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For Love of the Game (1999)
Starring Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly, and Brian Cox. Cinematography by John Bailey. Edited by Eric L. Beason and Arthur Coburn. Produced by Armyan Bernstein and Amy Robinson. Written by Dana Stevens. Directed by Sam Raimi.
Billy Chapel has been pitching for the Detroit Tigers for eighteen years. Before the last game of a lackluster season, Chapel is informed by his team’s new management that if he doesn’t retire at the end of the year, he will be traded. Chapel takes the mound that evening with a lot on his mind. As the innings pass by, he reflects on his years playing baseball and his relationship with his girlfriend Jane Aubrey. With his thoughts clouded by both of the loves in his life, Chapel almost doesn’t notice that he is coming close to pitching a perfect game. As the batters continue to drop, Billy finds that he must ultimately decide between Jane and baseball.
Author Michael Shaara’s started his writing career contributing short science fiction stories to the pulp magazine Galaxy. Over the course of his professional life he would publish over seventy shorts in various periodicals and pen three novels. Most of his life’s work can be broken into three categories; science fiction, sports fiction, and historical fiction, though it is most certainly the latter genre that would see his most significant contribution.
In 1974 Shaara published his Civil War epic The Killer Angels, which would earn him a Pulitzer Prize. On May 5th, 1988, Shaara died of a heart attack. His son Jeff Shaara, the author of Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure (the other two novels in the Shaara Civil War trilogy) was put in charge of his father’s literary estate. While digging through his dad’s old files one day, Jeff discovered a short novel about the last game of a veteran baseball pitcher. Titled For Love of the Game the novella was published shortly after its discovery in 1991.
A few years later For Love of the Game found itself in the hands of Hollywood producer Amy Robinson. Along with her business partner Sydney Pollack, Robinson convinced Universal Pictures to option the book. Pollack was originally considered to direct the film, but was soon replaced by Lawrence Kasdan who had recently filmed Wyatt Earp starring Kevin Costner. Kasdan brought the script to Costner thinking that it would be a fitting end to his unofficial baseball trilogy that had started with Bull Durham and Field of Dreams.
Costner committed to the project, but troubles soon arose with Kasdan. Enter Sam Raimi. As post-production wrapped on A Simple Plan Raimi arranged for a meeting with producer Armyan Bernstein to discuss the upcoming Arnold Schwarzenneger project End of Days, but the meeting was a ploy. Raimi, a lifelong baseball fan, had gotten a hold of the For Love of the Game script and was deeply moved by it. Using End of Days as an excuse to meet with Bernstein, Raimi instead asked to direct the adaptation of Shaara’s novel. Despite the fact that the film was far bigger than anything he had ever worked on before, Raimi was eventually given the job. Sadly, when all was said and done the effort just wouldn’t pay off at the box office. Being part romance, part sports movie is a hard line to toe and unfortunately audiences just didn’t seem to buy it. For Love of the Game was a big budget flop.
Budget: $50,000,000
Total US Gross: $35,188,640
Genre: Romance
Runtime: 137 Minutes
US Release Date: 9/17/99
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Awards: none
Tagline: Billy Chapel Must Choose Between The Woman He Loves And The Game He Lives For.
Quote: “The game doesn't stink, Mr. Wheeler. It's a great game.”
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