Fear Strikes Out Reviews
jjnxn
Super Reviewer
November 23, 2010
Very moving tale with extremely well cast leads. Perkins twitchy nervous energy is perfect for displaying Piersall spiral into mental illness and Malden's bombastic personality is able to convey a man who crushes his son's spirit without even realizing it. The look on his face when he becomes aware of the toll he's exacted on his child is heartbreaking. An excellent film.
AJ V
Super Reviewer
September 5, 2010
Perkins is perfect in this role of a crazy baseball player. And Malden does a great job playing his dad. Plus, it's a true story. I liked it it's a very dramatic movie.
flixsterman
Super Reviewer
January 22, 2009
Anthony Perkins seems to do his best work when playing psychotic characters.
jam233
December 11, 2009
6.5/10. One of Anthony Perkins best and most memorable performances. Great supporting cast, well directed, sensitively written. Compelling and engrossing. It's not a particularly fast moving film, but it is well done.
cmrnlewis
June 13, 2008
Consider this Shine, but instead of a piano, it's baseball. I'm not much on sports movies, but I always have room on my plate for a movie about schizophrenia.
abricru
April 4, 2008
This poor guy's father would drive anybody to a nervous breakdown. Anthony Perkins plays the anguished son very well
January 17, 2008
1950's true life baseball story of the enigmatic Jimmy Piersall, shows what happens when a father pushes his son too hard to live out his own dream. The film starts out pretty much by the book, showing how he ascended into the majors, but really takes a wrong turn a little too far into left field. Although the story is true, it becomes an exercise in melodrama instead of digging deeper into the psychology of the mental breakdown. The ending was also underwhelming and lacked triumph. Perkins was pretty good going beserk during the games, and Malden seamlessly filled the role of overbearing father, and it's worth seeing for that, but it's an overall not-quite-satisfying movie.
jmillerdp
March 31, 2007
Excellent portrayal by Perkins of a man driven to mental breakdown by his overbearing father. Karl Malden gives yet another effective supporting performance.
October 19, 2012
An interesting story that's mostly executed quite well. Perkins and Malden stand out but so do this movie's flaws on occasion.
Robert P.
April 27, 2011
Anthony Perkins behaves like a toddler, Karl Malden wears a lot of hats, and little to no baseball transpires. What a time!
Zack B.
July 19, 2010
One of the better Baseball player bio films. The films two juggernaunt stars Malden and Perkins each give wonderful performances. The filmmakers made some of the events more dramatic than they were in real life. But if your're familiar with the real story, you relize that they probably didn't have too. While not a masterpiece this film will grip you and peak your interest all the way through. Very underrated film by both these stars.
jazza923
December 11, 2006
6.5/10. One of Anthony Perkins best and most memorable performances. Great supporting cast, well directed, sensitively written. Compelling and engrossing. It's not a particularly fast moving film, but it is well done.
