone". It's easily number one on my list of movies not already on DVD.