Long Gone (film)
Encyclopedia
Long Gone is a 1987 baseball film
by HBO based on Paul Hemphill's
1979 book of the same name. The made-for-television film was directed by Martin Davidson
and starred William Petersen
, Virginia Madsen
and Dermot Mulroney
. Outside North America, the movie was known as and titled, Stogies.
, during the summer of 1957. It is unclear if the team is affiliated with a major league franchise
. The Stogies are owned by corrupt and scheming local Tampico businessmen, Hale Buchman (Henry Gibson) and his son, Hale Buchman Jr. (Teller). They refer to themselves as sports moguls
, despite the team being heavily mortgaged.
Their star player and manager is an aging Cecil 'Stud' Cantrell (William Peterson), who is a typical hard drinking, hard playing and hard loving man’s man. Signed out of High School by the St Louis Cardinals, Cantrell was a onetime rookie
standout in the organization, but he never made it to the big league because of a war injury
he sustained in World War II
during the Battle of Guadalcanal
. At the beginning of a game against the Crestview Cats in Alabama
, Cantrell meets a beautiful young woman just voted Miss Strawberry Blossom of 1957, Dixie Lee Boxx (Virginia Madsen). What Cantrell initially intends to be a one night stand with her, soon develops into a semi-serious relationship
.
Around this time, Cantrell signs a young slick-fielding, but light-hitting second baseman named Jamie Weeks (Dermot Mulroney). Weeks soon falls for a local virginal and church-going girl, Esther Wrenn (Katy Bower), who is looking to escape Tampico. Cantrell also signs a power hitting, strong-armed catcher
, Joe Louis Brown (Larry Riley), who is African American. Because this is the Deep South
during the 1950s, to keep the local bigots and Ku Klux Klan
off his back, Cantrell says that Brown is a Venezuelan named José Brown who can't speak any English.
With the addition of these new players, the Stogies go on a red-hot winning streak
. On the verge of a pennant
, however, Cantrell is told that throwing the big game would give a substantial boost to his sagging career. He is offered a managerial
position in the minor leagues
with the Cardinals organization, on the condition he does not show up for the final game. If he plays, his future managerial career is over. Brown is also bribed not to play and the teams owner's, the Buchmans, are involved in the match-fixing as well. While the pennant game is being played at Tampico, Cantrell and Brown accidentally meet at a local bar where they talk and deal with their moral and ethical dilemmas.
, two parts Slap Shot
, add a dose of Bingo Long
and a pinch of The Longest Yard". It has also been described as, the best baseball movie most of you never saw. The book, The baseball filmography, 1915 through 2001, described Long Gone as one of the most thoroughly enjoyable baseball comedies made in the last two decades. Robert Creamer, a writer for Sports Illustrated
, wrote that it was probably the best made-for-television movie he has ever seen. John O'Connor, a writer for The New York Times
, wrote that Long Gone makes classics like The Pride of the Yankees
look like promotional fantasies. The Bleacher Report wrote that this film deserves to be included in anyone’s collection of baseball features. Newsday
called it one of the best sports movies ever made. Long Gone was ranked 50th in the book, The Ultimate Book of Sports Movies: Featuring the 100 Greatest Sports Films. It also rated a mention in the book, The great baseball films, which stated Long Gone was an above average comedy-drama that is full of bite, grit, and good feelings. Despite the positive reviews, Long Gone has been largely overlooked by mainstream media
and remains extremely difficult to buy on DVD.
1987 in film
-Events:*January 31 - The Cure for Insomnia premieres at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, to officially become the world's longest film according to Guinness World Records....
by HBO based on Paul Hemphill's
Paul Hemphill
Paul James Hemphill was an American journalist and author who wrote extensively about often-overlooked topics in the Southern United States such as country music, evangelism, football, stock car racing and the blue collar people he met on his journeys around the South.-Early life and...
1979 book of the same name. The made-for-television film was directed by Martin Davidson
Martin Davidson
Martin Davidson is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. After attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he spent five years as an actor in Off Broadway shows and regional theater. His directorial debut was The Lords of Flatbush starring Sylvester Stallone and Henry...
and starred William Petersen
William Petersen
William Louis Petersen is an American actor and producer, best known for playing Dr. Gilbert "Gil" Grissom on the hit CBS series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He portrayed President John F...
, Virginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen is an American actress and documentary film producer. She came to fame during the 1980s, having appeared in several films aimed at a teenage audience...
and Dermot Mulroney
Dermot Mulroney
-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...
. Outside North America, the movie was known as and titled, Stogies.
Plot
The Tampico Stogies are a last-placed baseball team based in Tampico, Florida. The team competes in the lowest-level (Class D), but professional Gulf Coast leagueAlabama-Florida League
The Alabama–Florida League was a low-level circuit in American minor league baseball that existed from 1936 through 1939 and 1951 through 1962. In 1940–1941 and from 1946–1950, the absence of clubs based in Florida caused the league to change its name to the Alabama State League.The Class D loop's...
, during the summer of 1957. It is unclear if the team is affiliated with a major league franchise
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
. The Stogies are owned by corrupt and scheming local Tampico businessmen, Hale Buchman (Henry Gibson) and his son, Hale Buchman Jr. (Teller). They refer to themselves as sports moguls
Business magnate
A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...
, despite the team being heavily mortgaged.
Their star player and manager is an aging Cecil 'Stud' Cantrell (William Peterson), who is a typical hard drinking, hard playing and hard loving man’s man. Signed out of High School by the St Louis Cardinals, Cantrell was a onetime rookie
Rookie
Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of their sport or has little or no professional experience. The term also has the more general meaning of anyone new to a profession, training or activity Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of...
standout in the organization, but he never made it to the big league because of a war injury
Wounded in action
Wounded in action describes soldiers who have been wounded while fighting in a combat zone during war time, but have not been killed. Typically it implies that they are temporarily or permanently incapable of bearing arms or continuing to fight....
he sustained in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
during the Battle of Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal campaign
The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II...
. At the beginning of a game against the Crestview Cats in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, Cantrell meets a beautiful young woman just voted Miss Strawberry Blossom of 1957, Dixie Lee Boxx (Virginia Madsen). What Cantrell initially intends to be a one night stand with her, soon develops into a semi-serious relationship
Intimate relationship
An intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Physical intimacy is characterized by romantic or passionate love and attachment, or sexual activity. The term is also sometimes used euphemistically for a sexual...
.
Around this time, Cantrell signs a young slick-fielding, but light-hitting second baseman named Jamie Weeks (Dermot Mulroney). Weeks soon falls for a local virginal and church-going girl, Esther Wrenn (Katy Bower), who is looking to escape Tampico. Cantrell also signs a power hitting, strong-armed catcher
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
, Joe Louis Brown (Larry Riley), who is African American. Because this is the Deep South
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
during the 1950s, to keep the local bigots and Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
off his back, Cantrell says that Brown is a Venezuelan named José Brown who can't speak any English.
With the addition of these new players, the Stogies go on a red-hot winning streak
Winning streak (sports)
In sports, a winning streak refers to a consecutive number of games won. A winning streak can be held by a team, as in baseball, football, basketball, hockey, or by an individual, as in tennis...
. On the verge of a pennant
Pennant (sports)
A pennant is a commemorative flag typically used to show support for a particular athletic team. Pennants have been historically used in all types of athletic levels: high school, collegiate, professional etc. Traditionally, pennants were made of felt and fashioned in the official colors of a...
, however, Cantrell is told that throwing the big game would give a substantial boost to his sagging career. He is offered a managerial
Manager (baseball)
In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
position in the minor leagues
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
with the Cardinals organization, on the condition he does not show up for the final game. If he plays, his future managerial career is over. Brown is also bribed not to play and the teams owner's, the Buchmans, are involved in the match-fixing as well. While the pennant game is being played at Tampico, Cantrell and Brown accidentally meet at a local bar where they talk and deal with their moral and ethical dilemmas.
