Product Description

She's beautiful, smart, goal-oriented, and she just inherited the Cleveland Indians. Unfortunately, she wants to move the franchise to Miami, and a losing season is her only ticket to Florida. So she signs the wildest gang of screwballs that ever spit tobacco. They're handsome, but they're hopeless! Her catcher (Tom Berenger) is a washed-up womanizer who struck out in life. Her ace pitcher (Charlie Sheen) is a punked-out crazy who struck out with the law. And her third baseman (L.A. Law's Corbin Bernsen) is more concerned about fielding endorsements than grounders. Throw in a busload of other misfits and you've hot yourself a hilarious line-up that's destined for disaster. Or is it? Widescreen VersionEnglish 5.1 SurroundEnglish 2.0 SurroundFrench MonoCommentary by Writer/Director David Ward and Producer Chris ChesserMy Kinda TeamA Major League Look at Major LeagueBob Uecker: Just A Bit OutsideAlternate Ending with Filmaker IntroductionA Tour of Cerrano's LockerPhoto Gallery

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2845 in DVD
• Brand: Team Marketing
• Released on: 2007-04-10
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 107 minutes

Amazon.com
A baseball comedy and slob comedy rolled into one, this one actually works as entertainment, if not as a piece of cinematic mastery. James Gammon is the has-been manager hired to lead the last-place Cleveland Indians whose owner wants them to lose so she can sell them. But the team of has-beens and never-wases that he assembles (including Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Corbin Bernsen, and Wesley Snipes) develops a sense of pride and turns the team around. There's plenty of rowdy humor about sex, race, and whatever else they can make fun of. Look for Rene Russo (in her first film role) as Berenger's romantic interest; Snipes also had his first showy role as Willie Mays Hayes, the team's base-stealing ace. --Marshall Fine

On the DVD
The extra features on the Wild Thing Edition of Major League display the same camaraderie and down-to-earth playfulness that have made this movie a cult favorite. The commentary by writer/director David S. Ward and producer Chris Chesser is warm and amiable as they ruefully wish they'd had a little less swearing in the movie. Featurettes include a heartfelt tribute to Bob Eucker (who played announcer Harry Doyle), actual ballplayers enthusing about the movie, and a raffish "about the movie" doc that mixes promotional footage with interviews from many years later (when some actors have lost hair and gained weight). The most intriguing item for fans, though, is the revelation that the ending was originally going to redeem the movie's main villain, the team's showgirl owner (played by Rachel Phelps)--but moviegoers loved hating her so much, they decided to let her stay evil. The deleted scene between her and the team's manager (wonderfully gravel-voiced James Gammon) would have given the movie a very different spin; discovering things like this is what dvd extra features are for. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Major Fun
No, you're not going to walk away from this movie thinking about how to achieve world peace or end poverty, but you will be walking away with a smile. MAJOR LEAGUE is a lighthearted, entertaining film that also happens to be hysterically funny. Throw the great sport of baseball into the mix and MAJOR LEAGUE is a win/win for those who love the game and those who just want to have a good laugh.

There's nothing complicated about the plot. When an aggressive femme fatale (Margaret Whitton) inherits the Cleveland Indians from her late husband, her plan is to put together a team so bad it will lose its fan base and allow her to relocate. And so a band of misfits is put together: washed-up players, inexperienced players, headcases. Of course, predictably, her plan goes awry, but it's still good fun watching the antics of the Indians as they misfire and then come together over a long, long season.

Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Rene Russo, Corbin Bernsen, and Wesley Snipes headline a great cast. Bob Uecker is absolutely hysterical. My favorite character is manager Lou Brown (James Gammon) who delivers the film's funniest line, but one I dare not repeat here (it would never get past the editors)! Grab a hot dog and a beer, pull up a chair, and let MAJOR LEAGUE put a wide grin on your face.

My favorite movie!
It's not a deep drama and it won't make you ask you any tough questions of yourself, but Major League is pure entertainment from beginning to end. As such, it's my all-time favorite movie. It's easy to invest in the story (a Cleveland team made up of spare parts tries to overcome their owner's plot to move the franchise) even if it's been dated by the Indians' '90s success. The comedy doesn't pull any punches but still stays pretty tasteful, and I still find it laugh-out-loud funny even after 30+ viewings. The comedy is equal parts outstanding writing by David S. Ward and brilliant characterizations by the actors. James Gammon is dead-on as grizzled manager Lou Brown and Tom Berenger is actually sympathetic as journeyman catcher Jake Taylor. Dennis Haysbert and Corbin Bernsen give great performances, and Charlie Sheen is inimitable as Wild Thing Vaughn. I think any baseball fan will enjoy this movie, but fans of good comedy will probably like it, too.

The DVD has no special features (what else do you expect from Paramount?), but the picture and sound are good.

Movie: 6/5
DVD: 4/5
Overall: 5/5

Major DVD Disappointment...
I LOVE this film... since it's initial release, it has been one of my "guilty pleasure" VHS tapes. Now that the DVD has finally arrived after several years of waiting, I feel as though I've been taken. In the first place, this film is OBVIOUSLY CROPPED from the 4x3 format to make it look as though it's widescreen. This is NOT the theatrical "widescreen" release. Check out the opening scenes where the Indian's futility is told via a series of newspaper headlines of the times. Most of the headlines have the upper halves of the letters CHOPPED OFF! This is SHAMEFUL! The DVD's producers have actually given us LESS than the VHS tape. Second, there are NO, NONE, ZERO extras on this DVD. What exactly were we waiting all this time for?

Anybody out there who waited as I did for all this time for this DVD is in for a big letdown.