Cast
- William PetersenWilliam PetersenWilliam Louis Petersen is an American actor and producer, best known for playing Dr. Gilbert "Gil" Grissom on the hit CBS series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He portrayed President John F...
as Cecil "Stud" Cantrell - Virginia MadsenVirginia MadsenVirginia Madsen is an American actress and documentary film producer. She came to fame during the 1980s, having appeared in several films aimed at a teenage audience...
as Dixie Lee Boxx - Dermot MulroneyDermot Mulroney-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...
as Jamie Weeks - Katy BoyerKaty BoyerKaty Boyer is an American actress-Filmography:* Minority Report - Mother* Tripfall - Lonnie Campos* Three Secrets - Cassie...
as Esther Caroline Wrenn - Larry RileyLarry Riley (actor)Larry Riley was an American actor and musician, best known for his role as C.J. Memphis in the film A Soldier's Story and as Frank Williams in the prime-time TV soap opera Knots Landing....
as Joe Louis Brown (aka José Brown) - Henry GibsonHenry GibsonHenry Gibson was an American actor and songwriter, best known as a cast member of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and for his recurring role as Judge Clark Brown on Boston Legal.-Early life:...
as Hale Buchman - Teller as Hale Buchman, Jr. (aka Junior)
- Robert EastonRobert Easton (actor)Robert Easton is an American actor whose career in film and television spans more than 60 years. His mastery of English dialect has earned him the epithet "The Man of a Thousand Voices", For decades he has been a leading Hollywood dialogue or accent coach.Easton was born Robert Easton Burke in...
as Cletis Ramey - Joel MurrayJoel MurrayJoel Murray is an American actor who has starred in film and on television.-Early life:Murray, one of nine children, was born and raised in Wilmette, Illinois , the son of Lucille , a mail room clerk, and Edward J. Murray II, a lumber salesman. Murray, along with his siblings, grew up in an Irish...
as Bart Polanski - Panchito Gómez as Paco Izquierdo
- David Langston Smyrl as Monroe Wright
- Guich Koock as Peaches Cluff
- Will Zahrn as Knucksie Chappell
- Edward Blatchford as Whiz Whsonant
- Steve Zurk as Buster Smerglia
- Hazen Gifford as J. Harrell Smythe
Reception
Released in 1987 by HBO, Long Gone is a little known and difficult to obtain film that has consequently made it somewhat of a sports cult movie. It has been described as, "three parts Bull DurhamBull Durham
Bull Durham is a 1988 American romantic comedy baseball film. It is based upon the minor league experiences of writer/director Ron Shelton and depicts the players and fans of the Durham Bulls, a minor league baseball team in Durham, North Carolina....
, two parts Slap Shot
Slap Shot (film)
Slap Shot is a 1977 film comedy starring Paul Newman and Michael Ontkean directed by George Roy Hill. It depicts a minor league hockey team that resorts to violent play to gain popularity in a declining factory town.- Plot :...
, add a dose of Bingo Long
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings is a comedic sports film about a team of enterprising ex-Negro League baseball players in the era of racial segregation. Loosely based upon William Brashler's novel of the same name, it starred Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor...
and a pinch of The Longest Yard". It has also been described as, the best baseball movie most of you never saw. The book, The baseball filmography, 1915 through 2001, described Long Gone as one of the most thoroughly enjoyable baseball comedies made in the last two decades. Robert Creamer, a writer for Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
, wrote that it was probably the best made-for-television movie he has ever seen. John O'Connor, a writer for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, wrote that Long Gone makes classics like The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees is a 1942 American film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. The film is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who died only one year before the film's release, at age 37, from amyotrophic lateral...
look like promotional fantasies. The Bleacher Report wrote that this film deserves to be included in anyone’s collection of baseball features. Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
called it one of the best sports movies ever made. Long Gone was ranked 50th in the book, The Ultimate Book of Sports Movies: Featuring the 100 Greatest Sports Films. It also rated a mention in the book, The great baseball films, which stated Long Gone was an above average comedy-drama that is full of bite, grit, and good feelings. Despite the positive reviews, Long Gone has been largely overlooked by mainstream media
Mainstream media
Mainstream media are those media disseminated via the largest distribution channels, which therefore represent what the majority of media consumers are likely to encounter...
and remains extremely difficult to buy on DVD.
Awards
- Director Martin DavidsonMartin DavidsonMartin Davidson is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. After attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he spent five years as an actor in Off Broadway shows and regional theater. His directorial debut was The Lords of Flatbush starring Sylvester Stallone and Henry...
won an ACE Award for the film under the category, Writing award for Biography.
External links
- Long Gone at Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
- Long Gone at AmazonAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...